Is OWC pulling some of the same stunts that OCZ did?

[groberts101]

Is this a case of the pot calling the kettle black here?
http://blog.macsales.com/9438-not-all-ssd%E2%80%99s-are-created-equal-the-story-continues/comment-page-2#comment-36246

They appear to be open enough on a blog, but then where is the notation of using 25nm nand located on product specs or packaging for these drives?
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/SSDMX115/

1. Reduced capacity?

I’m posting here because I was looking for some explanation why suddenly your 120GB Mercury Extreme Pro SSD model (OWCSSDMX120) seems to have been quietly replaced with a 115GB model (OWCSSDMX120,) with the only spec change being 7% over-provisioning bumped up to 11% – explaining the 5GB drop in capacity.

2. 25nm nand being stealthily implemented?

Currently only our 115GB and 480GB Pro models utilize 25nm flash

3. Lower performance?

The sustained peak sustained data performance of our 25nm based solutions is absolutely in line with the prior 34nm based options. There are some differences up and down depending on type of testing, but overall – the performance remains exceptional.

... which seems to imply the same thing OCZ has stated many times which is that when using easliy compressed data the drive will meet advertised specs. However, when using incompressible data the speeds may have "some differences"?

4. Differing nand between the same drives or "model and such"?

we build with Micron, Toshiba, intel, Samsung, and Hynix depending on model and such.

5. Is some of this simply a case of OCZ beating them to the punch with 25nm nand implementation with the need to avoid drawing attention to their own migration to the smaller process?

OWC could have been shipping 25nm based product weeks before we did…but the firmware supporting this was still in testing and we were still testing built options for this use.

Seems rather fishy smelling with some loosely translated/vague terminology being used. What do you guys think?

 

[Emulex]

owc just rebadges other peoples 'sith and sells it to mac folks for more. their sandforce has the same problems as everyone else (buggy timing firmware).

 

[aphelion02]

This whole fiasco just makes me less likely to buy from either company. I will be going with Intel or Corsair for my next SSD.

 

[Emulex]

i love my corsair - only takes about 5-10 cold starts to have it picked up. gotta love sandforce - anyone want to trade str8 up for an intel 120gb?

 

[COPOHawk]

I only own one non-Intel G2 SSD...the Crucial C300 64GB for one of my workstations. It works well, but lacks the equivalent of the Intel SSD toolbox for diagnostics.

I agree with Emulex here...Intel has been the best choice for me and my customers...with no dead G2's, or any issues really, out of the box. At 14 and counting....

Benchmarks are great...but reliability counts more

 

[Cable God]

Benchmarks are great...but reliability counts more

Very very true. I've had 34 OWC RE Pro SSD's in RAID10 for the past 6 months, with only one failure so far. This is spread across 3 separate servers with heavy writes on two of them. I will be needing another 30+ within the next month or so but I plan to wait a bit to see how the newer drives shake out.

 

[Cerb]

owc just rebadges other peoples 'sith and sells it to mac folks for more. their sandforce has the same problems as everyone else (buggy timing firmware).

This. Whatever OWC does is really a non-issue. If it's not them, it will be somebody else. They only have sway amongst those people inside the SJRDF.

 

[Dark Shroud]

This whole fiasco just makes me less likely to buy from either company. I will be going with Intel or Corsair for my next SSD.

+1 Intel might not be the fastest but I'll take less problems & longer life in fair trade.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

owc just rebadges other peoples 'sith and sells it to mac folks for more. their sandforce has the same problems as everyone else (buggy timing firmware).

This is true, but: it's not that much of a premium, they're how-to videos are well done, and their customer support and returns are top-notch.

They're also HQ'd in my dad's hometown.

If it's less than a 10% difference, I'll buy from them over Newegg, even if it's hardware destined for my Windows boxes.

 

[Emulex]

hay dude do they still have those crazy grocery stores with containers that take your groceries out to your car??

I grew up in this nasty little dirt spot called apple valley. nobody believes me that i had to walk up this big hill - in the snow - every day to get to school (rosemount elementary?) from galaxie ave? - it still must suck because they don't have google street view. i'd pay someone $$ if that hill existed because nobody believes that ole' story. you know where that town is??

 

[Yellowbeard]

i love my corsair - only takes about 5-10 cold starts to have it picked up. gotta love sandforce - anyone want to trade str8 up for an intel 120gb?

Very very true. I've had 34 OWC RE Pro SSD's in RAID10 for the past 6 months, with only one failure so far. This is spread across 3 separate servers with heavy writes on two of them. I will be needing another 30+ within the next month or so but I plan to wait a bit to see how the newer drives shake out.

Wow....with me added in the mix, Georgia and the metro ATL area are well represented here.