WEBVTT 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:14.480 Welcome to an unboxing of an SSD that might seem confusing on the surface, but 00:00:12.639 --> 00:00:20.400 is actually well a little bit confusing, but very, 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:22.320 very cool. This is the impossible to 00:00:20.400 --> 00:00:30.720 open. Okay, hold on. This is the OCZ Synapse 00:00:26.400 --> 00:00:33.440 Cache SSD. So, this is not intended at 00:00:30.720 --> 00:00:37.840 all to be used to install an operating system or any software directly on this 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 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:45.760 gig drive is you are supposed to use it 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 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 00:00:53.920 --> 00:01:02.800 intended for use with Intel SRT. It is actually intended for use with OCZ's 00:00:59.120 --> 00:01:05.280 Dataplex software. So what Dataplex does 00:01:02.800 --> 00:01:11.200 is it is B well okay it's very similar to how 00:01:08.240 --> 00:01:17.520 Intel SRT functions in that it allows your OS to manage um the caching of data 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:21.840 through an SSD rather than just writing and reading everything directly to and 00:01:19.360 --> 00:01:26.960 from the hard drive. So, why would you use Dataplex is the question? Because 00:01:23.759 --> 00:01:30.479 you could just buy a Z68 00:01:26.960 --> 00:01:32.640 uh motherboard and then you could run 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 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:40.640 X79 platform, which by the way, even though it's the higherend Intel chipset, 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:43.520 does not support SRT? Well, then you're starting to look into a different 00:01:41.759 --> 00:01:47.600 solution. So, something like Dataplex. So, why this SSD? What's special about 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 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:54.560 SSD is the durability. So, what OCZ has 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 00:01:57.360 --> 00:02:02.640 and they've put 64 gigs. 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, 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 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:16.239 this drive for wear leveling. So, what 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:19.760 that means is it appears to your operating system as a 32 gig drive if 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 00:02:23.760 --> 00:02:30.800 that because of the limited write cycles on these SSDs, OCZ has gone, okay, well, 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:35.200 let's take half of the capacity and let's squirrel it away so that because 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 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 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 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 00:02:47.440 --> 00:02:54.239 keep it functioning for a much longer period of time. So, this is a 00:02:51.200 --> 00:02:56.480 sandforce-based SATA 3 drive, but it 00:02:54.239 --> 00:03:00.080 uses a special firmware to hide half of the capacity. And then it comes with a 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 00:03:03.280 --> 00:03:09.840 the OCZ Dataplex software, which installs on Windows 7. So, let me just 00:03:08.640 --> 00:03:13.680 see if there's anything else that I'm missing here. Right. So, what else is 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. 00:03:16.239 --> 00:03:24.080 We've got some mounting screws. If you wanted to put this in 00:03:20.959 --> 00:03:25.599 Oh, OCZ. OCZ. If you wanted to put it in 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:28.319 a notebook, you could use these mounting screws, but you're probably Oh, no. You 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:33.120 Okay, I guess you could use them to mount this to that. Okay. 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 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 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 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 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. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:04.560 I'm going to use the Datlex software, which by the way is supposedly, I 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:09.519 haven't tried it yet, much easier to install and set up than Intel SRT. and 00:04:07.519 --> 00:04:15.280 we're going to see which of those two caching solutions learns faster and 00:04:12.799 --> 00:04:18.560 allows your system to perform better. So, I'm very excited about that. And 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:22.400 thank you for checking out my unboxing of the Synapse Cache Drive from OCZ. 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.