OCZ Vertex Plus R2 240GB refurb SSD partial failure after a few days

[VirtualLarry]

Well, don't I feel stupid for trying out a refurb 240GB OCZ SSD drive.

I own three 120GB units of the same model, and they have been very reliable for me. So I figured the refurbs would be too (same reliable firmware, right?)

I installed it into a Foxconn AT-5570 NanoPC. Initial install was mostly uneventful, although the first boot after booting from the install USB stick froze up, so I just rebooted.

Well, fast-forward a few days, I wake up and my TV has a black screen, asking for a boot device. I determine it to be my NanoPC, so I reboot and same thing. So I check the BIOS, and the SSD isn't in the boot options.

I think, uh-oh, the SSD went Tango-Uniform.

I turned it off for 5 min., and then the SSD was detected. But it still wouldn't boot. So I booted the installer stick and did a boot repair, which worked.

I was finally able to boot Win7 HP 64-bit. I couldn't open CoreTemp, gave me an error.

So I scheduled a disk check on C and rebooted.

The disk check froze checking indexes. So I rebooted, another disk check, same thing.

So I rebooted again, cancelled the disk check, and downloaded HDTune. AMD SATA drivers prevented me from reading SMART data, so I did a surface scan. Got halfway through the surface scan, with mutiple red blocks, and HDTune froze completely. So did the OS.

So I powered off, then restarted with the Win7 install stick. I first formatted the SSD partition (TRIM pass), then I did a CLEAN ALL using Diskpart, then repartitioned and formatted twice (more TRIM passes).

Then I re-installed my HTPC without issue.

I re-installed HDtune, and did another disk surface scan. All green squares, up until around 156MB out of 240. Then it stopped scanning. However, I was able to exit the program. However, I did another scan, and now the entire first row turns red, then each square turns yellow as it scans. I rebooted, and same thing. However, it doesn't report any damaged sectors.

Edit: Hdtune scan completed sucessfully, no damaged sectors. (Think the SSD is safe to continue using?)

I'm a bit curious as to the root cause of the issue - bad refurb, or too high temps for the SSD? The NanoPC is passively-cooled, and the CPU runs 72-74C. Is that environment too hot for an SSD? Are mSATA SSDs more rugged, temp-wise? I know the NUCs had temp issues with their mSATA SSDs failing too, due to too-high temps - and the NUCs have a fan!

http://www.pcper.com:8080/news/General-Tech/New-Intel-PCN-Addresses-NUC-Overheating-Issues

 

[Doomer]

Just like the company that made it, down the drain.

 

[AViking]

This section could have made good use out of a sticky warning them about OCZ. The number of "my OCZ drive died" threads is a bit much.

Since it happened so quickly are you allowed to return a refurbished drive or do you buy it "as-is"?

 

[Elcs]

My OCZ Vertex Plus lasted 2 years.

The refurb they sent mid-Nov (OCZ Vertex Plus) died within 12 hours.

The refurb they sent late-Nov (OCZ Vertex 3) is now my Steam/Games drive and I bought a cheap as chips Black Friday Amazon UK dealy on a Crucial 240Gb which is my OS/Program drive.

If my OCZ drive dies in the next 11 months, I'm going to go through the retailer as is a legal right in the UK... but I have everything crossed. It was a nightmare to go through as OCZ's RMA process was like molasses and the shipping from NL took forever.

 

[Koing]

My mates OCZ Vertex 2 died after a few weeks as well.

Koing

 

[Towermax]

I've had two SSDs fail temporarily, and both were boot drives on my HTPC running Windows 7x64.

First one was a 32GB Corsair X32 (Indilinx Barefoot controller w/TRIM) and the second was a 64GB OCZ Vertex Turbo (also Indilinx Barefoot w/TRIM). In both cases, they worked fine for a few days and then black screened and disappeared. I did a destructive re-flash on each one and reinstalled them and each failed again.

Destructive flashed again and both are now running fine in other systems.

I've wondered if there is something about HTPC use on small SSDs that is the problem. (Of course, yours isn't a small SSD.)

 

[ronbo613]

My Vertex 2 has been working perfectly for a couple years; best paperweight I ever had.

 

[sequoia464]

My Vertex 2 has been working perfectly for a couple years; best paperweight I ever had.

I have one of those as well - use it on the inbox.

Mine actually lasted about 18 months.