Recommend SSD for Newbie

mccoady · 05-07-2012

I have a 2008 Dell Studio 15 laptop (1535) Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5750 @ 2.00GHz (3GB RAM) (250GB drive) running Windows 7 home Premium and was thinking about trying out a SSD... I know little about them or how to set one up but I'm willing to learn.

It would be a big help if someone could recommend a SSD at different storage/price points keeping in mind performance, reliability, easy to setup and maintain, and value:

120/128GB

180Gb

240GB

*bigmike7* · 05-07-2012

Yo mccoady-

I would look at www.Amazon.com for Crucial M4 or Samsung 830 SSD's for reliability over speed-eh.

**deanwitty** · 05-07-2012

That's easy. Samsung.

This 128GB goes on sale for $109.00 occasionally. This 256GB was just on sale for $189.00. I'm sure it will be again.

In terms of reliability, easy to set up and maintain, they really don't have any competition. Samsung includes software to automatically change the settings in windows to optimize it for SSD. That software also can be set to automatically optimize the drive on a bi-weekly/monthly basis to avoid the gradual slowdowns associated with SSD.

Performance wise they are very good. Faster than some, not quite as fast as a few of the bleeding edge newest models.

Read the reviews at NE on them. Read the reviews of all the other SSD's there. They are at the top of the heap in terms of stability/reliability. That is my definition of value.

I've found the most reliable way to clone your present drive is to download the free version of Acronis True image software from Seagate or Western digital.

mccoady · 05-07-2012

Thanks bigmike7 and Dean!

Dean since you've never steered me wrong in the past I'll take your word that the Samsung 830 series SSD is what I need I definitely want one that's reliable and easy to setup yet still fast.

Since I missed them on sale and as much as I hate to I probably need to wait until they go on sale again I'm kind of leaning toward the 256GB one since I'm currently using about 125Gb of my laptop's 250GB drive.

What is the NE site you're talking about?

**Kerry56** · 05-07-2012

NE = Newegg.com

The other ultra reliable ssd's that few people mention are the Intel ssd's that use the Intel controller. In the 120-600gb range, this would be the Intel 320 series. They are older, and slower than some of the other consumer grade drives, but have an excellent reputation among the folks who assemble hundreds of systems per month. The reason they aren't recommended more often is the fact that they haven't dropped down in price very quickly. The 320 series are presently way over priced compared to their competition if you don't take into account their sterling reputation on reliability.

Intel has come out with two newer lines, which use a Sandforce controller. They are the 520 series and the 330 series, and both are getting reasonably good reviews so far, but the jury is still out on long-term reliability.

**deanwitty** · 05-07-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by mccoady

Thanks bigmike7 and Dean!

Dean since you've never steered me wrong in the past I'll take your word that the Samsung 830 series SSD is what I need I definitely want one that's reliable and easy to setup yet still fast.

Since I missed them on sale and as much as I hate to I probably need to wait until they go on sale again I'm kind of leaning toward the 256GB one since I'm currently using about 125Gb of my laptop's 250GB drive.

What is the NE site you're talking about?

You're welcome. Yes, it sounds like the 256GB is your best option if you intend to clone your old Win 7 installation instead of doing a fresh install. The 830 notebook kit includes a SATA to usb adapter to allow you connect the new drive to your notebook for cloning your existing drive to the 830 before installing it. Another value-added feature of the Samsung.
You may want to have a look in your bios settings to see if your hard drive controller is running in AHCI or IDE mode to get a sense of how challenging it will be to clone the drive vs fresh install. SSD run faster/better in AHCI mode. There are plenty of guides around the net to change Windows registry to enable AHCI, but it will be just a little trickier if your current WIN7 is configured for IDE.

Sorry for the cryptic abbreviation

. As Kerry said, I meant Newegg, and I was recommending that you click on the "feedback" tab on either of the pages that I linked to in my post. If you look around at feedback on other SSDs at Newegg, you will come across too many cases of manufacturers that are working out the bugs in their hardware/firmware using us as the guinea pigs

.

I don't make this recommendation lightly. I'm using the 128GB 830 myself. When I had to build a machine for a family member recently I very much wanted to treat her to a zippy SSD machine, but she is someone that just wants to use a computer. Not tweak it, not update firmware, not wrestle with it. And honestly, though I love her dearly, I had had enough of the over-the-phone troubleshooting and on-site repairs keeping her old Dell desktop just barely running for the last year. I was HIGHLY motivated to do the research and find a trouble-free SSD

.

She just giggles now when I ask her how her computer is doing

mccoady · 05-07-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by deanwitty

You're welcome. Yes, it sounds like the 256GB is your best option if you intend to clone your old Win 7 installation instead of doing a fresh install. The 830 notebook kit includes a SATA to usb adapter to allow you connect the new drive to your notebook for cloning your existing drive to the 830 before installing it. Another value-added feature of the Samsung.
You may want to have a look in your bios settings to see if your hard drive controller is running in AHCI or IDE mode to get a sense of how challenging it will be to clone the drive vs fresh install. SSD run faster/better in AHCI mode. There are plenty of guides around the net to change Windows registry to enable AHCI, but it will be just a little trickier if your current WIN7 is configured for IDE.

I went into my BIOS and looked at the SATA hard drive controller and it said it was set to AHCI so does this mean I actually have the option of either cloning my old drive or doing a Clean Install?

With a new SSD is the preference really to do a Clean Install?

I haven't looked at SSD's at Newegg for a few months now but I'm still a little surprised that the prices haven't come down more although maybe for those that follow this closely they actually have.

I still see many brands/models like Dean mentioned are still not very reliable (according to reviews) and I think the Intel's Kerry mentioned are still too dang expensive even though they are reliable.

It just seems like by now if you want a reliable/stable SSD you shouldn't be limited to either a Samsung which are still too expensive unless on sale or Intel which just aren't a good value. I still plan on buying a Samsung 830 just hope it doesn't take forever to go on sale again.

Mike

*bigmike7* · 06-07-2012

Mike-

Also look at www.amazon.com for good prices.

If your system is running good and your virus software is good and up to date - you can do a full system install on the new SSD.

**deanwitty** · 06-07-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by mccoady

I went into my BIOS and looked at the SATA hard drive controller and it said it was set to AHCI so does this mean I actually have the option of either cloning my old drive or doing a Clean Install?

With a new SSD is the preference really to do a Clean Install?

I haven't looked at SSD's at Newegg for a few months now but I'm still a little surprised that the prices haven't come down more although maybe for those that follow this closely they actually have.

I still see many brands/models like Dean mentioned are still not very reliable (according to reviews) and I think the Intel's Kerry mentioned are still too dang expensive even though they are reliable.

It just seems like by now if you want a reliable/stable SSD you shouldn't be limited to either a Samsung which are still too expensive unless on sale or Intel which just aren't a good value. I still plan on buying a Samsung 830 just hope it doesn't take forever to go on sale again.

Mike

Hey Mike, good to hear you're set up to make the transition easy as possible. As bigmike said, running in AHCI does give you the option to do a simple clone of your old drive.

If you're prepared to take on a clean install, that will give you the most impressive boot performance with a fresh registry. But not necessary. Looking over at Amazon, I see the drive at $249.00/shipped. Up till very recently, the price of the Samsungs has been up there with the Intels. Now in the past month I've seen Newegg put them on sale a few times at $30.00-$80.00 off the usual price. You may not have to wait for long

.

Get on Newegg's mailing list and keep an eye on Amazon. I'll certainly PM you if I catch one on sale.

mccoady · 06-07-2012

Thanks Dean yeah I would appreciate a PM if you see them on sale if I stick with a 256GB I really don't want to pay over $200 and the lower the better.

I suppose I could consider doing away with my iTunes library (about 75GB) on my laptop since it is duplicated on my desktop computer allowing me to maybe get into a 128GB. I think I read somewhere that the actual usable space on the Samsung 830 128Gb was 111GB and since I'm currently using about 125GB on my laptop if I substract the iTune's 75GB that would put me at using/needing 50GB but of course this can grow larger over time.

How much free space does a SSD need to run efficiently?

Having just said I might consider a 128GB isn't it true that larger SSD's like a 256GB are faster than smaller SSD's like a 128GB?

**deanwitty** · 07-07-2012

I'll keep an eye on prices and shout when a good one pops up.

The formatted size of the 128GB is 119GB. And you do want to leave 5-10% free space on the drive for speed/longevity. In a notebook that's limited to one drive, 256GB is probably worth waiting/saving up for. And you are right, 256GB+ is the sweet spot to get the max write speed performance from Samsung's controller. Though the 128GB is still plenty fast. A good choice for a desktop machine with a secondary hard drive for storage.

**alan1476** · 08-07-2012

This is the best 2 drives ( IMHO ) for price to reliability

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extrem.../dp/B006EKJ8UI

The OCZ drives are also right there with the Agility 4 at 179.00 for a 256gb SSD

http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-Technology...=OCZ+Agility+4

This is just my personal opinion.

*Kenshin* · 08-07-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by alan1476

This is the best 2 drives ( IMHO ) for price to reliability

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extrem.../dp/B006EKJ8UI

The OCZ drives are also right there with the Agility 4 at 179.00 for a 256gb SSD

http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-Technology...=OCZ+Agility+4

This is just my personal opinion.

OCZ Agility 4 512GB for US$389.99 looks best to me. Its price in Seoul is about US$800. Indilinx controller-based OCZ drives tend to offer lower sequential write speeds, but a little higher random access speeds.

**deanwitty** · 08-07-2012

Not too sure I would point anyone to the Agility 4, Alan. Take a peek here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227808. Only a small number of reviews at this point, but I don't like the direction that's taking. I may be erring too far on the safe side, but I can't bring myself to recommend anything less solid than the likes of a Samsung or Intel SSD for a single drive machine where its not just the OS that's lost if it crashes.

*bigmike7* · 08-07-2012

Yo mccoady-

Here are the rankings from literally thousands of users on Newegg for SSD's that they have bought and used to help you in your final decision:

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCateg...G&Pagesize=100

**Kerry56** · 08-07-2012

Every chart I've seen for ssd reliability puts OCZ at the bottom. Not near the bottom, but at the very worst rating for ssd failure. Here is one of them, though a bit older report now: http://www.behardware.com/articles/8...rns-rates.html

Every single person I listen to who builds or buys components for companies that build hundreds or thousands of computers each month tells me that they do not trust OCZ ssd's. They have tried them, and the return rate is much higher than what they see for Intel (their preferred brand) or Samsung or Crucial.

**alan1476** · 08-07-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kerry56

Every chart I've seen for ssd reliability puts OCZ at the bottom. Not near the bottom, but at the very worst rating for ssd failure. Here is one of them, though a bit older report now: http://www.behardware.com/articles/8...rns-rates.html

Every single person I listen to who builds or buys components for companies that build hundreds or thousands of computers each month tells me that they do not trust OCZ ssd's. They have tried them, and the return rate is much higher than what they see for Intel (their preferred brand) or Samsung or Crucial.

The chart you have shown may be correct for all intensive purposes, but do we know if they are from the Sandforces controllers or from the new Indilinx controllers, I have 2 OCZ drives, both Indilinx and never had a problem with eitherone, as a matter of fact, their customer support has been sterling in case of a problem. To each his own.

**Kerry56** · 08-07-2012

Tom's Hardware (ugh, I know) had an article on ssd reliability. They got many anecdotes from purchasers of equipment, as well as harder data. One that I remember said they bought a case of 200 OCZ drives, with 20 of them DOA. And they said that was just one of many such personal experiences with this brand. Tom's is usually quite impressed with OCZ performance...they generally give them glowing reviews on their tests so I doubt they are biased against them.

I wish I could find that chart I showed BigMike one time. The early Indilinx controllers were really bad for reliability in that one. So I have no faith in their ability to right the ship for OCZ. Even when they are using Marvell based hardware and custom Indilinx firmware.

**Dee** · 08-07-2012

Loads of misinformation on the reliability of SSDs.
Most of this so called info was from one French online retailer, and from what I can gather only gave figures on returns, not on SSDs that turned out to be actually faulty.

In any case, the new return figures regarding OCZ is much improved.
Vertex 3 = 1.1%
Vertex 4 = 0.4%

**alan1476** · 08-07-2012

I ( IMHO) believe that OCZ is always on the bleeding edge of all SSD technology. Sure they have made mistakes, but all the other manufactorers have taken advantage of whe OCZ fixed them. The newer OCZ SSDs are fantastic , again in my personal opinion. We here at MYCE.com give them our coveted " Editors Choice Awards" and I doubt the reviewer would do that if the drives were not a good performing SSD.

**Kerry56** · 08-07-2012

I don't think anyone will disagree with the performance of OCZ drives. But if they brick themselves more often than anything else, that performance doesn't mean diddly.

Their newest generation of ssd's may very well be the one that pulls their rep for reliability out of the gutter, but their Sandforce based drives are maligned for failures all over the net and have hurt their standing not only with computer enthusiasts, but also with purchasers for companies that assemble computers.

**alan1476** · 08-07-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kerry56

I don't think anyone will disagree with the performance of OCZ drives. But if they brick themselves more often than anything else, that performance doesn't mean diddly.

Their newest generation of ssd's may very well be the one that pulls their rep for reliability out of the gutter, but their Sandforce based drives are maligned for failures all over the net and have hurt their standing not only with computer enthusiasts, but also with purchasers for companies that assemble computers.

I can only speak for myself, but I have had excellent performance with OCZ drive and never had one fail on me. Again this is just my opinion.

**deanwitty** · 08-07-2012

Yo everyone, lets get back on topic

.

Mike started this thread looking for " a SSD at different storage/price points keeping in mind performance, reliability, easy to setup and maintain, and value".

I don't think we're keeping HIS priorities in mind here. At the moment, I'm not aware of any SSD that fills that shopping list quite as well as the Samsung 830. The fact that Samsung designed their controller/firmware to be equally fast with all types of files makes it a good choice at the consumer level for performance.

Samsung has one of the best reputations for reliability with their memory products, this SSD has been following in that tradition so far.

The 830 has been notably free of chipset-dependent quirks that plague some controllers and firmwares, and Samsung went out of their way to provide software to perform all the OS tweaks for you. That software also provides for automatic ongoing drive optimization to remove the potential pitfalls of an otherwise reliable drive like the M4 where there can be a problem with some chipsets passing trim commands to the drive and the drive erroring out after a few weeks/months of use. Samsung has cornered the market on "easy to set up and maintain".

And they are finally coming down in price.

Thank goodness there are people with the time and expertise to kick around the newest technology and help iron out the flaws, but lets not assume that everyone is in such a position.

Seriously, can any component that has not been in widespread use at least 6 months be said to have any significant reliability rating at all?

**Kerry56** · 08-07-2012

I think both of you have some merits to your opinions. It is difficult to assess the experience and expertise of users through their reviews on sites like Newegg. And those with bad experiences are much, much more likely to come in and complain, so that can produce a bias in the results. But over time this bias will even out across brands and specific products.

If you look at long term trends in these reports however, not just individual reviews, you can get a feel for the general reliability of specific items. It is in no way scientific or definitive, but user reports can be viewed in macro terms as a useful tool in determining which products you want to buy, or do more research on.

But this also depends on the user reports not being manipulated by the manufacturers. OCZ was accused earlier this year of "salting" user reviews for their own benefit. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02..._fake_reviews/
This is not new for OCZ, as they had similar accusations tossed their way a few years back regarding their memory chips.

Edit: Dean jumped in there before I posted. These threads often take on a life of their own though and reliability is at the heart of the original inquiry. All the discussions so far have centered on reliability, and how to determine that from information available to us.

**deanwitty** · 08-07-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kerry56

These threads often take on a life of their own though and reliability is at the heart of the original inquiry. All the discussions so far have centered on reliability, and how to determine that from information available to us.

Yes they do

. I thought it might be a good point to move back towards an informational mode and away from potentially inflamatory brand loyalty discussions

. I was not aware of the can-o-worms I was opening with my comment to Alan

.

05-07-2012	#1
mccoady MyCE Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Harper, Kansas Posts: 132	Recommend SSD for Newbie I have a 2008 Dell Studio 15 laptop (1535) Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5750 @ 2.00GHz (3GB RAM) (250GB drive) running Windows 7 home Premium and was thinking about trying out a SSD... I know little about them or how to set one up but I'm willing to learn. It would be a big help if someone could recommend a SSD at different storage/price points keeping in mind performance, reliability, easy to setup and maintain, and value: 120/128GB 180Gb 240GB

05-07-2012	#2
bigmike7 MyCE Resident Old Fart Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Diehard Old CDFreak Lurking In The Back Of Your Mind Posts: 10,044	Yo mccoady- I would look at www.Amazon.com for Crucial M4 or Samsung 830 SSD's for reliability over speed-eh. __________________ Mike (Y) <- - - (a tribute to someone) Brayden & Lil Burnits Proud Cyber Grampie - 'CERCA, TROVA' - 'NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM' Work Computer = ZT Systems i7-2600 CPU w/16GB DDR3-1333 RAM/ Win7 Pro-sp1 /Intel 510 120GB SSD @ SATA3 /Western Digital VelociRaptor 500GB Workstation HDD @ SATA3 /Corsair 650 watt PSU /Pioneer BDR-2207 as BD burner /Lite-On iHBS-112-04 as Reader/Ripper and BD Disc Quality Tester /AOC i2757fh 27 inch S-IPS monitor w/LED backlight /XFX Radeon HD6870 w/2GB GDDR5RAM /Ashampoo Burning Studio 2012 /DVDFab 8QT Burning Computer = HP xw8400 workstation w/ Two Xeon 5160, dual core, 3.0 mhz CPU's w/ 16gb PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM /Win7 Pro-sp1 /Intel X25-M G2 160GB SSD /Western Digital Caviar Black 640gb w/64mb cache HDD /Corsair 850 watt psu / Optiarc AD-5280S-CB-PLUS w/v1.Z7 fw as Disc Burner and Disc Quality Tester /Optiarc AD-5280S-CB-PLUS w/v1.Z7 fw as Disc Reader/Ripper /ATi Radeon HD 5770 w/1gb GDDR5 Ram Videocard /HP 24" LCD /Ashampoo Burning Studio 6 /DVDFab 8QT On The Shelf: (1) Benq 1640, (1)BenQ 1640 @EW168, Pioneer (2) 115D, (3) Optiarc 7200A, Optiarc 7260A, Asus DRW-24b1ST

05-07-2012	#3
deanwitty Moderator Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: The 10th city outside the 2nd City, U.S. Posts: 2,698	That's easy. Samsung. This 128GB goes on sale for $109.00 occasionally. This 256GB was just on sale for $189.00. I'm sure it will be again. In terms of reliability, easy to set up and maintain, they really don't have any competition. Samsung includes software to automatically change the settings in windows to optimize it for SSD. That software also can be set to automatically optimize the drive on a bi-weekly/monthly basis to avoid the gradual slowdowns associated with SSD. Performance wise they are very good. Faster than some, not quite as fast as a few of the bleeding edge newest models. Read the reviews at NE on them. Read the reviews of all the other SSD's there. They are at the top of the heap in terms of stability/reliability. That is my definition of value. I've found the most reliable way to clone your present drive is to download the free version of Acronis True image software from Seagate or Western digital. __________________ Currently installed for testing: Lite-on DH20A4P-04(9P54) + Sony Optiarc AD-7200A(1.Z3) x2 "You want WHAT? OK, I can do that". + AD-7200S(1Z2) + AD-5280-CB-PLUS(1.Z7) + BenQ DW1650(BCIC) + BenQ DW1640(BSLB) x2 + Lite-on iHAS324-08 A(BL1H) + Asus DRW-24B1LT@iHAS424(ZLC1) + Asus DRW-24B1ST@iHAS324(BL1H) + Plextor PX-760A(1.03) + LG BD-RE WH10LS30(1.00) + Lite-on iHES208(8LOC) + Sammy SH-BO83L(SB01) + Pioneer BDR206(1.05) + Lite-on iHBS112-29(CLOK) + Pioneer BDR-205(1.12) + LG WH12LS39(1.00) + Lite-on iHBS212@Plextor PX-LB950SA(1.02)

05-07-2012	#5
Kerry56 Administrator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: West Texas Posts: 14,419	NE = Newegg.com The other ultra reliable ssd's that few people mention are the Intel ssd's that use the Intel controller. In the 120-600gb range, this would be the Intel 320 series. They are older, and slower than some of the other consumer grade drives, but have an excellent reputation among the folks who assemble hundreds of systems per month. The reason they aren't recommended more often is the fact that they haven't dropped down in price very quickly. The 320 series are presently way over priced compared to their competition if you don't take into account their sterling reputation on reliability. Intel has come out with two newer lines, which use a Sandforce controller. They are the 520 series and the 330 series, and both are getting reasonably good reviews so far, but the jury is still out on long-term reliability. __________________ Basic Guide for BD Rebuilder BD Rebuilder Guide for MP4 or MKV conversion AVStoDVD Guide

06-07-2012	#8
bigmike7 MyCE Resident Old Fart Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Diehard Old CDFreak Lurking In The Back Of Your Mind Posts: 10,044	Mike- Also look at www.amazon.com for good prices. If your system is running good and your virus software is good and up to date - you can do a full system install on the new SSD. __________________ Mike (Y) <- - - (a tribute to someone) Brayden & Lil Burnits Proud Cyber Grampie - 'CERCA, TROVA' - 'NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM' Work Computer = ZT Systems i7-2600 CPU w/16GB DDR3-1333 RAM/ Win7 Pro-sp1 /Intel 510 120GB SSD @ SATA3 /Western Digital VelociRaptor 500GB Workstation HDD @ SATA3 /Corsair 650 watt PSU /Pioneer BDR-2207 as BD burner /Lite-On iHBS-112-04 as Reader/Ripper and BD Disc Quality Tester /AOC i2757fh 27 inch S-IPS monitor w/LED backlight /XFX Radeon HD6870 w/2GB GDDR5RAM /Ashampoo Burning Studio 2012 /DVDFab 8QT Burning Computer = HP xw8400 workstation w/ Two Xeon 5160, dual core, 3.0 mhz CPU's w/ 16gb PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM /Win7 Pro-sp1 /Intel X25-M G2 160GB SSD /Western Digital Caviar Black 640gb w/64mb cache HDD /Corsair 850 watt psu / Optiarc AD-5280S-CB-PLUS w/v1.Z7 fw as Disc Burner and Disc Quality Tester /Optiarc AD-5280S-CB-PLUS w/v1.Z7 fw as Disc Reader/Ripper /ATi Radeon HD 5770 w/1gb GDDR5 Ram Videocard /HP 24" LCD /Ashampoo Burning Studio 6 /DVDFab 8QT On The Shelf: (1) Benq 1640, (1)BenQ 1640 @EW168, Pioneer (2) 115D, (3) Optiarc 7200A, Optiarc 7260A, Asus DRW-24b1ST

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07-07-2012	#11
deanwitty Moderator Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: The 10th city outside the 2nd City, U.S. Posts: 2,698	I'll keep an eye on prices and shout when a good one pops up. The formatted size of the 128GB is 119GB. And you do want to leave 5-10% free space on the drive for speed/longevity. In a notebook that's limited to one drive, 256GB is probably worth waiting/saving up for. And you are right, 256GB+ is the sweet spot to get the max write speed performance from Samsung's controller. Though the 128GB is still plenty fast. A good choice for a desktop machine with a secondary hard drive for storage. __________________ Currently installed for testing: Lite-on DH20A4P-04(9P54) + Sony Optiarc AD-7200A(1.Z3) x2 "You want WHAT? OK, I can do that". + AD-7200S(1Z2) + AD-5280-CB-PLUS(1.Z7) + BenQ DW1650(BCIC) + BenQ DW1640(BSLB) x2 + Lite-on iHAS324-08 A(BL1H) + Asus DRW-24B1LT@iHAS424(ZLC1) + Asus DRW-24B1ST@iHAS324(BL1H) + Plextor PX-760A(1.03) + LG BD-RE WH10LS30(1.00) + Lite-on iHES208(8LOC) + Sammy SH-BO83L(SB01) + Pioneer BDR206(1.05) + Lite-on iHBS112-29(CLOK) + Pioneer BDR-205(1.12) + LG WH12LS39(1.00) + Lite-on iHBS212@Plextor PX-LB950SA(1.02) Last edited by deanwitty; 07-07-2012 at 17:34.

08-07-2012	#12
alan1476 Senior Moderator and Software Editor Join Date: May 2005 Location: Watching you Posts: 18,372	This is the best 2 drives ( IMHO ) for price to reliability http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extrem.../dp/B006EKJ8UI The OCZ drives are also right there with the Agility 4 at 179.00 for a 256gb SSD http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-Technology...=OCZ+Agility+4 This is just my personal opinion.

08-07-2012	#19
Dee Senior Administrator and Reviewer Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Scotland, UK Posts: 12,811	Loads of misinformation on the reliability of SSDs. Most of this so called info was from one French online retailer, and from what I can gather only gave figures on returns, not on SSDs that turned out to be actually faulty. In any case, the new return figures regarding OCZ is much improved. Vertex 3 = 1.1% Vertex 4 = 0.4% __________________ We came to wreck everything and ruin your lives, God sent us MyCE SSD Reviews To become a member of MyCE.com just click here to join The Forum Rules \| The SSD FAQ \| The NEC/Optiarc F.A.Q. \| Liggy & Dee's NEC/Optiarc Firmware Page

08-07-2012	#23
deanwitty Moderator Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: The 10th city outside the 2nd City, U.S. Posts: 2,698	Yo everyone, lets get back on topic . Mike started this thread looking for " a SSD at different storage/price points keeping in mind performance, reliability, easy to setup and maintain, and value". I don't think we're keeping HIS priorities in mind here. At the moment, I'm not aware of any SSD that fills that shopping list quite as well as the Samsung 830. The fact that Samsung designed their controller/firmware to be equally fast with all types of files makes it a good choice at the consumer level for performance. Samsung has one of the best reputations for reliability with their memory products, this SSD has been following in that tradition so far. The 830 has been notably free of chipset-dependent quirks that plague some controllers and firmwares, and Samsung went out of their way to provide software to perform all the OS tweaks for you. That software also provides for automatic ongoing drive optimization to remove the potential pitfalls of an otherwise reliable drive like the M4 where there can be a problem with some chipsets passing trim commands to the drive and the drive erroring out after a few weeks/months of use. Samsung has cornered the market on "easy to set up and maintain". And they are finally coming down in price. Thank goodness there are people with the time and expertise to kick around the newest technology and help iron out the flaws, but lets not assume that everyone is in such a position. Seriously, can any component that has not been in widespread use at least 6 months be said to have any significant reliability rating at all? __________________ Currently installed for testing: Lite-on DH20A4P-04(9P54) + Sony Optiarc AD-7200A(1.Z3) x2 "You want WHAT? OK, I can do that". + AD-7200S(1Z2) + AD-5280-CB-PLUS(1.Z7) + BenQ DW1650(BCIC) + BenQ DW1640(BSLB) x2 + Lite-on iHAS324-08 A(BL1H) + Asus DRW-24B1LT@iHAS424(ZLC1) + Asus DRW-24B1ST@iHAS324(BL1H) + Plextor PX-760A(1.03) + LG BD-RE WH10LS30(1.00) + Lite-on iHES208(8LOC) + Sammy SH-BO83L(SB01) + Pioneer BDR206(1.05) + Lite-on iHBS112-29(CLOK) + Pioneer BDR-205(1.12) + LG WH12LS39(1.00) + Lite-on iHBS212@Plextor PX-LB950SA(1.02)

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