1 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:14,480 Welcome to an unboxing of an SSD that might seem confusing on the surface, but 2 00:00:12,639 --> 00:00:20,400 is actually well a little bit confusing, but very, 3 00:00:17,039 --> 00:00:22,320 very cool. This is the impossible to 4 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:30,720 open. Okay, hold on. This is the OCZ Synapse 5 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:33,440 Cache SSD. So, this is not intended at 6 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:37,840 all to be used to install an operating system or any software directly on this 7 00:00:36,239 --> 00:00:43,040 drive. You're not supposed to do that. What you're supposed to do with this 64 8 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:45,760 gig drive is you are supposed to use it 9 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:50,000 as a cache for your hard drive. And so, you go, "Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, uh, Intel 10 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:56,239 SRT. I've heard of that before." And I say, "No, not Intel SRT. This SSD is not 11 00:00:53,920 --> 00:01:02,800 intended for use with Intel SRT. It is actually intended for use with OCZ's 12 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:05,280 Dataplex software. So what Dataplex does 13 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:11,200 is it is B well okay it's very similar to how 14 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:17,520 Intel SRT functions in that it allows your OS to manage um the caching of data 15 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:21,840 through an SSD rather than just writing and reading everything directly to and 16 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:26,960 from the hard drive. So, why would you use Dataplex is the question? Because 17 00:01:23,759 --> 00:01:30,479 you could just buy a Z68 18 00:01:26,960 --> 00:01:32,640 uh motherboard and then you could run 19 00:01:30,479 --> 00:01:36,560 SRT. What if you don't have a Z68 motherboard? What if you want to have an 20 00:01:34,079 --> 00:01:40,640 X79 platform, which by the way, even though it's the higherend Intel chipset, 21 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:43,520 does not support SRT? Well, then you're starting to look into a different 22 00:01:41,759 --> 00:01:47,600 solution. So, something like Dataplex. So, why this SSD? What's special about 23 00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:52,320 this SSD? And I'll tell you guys now, the only thing that's special about this 24 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:54,560 SSD is the durability. So, what OCZ has 25 00:01:52,320 --> 00:02:00,560 done is they've taken an SSD that is actually a 128 gig SSD, and they've gone 26 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:02,640 and they've put 64 gigs. 27 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:07,119 Wait, no, hold on. How does it work? No, right. They've taken a 64 gig SSD, 28 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:14,879 that's what's actually here in the package, and then they have overprovisioned half of the capacity of 29 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:16,239 this drive for wear leveling. So, what 30 00:02:14,879 --> 00:02:19,760 that means is it appears to your operating system as a 32 gig drive if 31 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:26,160 you ever actually plug it in directly, which you should never do because it's a cache SSD. But the reason for that is 32 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:30,800 that because of the limited write cycles on these SSDs, OCZ has gone, okay, well, 33 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:35,200 let's take half of the capacity and let's squirrel it away so that because 34 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:38,160 this is going to be used with a hard drive and it's going to have things 35 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:41,440 cashing in and out of it all the time, we're going to make sure that it's got 36 00:02:39,519 --> 00:02:45,200 half of that capacity stored away. So that even if we have to write to it and 37 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:49,440 write to it and write to it constantly, we are going to keep the drive safe and 38 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:54,239 keep it functioning for a much longer period of time. So, this is a 39 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:56,480 sandforce-based SATA 3 drive, but it 40 00:02:54,239 --> 00:03:00,080 uses a special firmware to hide half of the capacity. And then it comes with a 41 00:02:58,879 --> 00:03:05,440 license. So, I'm just going to cover up the license key, but it's on there, believe me. It comes with a license for 42 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:09,840 the OCZ Dataplex software, which installs on Windows 7. So, let me just 43 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:13,680 see if there's anything else that I'm missing here. Right. So, what else is 44 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:18,560 included? We've got one of those 2 and 1/2 in to 3 and 1/2 in adapters here. 45 00:03:16,239 --> 00:03:24,080 We've got some mounting screws. If you wanted to put this in 46 00:03:20,959 --> 00:03:25,599 Oh, OCZ. OCZ. If you wanted to put it in 47 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:28,319 a notebook, you could use these mounting screws, but you're probably Oh, no. You 48 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:33,120 Okay, I guess you could use them to mount this to that. Okay. 49 00:03:30,959 --> 00:03:36,560 No, no, you couldn't. Okay. Well, this is not for a notebook. This is more for 50 00:03:34,959 --> 00:03:41,280 a desktop. You got a little sticker here, and you got Oh, there's the Datalex license key. I'll make sure I 51 00:03:39,519 --> 00:03:47,040 use that before I post this unboxing. So, you're also going to want to make sure that you stay tuned on my NCIXCOM 52 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:54,720 channel because what I'm going to do is I'm going to take this drive. I'm going to run it with Intel SRT um on a WD 53 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:59,519 black 2 TB hard drive as the boot drive. Then I'm going to run it not using SRT. 54 00:03:57,599 --> 00:04:04,560 I'm going to use the Datlex software, which by the way is supposedly, I 55 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:09,519 haven't tried it yet, much easier to install and set up than Intel SRT. and 56 00:04:07,519 --> 00:04:15,280 we're going to see which of those two caching solutions learns faster and 57 00:04:12,799 --> 00:04:18,560 allows your system to perform better. So, I'm very excited about that. And 58 00:04:17,199 --> 00:04:22,400 thank you for checking out my unboxing of the Synapse Cache Drive from OCZ. 59 00:04:20,959 --> 00:04:27,400 Don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips for more unboxings, reviews, and other computer videos.