The SSD Megathread - Don't buy OCZ or Crucial drives, read the OP!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware / Software Crap > The SSD Megathread - Don't buy OCZ or Crucial drives, read the OP!

Tunga: May 7, 2004

I have an OCZ Vertex 2E 120GB that I've been using for the last year or so. Could someone who knows what these all mean have a quick glance at this and check that these numbers still look okay?

I don't have any performance issues but just want to see how's it's doing after a year of use. Thanks.

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# ¿ Apr 19, 2012 20:24

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# ¿ May 23, 2013 20:42

Tunga: May 7, 2004

grumperfish posted:

If it's one of the 25nm models it's possible. Could a mis-aligned partition cause low write performance?

I bought mine before the 25nm fiasco so it should be a proper model. I honestly don't rememeber what speeds I got on first install, they were better than those I think but don't know the specifics. Still, it seems to run fine and I'll probably replace it with a 256GB around the end of the year so it'll do for now.

# ¿ Apr 20, 2012 13:35

Tunga: May 7, 2004

To be clear, that article is a year old, it was linked to demonstrate why we hate them. Whether they've changed their ways is anyone's guess.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2012 13:31

Tunga: May 7, 2004

Phone posted:

Tunga, judging by the legions of people coming out of the woodwork to defend OCZ, I think everybody is erring on the side of caution by calling OCZ "the worst".

I'm not sure which way to parse your post but just to clarify my posititon, I have a Vertex 2E 128GB which I bought before any of that poo poo went down and it has been perfectly good for me over the last year or so.

Would I recommend OCZ to anyone else? No, of course not, because of the ridiculous poo poo they did and the many reports of bad quality hardware and bad customer service.

All I was really getting at is was the two posts direct;y above mine read as if they thought it was a current article. So, I'm just saying, it isn't. But it's definitely still a reason to dislike and avoid OCZ because there are enough other manufacturers around who have never pulled poo poo like that, it's not really worth the risk.

# ¿ May 1, 2012 14:15

Tunga: May 7, 2004

DarkJC posted:

Trust me, it's right. My Vertex 2E is exactly the same, and yes I've verified all the standard stuff.

Yep, my Vertex 2E is a little more than a year old and looks exactly the same, it's in this thread somewhere.

Edit:

Tunga posted:

# ¿ May 18, 2012 13:42

Tunga: May 7, 2004

Does anyone know if there is a performance difference between these two:
http://www.ebuyer.com/342458-crucia...6gb-ct256m4ssd1
http://www.ebuyer.com/267107-crucia...b-s-ct256m4ssd2

I'm not actually buying, I'm just interested. I have purchased a couple of M4s in the past and never noticed the slim versions. Why does the fat version exist if it costs more anyway?

# ¿ May 18, 2012 13:54

Tunga: May 7, 2004

ijyt posted:

Woah, I wish I hadn't seen that. £155 for an M4 is like £30 savings over anywhere else, but I really shouldn't buy one right now.

Holy crap that wasn't on offer when I posted it. gently caress that's tempting. My 120GB Vertex 2 feels so small :/.

Someone said about the 25nm drives going lovely, mine is actually one of the original good Vertex 2s from before they pulled that crap, and it still ended up with those stats after a year. gently caress OCZ basically. Although, to be fair, real world performance is still excellent.

And someone mentioned TRIM. As far as remember, Vertex 2s do not support TRIM, they have their own garbage collection instead.

# ¿ May 19, 2012 00:51

Tunga: May 7, 2004

movax posted:

A few pages ago as well

Answer your question though, it's via "high" voltage. Pretty clever.

OCZ drives also have this function except the trigger is the power button on your computer.

# ¿ May 23, 2012 21:44

Tunga: May 7, 2004

Poppycoke posted:

I've seen this which would seem to solve my problem but I'd rather not spend that much when it seems all i need is a small cable.

http://hardwrk.com/en/ssd-hdd-adapt...k-pro-pata.html

Can anyone help?

My understanding is that SATA and PATA are not elctrically compatible, so you can't just get a one dollar adapter as you can for the power cables. Having said that, that price is crazy, probably because it includes a DVD enclosure and data transfer cables or something. Startech make this thing which I'd bet you can find on Amazon US or Newegg:

http://www.ebuyer.com/161418-starte...medium=products

Note that you'll need a power separate adapter, but those are cheap and easy to find.

I also have no idea if that thing would fit in your laptop, I've done hardly any work on laptops and none at all on Apple stuff.

Tunga fucked around with this message at May 24, 2012 around 17:41

# ¿ May 24, 2012 17:39

Tunga: May 7, 2004

It's also not even true that OCZ are cheaper. The Agility 3s are just about cheaper than an m4, and maybe the Petrol or whatever dumb name they gave the recent budget drives. The Vertex/Octanes are always more than an m4, and don't really perform better overall. There really is no good reason to buy an OCZ SSD. Unless US prices are wildly different.

# ¿ May 24, 2012 22:18

Tunga: May 7, 2004

I have a 120GB Vertex 2 which I'm upgrading to a 256GB m4. The old drive will be donated to my brother (this is a "good" V2 from the early days but I'll make sure he knows the risks). What's the easiest way to do a secure erase on it to restore performance to original levels?

# ¿ May 25, 2012 05:23

Tunga: May 7, 2004

jwoven posted:

Don't do that, it's not good for your ssd. Use an actual ssd erase program.

Parted magic can do it: http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39...e-an-ssd-drive/

Right, I'm not concerned about the actual data since it's going to my brother, just a quick format would do in that regard, but I want to restore the performance. This looks like the correct thing, thanks.

# ¿ May 25, 2012 15:13

Tunga: May 7, 2004

When installing Windows I now disconnect (or disable in BIOS) every other drive, to avoid that exact poo poo. Worth noting though: you can fix it with your Windows disk and some console commands that I forget now, should be fairly easy to Google.

# ¿ May 26, 2012 07:35

Tunga: May 7, 2004

LorneReams posted:

Nope someone done hosed up.

On the plus side those are fantastic little drives and if I know Corsair they'll probably let you keep it.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2012 12:23

Tunga: May 7, 2004

Josh Lyman posted:

I'm a tad surprised. The read numbers are basically identical to the OCZ Vertex 4 (Indilinx-branded Marvell chip), but 370MB/s advertised sequential write is much lower. With the 1.4RC firmware, I tested a Vertex 4 that easily cleared 400MB/s sequential write.

On the other hand, these aren't made by OCZ.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2012 21:56

Tunga: May 7, 2004

Apparently you didn't learn to read the thread title though.

Keep the backups running!

# ¿ Jun 11, 2012 13:00

Tunga: May 7, 2004

Stalkerr posted:

I decided to risk OCZ based on friend-experience with them.

Besides, the only way for me to get an SSD past the budget police was to go cheap. Now that it's proving itself, I can get something decent when this one dies.

Unless your country is wildy different to mine (UK) this makes exactly zero sense because the V3 is not a budget drive. The m4 and Force 3 are cheaper than it,or around the same price. If you had an Agility 3 then I could understand that argument.

Sorry, not trying to poo poo on your parade but I believe you made an objectively bad choice. Hopefully it won't bite you.

# ¿ Jun 11, 2012 19:20

Tunga: May 7, 2004

I'm trying to Secure Erase my old Vertex 2 to restore the performance before I give it to someone else. I'm using PartedMagic but I keep getting a message about the Secure State being Frozen. It tells me to go into sleep mode and out to fix it but when I sleep my computer under PartedMagic it just blackscreens on wake and never comes back (numlock is dead). I've tried booting without the drive connected but after reconnecting it the driver doesn't show up until I reboot. I have hotswap enabled. I've tried using the Intel 3GB and 6GB ports on my mobo (Asus P8Z77-V).

Is there an easier to way to do this? An alternative to PartedMagic?

Who'd have thought wiping a drive could be such a convoluted process?

Tunga fucked around with this message at Jun 16, 2012 around 15:04

# ¿ Jun 16, 2012 14:57

Tunga: May 7, 2004

redeyes posted:

All you have to do is unplug and replug the drive (power) while PartedMagic is booted. I think you need to be in ACHI mode for that to work but it does work.

Well it doesn't work for me. I've tried in AHCI and IDE, hot plug is enabled for that port (even tried enabling it for all ports) in the BIOS, but as soon as I unplug it the drive disappears and won't come back until I reboot. Tried with power and data cables, no difference.

Tunga fucked around with this message at Jun 16, 2012 around 20:58

# ¿ Jun 16, 2012 17:20

Tunga: May 7, 2004

Tiger Style posted:

So I already have this SSD picked out for my current build:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...ASIN=B004W2JL2A

BUT...I have a buddy that works for Intel that can snag me a 520 series Intel SSD for $205. Is the speed/reliability difference between Crucial/Intel respectively, worth the loss in space? Is the speed difference that noticeable to the point where I'd be better off with Crucial, or is it negligible enough to where I should opt for less space for the reliability factor?

(PS - He's snagging me an i5-3550 CPU for $105 . Just wanted to brag with that bit.)

Personally I would take the m4. The Intel 520 is a Sandforce controller which have had issues in the past, although Intel reportedly did do a crazy amount of validation on it before release. But the m4 has also has no known reliability issues, is cheaper, and has a few extra GB, so I don't see any reason to look beyond it. The performance will be identical for any real world usage.

Tunga fucked around with this message at Jun 19, 2012 around 09:41

# ¿ Jun 19, 2012 09:34

Tunga: May 7, 2004

Elysiume posted:

Can you set up Paragon Migrate to just transfer the OS, and maybe 2-3 programs? $20 seems kind of pricey for something I'll probably not use again for years, if ever.

Maybe there is a good reason I'm missing but it doesn't sound like you would be saving much time over just reinstalling Windows.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2012 16:01

Tunga: May 7, 2004

Jago posted:

They're known to be the least reliable of the SSD's. Have your poo poo backed up and you'll be fine. You can use clonezilla to copy an image from one SSD to another.

Weren't the original Vertexes actually alright? I certainly remember the early V2s were. Let's not forgot that this very thread was recommending V2s back in the day. OCZ have pulled a lot of stupid poo poo and should certainly be avoided in general, but not every single thing they've made has been terrible.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2012 22:04

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# ¿ May 23, 2013 20:42

Tunga: May 7, 2004

If I'm building a mITX machine (just office/media use) with a 128GB Samsung 830, should I care about H61 not having SATA III / 6Gbps? Moving to H67/H77 would double the motherboard price but I'd rather not bottleneck the drive.

# ¿ Oct 25, 2012 08:58

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware / Software Crap > The SSD Megathread - Don't buy OCZ or Crucial drives, read the OP!