Finally got an SSD!

[zhenya00]

Not ready for SSD lifespans but still attracted to them.

?

Name brand SSD's have lifespans that will far exceed how long you will actually want to keep using the drive. Not to mention the fact that SSD or platter drive, you still have to back up your stuff.

[Saintor]

I am not a fan of OCZ. Their drives tend to have the best benchmarks, but they also have a lot of failures.

Talk me about it. I lost like 15 hours and despite updating the firmware, it failed a few months. I resold the replacement unit I got from OCZ.

I am giving SSD another chance; yesterday I ordered a Intel 520, which will be completed with my 1Tb WD Black series.

[Aonarch]

Talk me about it. I lost like 15 hours and despite updating the firmware, it failed a few months. I resold the replacement unit I got from OCZ.

I am giving SSD another chance; yesterday I ordered a Intel 520, which will be completed with my 1Tb WD Black series.

I have heard good things about that Intel, and WD is all I use for HDD's.

[PhReE]

Not ready for SSD lifespans but still attracted to them.

What is the program for boot times you used?

I have SSD drives from back in 2009 (when 128GB cost ~$350!) that still run fine, and one of the heaviest used ones has 98%of its erase cycles left.

[SpiffyGTI]

Intel SSDs are about as reliable as they get.

[Power5]

Weird that when SSDs started getting popular the intel controller was the only one worth considering. Now the new intel drives use sandforce controllers. So now sandforce is okay.

[zhenya00]

Weird that when SSDs started getting popular the intel controller was the only one worth considering. Now the new intel drives use sandforce controllers. So now sandforce is okay.

Intel has a significantly higher threshold for validating a system than the smaller companies. It's not at all unlikely that early Sandforce controllers weren't that reliable, and that they have improved over time. It's also not unheard of that a smaller company builds something truly excellent. A large company like Samsung or Intel must set a much higher threshold for reliability before approving a piece of hardware, however. That stuff takes time.

Again, if you want the fastest cutting edge product, you generally look to the smaller vendors. If you want the best reliability, you look to the big ones. There are exceptions, but that's a good rule of thumb.

[Max Rebo]

Yep, avoid OCZ like the plague.

I use Crucial M4's at home for my personal desktop and lab as they're a little cheaper than the Samsungs. We've probably bought close to 100 Samsung 830's at work (128GB's for workstations and laptops, probably about 20x 512GB's for our test and development servers), literally not a single one has failed.

I don't know... I have an OCZ Vertex 3 and it hasn't had a hiccup since building my PC earlier this year. Figure going on 6 months so far, so I'm optimistic.

[matt007]

Read some forums and you will see sandforce still has hiccups, I've been using the M4 since its inception and have been very happy, crucial hasnt don't me wrong yet, ever, in any component

[zerotosixty]

It's awesome. I love SSDs.

I just bought a Retina MacBook Pro and it's stupid fast with the SSD. Flash based hardware is the future

[zerotosixty]

Intel SSDs are about as reliable as they get.

My research has shown that the newer Samsung SSDs are faster, whereas Toshiba makers slower ones.

[spoonie]

i've been doing a fair amount of reading lately - interesting that ocz has gone their own way with the controller hardware/firmware by purchasing a korean company. the vertex4 is their own "new" thing. so far so good?

[BRealistic]

It's awesome. I love SSDs.

I just bought a Retina MacBook Pro and it's stupid fast with the SSD. Flash based hardware is the future

Yeah.. it is flash memory, like a thumb drive.

So.. how long will flash ram keep data without significant degradation?

If you leave an SDD PC unplugged for a few years and them turn it on, will the SSD still have all your data?

[Hostile]

So.. how long will flash ram keep data without significant degradation?

If you leave an SDD PC unplugged for a few years and them turn it on, will the SSD still have all your data?

I don't know, but I did know that I've seen plenty of instances where a platter drive was plugged in after sitting in a cabinet for a year and data couldn't be pulled off of it.

[zhenya00]

Just restored my 2008 iMac to modern-like functionality with an SSD install today. Took some time as I had to move a lot of data around to make everything work on the smaller SSD internal, and took the opportunity to replace my aging NAS with a single external drive now that the iMac has effectively become the NAS for the house, and I back up to the cloud. Anyhow, the actual install was pretty easy, and this computer that had been beginning to drag a bit as it aged is now snappy and quick again.

[BsickPassat]

Just picked up a Samsung 830 SSD in 128 GB capacity....

[stascom]

I built 4 machines with OG Agility (the horror!!! ) 2 years ago. 2 of them are still running strong Other 2 have been RMAed 4+ times

Just picked up a 240GB Kingston 3K for myself. Was too cheap until it finally hit $160 I'm familiar with SSD experience from client builds, so I'm not shocked by the performance. But it is almost infuriating to work on anything else now

[stascom]

Yeah.. it is flash memory, like a thumb drive.

So.. how long will flash ram keep data without significant degradation?

If you leave an SDD PC unplugged for a few years and them turn it on, will the SSD still have all your data?

Flash is classified as non-volatile, so I don't see why it wouldn't hold data for 2+ years. Given that it's kept in the appropriate environment, of course.

[stascom]

Read some forums and you will see sandforce still has hiccups, I've been using the M4 since its inception and have been very happy, crucial hasnt don't me wrong yet, ever, in any component

OCZ's firmware for SF controllers has issues. Always had. SF currently doesn't have issues.

[spoonie]

went bananas and bought an ssd. 512gb crucial m4.

it loses out in some smaller size writes, but for $400 CDN in my hands, w/o shipping, i couldn't say no.

[too_slow]

It doesn't matter if you're running SSD/HDD. You need to do loss-mitigation by doing periodic backups. With that being said, solid choice on the Crucial M4. I have 4 in all of my household computers (256gb ver, because it was $169 for 3 days here in Canuckstan). I even put one on my gf's 2009 MBP with an older OS that does not support TRIM natively. Luckily there is a way to get around the "TRIM for mac-branded SSDs only" feature.

[too_slow]

went bananas and bought an ssd. 512gb crucial m4.

it loses out in some smaller size writes, but for $400 CDN in my hands, w/o shipping, i couldn't say no.

BALLER

It was $379 at ME a few weeks back. I was so tempted, but I have trouble filling up 128gb as is.. LOL

[UKnewWho]

I've been running 4 40GB OCZ Vertex 2 in RAID0 off of an Adaptec 2405 controller for the last 2-3 Years in my personal machine. No issues and no performance drop that I can tell anyways.

The only issues I've seen with OCZ is when running with Windows XP. I've installed around 6-700 SSDs in the last 3-4 years. Havn't had to RMA 1 yet.

Like I said, some freaked out with XP (lack of trim support), but after a firmware update and secure earse using the OCZ toolbox, no issues.

[Brett92]

Sorry, I just had to post a video of an SSD in action. I have a client (Bank Manager) who wants maximum speed for their Loan Officer. Installed a 120 GB Intel 330 SSD (sandforce controller), and this thing roars. Excluding the BIOS, I think the actual boot time is only around 5 seconds...

Machine specs...
Lenovo Thinkcentre m92p
i5 2400
120 GB SSD
4 GB RAM

http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...-12-45_251.mp4

[jimmy_wheels]

I don't know... I have an OCZ Vertex 3 and it hasn't had a hiccup since building my PC earlier this year. Figure going on 6 months so far, so I'm optimistic.

Tiger had a special on the Vertex 3 - $59.00 for a Vertex 3 so I jumped on it. Now I want to throw it off a bridge. The install was a snap, and the system reports 7.2 in the performance measurements. Things seem to go well and then the HDD light goes solid and the pointer starts spinning - and the system will hang for 30 seconds and then start moving again.

I've been fighting this drive for three days. Yesterday I found this link and so far the tweaks have my netbook running pretty reliably with the OCZ drive.

I'll give it another couple of days and if it still acts up I'll go to the Intel SSD.

[UKnewWho]

Things seem to go well and then the HDD light goes solid and the pointer starts spinning - and the system will hang for 30 seconds and then start moving again.

This sounds like TRIM and/or offset issue.

What OS? was this a clean install or ghosted over? System specs?

The link you posted doesn't sound like your issue.

Try this (SSDTweaker) run the auto tweak on all of my SSD machines.

[jimmy_wheels]

This sounds like TRIM and/or offset issue.

What OS? was this a clean install or ghosted over? System specs?

The link you posted doesn't sound like your issue.

Try this (SSDTweaker) run the auto tweak on all of my SSD machines.

i did a clean install of Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit on this machine:
Acer Aspire 1

[UKnewWho]

i did a clean install of Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit on this machine:
Acer Aspire 1

I have an Acer Aspire 1 532H, with 2GB RAM, an OCZ 60GB Vertex 2, running Windows 7 Starter with no issues.

A couple of things about the older 945 chipset, they were never designed for SSDs and the older drivers never supported TRIM. Along with most originally shipping with Windows XP which had no automatic offset support, led to very upset people running SSDs for the first time.

Windows 7 (all version) installer will detect drives that need the 4K offset and do it automatically.

Your other issues of drivers, you can either try and update to the Intel RST SATA drivers, those can be found here (download the iata_enu.exe, not sure if the 945 chipset is supported or not, run the install, it will finish or error out.)

Or you can and use the Microsoft AHCI driver (also check your BIOS and make sure your SATA mode is set to AHCI (again, not sure if this was an option on the 945 chipset) check this anyway)

OEM computers that where designed for Windows XP had AHCI disabled because XP had no native support for AHCI (You had to slipstream your install cd, or F6 the driver during install)

Hope that helps.

[PhReE]

I set my wife up with a netbook (Atom/945) and it ran a 64GB Agility 2 for a while then I switched it out for a 64GB Crucial M4. It's running windows 7 and is pretty quick for what it is, but it's still pretty dang slow. I want to get something else for the wife that's a bit better, something small, yet 1600x900 res, and a modern cpu.

[NOTORIOUS VR]

I set my wife up with a netbook (Atom/945) and it ran a 64GB Agility 2 for a while then I switched it out for a 64GB Crucial M4. It's running windows 7 and is pretty quick for what it is, but it's still pretty dang slow. I want to get something else for the wife that's a bit better, something small, yet 1600x900 res, and a modern cpu.

See if you can pick up an X301 thinkpad... I absolutely adore mine. It's not blazing quick, but more then quick enough for most things you need to do while mobile (Centrino Dual Core 1.4Ghz). 13" 1440x900 res, very small and light, mine has Wifi + 3G built in (just put in a SIM card and you're good to go), already comes with SSD as well.

It's honestly one of the best notebooks I have ever used. The only think that I will retire it for is a very high resolution 13" laptop like the new Retena 13" MBP that is supposed to be coming out later this year. Even then it will still remain at my side because it's just that good.

[brickfrenzy]

I just bought a new laptop (Asus G75 series) and I don't even have it yet, but my first upgrade is a 256 GB Crucial SSD to install the OS on. I'm very much looking forward to the speed of this thing, and I've been idly thinking about buying an SSD for my wife's laptop too.

[XClayX]

So SSD install in the 08 MBP. Million screws and a special trip to the store to get the screwdrivers..

Anyway, its a solid 100% faster in all regards. No joke. BUT. I'm wondering if there is any way to speed up the bios boot??

Power button.... Sits at that blueish screen for ever 15-20secs maybe..... Apple logo, Little icon turns 3 times full boot.

Thoughts?

[NOTORIOUS VR]

Thoughts?

Don't turn it off?

[BRealistic]

What's the word on the tweet about SanDisk ReadyCache™?

[Aonarch]

http://www.buy.com/prod/ocz-vertex-3...220307523.html

Just a heads up! $150 for a OCZ Vertex 3 240GB 2.5" SSD.

Today only.

I am not affiliated with Buy.com just sharing what I found.