Reliability on SSDs?

I'd post this in the desktop forum but, that place is dead and this place is really active.

I'm probably going to be building a desktop soon, and if not, I still wouldn't mind an SSD in a laptop.

Because it seems the average cost of an HDD for the size I would like (320GB-500GB) is roughly a $100+ right now from the flooding, I'll probably put an SSD in the system. I'm thinking 120GB as that is more than enough for the OS and games & programs I own. As for storage, I still have my laptop and a 250GB external drive (I don't use much memory at all, at most, I only need 50GB for storage and about 80GB for programs/games/OS.

So, with that in mind, the $180 price point for a 120GB SSD is pretty apetizing. And once prices go down I can add an HDD into the desktop itself so I don't have to use an External if I need extra space or backup (chances are, I won't actually ever need the extra space).

But I'm kind of worried as I've read there are a lot of reliability issues with SSDs. The brands I was looking at was either an OCZ Agility 3 ($175) or an OCZ Vertex 3 ($190). Any recomendations to which one? Recomend a different brand/model? And what are the reliability issues with SSDs that I keep seeing people post about?

Thanx!

 

Say no to SandForce, say no to OCZ.

For top-notch reliability, buy a Crucial M4, Samsung 830, or Intel 510. Below are the best prices you'll find them for.

Crucial M4 - 128GB - $197 shipped
Crucial Technology 128GB m4 SSD 2.5" Solid CT128M4SSD2 B&H

Samsung 830 - 128GB - $200 shipped
Newegg.com - SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC128N/AM 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) Notebook Upgrade Kit
This also comes with Batman Arkham City. Note this is the notebook kit, so you'll need the adapter for desktops. The desktop kit is out-of-stock and $30 more at Newegg.

 

^^ I completely agree.

but just to be more specific...say no to Sandforce 2281 drives running on cheap 25nm nand memory.

Sandforce and 32nm or 34nm nand is much better and much more stable. These include the HyperX, OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS edition, Patriot Wildfire, Mushkin Chronos Deluxe. I personally own a 120gig Patriot Wildfire and it has been trouble free from day one...zero bsods.

But you can bypass all that by going with the drives that qwilled recommended. The M4 i have in my m17x is solid as a rock

EDIT: There's also a new boy on the block...the OCZ OCtane which uses the latest Indilinx Controller. This is probably going to be my next SSD

 

Skip OCZ; you'll be doing yourself a favor. Buy something better like Intel, Samsung, Crucial. Those don't have the reliability bad reputation like OCZ. I know from personal experience.

So, get a -good- quality SSD and make regular backups. If you are using a 2nd platter drive as your storage HD, just keep a current backup of the SSD there. I do this, using Acronis, and if I ever need to restore a deleted file or the entire SSD, I just boot up the standalone DVD version of Acronis and am back in biz within 5-10 minutes. I also store backup copies offline, but typically use the online HD Acronis image. All that said, I rarely do any of this, as SSDs work pretty well, from my experience.

No matter what you do, you should -always- have adequate backup/restore for your needs.

 

OCZ is ze devil.

They suck at reliability, they suck at RMA. PURE EVIL.
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