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Plextor Unveils M6S Plus Series SSD

In February, Plextor launched a new series of SSDs, the M6S Plus. The new Solid-sate drives use Toshiba’s latest MLC NAND flash memory built on the 15 nm process, and are driven by Marvell 88SS9188 controllers. M6S Plus SSDs come in a 2.5-inch form factor and measure just 7mm in thickness. The drive is available in three different sizes including 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB. All M6S Plus drives offer sequential read speed up to 520 MB/s and write speed up to 300 MB/s, 420 MB/s, and 440 MB/ respectively. The M6S Plus SSDs are based on the SATA 6 Gb/s interface, and boast random access speed range up to 90,000 IOPS reads and 80,000 IOPS writes.

Then, most users might be wondering the performance capabilities of these SSD drives.

M6S Plus drives come with lots of unique exclusive technologies such as the PlexCompressor smart compression technology, PlexTurbo intelligent SSD RAM caching, TrueSpeed, and TrueProtect error-checking mechanism. Now, let’s analyze these features in detail.

Features of M6S Plus

High performance

M6S Plus employs Marvell 88SS9188 dual-core controller which can increase the speed while saving more energy.
In fact, the new drives’ sequential read/write speed is 4 times faster than that of the conventional HDD typically used by consumers. In the same operating environment, M6S Plus extends the battery life by 30 minutes when compared with a 7200 rpm conventional HDD.

Compared to the conventional HDDs, M6S Plus speeds for booting, starting up applications, and shutting down are greatly improved. As a result, it requires a little time to load and save huge files. Therefore, using M6S Plus SSDs is a good choice for workstation and everyday users.

On the other hand, Plextor introduced PlexTurbo (the latest generation of SSD memory caching solution) to increase the usage amount of system memory, which can help to prolong the life span of M6S Plus SSD and vastly accelerate access performance. So, most technological revolution gamers like using this new drive.

Tested to Extreme Standards

To guarantee the high performance of M6S Plus SSDs, technical people turn to the world’s most advanced SSD testing facilities (FLEXSTAR® testing chamber) to test the new SSDs. As a result, every individual SSD undergoes Plextor’s zero-failure zero-error standard during rigorous testing. (as follows)
100% Burn-in / Aging Test
48hrs Sustained Read and Write Test
4000 Times Idle Test – Sleep and Hibernation Test
250 Times Power Cycle – Cold and Warm Boot Test
1008hrs of Zero-Error Testing
Mean Time Between Failures of 1.5 Million Hours

Exclusive Software

M6S Plus contains some exclusive software to meet user requirements as much as possible.

1: PlexCompressor- Intelligent Compression Technology

You see, the storage capacity of SSD is always a key point of consideration when we are deciding the best drive for us. M6S Plus SSD’s PlexCompressor uses custom, smart-compression technology to give us more storage capacity without impacting our experience and system performance. To be specific, the utility compresses only a certain segment of files at any given time to avoid occupying system resources. Files that have not been opened by the user for 30 days will be automatically compressed to increase storage space, and they will be subsequently uncompressed when users access them.
Note: Operating System Requirements: Win 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10 (x86 / x64).
File System Requirements: NTFS
M6S Plus SSDs must be uncompressed drives.
If there is insufficient space, partial files will not be decompressed. Files will be decompressed until the disk is full.

2: PlexTurbo- Smart Cache Technology

PlexTurbo, an intelligent SSD RAM caching solution, uses system RAM to greatly accelerate the SSD’s storage performance. Besides, it boosts the service life of the SSD and significantly increases access speed. PlexTurbo also provides automatic load balancing that supports multiple drives and interfaces. So well, if we use two or more Plextor SSDs at the same time, we will still be able to use PlexTurbo.

Furthermore, PlexTurbo extends life of SSD flash memory by using smart algorithms to eliminate unnecessary writes, automatically protects against data loss from the RAM cache during a power interruption or unexpected system crash, and customizes system memory cache size and releases time of cache (16GB/4hrs max). Furthermore, PlexTurbo is able to save the latest data and preload it in cache when we boot up the next time, which can save us much time.

Tips:
If there is no 4K partition alignment, it will affect the acceleration results of PlexTurbo. However, what if the M6S Plus SSD’s partition is not aligned? In this situation, we can try using the free tool, MiniTool Partition Wizard, to align all partitions.

As we know, 4K alignment is a quite important issue for SSD. Here, to carry out partition alignment, we can select or right click the SSD whose partitions need aligning and choose “Align All Partitions” in the main window of this software. After this operation Partition Wizard will show us how many partitions to align in total. Just confirm the operation by clicking “OK”, and then click “Apply” button to perform all changes. For more detailed information about 4K alignment, please see How to Get Best Performance from SSD or Optimize SSD Performance.

3: PlexVault – Secured Private Space

M6S Plus SSD’s PlexVault can help to hide our private or sensitive data to prevent others accessing them without permission. In general, even if we are sharing a computer with others, we can still securely and safely hide our data with this software.

Unique Technology

In addition to exclusive software, M6S Plus SSD contains some unique technologies. For instance, it comes with TrueSpeed technology, and Plextor’s firmware team endeavors to provide a consistent performance design for compressible and uncompressible data, sequential and random write, and throughout the entire life span of our SSDs. Next, let’s see the following content to get more information.

1:TrueSpeed — Performance for a New Generation of SSD

Plextor’s goal is to create SSD products that achieve best-in-class performance in realistic tests, SSDs that are efficient in every application, and that run at sustained speeds for their entire lifetime. Here, Plextor’s SSD with True Speed technology will keep long-term SSD performance at like-new speeds after periods of use and when the SSD is nearly full.

2:TrueProtect—Security and Data Accuracy for Business

In 2012, Plextor raised the bar for professional SSDs with the launch of the first Plextor drive with True Protect.

TrueProtect technology, a multi-layered error checking mechanism automatically executed by firmware, can correct up to 128 bits of random errors by employing the error-correcting capability of ECC. With this technology, business users not only can access to the highest level of AES encryption but also can reach to multiple layers of data checking for absolute data accuracy.

After seeing features of M6S Plus SSD, some users are eager to grasp more information about it to check whether to buy one. Next, we will show some specification of the SSDs.

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Specification of Plextor M6S Plus SSDs

Here, we will show a table to list the specifications of M6S Plus to give users an intuitive understanding of this drive.

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From the above specifications, we know it’s worth buying Plextor M6S Plus SSD because of its excellent features, unique technologies and exclusive software. However, no matter how perfect the drive is, we may encounter some problems while using it. Here, we will introduce some FAQs (frequently asked questions) as below.

FAQ About M6S Plus

If users encounter the same problems listed below, they will receive immediate help after reading our FAQs.

1: How to Check Whether My SSD’s Partition Is Aligned?

As we know, SSD adopts the smallest 4K sector in file system to save data. In fact, however, the 4K allocation units are not always aligned in SSD. So, how can we check the partition alignment on an SSD drive? (Note: we take Windows 7 for example.)

We can click “Start” menu, type “Run” and press “Enter”. Then, type “msinfo32” in the Run window and click “OK” button. After that, a window showing system information will pop up as follows.

In this window, select “Components >Storage> Disks”. And then, we need to find the SSD to be checked and check whether partition starting offset is integer multiples of 4096. If it is, partitions on the SSD have been aligned. However, from the above window, we can know the partitions’ “Partition Starting Offset” value is 32,256, which cannot be divided by 4096. So, the SSD is not 4K aligned. In this situation, we can try using MiniTool Partition Wizard to align its partitions for free. For detailed steps, please see How to Align All Partitions.

2: M6S Plus Is Not Shown in Windows, But It Is Detected in BIOS. What Should I Do?

As we know, Windows will not delete the SSD by default. In order to solve this issue, we need to initialize the SSD and setup a new partition for it. (Here, we take Windows 7 for example to show the detailed step.)

Right click My Computer and then choose “Manage > Disk Management”. Next, right click the new SSD and initialize it. Assign the drive letter and it will be available as “online”.

3: My SSD’s Partition Is Missing and Becomes Unallocated in Disk Management

There is no doubt that almost every user has encountered the following scenario: hard disk partition is missing and becomes unallocated in Disk Management. An example is shown:

My external USB 3.0 HD was working perfectly well yesterday. However, today suddenly became an “unallocated” drive without even a drive name. I’m able to detect the drive but I have no way of accessing it. (as shown below)
—- come from sevenforums

In this case, what should we do? Can we get missing space back easily?

In general, MiniTool Partition Wizard can help to quickly find missing space without affecting the original data.

Here, to find missing space, we can select the target SSD and then click the “Partition Recovery” feature from the left action panel. After that, we will be given detailed operating prompts. Just do as told.

Furthermore, MiniTool Partition Wizard also offers other excellent features, such as Move/Resize Partition, Extend Partition, Format Partition, and Copy Disk, to help us manage SSD’s partition effectively.

4: Do We Need to Defragment Plextor Drives?

It is highly recommended to disable drive defragmentation schedule. Defragmenting SSD devices will only add unnecessary wear to the drive.

5: Does M6S Plus Require A Driver to Operate?

In general, the SSD itself does not require a driver. However, we need to ensure our Chipset drivers are up to date by checking with our system or motherboard manufacturers website and seeking the support and drivers page.

6: M6S Plus SSD’s Data Are Lost?

It is believed that most users have encountered SSD’s data loss. And reasons for data loss are various. For instance, we mistakenly formatted partition; we accidentally deleted some important data or partitions; our SSD was infected by a virus or malware, etc. So well, how to recover data from SSD has haunted many computer users.

If we search “SSD Data Recovery” on Google, we will find there are two common solutions (resorting to data recovery companies or turning to data recovery software). Although data recovery companies can help to recover lost data, they require high recovery fees. Therefore, turning to data recovery program like MiniTool Power Data Recovery might be better.

This freeware offers multiple relatively independent data recovery modules to cope with data loss scenarios. And, users can see this article Watch How We Make Successful SSD Data Recovery Happen to know more information about SSD data recovery.

Note: If TRIM of SSD is enabled when we are deleting files, data recovery may be impossible. And, if file loss is caused by hardware failure or lost files have been overwritten by new data, there is no way to recover them.

Tips
Although data recovery companies or data recovery software can help us to restore lost data, it is recommended to backup data to prevent data loss tragedy. And, MiniTool Partition Wizard offers “Copy Disk” as well as “Copy Partition” feature to effectively backup all important data.

Bottom Line

After seeing the simple introduction of M6S Plus Series SSDs, we guess you have a basic understanding about the new Solid-state drives. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below.