Crucial’s M4 SSD is inherently faulty - AVOID

[GoStumpy]

What I find funny is the overall maturity of these SSD owners that get their posts banned from Crucials forums... Seriously, is it that hard to write a post that explains your problems without "OMGGZZ DONT BUY CRUCIALS IT SUCKS HUGE DONKEYS GET SOMETHING ELSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Really? Is that the only way you can get your point across?

 

[jhansman]

Hmmm, interesting how the OP has disappeared from this thread. Retreated to back under his bridge? Meanwhile, my M4 zips along merrily.

 

[nanaki333]

got 2 256GB in raid0 running great. i don't doubt crucial DID delete a bunch of posts. it was probably a 4:1 troll post ratio. nobody wants to scroll through all that crap to find out the solution, so they probably trimmed the fat to keep everything on topic.

 

[bryanW1995]

We're using them for live video processing/encoding and archiving video footage/images all HD stuff. Our systems have six of the 512's each so we use a fair amount of them with more to go. We also use them as they go into hazardous environments and spinning drives are a liability. No moving parts is a big plus.

I remember watching the extra sections in Planet Earth and thinking that those guys really went to some crazy places! Hopefully you guys aren't doing anything life-threatening. It's good to hear that your drives have all been perfect, it seems like there are a lot more stoies like this out there than like the OP's experience.

 

[olmer]

question for the OP....what version of Firmware did your drive have? (are you gregh on the crucial forum?)

Also curious, what chipset do you have and what OS are you running?

No, my username was ‘notatroll’ and all my posts were senselessly deleted by wicked Crucial’s mods.

Seriously, the problem seems to be with drives purchased in May-April and it looks like some form of time-related imminent internal chip failure. Firmware, available space, type of use or OS environment does not matter. Neither does SATA speed/chipset.

[from under the bridge] I agree, I may have made the headline a bit scary, but that is how I felt at the time after major inconvenience of RMA-ing the drive over the holidays and some useless manufacturer’s response further heated by an overzealous mod who kept removing my (very helpful) posts, which in no way breached forum’s T&Cs

Crucial has my drive and promised to ship a replacement before Christmas. If they do so and I can fully use my laptop again during being away on holidays, I may consider editing my original post. The ‘time-bomb’ warning is, however, valid and will stay.

 

[Diogenes2]

Your OP is still misleading as to the extent of the problem.

Since the problem involves drives from several months ago, there is no reason to avoid them now..

 

[SuperSix]

I've sold hundreds and not had a complaint. OCZ and Corsair on the other hand....

 

[Nebor]

I replaced a failed OCZ with a crucial a few months ago and it's fine so far. To be honest I don't have much faith in non-Intel SSDs, but I couldn't care less if the SSD in my desktop craps out. It has my OS and that's it. All steam games are on a raid 1 array and all libraries (documents, music, video, pictures) are on a RAID X NAS.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

obligatory, "mine works fine" comment

 

[Zorander]

Mine works fine as well though it has only been 2 months since I got it.

Curious, is the OP's sample size just that one drive of his?

 

[corkyg]

Reminds me somewhat of "Jay-walking."

 

[Old Hippie]

Avoid Cruical M4, it smelled funny when you take it out of antistatic wrap.

I can't remember for certain, but mine might have smelled funny too!?

LOL!

So these drives don't pass the smell test?

Are they moldy or what?

 

[olmer]

Okay, people. Call me whatever you choose, but first at least read the original thread and check how many of the remaining posts are not ‘edited’ or made up by mods. Yes, you do not have any issues with your M4 drives just now, but how does it warrant removing/editing >50% of the posts on manufacturer’s forums? Should they at least listen and admit there is a problem? Or those posters are wrong just because they all said something against Micron (an US company)? You tell me now it is okay to ‘contain’ the issue using any means necessary in order not to damage company’s reputation/jobs it creates/taxes it pays?

 

[ShreddedWheat]

love mine

 

[Dadofamunky]

OP: not buying what you're selling, dude.

 

[Blain]

Point is - RMA gives you the same inherently faulty drive expected to survive <6 months. Even used/refurbished - so you cannot say how long it will last and have to back up weekly. Posted just to warn you off

When you say "gives you the same inherently faulty drive"...
Are you saying they shipped you back the exact same drive you returned to them in the first place?
If not, what makes Crucial different from WD, Seagate, Hitachi, etc in regards to their RMA practices?

 

[=Wendy=]

Many people make the mistake of thinking that a manufacturers support forum is the same as an open discussion forum such as Anandtech. They are not.

The sole purpose of a manufacturers support forum is to give support to their customers, and most of them will not allow open discussion, or for you to name competitors products. Their policy is normally one of only allowing what is relevant.

It would be totally naive to think that out of all the Crucial SSDs sold that you wouldn't get the odd faulty drive. That does not mean that the product is inherently faulty. It stands to reason that the more product you sell, the more people will show up on their forum with a problem. This can also be seen with SandForce based SSDs on their respective support forums.

I am reliably informed that there are 4 Sandforce based SSDs sold for every one SSD using another controller, so it stands to reason that it could appear that SandForce based SSDs are inherently faulty, when in actual fact the amount of drives with a problem is a drop in the ocean when compared to the amount of drives sold.

I would be pretty confident of saying that the same will apply to Crucial, in that the amount of faulty drives is a drop in the ocean when compared to the amount of drives sold.

 

[Bill Brasky]

Same experience as supersix, I've literally sold hundreds and have heard nothing but good things. Same with the Intel ssd's.

 

[SuperSix]

Same experience as supersix, I've literally sold hundreds and have heard nothing but good things. Same with the Intel ssd's.

Do you work for a disty?

 

[Triggaaar]

Anybody who is reliant on a functional computer already backs up their main drive weekly or even more frequently. Or they're doing it wrong.

Really? I rely on my PC, but I don't back up my OS. I back up important data all the time, but if my OS drive crashed it would be a pain I'd rather avoid. But having had a PC since 1994, and having never had a single drive failed (I realise I'm going to now), I am probably a little complacent. But if a model of SSD was regularly failing, I wouldn't want it, regardless of backups.

 

[Subyman]

I've heard nothing of the M4's being bad. OCZ's Vertex 2 on the other hand... I will never buy another OCZ product after going through that. Intel SSDs only from now on.

 

[jhansman]

Many people make the mistake of thinking that a manufacturers support forum is the same as an open discussion forum such as Anandtech. They are not.

Spend some time over at the Corsair forums and you'll learn this. You can't even use another manufacturer's name in a post, regardless of context. I made the mistake of using Crucial's name in a post when trying to find out why the Force 3 I bought lagged so badly behind my M4 in reads. Turned out it was an issue of synchronous vs. asynchronous NAND, but the only way I was able to find that out was by being referred to this site http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/08/07/nand_flash_faces_off_synchronous_vs_asynchronous/1 by another user there. The mods were no help at all. Ultimately sold the Force 3 and am completely pleased with the Crucial drive.

 

[peonyu]

Spend some time over at the Corsair forums and you'll learn this. You can't even use another manufacturer's name in a post, regardless of context. I made the mistake of using Crucial's name in a post when trying to find out why the Force 3 I bought lagged so badly behind my M4 in reads. Turned out it was an issue of synchronous vs. asynchronous NAND, but the only way I was able to find that out was by being referred to this site http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/08/07/nand_flash_faces_off_synchronous_vs_asynchronous/1 by another user there. The mods were no help at all. Ultimately sold the Force 3 and am completely pleased with the Crucial drive.

Their forums are dictator like but it is their forums /shrug. I have a force GT and am pleased, zero problems after 2 months now. The async Force 3's are slower, yes, but as you said its due to being async. I found that out by googling reviews of Force 3 [non GT] and all the reviews mentioned async right off the bat, so its not like its hidden information that async force 3's lag in write speeds...

 

[Zap]

Our systems have six of the 512's each

 

[Binky]

News flash - posts on forums where people go when something is wrong are NOT a good sign of reliability.

Please, Mr. OP, show me where the (non-existent) posts are that were (not) posted by people with no problems.