The Crucial 32GB SSD drive costs around $799 (+shipping), as found at Crucial's online store. The price is very high, compared to similar offerings from companies like Supertalent, although Crucial reputation, reliability and and hopefully performance may worth some extra spending.

The retail package is actually very small and includes just includes the SSD drive itself. For our tests, Crucial also provided us with the SK01 external package ($49.99) that offers you many connectivity options such as placing the drive into an external case or using it as an internal 5.25"/3.5" removable disk!

Crucial SSD drives come with a SATA2 (3GB/s) interface that is also compatible with SATA1 (1.5GB/s) ports. There is not any IDE/ATAPI version. A SATA-to-IDE converter might work for you, but anyway the SSDs target new laptop users and of course high end desktop users that definitely comes with a SATA interface.

The SK01 kit is sold separately. It includes a 2.5-inch external enclosure that can be connected to your PC through USB 2.0 or SATA interface. It also comes with an additional 3.5-inch SATA drive bay to allow for SSD integration into your PC. Don't have a spare 3.5-inch drive bay? Things are easy thanks to the included 5.25-inch drive bay bracket. This is very useful for hot-swap-supported systems, since you get enhanced security and mobility for your critical data by easily removing the SSD from desktop drive bays and storing it in a secure location, without even turning the computer power off.

The SK01 external drive kit is compatible with the usual 2.5" hard drives too.

In short, the SK01 external 2.5-inch storage kit is designed to house an internal 2.5-inch SSD for use in three different ways:

• Connection as an external USB 2.0 device for desktops or notebooks
• Connection via a SATA 3Gb/s port by way of installation into a 3.5-inch desktop drive bay
• Connection via a SATA 3Gb/s port by way of installation into a 5.25-inch desktop drive bay

The retail SK01 kit includes

• 2.5-inch USB 2.0 external enclosure
• 3.5-inch hot swappable SATA drive bay
• 5.25-inch bracket
• USB cable
• SATA cable
• Power cable adapter
• Screw packets
• Protective carrying case
• User guide

Below you can see the main case, in which the SSD drive will be installed

Both SATA and USB ports are available:.

In case you need to install the SSD inside your PC, you can use the second adaptor and place it as a 3.5" floppy. In that case, a SATA cable should be used for connection to your motherboard's internal SATA ports, while the 3.5" power cable is the same you are probably using for your floppy drive.