Which SSD brand do you trust?

[exdeath]

I trust no storage device from any vendor.

I enjoy the fastest ones available, and keep backups in case of RMA.

I have enough that should one die, I can reconfigure my RAID with less drives, re image my entire partition in less than 60 seconds (from SSD to SSD of course), RMA the dead SSD, etc.

[Shephard]

ok good information infoiltrator.

so maybe 120gb.

So maybe Intel? Crucial does not sound so good anymore.

Do I want SATA 2 or SATA 3? How much faster boot time would be on SATA 3?

[blastingcap]

Crucial is fine as long as you use 0309 or 00F firmware. The newest firmware has difficulty with some UEFI BIOSes or so I hear.

With very few exceptions (such as the sub-HDD write speeds of Intel X25-M G2's), you will not be able to tell much of a speed difference between any SSDs manufactured in the last 2 years in real-life experience except when transferring multiple gigabytes of data at a time to/from another SSD (or similar-speed array), and that simply does not happen very often.

Moving data from an SSD to a HDD (or vice versa) = HDD is the bottleneck anyway. If over network or USB 2.0 then that's an even worse bottleneck.

[Shephard]

what do you mean moving data is bottlenecked?

also whats the big deal with all the firmware. can't you just use the first version and not update? I mean are you really seeing huge gains from updating to the next firmware and risk having your SSD die? don't sound worth it to me.

[fleshconsumed]

It's been said before in this thread. Trusting one or the other brand is the wrong way to go about this, you have to look at the specific model. All manufacturers have their own share of flops. Take intel for example, the 320 model was plagued by the 8MB bug, intel released new firmware that was supposed to fix the issue, but apparently it still happens even to this day on certain hardware configurations and intel won't do anything about it. The new Intel 335 drive has Mechanical Wear Indicator going down at an alarming rate according to anandtech review, way too fast, and I haven't read any resolution to this issue so far (correct me if I'm wrong). The Samsung 840 Pro is under suspicion now since Anandtech had two drives die on them. While it may not necessarily mean anything, I wouldn't buy 840 Pro until it establishes a good track record after these two failures. I'm not even going to talk about OCZ, they have had so many different drives and so many failures, that personally I'm going to completely write them off.

Basically, go for the models, not brands. Intel G2, 330, 520 are good, 320 and 335 are not. Samsung 830 is good, 840Pro the jury is still out. Crucial M4 (with the latest firmware that fixes 5000 hour bug) is good. Everything else is kind of unknown - there is too little feedback to make a conclusive opinion.

[jwilliams4200]

Originally Posted by fleshconsumed

Everything else is kind of unknown - there is too little feedback to make a conclusive opinion.

You forgot Plextor. They are by far the most trustworthy brand. They have not had any serious firmware bugs or hardware problems on any of their SSDs. They have a thorough set of qualification tests, as well as burn-in tests run on every SSD (see on their website for details). And the percentage of poor newegg reviews on Plextor models is the best around.

[Shephard]

which Plextor? I have never heard of this company before.

Intel 330 120gb sounds. Do you guys think this is a good size or smaller.

Ok so operating system, anti virus, and some main programs.

then should I make it cache SSD or no?

[Mars999]

Originally Posted by Shephard

which Plextor? I have never heard of this company before.

Intel 330 120gb sounds. Do you guys think this is a good size or smaller.

Ok so operating system, anti virus, and some main programs.

then should I make it cache SSD or no?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...1&name=Plextor

[Zorander]

I would just go with a brand/model that has been out for 6-12 months. Its short-term reliability/failure rate will be reasonably known by then.

Avoid ones with track record of failures (e.g. OCZ Sandforce).

Oft-recommended models like the Crucial M4 and Samsung 830 are not necessarily failure-proof (nothing is in the computer world) but they are a relatively safe bet.

[hal2kilo]

Originally Posted by Shephard

which Plextor? I have never heard of this company before.

Intel 330 120gb sounds. Do you guys think this is a good size or smaller.

Ok so operating system, anti virus, and some main programs.

then should I make it cache SSD or no?

Been around for years. Was the Cadillac of optical drives (CD burners). Those glory days passed, but they seemed to have made an excellent SSD in their first offering.

[Centauri]

I don't think Plextor has ever released a bad product. Excellent, albeit obscure, track record.

[bradley]

I trust Plextor SSDs most, then anything with the Marvell 88SS9174 controller (except anything by OCZ,) and then Samsung and Intel. Otherwise, I trust most manufacturers very little.

[nk215]

I have 5 Samsung 830, three flextor M5, four crucial M4, two intel x25m g2 180. Three of them (each brand beside intel) are 256gig, everything else are 128 (beside intel which are 180)

I am going after a intel x25-e when the price is right (used prob).

Those are the only brands that I trust. I would never use a OCZ even if it were at half the price of the above brands.

128 gig at around 80 dollars are great price. I bought a ton because I afraid they won't be making ssd the way they used to in the near future. They continue to shrink the die at the cost of longevity of the chip.

I use SSD as my boot drives, to host my virtual HDs (vhd files), and store Photoshop cache.

[MANswers]

M4

[Shephard]

Originally Posted by nk215

I have 5 Samsung 830, three flextor M5, four crucial M4, two intel x25m g2 180. Three of them (each brand beside intel) are 256gig, everything else are 128 (beside intel which are 180)

I am going after a intel x25-e when the price is right (used prob).

Those are the only brands that I trust. I would never use a OCZ even if it were at half the price of the above brands.

128 gig at around 80 dollars are great price. I bought a ton because I afraid they won't be making ssd the way they used to in the near future. They continue to shrink the die at the cost of longevity of the chip.

I use SSD as my boot drives, to host my virtual HDs (vhd files), and store Photoshop cache.

so you use your ssd as caching drive?

is your bigger SSD not caching? you use it like a second hard drive?

[RaistlinZ]

Only ever owned OCZ. Hasn't failed me yet.

[nk215]

Originally Posted by Shephard

so you use your ssd as caching drive?

is your bigger SSD not caching? you use it like a second hard drive?

The main reason I want a separate cache drive is because I take an image of my OS drive for backup regularly. I don't want temp data such as cache to be part of the backup.

[bigystyle84]

I've owned 3-4 Intel Drives, 2 OCZ, 2 Corsair, 2 Crucial and 2 Kingston SSD's


Wish I was kidding.


None of them have had issues.

[Shephard]

Originally Posted by bigystyle84

I've owned 3-4 Intel Drives, 2 OCZ, 2 Corsair, 2 Crucial and 2 Kingston SSD's


Wish I was kidding.


None of them have had issues.

ok why exactly did you switch if none had issues???

what I am understanding is there is not much difference in speed the last few years. only big difference that I see is more gb for less $.

were any of them cache SSD and why?

[bigystyle84]

Cause im constantly flipping parts on ebay and building and selling PCs often for not much profit just for the fun of it.

Call me crazy, i just like screwing around.

[TemjinGold]

Okay we won't ask.

[dmoney1980]

Originally Posted by bigystyle84

Don't ask how many video cards ive owned....

how many?

[lehtv]

Originally Posted by dmoney1980

how many?

he said don't ask

[Shephard]

ok so Zap said caching is Intel. So I guess only Intel SSD can be cache SSD.

so what size of SSD would you say is minimum to be worth it. 64gb or 120gb.

Operating system takes like 10gb. Everything else not much. anti virus is nothing, so many programs.

maybe 64 is the best deal?

[infoiltrator]

At sale prices usually 120-128 GB makes the most sense.
Bigger SSDs run faster last longer.
Got the Kingston HyperX 120 at $60 than a Samsung 830 ar $70.
The samsung even at $90-100 is worthwhile.

Avoid the Crucial M4 64 GB, slow and short lived (comparably).
Caching does not make a lot of sense at today's sale pricing.