Is it safe to go full SSD for critical systems?

Hello, I've been around computers for a couple of decades and I am now finally split on a decision, am I ready to go full SSD on my machines?

I work with data in high tech field, and it is absolutely crucial for me to be sure that even with 3 different sources of backup (my server, external HDD and critical data in USB flash drives), I have a strong preferrence to that the latest data in my local machine does not get fudged.

In my lifetime I have seen one dead RAM, three dead SSDs (Sandisk SU800), 7 dying platter drives (2 x Seagate Barracuda + 4 x Seagate Firecuda + 1 WD black[this one was just too old and failed SMART check after 10 years of continuous run] ). The advantage I found with the platter drive is that there are plenty of warnings before the drive dies and I have the chance to replace the drive before complete failure. As for SSD, one day the on-board microprocessor decided to call it quits and gone it is with no warning whatsoever before. Of course, I can always send my failed drive away to recover the data but I prefer to never get to that point.

All of my critical machines have at least 1 SSD as a boot drive and at least 1 HDD for data and I am considering an upgrade to a newer laptop. The newer laptop I am looking at can support one NVMe + one 2.5" SATA and while shopping I am noticing that 2TB SSD 2.5" WD Blue seems a lot more attractive in many senses than a 2.5" HDD WD Blue.

Now, in the past I have always been on a tight budget and went for the cheapest with best specs, now I almost swear by WD drives. I am yet to see one of them dying and I hope I don't for another decade.

The question I have for you is that would you go 100% SSD even if you are working with absolutely critical data that should not be lost. Also, what kind of "warnings signs" did you see before your SSD failed?

 

Rarely any warning signs. It just doesn't work all of a sudden...

Use cloud backup for 'continuous backups' of live files.

Using HDDs with notebooks/mobile computers is foolish today.

Buy the biggest capacity you can afford of each NVMe and the 2.5" SATA and back up to the other. You want your boot drive to be the NVMe drive, of course.

Use/buy a NAS that you can access remotely (for another way to save files, while on the road).

 

I'm running dual NVME drives currently and have the option to add a 2.5" if needed.

It depends on how you want to use the drives. If you need something over 1TB it's more economical for a spinner. If you need speed then NVME is the way to go.

I run things on my local network with redundancy built in.

downloads >> server w/ Raid 10 vs local NVME
server Raid 10 8TB WD Reds x 5 ~400MB/s over network w/ 5gbps USB-C adapter
I backup things to the server periodically and between the NVME drives more frequently. ~1.5GB/s
I have an NVME enclosure w/ a 1TB drive in it as well for backups ~800MB/s
I have a USB drive that runs like a full on SATA over USB @ ~400MB/a

Of course drives depend on the machine being used as well. If you have the space for multiple drives then it's ideal for keeping things on hand.

If you have a spare PC laying around you can turn it into a NAS fairly cheap compared to buying something off the shelf for 2-3X and spend some of the savings on the new HDD's. I run my "server" on linux since Windows is just too confining when it comes to what you can make it do for you. I took the PC I built from scratch and turned it into the central hub for several devices I was able to get rid of int he process. I combined a Router/ Switch / Firewall / WIFI / DVR / NAS and some other functions into a single box this way. The drives consumed about 30% of the costs but have been humming along w/o any issues for a couple of years now 24/7. I stuck them into a Node 804 case w/ 10 fans pushing air through it and it's stable as can be (when I'm not monkeying around with the configuration).

sudo inxi -F
System: Host: server Kernel: 5.14.0-051400rc7-lowlatency x86_64 bits: 64 Console: tty pts/17
Distro: Ubuntu 21.10 (Impish Indri)
Machine: Type: Desktop Mobo: ASRock model: Z390M Pro4 serial: M80-C9015301070 UEFI-[Legacy]: American Megatrends v: P4.30
date: 12/03/2019
CPU: Info: 6-Core model: Intel Core i7-8700K bits: 64 type: MT MCP cache: L2: 12 MiB
Speed: 1833 MHz min/max: 800/4700 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1833 2: 2721 3: 2801 4: 2506 5: 2153 6: 1914 7: 1005
8: 2627 9: 3527 10: 2921 11: 2291 12: 2030
Graphics: Device-1: Intel CometLake-S GT2 [UHD Graphics 630] driver: i915 v: kernel
Device-2: Conexant Systems CX23887/8 PCIe Broadcast Audio and Video Decoder with 3D Comb driver: cx23885 v: 0.0.4
Device-3: Conexant Systems CX23887/8 PCIe Broadcast Audio and Video Decoder with 3D Comb driver: cx23885 v: 0.0.4
Display: server: X.org 1.20.13 driver: loaded: modesetting tty: 182x55
Message: Advanced graphics data unavailable in console for root.
Audio: Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS driver: snd_hda_intel
Device-2: Conexant Systems CX23887/8 PCIe Broadcast Audio and Video Decoder with 3D Comb driver: cx23885
Device-3: Conexant Systems CX23887/8 PCIe Broadcast Audio and Video Decoder with 3D Comb driver: cx23885
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.14.0-051400rc7-lowlatency running: yes
Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: yes
Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.32 running: yes
Network: Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-V driver: e1000e
IF: eno1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: a2:9d:8a:e8:39:2a
Device-2: Aquantia AQC111 NBase-T/IEEE 802.3bz Ethernet [AQtion] driver: atlantic
IF: enp5s0 state: up speed: 2500 Mbps duplex: full mac: 24:5e:be:4d:c4:53
Device-3: Aquantia AQC111 NBase-T/IEEE 802.3bz Ethernet [AQtion] driver: atlantic
IF: enp6s0 state: down mac: 24:5e:be:4d:c4:54
Device-4: Aquantia AQC111 NBase-T/IEEE 802.3bz Ethernet [AQtion] driver: atlantic
IF: enp8s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: a2:9d:8a:e8:39:2a
Device-5: Aquantia AQC111 NBase-T/IEEE 802.3bz Ethernet [AQtion] driver: atlantic
RAID: Device-1: md0 type: mdraid level: raid-10 status: active size: 18.19 TiB report: 5/5 UUUUU
Components: Online: 1: sdd1 2: sde1 3: sdb1 4: sdc1 5: sda1
Drives: Local Storage: total: raw: 36.62 TiB usable: 18.43 TiB used: 7.19 TiB (39.0%)
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: MZVPW256HEGL-000H1 size: 238.47 GiB
ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD80EZAZ-11TDBA0 size: 7.28 TiB
ID-3: /dev/sdb vendor: Western Digital model: WD80EZAZ-11TDBA0 size: 7.28 TiB
ID-4: /dev/sdc vendor: Western Digital model: WD80EZAZ-11TDBA0 size: 7.28 TiB
ID-5: /dev/sdd vendor: Western Digital model: WD80EZAZ-11TDBA0 size: 7.28 TiB
ID-6: /dev/sde vendor: Western Digital model: WD80EZAZ-11TDBA0 size: 7.28 TiB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 233.73 GiB used: 89.59 GiB (38.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 31.0 C mobo: 15.0 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): fan-1: 922 fan-2: 699 fan-4: 920 fan-5: 924 (this is a bit deceptive because I used fans that piggyback off each other to a single header)

 

I decided to do the following:

2TB NVMe WD Blue as a boot drive and software installation.
2TB 5400 RPM WD (which I am going to take out from my AW 15 which already holds all of the data I want anyways) for data.

Eventually if and when the prices for 4TB+ 2.5" SSDs are decent enough I may switch but right now. 2TB SSD + 2TB HDD is plenty.

Right on my AW15 I have 128 GB SSD, 256GB SSD and 2TB HDD+ 2 x 512GB external USB3 SSDs. The new laptop will replacing the AW15.

I'm also picking up a used NAS QNAP TS-219+ which I am going to outfit with 2 x 2TB HDDs. If I find the NAS utilized heavily, I will probably upgrade the HDDs. I know I can build a better NAS myself but honestly, it was a great deal at a local auction.

 

TS-219+ -- I've had one of these in the past and it was sturdy. It lacked enough HP though to transcode video files though.

In the other thread I added some Raid info to consider. Knowing now that you're going to use a dual bay QNAP and not adding this to a PC makes it a bit different. In this case I would do 2 x 4TB drives @ $160 and mirror them for redundancy.

Maybe go to 6TB drives though to consolidate the USB drives

It sounds like a mess of storage though with all the pieces you have floating around. To make it easier I would be looking into an NVME + Enclosure to maintain the speed from the internal to the external transfers and this also allows for combining everything into a neater package of storage.

Sounds like you're on your way to having a box of storage sitting in a drawer like I have with ~10 2.5" drives from prior laptops / projects. I think I'm up to 3 NVME drives w/ 2 internal and 1 in an enclosure and a couple of USB flash drives for liveCD images / boot drives. We're considered "data hoarders"

 

Haha, I have a lot of enclosures for the 2.5" and NVMe's. All of the spares SSDs/HDDs have been either de-comissioned into movie drive (like a failing 2.5" platter drive) or put in an enclosure as Linux stick or games.

I think I should start selling and/or recycling some because the box with spare parts are getting a bit heavy.

 

I should also mention the NAS does come with two 2 TB HDDs, and the whole thing cost ~45 USD. Regarding TS-219+ being too slow for transcoding video files. Are you talking about encoding or simply playing? I am only going to do the latter.

 

It's going to buffer constantly if the receiving device can't handle the native format. The CPU on them is crap when it comes to converting for playback. Converting to MP4 solved that issue for me. That's a bit time consuming though as well and losing some of the metadata / audio options you have in original format sucks a bit.

$45 is a deal. I sold mine w/ a 6TB for $290. Actually it wasn't the 219 it was a TS-251. Either way unless you get into the higher end models they tend to fail at converting files in a timely manner.

My server build though with a 8700K CPU / 16GB of RAM tends to handle conversions w/o a sweat. Though it's easier to auto convert things to MP4 to keep the fans in check while playing things. I use MCEbuddy to monitor / convert the files from the Plex recordings and sometimes movies if they're being stubborn for playback.

 

I've contemplated getting something like this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082KDCLRL/?coliid=I1LW7U6NVNWD6M

Just for S&G's though at this point. Good option for reusing drives though fr backup / recovery purposes. DAS vs NAS though... if you have a USB port on a router you in turn make it a NAS w/o the pricey chips / networking port.

 

I have a handful of these ( https://www.ebay.ca/itm/402701403508?hash=item5dc2dfc574:g:G2sAAOSw2bpgMHyL) and these ( https://www.ebay.ca/itm/123675368421?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649).

I also velcro them on top of my laptops with a USB 3 hub

 

So for an instance VLC off of a laptop or a tablet, will it buffer?

 

VLC on a PC shouldn't have an issue provided the CPU / GPU can handle the task. It might buffer 15 seconds into RAM but, from there it should be fine. If you're using a stick / puck / TV that's where the transcoding issue comes into play.

 

Okay, in that case, the NAS should do its intended job.

Basically at work, I have ultra-high tech available with servers and ITs so if something is "that" important, I rather send it there and also on the external drives but for something like movies and etc. I really rather not get a full desktop server. I am aware of their advantages but it's like getting a Ferrari to drive on a small country road for mail delivery.

 

Any PC will work as a server though.

Storing things OTJ gives them rights to your work / files.

I use my server as router/switch/firewall/NAS/media/WIFI/DVR and collapsed all of those functions and power draw into a single box. If I want to download something at full speed I just do it from there and then copy from there to the laptop.

I've done all that you're doing and evolved it into a central device to handle the same functions and it's more secure than piecing things together on the LAN. Having a decent small footprint case that's smart for storage allows for expansion if needed and flexibility for more features. BTW it's all in a Nose 804 which has room for 10 fans and as many drives plus the M2`s on the mobo.

Going this route allowed 5 gigabit LAN/WAN speeds and hooking up an AP @ 2.5gbps to get WIFI over 1200mbps internally. If that's not fast enough I also have a 5gbps usb-c adapter to hardwire into it to match the R10 disk speeds.

 

Well if I ever buy a house that I am going to stay for quite long, I'll have a central server set up. I'm still quite early in my career and I need to think about moving too haha. I haven't even owned a desktop in almost 10 years now. All laptops.

 

Central server / NAS makes sense if you're upping your game from cheaper options. Home ownership comes with its own issues though.

I hadn't owned a desktop either besides the one I built when I was 19 and had laptops only for the last 20 some odd years. I only ventured into them again because I was sick if poorly designed tech gadgets. The system I built should be good for 20 years with minor upgrades along the way. Prepackaged crap from stores is junk that dies in a few years. Unless for example you're looking at 4 figure NAS`s chances are it will die in 5 years or less. Throwing away cash for tech isn't a good investment of time or money.

 

You should see the "custom built" work desktop they bought me for work. I was cursing very hard because the tower didn't even have a fan and they billed for high tier chassis and used the cheapest version of that model. I told the IT that we should not deal with them anymore.

 

I stream from one external device or another all the time using VLC.
Absolutely no lag using X264-X265-MP4,Xvid, whatever other file type.
Those external devices are pretty much anything you can think of and connect via lan, wifi, usb, firewire, whatever.
Not one lags or buffers, ever.

 

Yeah but OTG on external HDD is quite cumbersome and not so nice to watch things off of on a tablet.

 

"IT" doesn't mean Intelligent but, you would think they had a grasp on PC HW sine that's what they do for a living....then again...doesn't take much for a GenZ to walk into a position like that. There used to be better gatekeepers for those positions. *shrug* it is what it is but, if they didn't bench test it before putting it on your desk that's a lapse in simple logic.

The buffering was in reference to off the shelf NAS CPU's being under powered for transcoding on the fly. full CPU handles it fine within VLC. VLC doesn't typically run on the "server" side nor does it have enough power when using a streaming stick/puck/etc. I can install VLC on my chromecast but, it won't make much difference when trying to play a native 4K file from the server because the CC doesn't have enough HP to process the file on the fly. If I downgrade it to 1080 from 4K maybe. I don't count on it though. The whole food chain determines what each end does for processing.

 

Well, it's going to take a while for me to see the full limitation for my TS-219P+ but here's what I've discovered:
Despite the reviews saying 80mm fan is loud... It's not noticeable at all. I now have 2 x 2 TB HDDs loaded (both Samsung and seems to be working fine) in direct drive mode instead JBOD or any form of RAID.

I'm a bit disappointed with the upload/download speed, max being at about 50MB/s each way, and this is through Ethernet through router, maybe my router is weak? On wifi I get about 25MB/s each way max.

I have 2 external HDDs also attached to the TS-219P+ so I have access to 8TB in total remotely. I am using the QFile app on my tablet to watch movies off of it with and I am uploading from Windows 10 as a Network drive after attaching desired folder using Qfinder.

It is sluggish beyond what I had imagined but well, I guess this certainly beats scrambling through 5 different HDDs laying around.

 

Centralized storage makes things easier. You should be able to get up to 125MB/s over a Gig port. Whether the drives go that fast or the overhead is knocking things down is another issue. The router you're using could be another issue but, if you're not seeing these lower speeds on websites / streaming then it's likely not the issue. The NAS itself could be the bottleneck with the NIC / CPU throttling things down a bit.

Could simply assign a static IP to the NAS / PC and put an ethernet cable directly into it and test the transfer speeds.

 

I will try the direct connection through ethernet but something I am skeptical about is opening up to the external world. Apparently I can use a QNAP account to access the NAS from outside the home network but honestly I don't feel secure about that quite yet.

At some point in far future, I would like to actually build a NAS, it's actually a LOT more convinent than I thought to have a central storage.

Also, it turns out I have 3 X spare 2GB HDDs and 1 X spare 1GB HDD and 3 x 512 GB SSDs and 3 X 256GB SSDs (results from retiring a work laptop which fudged up a handful of HDDs and a few SSDs).

I am selling all the SSDs on local auction before they get too de-valued.

 

Opening up with DDNS / QNAP is nice if you have a use for it. I like to keep things locked down and not advertise to the internet that something is being hosted.

Selling off the spare drives can get you into a custom NAS you can build yourself like I did. The easiest approach is to take an old PC with enough bays for drives and throw linux on it and share the drives. If you want something more robust you can configure it for Raid. The options are unlimited when you repurpose a PC / Linux. Of course the more $ you put into the more things you can do with it w/o worrying about competing for resources. QNAP makes decent products as I've mentioned before but, taking things into your own hands can yield better results. If you have the time and resources it's relatively easy to build. Adding in features like routing / switching / wifi / firewall can be done on the fly or if you decide to add a DVR function for OTA / antenna recording it's simple as well. If you want to record "cable" there's a box you can get for a cable card to feed into it as well.

 

I am a developer within a Linux distro so I can get my around setting up a server but the only thing I don't like about custom NAS out of a PC is accessing movies from android devices.

If I have my own house, I'll have a serious server built, probably a gaming grade computer with VM for individual station with wifi keyboard/mouse and DP put through. Pity, I'm not that rich yet haha.

For now, QNAP is serving its intended purpose and I'll probably add bigger HDDs until I move into a real house some day.... Unless it craps out before that.

 

When you do a "share" from Linux any device OS can access it just fine. I'm running W11 on a laptop and Android phone w/ Google Chromecast TV and they all see the share and play from it just fine. There's no weird need for NTFS or translations from one FS to another. I use Plex for hosting locally to other devices as well for video. Any device though can access the files on the shared drives.

I do use a Logitech K830 wireless keyboard for managing it when I need a local device to revert changes.

Now when I say server I'm not talking about the blades you see in a datacenter as those things are power hungry and LOUD AF. I'm talking about a custom built PC that can be of any size / shape / color. The one I built went through 3 different cases / MOBO's trying different things with each iteration before landing on the final solution which is now housed in a Node 804 case using an matx MOBO for a smaller footprint / plenty of drive bays / quiet. It has room for 10 x 3.5" drives and a couple 2.5" in the front face + whatever you can do M2 wise on the MOBO. Has 5 slots on the back but most board only have 3-4 PCI slots anyway. I'm down to 2 PCI cards from having a fully loaded full size ATX case w/ 5-7 cards running. I went with an EVGA 850W PSU due to some of the stuff I was playing with to make sure I had enough power for a couple of GPU's / tons of fans / drives.

Another option is to KISS it with a DAS which is basically a NAS w/o the networking board inside and USB connecting to a PC / router instead to share data. No fancy GUI's or apps run on it and it just sits wherever you put it. However you can make it a NAS w/ a USB >> Ethernet adapter ( I have a couple of these laying around since they're USB 2). They're not too popular these days though due to better bandwidth options being available though at a premium. Like RaspPI boxes being used for the same functions. If you configured / built one though you could potentially hook a hub up to it and share multiple drives from it as well for ~$50.

There's plenty of options and different directions you can go in with this sort of thing.

 

but how do you connect/mount from android?

 

If you share from Linux aka any NAS you just need an app for that I use CX File Explorer on the phone to manipulate files from the share. If you want playback then just use VLC or any other app you like. Just use the \\sjare\folder\etc. path to get there.

 

Okay, I do use CX File Explorer sometimes but I didn't know it can mount local network drives. Good to know, thanks!

 

Yup. Works great. When I want to move some downloaded files from one folder to another and don't feel like opening the laptop it's a couple of clicks and done. If I want to backup something from the phone, same thing. It will pick up the "server" after you first give it the info and login. After that you just open it, hit network, and click on the server and browser to the folder. If you use it frequently it will keep them mapped in the quick access on the top panel and you just swipe to get to those frequent folders with one click.

In linux you just go into /mnt and create a folder with the name you want to use as the "share" and then add the share info into /etc/fstab to auto mount it when you reboot. You can also set it to automount from the "disks" option in the GUI.

 

I don't like remote mounting with fstab, I just use a short script to run sshd to mount/dismount on demand because if fstab doesn't detect the drives it can interrupt boot.

 

I'm just telling you what works. If you want to run a script each time you reboot and want access that's up to you. The only time it hangs on boot is if the kernel has an issue with a component not being loaded like my NIC beyond 5.14.rc7 at the moment. The system does boot but, w/o network connectivity it lags trying to run sudo commands to do anything of value to fix the issue.

 

Okay I just tried the sshfs, and it actually froze the mount point. I guess it's too slow for that?

 

I don't know if that's the case but, I've been running this system this way for a few years now w/ issue when it comes to mount/dismount of the NVME + Raid I have setup. The only times I encounter issues is if I'm messing around with something and break it temporarily.

KISS + don't fix it if it isn't broken .And if you do "fix" it, you better know how to fix it so it works after you fix it.

 

I would use a SSD for Storage and another for O/S system access-never use the same drive for Storage and Access. That is asking for trouble. SSD can speed up a old computer but More Memory helps if you do alot of file access or data swapping.

Multiple backups on different devices is your only Insurance from disasters. Cloud is the worst one of them all you have no control and anyone that hacks can see your data. That should be of Last Resort only.

Just remember anything Electrical HDD or SSD have a lifeSpan and the more you use it the more it shortens the lifeSpan but if it's just Archive that will insure it last far longer then if it constantly spinning or in SSD electrical data moving back and forth constantly.

You doing it smart separate Main drive from Data drive that's what I've been telling people if you can afford to do this do it. You'll remember this when the main drive goes dead you can rest easy your Data drive is safe to still access.

WD been reliable drives but as anything the more you use the more chances a OOPS happens that is why you want to have a Dedicate drive just for Data/Files so if you had to rebuild the Main drive you can still gain access to the Data drive.

Unlike a HDD it will give warning signals a SSD will just not detect nor show signs of life.

 

I just tried using CX files from my androids last night. Huh, it works pretty darn well. Now I kind of feel dumb for using QFile and wanting to get a proprietary NAS.

I mean I "could" ask for a decomissioned desktop from work and set up a home server with it (though it would be 10 x heavier and larger).

For now, the QNAP 2bay NAS is doing the job I intended for it perfectly.

As for SSD discussion, what bothers me most is they always display life remaining in SMART test but what about the microprocessor state? 100% of the time the microprocessor dies far before the memory arrays.

 

I have yet to have an SSD crap out. It does happen though. I suppose I do have one that's borderline on the fritz from an old rig that's from 2008. It still works but there's small signs of corruption occuring that has it sidelined in a drawer. Since it's out of warranty I popped it open to take a look inside for the helluvit. Nothing special going on inside just PCB and soldered chips as expected.

Really flash storage is mostly for OS and rust storage is for hoarding data.

 

What brand do you usually buy? I am not touching another Sandisk with a 1km stick.

 

I have a couple of SS and OCZ drives but, my NVME's are PNY / MydigitalSSD and they're both ~ 2yo now? I have a total of 3 of them at this point as i started with 2 x MDSSD's and then picked up the PNY later on and switched to the PNY as a primary since it's 50% faster on extended testing.

I refuse at this point to pay the premium that SS wants for drives as there are more options on the market now than there was back then. In my server though I'm using a SS NVME (OS) // WD Red for the Raid. I did grab a SanDisk Extreme Pro though for a flash drive because it actually does ~400MB/s and fits in confined spaces.

 

My experience is that SSD are maybe a bit more reliable than spinners. I am the inhouse IT guy where I work, along with a professional service when I am not able to spend time on computer issues. (my primary job is Mfg. Engineer). We have around 30 pcs's used for our operation and maybe a 3rd of our computers have spinners and the rest some sort of SSD. I have seen 1 M.2 fail, a few spinners and no SATA SSD's. While I haven't performed a proper statistical evaluation of this, my observations are pretty accurate.

 

SSD are suppose to be less prone to failure buy designs less moving parts to cause problems. But as anything anyone with engineering backgound knows anything that uses electricity will fail in it's lifespan. And SSD is worse that when it fails it just fails you have no warnings that doesn't mean they will last longer but one needs to have backups to those for that reason as well.

 

that's what worries me. I am okay with HDD failure because I get plenty of warning or mechanical damage before completely losing thr drive whereas SSD can just not work one day. One of my Sandisk SU800 one day just whistled literally on power up and had to be replaced. Same SSD died 3 times, each time replaced under RMA. Granted that it is a cheap drive, and none of my Kingston, WD Blue/Red or Samsung Evo died but I don't want that kind of risk. All of my computers except toughbook cf19 has a mech drive for data now and i was tempted to go ful SSD on Lenovo T480. I recycled the T480 because it had too many design flaws and I think the MB was a lemon. Long story short, i'm not sure when i would trust SSDs I would for HDDs.