Wintec ExpressCard PCIe 128GB MLC 1.3 3FMS4E128JM-R

I bought this SSD with the intension of just playing around with using a bootable SSD for my MBP. Towards my objective of producing a slightly faster computer (pulling photos and videos from large libraries) this expresscard SSD was an absolute success. Boot times for the computer and boot times for most programs were cut down four-fold. Rendering video (at least bottle neck of reading from the drive) and photo recall from large Aperture libraries was rapid to nearly instantaneous. Generally, the computer felt more responsive. This feeling of a overall increase in performance beyond just speeder reads and writes is wholly subjective. Being human, I am unable to distinguish between parts of a process, and I average everything together. Nevertheless, I love it.My major concern with this drive was reliability. Some have reported drive failures. Simply put, I have used this drive as my main boot disc for almost 6 months with no issues whatsoever. In the end this drive held up to daily use and I continue to use it as a storage device now.As it turns out, the major issue was space. 128Gb is pretty large, but it turns out to be quite small when loading multiple programs and large Aperture libraries. While I have been considering moving from managed library to a referenced library, I haven't done that yet. I decided to buy a 480Gb internal SSD for these space issues. Further, the drive I bought manages the location of multiple reads and writes to increase reliability.A second downside is cost per Gb compared to an internal SSD. This drive costs $2/Gb while the internal drive I bought (OWC 6G Mercury Extreme) turned out to be 84 cents per Gb. Granted, the ExpressCard format is almost certainly lower in demand and more specialized, which drives up price.A third issue is that the drive, because it was being used as a boot drive, limited my ability to use the ExpressCard Slot. This turned out to be an issue only because my ExpressCard SD card reader appears to be VERY fast and able to take advantage of the speed increases seen on some of the newer SD cards. As macs have not adopted USB3.0 and there are no SD firewire 800 or Thunderbolt readers, importing 1000 RAW images from an SD card can be MUCH faster using the ExpressCard reader. This is a minor issue, but did play a part in my deciding to buy the internal SSD.My last complaint is that the label, a sticker, started to come off while the drive was in the computer. The lifted paper caused the drive to be slightly difficult to remove.Overall, I recommend this device.

It is not as much as the product that I hate. The product, when it works, is great. What I strongly dislike is the Wintec warranty and support rules. Yes, they offer a 2 year warranty on this item, but do try to contact them, and to process an RMA. It has been over 3 weeks now and I have not heard back from them. I called them today and I was told by one of their supervisors there, Charles, that the only thing he has is an apology for me, but no further information as to when I will receive a replacement or fixed item back. Unacceptable. Terrible practices and very unorganized company. They probably have to send everything back to China and then sit there and wait. For an enduser this is simply unacceptable. I am going to contact Amazon next to complain about this company as well. So, if you don't mind lousy support and a company not standing behind their product then go ahead. Like I said it works great when it works, but if it breaks don't count on much support.

*Updated - as of 26 January 2013*I would have to say the cost to utility benefit of this drive is likely very limited. The only application I have found potential utility relative to cost is in older Macbook Pros (equipped with a EC34 slot) - pre-uniboy 2008 models (*please read update below). It is a fast boot drive in this application due to the fact the EC34 slot runs at 3G speed, versus 1.5G speed for the internal hard drive bay (for the above noted application). However, I would still recommend having a usable OSX boot on the internal drive due to the fact this EC34 SSD can be accidentally popped out during use, and can subsequently be corrupted (and then you'll need a backup). It also gets pretty warm during use, and this is concern with regard to longevity of the device - and possibly your MBP*.It's a reasonably quick drive with consistent average read speeds of 178-180 MB/Sec and write speeds centered right at 130 MB/Sec. That's not impressive for a modern SSD (in any modern SATA III/6G equipped machine) - but faster than any drive you can install in the main drive bay of a pre-unibody MBP - due to the main drive bus running at 1.5G. In fact I have an Agility 4 installed in my older pre-unibody MacBook Pro - and it doesn't reach the Wintech speeds due to the HD bay speed bottleneck.Verdict: Is it worth the cost relative to the convenience of having such a drive in the above mentioned configuration? Perhaps. That depends on what you use your old MacBook Pro for. However, I would say NO from a straightforward cost per/MB standpoint (SSD) and due to the possible reliability problems associated with this drive. The Agility 4 512 GB I have as the main drive in my pre-unibody MBP was much less expensive per/MB, for only slightly slower performance in that computer. Furthermore, I'll be able to transfer the Agility 4 drive for use in a future 6G application after my old MBP kicks the bucket for good. Additionally, I have yet to figure out how to use this as a Windows 7 boot drive. There is no useable work around that I have found to date. If you could get this drive to act as a Windows 7 bootable drive - this would greatly increase the usefulness of the drive.Would I recommend this drive? *When I originally bought this drive, I stated I did so conditionally - with a few caveats that would pertain to the above mentioned older MBP specific application. *However, I now would not recommend this drive due to the fact my older pre-unibody MBP recently died due to the video processor failing - due to excessive heat. This problem is documented, but typically occurs much sooner in the life of an older MBP than what happened with my computer - and typically with slightly earlier models than my machine. I cannot say conclusively that the extra heat from this drive was the only cause, but it is was very likely a direct contributing factor.

Reasonably fast read/write speed, immediately recognized by my Macbook Pro. Using it as a media storage device. The price could come down a little bit to address greater market potential.