Need SSD opinions

Better to get EVO IMO. It comes with a limited warranty of 5 years which is 36-40TB DWPD on 256GB m.2 and SATA 2.5".

 

Most of my experience was with the SATA drives, they just wouldn't die. I don't see any issues with PCIe drives, but I haven't been working directly with RMA for a while.

 

I'll throw in my two cents and cut through the BS. Based on my experience.

1. Buy as big as you can afford. Minimum 250GB

2. Over-provision 20% unless you need space, any extra OP is better than no OP. Even with no user OP there is usually at least 7% built in OP.

3. SATA drives are sufficient for 90% of laptop users. Unless you do a lot of intense I/O iterations daily, there is no benefit to NVMe. If so, you probably wouldn't be asking here.

4. Any modern SSD will be better/ faster than a laptop HDD, period.

Buy it, install it, forget about it, and enjoy life.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

Doesn't the SSDs come with Over-provision from the factory? I mean Spare NANDs because of failed NAND due to completed P/E cycles

 

This is what I tell people. Always get that person that thinks they still need more. I mean I'm not going to say no because it's more money, but don't say I didn't try to save you the extra cost.

 

I'm going to go with a 2.5" SSD. It seems like that is the better, cheaper route to go. Also, I can always buy more space later on (when I have the funds.)

I just need to figure out which to buy. I'm looking at Samsung 850 PRO, Crucial BX300, Adata SU900, Mushkin Reactor Armor3D, and Intel Brown Box. Any other suggestions? I don't know why...but when I do a general search on Amazon, some drives don't show up. Once I search the brand name, I'm able to see more.

Do I need to buy mounting or anything like that to install an SSD in the Clevo P650HS?

Does a heatsink on a m.2 SSD actually do anything or is it just a gimmick? Just wondering...

@tilleroftheearth Thanks!

@Tanner@XoticPC Good to know. Thanks!

@HTWingNut I can pretty much only afford a max of about 250GB.

 

Samsung 850 pro or crucial BX300 would be ideal choice if you can snag it for very good price. If those end up expensive you can opt for Samsung 850 EVO(keep this SSD as a last resort)

 

Factory OP typically come with 7% OP just due to the whole Gibabits vs Gigabits difference. No spare NAND. You will see some drives that are 240GB vs 250GB or 256GB due to increase in dedicated OP space. But chips come in 2^x sizes.

Samsung 850 is a very good option. Even Evo vs Pro to save a bit more.

 

Your reseller should have provided you with the bracket and mounting screws to add the 2.5-inch drive.

 

They do; but they're there solely to protect the manufacturer against warranty claims.

Not to make the user's experience faster.

Minimum amount of 'op'ing' just to hit the silly bm 'scores' they need to put on the box.

Very few SSD's have any actual spare nand chips - except in certain enterprise devices, of course.

Btw, that (usually small ~7%) difference between units, GB vs GiB, doesn't help with sustained performance over time. The SSD's that are truly manufacturer OP'd are in the 27% range and up (from the factory).

It may not make a difference to many; but that doesn't mean it is safe to ignore. OP'ing by at least 25% or more is necessary to have the SSD work for you when you want/need it (vs. it working to protect itself from catastrophic failure with it's clean up routines at the same time you want it to complete the task you're interested in).

 

My vote is Samsung, and like HT I say go with the Evo, it's just as good for you but cheaper.

 

I think I'm going to go with Samsung, too. I'll update later on what I order. I'm going to wait a few days to see what November sales bring...and that gives me time to read the Black Friday ads. Thanks everyone!

 

Oh man if they have cheap drives, I'm getting like 5.

 

MicroCenter has the 512GB 850 Pro for $199.99

 

@saturnotaku I don't have a MicroCenter near me.

 

Used 2.5" 1TB drives pop up for same price occasionally.

 

@saturnotaku So, I realized the list of stores wasn't showing correctly for me. My sister has 2 stores by her! Can I order and have her pick it up for me? It's a bit far for me.

I also saw (thanks to hmscott, Galm, and others) that the P650HS is on sale at Microcenter for a great price! (It's what I've been considering to buy!) Do you think it's worth it to purchase the P650HS from Microcenter, even though I won't be able to get liquid metal or free 30 day no dead pixel guarantee?

 

I’ve never seen a used 850 Pro of that capacity show up at that price. And even if it did, it would be gone within minutes.


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@saturnotaku I personally sold 1TB PM853T for that price, and Micron M500 earlier, too. Both took some time to find a new owner, despite the decent price. There is 1TB Micron M500 at $190 for sale on eBay now.

 

Apples to oranges comparison since the 850 Pro is a current product and the M500 has been discontinued for years.


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@saturnotaku 850 Pro has been around since 2014, and both are SATA SSDs. Whether getting a new-with-warranty fancy drive is worth sacrificing half the capacity is one's personal choice; I'm simply informing of the alternative.

 

Well, a few tips:

For SSDs, I wouldn't recommend a capacity that low, from any vendor. #! reason for that being tied to warranty, which most SSD vendors peg against the TBW rating of the drive. The smaller the SSD, the shorter the rated TBW is, and the higher the chance of losing everything should the warranty cover not go through if you've exceeded the TBW (which is always the case).

Next: NVMe SSDs to avoid at all costs: The Intel 600p, the aforementioned WD Black and the Plextor M8Pe (both versions apply). At that rate, you'd be better off with a higher capacity SATA III SSD than a more expensive and under performing NVMe SSD.

I gather that the Toshiba RD400 line has improved over time, so I cannot speak of them yet until I have hands on a sample for testing.

The second note is strictly tied to the Samsung SSDs. Unless otherwise noted, the consumer drives tend to have the Magician Toolkit made available to them, and warranty is often covered either by Samsung or/and the reseller. For the OEM bare drive variants (such as the SM951 series), they're often targeted at OEMs and will not have the Magician Maintenance software available to them. However, they're often cheaper to purchase than their consumer oriented counterparts, albeit with limited warranty cover (if any).

As always, consider your workload and budget allocation carefully before splurging money on NVMe SSDs. The sweet spot is now at the 512 GB mark.

For the Evo and Pro Samsung lines, it all comes down to the endurance rating and expected longevity. The Pro, as implied, also has nearly double the warranty coverage, but in terms of performance, both lines tend to level out at higher capacities. For instance, the 960 Evo and Pro 1 TB drives perform nearly identically.

Extra notes on NVMe drives and day to day usage:

(a). Note that NVMe drives run much, much warmer than their SATA - based M.2 counterparts. As such, on some consumer-grade NVMe drives such as the notorious Plextor M8Pe 1 TB NVMe drive and the older Samsung 950 Evo and Pro SSD lines, you may experience thermal throttling somewhat. If possible, invest in a silicon-based thermal pad or stick to the Samsung 960 Evo and pro lines. The latter drives have an excellent heat sink assembly that keeps the NVMe SSD cool, even under sustained load(s).

(b). If you run Linux, do NOT mount the filesystems on an NVMe SSD with the discard option. This is strongly discouraged, and isn't even necessary on NVMe drives.

 

Here in India the SSD prices are outrageous, we pay the rate of Samsung 950 pro 256GB for a Samsung 850EVO 250GB. I hope you get the idea. Even I use 256GB SSDs on my PC and hell its expensive.
On Linux by default Discard option isn't added on NVMe on newer kernels 4.8 and above. I need to check fstab file for more details since I was on older 4.4 kernel, presently using 4.13 kernel.
Indeed NVMe M.2 run hotter than SATA drives of same form factor. Almost 10C higher than m.2 SATA.

 

I've noticed a lot of systems come with thermal padding included if NVMe drives are not already installed.

 

I'm sure some mobile systems have good thermal designs and can take good advantage of thermal padding, but most fail miserably at cooling an M.2 SSD when it's needed to be used at it's highest performance levels (sustained...).

Capacity is important to get the most sustained performance from any SSD's available today except Optane based models. This is achieved by OP'ing (33% recommended).

Warranty doesn't play a part in my purchase decisions of any storage subsystem. I may return a storage component if it fails while testing with none of mine or my client's DATA on it. But I will never return a storage subsystem component that I've put any DATA on.

In either case; Warranty doesn't cover your DATA. It only covers the drive.

Prices are relative to where you live... unless you can get a cheaper sample brought by someone from 'outside'. That doesn't mean that a lower quality/capacity should be settled for (if not settling is an option...). Especially when prices are so high in your area is when I would save longer to get the better/best option. Longevity of a quality item is cheaper in the long term than the alternative.

 

You're correct.

However, this assumption should not be taken lightly. Some vendors (I see you, Lenovo and some of your ThinkPad lines) do not have this foresight in mind, and when they do, will often result in an inferior NVMe drive like the Intel 600p line.

 

If you're able to ship it in via a reseller, you'll be good to go.

I live in Kenya and we use a third party service (such as Savo Store) to get our stuff shipped in on a weight basis.

As stated above, its' wise to save up and purchase a decent SSD than burn money on cheap stuff.

 

Hmmm. I'll see if I can find a reseller. Today I checked Amazon and 960 evo nvme is priced lower than 850 evo.

 

I was going by new Clevo/Sager models, but you're right, sometimes you need to buy one separate.