Reliable SSDs?

[Yuriman]

I have a pair of 80GB Intel X25M-G2's running in RAID that I purchased in 2008, and both are still reporting 99% remaining lifespan after close to 6 years of heavy use.

In 2012 I picked up a Samsung 840 Pro 120GB for my father's PC, and it has been rock solid.

About 4 months ago, I managed to snag two 240GB OCZ Agility 3 SSDs for next to nothing - one of them was $90, the other around $110.

About a month ago, the first Agility 3, which I put in my brother's PC, began to "act up". Occasionally it would disappear from Windows and not appear until a full power-down. This became more frequent, until last week he was unable to get it detected at all. He just sent it off for RMA.

Today, I got a SMART notification of a predicted drive failure for the second one, which is my current boot drive, followed about 30 minutes later by a BSOD and the drive not being detected until I fully powered down my system. I have pretty good reason to believe it's going to require RMA as well.

My brother linked me to some Newegg reviews after hearing my woes.

I suppose if I were to form a question relating to my experiences, it would be, what makes an SSD reliable or unreliable? What is the point of failure? What are brands or models that can be trusted, and which should be avoided?

 

[Cerb]

Failure modes are hard to pin down, though flash quality is definitely a suspect.

But, OCZ is to be avoided, and has been one to avoid for some time. Intel, Crucial, Samsung, Sandisk, Toshiba, and Seagate, all make good stuff.

 

[Charlie98]

You never know... I have an Agility3 64GB that is still trucking along after almost 2.5 years. I was careful not to sleep it, which is supposedly one of the banes of the SF2281 controller. I also had a Samsung 840Pro, the darling of SSD-land, and it went belly up in less than a year (same machine, the 840Pro replaced the Agility3, so not too many variables.)

Cerb is correct, though, I wouldn't line up to buy another OCZ drive, that's for sure. Now that Toshiba owns them, we will have to wait and see if their reputation and CS get any better.

 

[Elixer]

Cerb is correct, though, I wouldn't line up to buy another OCZ drive, that's for sure. Now that Toshiba owns them, we will have to wait and see if their reputation and CS get any better.

In my experience, OCZ had fantastic CS.
If they kept the same team, I don't see why this would change.

 

[bradly1101]

This article led me to Neutron GTX's.

 

[VirtualLarry]

This article led me to Neutron GTX's.

The Seagate 600 series uses the same LAMD controller as the Corsair Neutron / Neutron GTX. The 600 Pro even has backup power caps onboard.

Both have been on sale at TigerDirect for less than $0.50/GB.

Edit: OP, to address your concerns, Intel SSDs with (their own controller) are pretty solid. SandForce controllers have bugs though, in some systems. OCZ rode the "bleeding edge" of SandForce, and was there through most of their firmware bugs, so they got a poor (and sadly, well-deserved) reputation. Some of it, too, is the NAND. OCZ was sourcing cheaper NAND it seems.

That said, I own quite a few (non-SandForce) OCZ drives, and they have all been fine.

5x OCZ Agility 30GB SSD (Barefoot 1 controller)
3x OCZ Vertex Plus R2 120GB SSD (Barefoot 2 controller)
2x OCZ Vertex Plus R2 240GB (refurb) SSD (Barefoot 2 controller)
4x OCZ Vertex II 50GB (refurb) SSD (SandForce 1st-gen controller)
2x OCZ Agility II 90GB SSD (SandForce 1st-gen controller)

The only SandForce 2nd-gen SSD I owned (The Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 240GB) died in less than a month, not even detected by BIOS.

You're OCZ Vertex 3 / Agility 3 SSDs, were also SandForce 2nd-gen controllers.

 

[Yuriman]

You never know... I have an Agility3 64GB that is still trucking along after almost 2.5 years. I was careful not to sleep it, which is supposedly one of the banes of the SF2281 controller. I also had a Samsung 840Pro, the darling of SSD-land, and it went belly up in less than a year (same machine, the 840Pro replaced the Agility3, so not too many variables.)

Cerb is correct, though, I wouldn't line up to buy another OCZ drive, that's for sure. Now that Toshiba owns them, we will have to wait and see if their reputation and CS get any better.

Is it possible to prevent sleep for just one drive, or can I only disable it globally within Windows?

 

[Cerb]

Edit: OP, to address your concerns, Intel SSDs with (their own controller) are pretty solid. SandForce controllers have bugs though, in some systems. OCZ rode the "bleeding edge" of SandForce, and was there through most of their firmware bugs, so they got a poor (and sadly, well-deserved) reputation. Some of it, too, is the NAND. OCZ was sourcing cheaper NAND it seems.

While circumstantial, this is also hinted at by Sandisk, Intel, and Toshiba selling Sandforce based drives hat have had a pretty good reliability track record (though still exhibit some occasional SF bugginess), compared to middlemen, that can't necessarily source the best flash, such as OCZ, PNY, Transcend, etc. (Sandisk's 'unbranded' drives, typically using their own or SF's controllers, should be avoided just as poor values, due to using async NAND, but they hold up fine).

An Intel 530 wouldn't be my first choice, FI, but it's not a bad drive, overall.

 

[Phynaz]

You buy your SSD's from a manufacturer that does this:

http://techreport.com/review/26269/behind-the-scenes-with-intel-ssd-division

 

[Yuriman]

Having used the Intel drives for years, I suppose I took it for granted.

 

[johny12]

An Intel 530 wouldn't be my first choice, FI, but it's not a bad drive, overall.

Ive Been using the intel 530 withthe Sandforce controller. Its pretty solid for the price.

 

[John Connor]

60GB Sniper G.Skill. Gets a licken and keeps on tickin'.

 

[Charlie98]

Having used the Intel drives for years, I suppose I took it for granted.

I put an Intel 530 in a build for my inlaws, so far so good. They probably sleep their computer, too. I was under the impression Intel had full control over the FW in their SSDs, I've been led to believe that may not be as true as I thought. In any event, I'm not too worried about it, not with Intel.

Is it possible to prevent sleep for just one drive, or can I only disable it globally within Windows?

Globally, I believe... :\