Crucial MX300 525GB SSD Review

As I realized that my laptop woes were due to a failing hard drive, it was time to upgrade to a solid state drive (SSD). At the price point that I was looking, I decided that the Crucial MX300 gave me the best bang for the buck. I got the 525GB model for $119.99.

From a user perspective, I have no complaints. Everything is snappy, the laptop boots in less than 30 seconds, and applications launch in mere seconds.

From a benchmark perspective, the random read/write speeds do leave something to be desired.

However, after installing Crucial Storage Executive and enabling Momentus Cache, the random speeds increased by a significant amount (up to 8 times).



One thing to note about the Momentus Cache is it requires a battery backup such as a laptop or UPS to ensure writes make it to the SSD.

The Crucial Storage Executive software itself could use some improvement as it is a Java Application that opens up in the browser. This feels weird for what should be a native windows app. The software also could not detect my laptop's battery but this was not an issue, just a weird quirk.

Overall, I'm happy with my choice.  It revived my dying laptop and saved me from having to buy a new one.