Anything to look for in budget SSD

[VirtualLarry]

I think TweakTown did a review of the S60 120GB or 240GB drive. The original controller that the S60 shipped out with, was a SandForce 2nd-gen, but apparently, they've switched to a cheaper, slower, Phison S9 controller.

I try to avoid the "switcheroo" SSDs, although the Kingston V300 that I purchased before I knew about the NAND swap is functioning OK, although I don't have it in a high-performance role. (It's in my HTPC.)

 

[RecoveryForce]

Being one who does in-house SSD data recovery, I can assure you that Sandforce and many Toshiba controllers are rarely recoverable after they suddenly go stupid.

Basically, they fail because of a minor firmware issue. However, due to what I consider a design flaw, we get caught in a catch 22. In order to access the firmware behind the encryption, the drive needs to ID, but because the firmware is damaged, the drive cannot ID.

There are only a handful of data recovery labs who claim that they can recover data from a Sandforce controller, but I've yet to see any evidence that their claims are true. Most of them charge more for their attempt fee on these drives than we do for most SSD recoveries and I suspect that they just get paid for the attempt most of the time knowing that they won't succeed. Perhaps, from time to time, they get lucky and the SSD just has a blown fuse or minor file system damage unrelated to the horrible firmware issues that brick the device.

Although both Intel and Samsung have had quite a few firmware issues of their own, at least they are still recoverable most of the time.

That all being said, it is better to have a backup than to rely solely on the stability of a single drive.