Looking for a new SSD after 2nd failure

[teh_moleman]

So I've had 2 ssd's fail on me so far, both OCZ Vertex 2 60gb. The first worked great for 8-9 months then suddenly died, no longer found in the bios. The second an rma replacement drive which lasted only 2 months before failing the same way. I'm going to rma again, and OCZ will replace it with an Agility 3 this time, but I did the research and now realize it's an all too common problem with Sandforce drives, so I probably won't use it, or at least not for anything important.

I almost swore off SSDs for good, but after using one I simply can't go back to a HDD OS drive. I'm leaning mostly towards the Crucial M4 256gb as it seems to have a lot of good reviews and "reliable" is thrown around quite a lot. I know Intel ssd's are supposed to be good too, though I haven't read up much on them. And finally, the OCZ Vertex 4, only because it's no longer a Sandforce controller and close in price to the others. Only thing about the OCZ is that it's brand new and sounds almost experimental, so it might be risky. So any recommendations either for or against any of these?

On another note, while it's easy to blame OCZ/Sandforce for the drive failures, could it possibly be something I'm doing wrong? I've done the usual stuff: AHCI, defrag off, moving any write intensive things to a standard hdd. Anything at all I might be missing that could be stressing out the ssd?

[Swiftdeathz]

I'm using an M4 128GB and so far so good, it's my first SSD so hopefully my experience will continue on the positive side of things.

[caveman-jim]

Personally not had any problems with my OCZ drives (Vertex and Onyx), could have said the same about my Crucial ones until the last couple of months - 3 of 4 dead like yours, waiting for RMA.

If I were looking now, I'd want one with a Marvell controller, I think.

[Mystik]

Originally Posted by caveman-jim

Personally not had any problems with my OCZ drives (Vertex and Onyx), could have said the same about my Crucial ones until the last couple of months - 3 of 4 dead like yours, waiting for RMA.

If I were looking now, I'd want one with a Marvell controller, I think.

the crucial m4 does use a marvell controller, though.
i know about 4 people who have use the crucial m4 and have no issues.

also know a person with the mushkin chronos and he loves it.

and another one with an intel 520, despite it being sandforce, says he's had
no issues with it.

[Ryoko]

Originally Posted by Mystik

the crucial m4 does use a marvell controller, though.
i know about 4 people who have use the crucial m4 and have no issues.

also know a person with the mushkin chronos and he loves it.

and another one with an intel 520, despite it being sandforce, says he's had
no issues with it.

all of the above.

if intel is ok with putting their name on a sandforce drive, especially with the stigma associated with it, then the major issues should be fixed in the latest firmwares.

i have a sandforce 520 and a marvell 510, both of which are awesome. the crucial m4 should be close to par with the 510, and mushkin stands behind their products and the mere mention of their name.

[Guybo]

Originally Posted by teh_moleman

So I've had 2 ssd's fail on me so far, both OCZ Vertex 2 60gb. The first worked great for 8-9 months then suddenly died, no longer found in the bios. The second an rma replacement drive which lasted only 2 months before failing the same way. I'm going to rma again, and OCZ will replace it with an Agility 3 this time, but I did the research and now realize it's an all too common problem with Sandforce drives, so I probably won't use it, or at least not for anything important.

I almost swore off SSDs for good, but after using one I simply can't go back to a HDD OS drive. I'm leaning mostly towards the Crucial M4 256gb as it seems to have a lot of good reviews and "reliable" is thrown around quite a lot. I know Intel ssd's are supposed to be good too, though I haven't read up much on them. And finally, the OCZ Vertex 4, only because it's no longer a Sandforce controller and close in price to the others. Only thing about the OCZ is that it's brand new and sounds almost experimental, so it might be risky. So any recommendations either for or against any of these?

On another note, while it's easy to blame OCZ/Sandforce for the drive failures, could it possibly be something I'm doing wrong? I've done the usual stuff: AHCI, defrag off, moving any write intensive things to a standard hdd. Anything at all I might be missing that could be stressing out the ssd?

You too, huh? My 2 drives were OCZ- the orig Petrol drive and the Vertex 3 RMA replacement. I'm going to get a 60GB replacement drive just for SSD caching. Everything I read says to go for an Intel drive, though I hear good things about Samsung as well.

[Crisler]

I have a couple of Agility 2 that still are running great from day one as well as my various models of Kingston. The only SSD failure I ever had was a Torq from Patriot but they replaced it quick.

[Nunz]

How long have you guys had your SSDs?
Part of the reason I haven't picked one up yet is due to not knowing how long they last. Harddrives usually last me 3 years or more.

[teh_moleman]

Thanks for the comments so far. Think I'll drop the Vertex 4 off the list. It might be one of the best performers to date, but I don't think I want to be a beta tester for them at this point.

I'm going to look up more info on the Intel drives. They're certainly more expensive for less space, so hopefully it's due to higher quality and not just an added premium for the brand.

[H001iGAN]

I still have some 1st gen ssds got them around the same time as gtx 285s came out, also have a couple of agility2, i've never had a ssd fail, I only have ocz brand 7 of them are in day to day use

[kakarot]

I've had good luck with Intel ssd's so I will probably stick with them when the time comes again. Still using an 80gb x25 with about 18k hours and 7TB worth of writes on it I don't tweak anything tho, just install windows and use it

[caveman-jim]

Originally Posted by Mystik

the crucial m4 does use a marvell controller, though.
i know about 4 people who have use the crucial m4 and have no issues.

My Corsair drives are Force 120's, first gen, about 18-24mo. old. Sandforce 1200 controller.

[wonder squirrel]

I have a C300 and a M4. Both work great and feel very fast (M4 seems noticably faster) C300 is about 16 months old, M4 is about 8 months old.

[teh_moleman]

Alright then, so did a ton of research and went with...none of the choices I was thinking about. Instead I went with the Samsung 830 256gb. Not as much history as the Marvell ssd's, but still seems to be an excellent drive, and so far Samsung hasn't let me down on the couple of dozen things I have from them. Also finding it on sale for $70 off was a good incentive

Now one thing I plan to do this time around is to make a ghost image once I have a clean install. First of all, I wonder what's a good, preferably free, program for that? There was a version of the Samsung ssd that came with Norton Ghost, but I've been Norton free for 10 years and prefer to stay that way.

And another question is when is the best or proper time to make a ghost image? Do I let any Windows updates install first? Any drivers or other programs? Anything that definitely should NOT be installed?

Anyway, it should be delivered tomorrow. These last few weeks of 2min reboots and nonstop hard drive crunching have been pretty unbearable.

[Zero]

Don't mean to hijack but what would you guys recommend for a 3Gbps SATAII interface?

[xxJACKxx]

I've got a pair of Mushkin drives I have had for a year and a half. No issues with either one.

[mrbaggs]

I'm on my second Corsair Force III already, first one died after only 3 months. Hoping it was just a bad unit and not a sign of things to come from its replacement.

[CurrentlyPissed]

This is my SSD list

OCZ Agillity 2 -- Died
OCZ Agillity 2 -- Sold on here, dunno where it is now
Crucial M4 64 -- Still running, had the firmware issue. But outside that, great drive. Kinda slow (500read/95write)
OCZ Octane 120 -- Returned, was the slowest SSD I have ever had.
Muskin Chronos 120 -- Current, love it, fastest I've had yet (560read/510write 90k IOPS).

The Chronos can be had for $114 for the 120GB on Newegg, highly suggest.

Also I have had to contact each of them at one point for Tech service. OCZ for the RMA, M4 for the firmware issue, and Muskin for an installing issue (which turned out to be my fault). Crucial and Mushkin support was great. OCZ was unbearable.

Crucial does offer a trade up program as well. When I was going to RMA my M4 I asked if I could receive a 120GB model back, they said sure and would just charge me the difference. But I didnt have to RMA it as it was just a firmware issue.

[Burn]

i have two Crucial M4 128 in raid .. getting something like 768 read and 360 Write ... they are great.

Crucial released the 000F firmware on 04/11/2012 change are :

• Improved compatibility with certain SAS expanders and peripheral RAID cards.
• Improved throughput stability under extremely heavy workloads.
• Improved data protection in the event of unexpected, asynchronous power loss.

Absolutely no problems so far

[Meteor|WAR]

I've had good luck so far with my Corsair Force GT 120GB. Had it for 2 months now.

You may also want to check out Intel's new 330 series SSDs. Good balance of performance and affordability compared to their other SATA3 series drives which are usually on the pricey side.

[Arghuin]

Anyone has / had any experience with the Samsung 830 series? I'm kinda looking into the 128 and 256 GB models at the moment

[Alientank]

My SSD has been fine.

[train2win]

Originally Posted by Arghuin

Anyone has / had any experience with the Samsung 830 series? I'm kinda looking into the 128 and 256 GB models at the moment

I am also interested in one of those...anyone have any negative experience with these?

[mabran]

I have a kingston 128GB drive, while not the fastest is still a large margin faster than a mechanical drive.

I went with the kingston because everyone I know with a Sandforce based drive has had nothing but issues and my middle of the road kingston keeps chugging away perfectly. Now Kingston will be using sandforce so they go off my list.

My issue with SSD in the consumer space is they are more concerned with pushing performance and not reliability. With our storage devices, firmware upgrades should be the exception and not the norm.

I couldn't care less if it pushes 550 or 500MB second, and just want to know the data stored on the device is safe.

When they get the stability up I will be a little more inclined to trust it for more critical data. I backup daily but should not have to worry if my SSD will decide to flake because firmware is crud.

[shadow001]

I now use a pair of Intel 520 SSD's( 240GB size), largely based on the experience with their previous 510 drives wich have been bullet proof for over a year now....They are more expensive than other drives for a given capacity and they're not the absolute fastest, but Intel takes a backseat to no one when it comes to reliability.

[Lupine]

Current firmware?

I'm running a Crucial 128GB M4 and, once I disable my lazy switch, will install the 2nd one I bought a few months ago for some RAID0 action. Also never had a problem w/ my gen1 SSD (160GB Intel X25-M, Kingston branded). Basically sounds like a YMMV regardless of brand, but seems to help if you stay on top of the firmware updates.

[Destroy]

Went through 2 GSkill 120Gig SSD drives in my laptop on RMA due to total loss of MBR.

Finally on 3rd one they suggested I try their Sniper series. It's been going solid and totally glitch free for almost a year now.

Figure drivers were actually ok but it was some hardware incompatibility issue.

[Ciera]

wow, current gen drives with 500mb/s r&w 50000iops is nuts. i'm still chugging along with the vertex 2 60gb i bought almost 2 years ago. i've been skirting along 5gb free on it for the better part of 6 months. been thinking of upgrading (since the mobo i bought last year has sata3 ports), but i can't bring myself to pull the trigger. i think i'll wait and see if prices drop a bit first.