You want my honest opinion here? I'll give it openly and with complete candor on this rare occasion BUT I'm not going to debate it.. and it is what it is.. based on personal experience with over 10k spent on the testing of and "breaking of more than one brand of SSD"(Intel included). Sometimes even on purpose as that's the easiest way to see where some hardware limitations lie.
OK.. here it is. CMOS/HARDWARE/DRIVER COMPATIBILITY.
Simple as that and not all controller designs are the same in this regard as far as base codes/inherrent design limitations go. This is often why one mfgrs hardships are nearly immediately mirrored by all others using those same controllers despite the variations between forum/reviewer reports(think.. "release date" and "vendor availability" variables being mixed in there too) as sales volume ofetn skews the picture even further. Not many "net detectives" put all the pieces together and cross reference well enough to take notice either.
Also keep in mind that the end-users "interpretation" as to the actual cause of the issues they experienced are RARELY right on target due to the plain and simple fact that many are not what you would call "experts" on the various factors involved when we mix and match all this hardware/software together. They often lump various factors in there without the knowledge of potential resolution being added to the final conclusion. They just know it didn't work and speculate more than a wall street broker as to the exact cause. Ram/CPU voltages/drivers/overclocking etc all have caused issues and often don't show up immediately because some SSD's tend to tax the system/subsystems harder than HDD ever would which manifests into increased problems much more quickly and deceives from the actual underlying cause. Seen dozens and dozens of posts where people are swearing that the SSD is the cause "because the HDD doesn't do that".. only to find the issue lay elsewhere in the end. A quick visit to any RAM mfgrs forums right after a platform or product release will make that quite obvious.
When a simple mobo bios update.. or a driver install/delete.. or even a power mgmt tweak can make an otherwise unstable device work as it was supposed to out of the box?.. you can bet yer ass that there's FAARRR more to it than simply "following sata spec" and getting the mobo mfgr to include your devices script/id/ACPI interaction profiles to have everything work as it should right out of the box. If it was that easy?.. we surely wouldn't be seeing the huge influx of driver, software, CMOS, firmware updates that we commonly see when new tech hits our shelves. If the SF-2281 controller had not been introduced when the new 6 series chipsets came out(ie, X58/AMD SB850)?.. the issues would have been GREATLY reduced as the variable added to all that mess was overwhelmingly stacked against that controller. The responsibility and cause was not entirely on Sandforce's shoulders there and even other controllers had issues early on as well.
This is life with PC hardware in general and those that test further than all others/spend more money up front?.. are the ones who have the least problems.. aka.. Intel(although their latest chipsets have been less than stellar in that regard). Unfortunately that makes the end product more expensive and IMHO the adoption of these SSD's into "typical use computers" would not be where it is today without companies like OCZ sticking their necks out to make them at lower costs.
That lower cost can sometimes come at a price but even those who do have issues and decide that a specific "brand" is not viable due to hassles?.. are quick to search for alternatives because they simply cannot go back to running an OS from a spinner any more. I've seen plenty of early Sandforce adopters try and switch brands(thinking that's where the entire problem stemmed from) only to find the exact same issues(or even new ones) when changing brands so obviously there's more to it than meets the eye. Putting blinders on only makes that view that much worse. Also keep in mind that the earlier Indilinx related issues are now easily resolved with a destructive flash and smacks back at the face of all those "experts" who said their drive was actually dead or contained defective "chips", etc. So, there is a vast multitude of things that many don't understand when it comes to an SSD and a "failure" can be attributed to many underlying factors.
In the end here.. speed is FAARRR more addicting than stability ever will be for the typical PC/laptop user and OCZ typically caters to those consumers who want to live on the edge. Lower prices never hurt either. And if you're one of the unlucky ones to fall over that edge?.. there's a tiny little invisible cable that comes attached to all their SSD's and it's called.. "forum support" and "warranty".. to reel you back in if need be. Sadly.. not all have the strength to pull themselves back up and run away crying and feel the constant need to "tell daddy" about the bad man(sorry.. I have a "bad humor" habit at times). :twisted:
This ain't enterprise.. and that's good enough for me. Plus.. that's what backups and raid is for.
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