Packaging

The Drive

The drive conforms to the dimensions set forth by the 2.5" form factor. It is made of metal, which improves its durability, and is only 7 mm tall, which makes it compatible with Intel's Ultrabook specification. Crucial includes a 9.5 mm adapter in the package, so the SSD will also fit into notebooks that require that form factor.


Like most recent SSDs, the Crucial M550 uses the SATA 6 Gbps interface. It is compatible with any older SATA standard, but will, in such a case, work at reduced performance.


You will find the SSD controller and 16 flash chips on the PCB. A DRAM chip next to the flash controller provides its operating memory; a second DRAM chip is on the other side.


Crucial uses a Marvell 88SS9189-BLD2 controller. It is an updated version of the one used with the M500 Series.


The sixteen MLC flash chips, produced by Micron, are built on a 20 nanometer process.


A DRAM chip is also installed on the PCB. It provides RAM for the SSD controller.