OCZ Octane 512GB SATA III SSD Launch Review

When consumer SSDs really began to become affordable and useable one of the manufacturers who was at the forefront of the emerging market was OCZ. Their initial range of SSDs which used the Jmicron controller were far from perfect, no SSD was even close to perfection at that point, but it was clear this was going to be an area OCZ would excel in. Their proactive customer service and good support via the user forum ensured that consumers could get the maximium potential out of those early drives and since then OCZ have continued to build on an already impressive reputation.

Recently we have seen a wide range of drives from OCZ with highlights being the Vertex 3 Max IOPS and RevoDrive 3 X2 which lead the way in performance for their interface. Backed by a good support structure and regular firmware updates via a handy windows utility we have seen these products mature well.

Even more recently OCZ released the RevoDrive Hybrid, a device which combined the speed of an SSD with the capacity of a mechanical drive for those who were not quite ready to make the leap to a traditional SSD due to capacity or cost issues.

Now OCZ are back with yet another model in their SSD family and this time we see the results of using a controller which is based on Indilinx technology, something which hasn't really been present in high end drives for some time now. We'll be putting the Octane SSD through a selection of tests including real world and synthetic to see how it compares to models using the latest Samsung, Marvell and Sandforce controllers.

Packaging and Bundle


OCZ package their Octane SSD in a plastic packet similar to that used on a few of their other drives and different to the Vertex 3/Agility 3 models which arrive in a foam filled box. Inside the packet we find some product documentation and a case sticker.

Software
OCZ provide their Toolbox software as a free download which helps us manage and maintain our SSD. On the first and last tabs we get information on the drive with the others giving us firmware update functionality and secure erase tools.