SSD Thread (Benchmarks, Brands, News, and Advice)

Really though, isn't writes the only thing we're going to be seeing increase from Intel this year?

 

The first 160GB G2 drive I received suffered from the 8MB bug. I installed it in my MBP, started the installation of Snow Leopard, and about 15 minutes into it (it was almost done), there was an error and installation quit. When I started the process again, disk utility showed the available space as 8MB. I called Intel for a fix, and they asked me to exchange it through the place I purchased it. I was told that it was very "rare", but in my case, it was 33% among the 3 Intel SSDs I had and 50% among the 160GB versions

Overhyped? I didn't even know what it was until the drive died and I searched with the terms 8MB Intel SSD. For some people, it showed up instantly (in my case), while in other cases the drive suffered from this after 1-3 months of use.

Glad that it's not mentioned anywhere any more

 

Also, referring to Dave's comment but asking to anybody, when are Sandforce drives supposed to hit the market?

 

I dont recall this firmware has TRIM..
it could be an fake TRIM report.
Plus a month ago, DELL Samsung SSD didnt have TRIM support on SSD>
u need to flash ur friwamre with the latest firmware from www.samsungssd.com

Solidata SF1200 and SF1500 will be released in Feb, and I think Vertex will be March.

 

OCZ says the Vertex II pro will be available in March.

 

The website shows me that it flashes it to VBM19, but mine is VBM24, so wouldn't mine have a later firmware? Or do you think I should flash anyway.

 

If it will let you flash, and I doubt that it will because that is a Dell firmware, then I would.

Dell has probably sold as many of those Samsung SSD's as anybody and they still don't offer a firmware flasher for GC and TRIM.

 

I know! It's ridiculous. I got lucky because they sent me an encrypted one (which seems to have a different firmware series) and it has TRIM already on it.

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/kingston-ssd-now-trim-windows,9510.html Kingston with Trim

 

Does your firmware happen to be VBM9LD1Q? My other notebook has that firmware. And what do mean by encrypted?

 

Yeah, that's it!

Encrypted (if it has FDE in the disk name) means that it has hardware-based encryption, not software. You can wipe the drive clean and it will still be encrypted (i.e. still require a password to boot from). I mean, I guess it'd be pointless to wipe a drive if you were trying to break into it, LOL, but it's just another layer of protection.

But the software sucks that comes included with it: no symbols in the password!

~Ibrahim~

 

Is Windows Write Caching a good idea for SSDs? Should I leave it enabled?

 

no, size should increase, too. and they shift from the X*80 to an X*100 approach afaik (with 0.5,1,2,4 as factors). but well, we'll see.

well, if you're one of the few, your own statistic will obviously be .. quite special mine is 0% amongs 160gb, 2x 80gb, and 1x 40gb.

so now we would be at 16.7%

i'm sure we know others having intels in here, and they would drop the statistic quickly.

cape had one, no error. that would result in 12.5%.

overhyped by some in here for being the biggest issue existing and a reason to not buy intel.

leave it enabled. it should help.

 

Sorry about that. Forgot to update Sig. Doing it now. Will have to change again when my Studio 8100 i7 arrives in a few weeks! Dave

 

I think the statistic for Intel SSD problems is high for Nvidia chipsets like the 9400m that is in the MBP. My Toshiba has a 9400m g chipset. When I tested the Intel X-25V over the weekend I tried the Nvidia storage drivers and was getting BSOD's -- went back to the default ones from MS and no problems. The SSD forums are riddled with Nvidia motherboard users with problems regardless of SSD controller.

I am planning to build a desktop this year and there is no way it will have anything Nvidia in it.

 

yeah, i'm finally 100% nvidia clean at home now that i sold my desktop. i have a lot of reasons to hate this company. i was in the game graphics development scene while nvidia grew big. and boy how they cheated everywhere to get that big. ati did sometimes, too. but nvidia just loved to lie into your faces and laught at it. really not my type of behaviour for a company.

yeah, would be interesting to see if there actually are ANY non-nvidia related intel-ssd bugs that occured ever. if not, is it then the reliability of intel, or nvidia, that gets hurt? i'd say nvidia for not being able to handle a simple disk plugged into their sata ports

 

i have never bought any product from this crap company.

 

i never bought my one actively. but about 2 or 3 years ago, don't remember, i got hold of a 1000$ reduction for a nice quadcore system including 24" screen.

so i couldn't care less if there's nvidia in.. which never got put to use anyways (the gpu that was in, that is. rest is non-nvidia).

i only bought a gf2 back in it's days. my only actively bought nvidia product.

i would have preferred amd and nvidia to merge, so i could just continue to only care about intel and ati

 

Newegg has the 1.8" 80gb Intel SSD with 2.5" adapter for $189 after using promo code EMCYZNT44

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...GNEFL012610-_-SolidStateDisk-_-L0F-_-20157021

 

Damn, I am hoping I was smart enough to get ATI Vid card in my new desktop. Now I am scared to check.

Have never liked Nvidia for no particular reason. or is the issue only with Mainboards with Nvidia?

 

mainboards chipsets, not graphic cards. so you should not fear (except you have some nforce chipset ).

 

My new Dell Studio 8100 that is coming I think has Intel chipset.

 

Read it on anandtech

Does this drive support TRIM? Also, is it the same speed/specs as the 2.5" or is it slower?

EDIT: NM, saw you other post about it being G1 without TRIM.

 

same specs as the 2.5" drive. but g1 does not have trim.

 

I was just wondering if you guys can comment on the AS SSD Benchmark I ran on my WinXP TE SP3 - showing an error at top left...

(Factory stock- no mods at all - used Toshiba restore disk to install the OS originally)

 

Try installing the Intel Matrix/Rapid storage manager?

 

OK thanks - also noted Tomy B's tips on this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=424509

 

I didn't try to overhype it, I just wanted to point out that Intel had bigger issues then Samsung.

But some in here doesn't wont to accept it.

And it isn't a reason not to buy Intel at all, actually I ordered one with some help from sgilmore62 (Thank You very much!).

 

And Samsung drives didn't get updates for ages... and degrade quickly...

Intel problems? I had none...

 

well, you overhyped it by stating "they have bigger issues then samsung". while, as shown up again, most likely they are chipset issues of the nforce chipset not being able to see the device properly. would be interesting to see if the ssd would work in a non-nforce board after the 8mb bug occurs. but maybe the chipset killed the drive? just as my psu killed my mainboards (2 of them.. )

and no, i won't accept your false statement ever. as it's false.

there where so far three issues with intel:
g1, first firmware:
possible to let it degrade. fixable by cleaning it.
got fixed with firmware update

nforce mainboard:
possible 8mb bug, maybe nvidias fault.
very rare, no clue if it can still happen. as said, maybe the nforce chipset would need an update?

g2, first firmware:
bios password changing could brick the disk, resulted in a blockade of selling the drive until the firmware got fixed.
they completely let millions of dollars slip by not releasing it for half a year just to make sure no one got hurt.

all of those where minor issues that don't affect your normal life, and the reaction from intel was always great.

none of those where reliability issues per se, as none of those happen in normal usage on a verified (intel based) system. a relability issue would be the chance that i lose data while working on it, the chance of the disk to die or block or stutter or what ever while using it.
what those are are compatibility bugs. foreign hw can result in issues.

but well, you don't care, and i don't care about your dreaming of fantastic samsungs, which sometimes can't even get an os installed on it, and more.

 

I totally agree with You about Samsung drives.

If all issues were with nForce based system, then maybe it isn't Intel's fault, but Samsung didn't have those issues.

1st Intel issue: I won't say it is an issue at all.

Intel had issues with two FWs for G2, one with setting password in BIOS and one with FW that enables TRIM.

I don't dream about fantastic, perfect or what-so-ever Samsung SSDs, but it would be nice that they are "faster".

At least You admitted that Intel did have issues!

 

as i said, a compatibility issue. those are always fault of following some spec, and the inability of two companies to clean up who's wrong. and, knowing both nvidia and intel, i know where i would put my finger on.

yes, but got reported as such in several places.

that's one issue, the issue with the BIOS. this was the firmware that enabled trim. this exact firmware was capable of killing the ssd when a bios password was in the game.
at least, that's how i remember it

no, that's what intel's are for at least, there i know i have support from the company

never said otherwise. you said they had BIGGER issues. and that i won't ever admit.

 

You can't even compare the Samsung to the Intel drives. The Samsungs can't make it past queue depth 8 without performance degradation. The Intel SSD's aren't even hitting their stride at queue depth 8 -- it's getting faster well beyond that.

The Samsung SSD's are fine if you don't throw alot of intensive IO tasks at it at the same time and are in the majority of usage patterns. But if you consider cost per GB it doesn't make sense in most cases to settle for Samsung when you can usually get an Intel for roughly the same price/gb. The Samsung drives are not very good multi taskers when compared to the Intel SSD's.

 

Ok guys, just saw this: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/internal_storage/Mercury_Extreme_SSD_Sandforce

$229 for 50GB - $399 for 100GB

I was about to buy an Intel 80GB G2 for around $250 from Amazon. Do you guys think I should get one of these instead? Do they support TRIM?

 

QuadAllegory,

Ah! The infamous SandForce makes its debut...

With the Intel, you get a solid reliable SSD with a proven track record and for less $$/GB too. With the SandForce controller based SSD, you'll get to be one of the first consumer beta testers - if you can stand to potentially be without your system/data/apps as the initial bugs are worked out - or, you have a spare computer to play with this SSD - then I'll be looking forward to your experiences with this new controller.

Hope its a good one!

 

Hmm.. I saw that this drive has some sort of built in garbage cleaning system. But, does it support TRIM? Or does it simply not need it?

I feel kinda scared to try it out but wold love to if it's speeds are better than intel and it's stable.

 

oh the hype. EVERY drive nowadays have "some sort of built in garbage cleaning system".

and yes, it should support trim.

 

What would you guys do? Do you think it's worth the risk?

 

personally, i'm absolutely happy with my intels. but i'd like some reports on how it is so.. yeah go for it

 

A note for those people looking at the kingston v+ with trim...As far as I can tell these are Samsung drives. So they get latest Samsung TRIM supporting firmware and the same Samsung performance as all the other Samsung based drives. There are not Intel drives.

 

I'll wait till a company like Crucial or OCZ releases a Sandforce controller drive, that way I can be confident in quick and simple RMA'ing if it does turn out to be failure prone.

 

Ok, I'm checking their return policy and if it seems ok, I'll spring. Just wonder if I should get the 100GB or 50GB. Wonder if I can cram my stuff in on the 50GB...

 

Well lets see:

It compresses data and also decides which data needs to be stored in the first place.

It costs more /GB than the current leader Intel G2's.

It claims to have the fastest speed, but you'll need to verify that for yourself, in your specific computer usage.

It is new and unproven in the field right now, with nothing but marketing to back it up.

Does your system need to be depended on? If 'yes', then the risk is not worth it. If 'no', you still must decide how much your time is worth on testing a device with such questionable practices as compressing and rejecting of data based on an algorithm that is more than likely faulty (it simply can't take every possible combination into account).

I would not touch this with a ten foot pole in a production environment. Even if it was given to me for free.

 

I thought Kingston V+ had Toshiba/JMicron controllers? Do you know what firmware version is on it?

 

Anand tested one of those Sandforce SSD's and he usually does a thorough job. I would expect the drives to perform pretty much how it was reported at anandtech.
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3702

 

sgilmore62,

I too believe Anand does a thorough job when he tests new SSD's, but what we don't know is if the linked drive above is the same controller that Anand tested (there are two basic versions; Anand effectively tested the better one) or if it's the lower end one.

As he also states, it is faster than the Intel G2's, but we know nothing about the reliability of them so far - no matter how good the 'theory' is behind them.

What is interesting is the second last page that shows writing highly compressed data to the SSD's gives the Vertex more effective bandwidth than both the SandForce based controller (Vertex 2) and the 100GB/second capped Intel G2.

 

Another Vertex Pro 2 review (with Sandforce SF-1500 controller):
http://www.techspot.com/review/242-ocz-vertex2-pro-ssd/

Sorry if it's posted already.

 

his tests didn't show any latency data.

 

No, but they were implied; see the second last page of the review.

 

so for those of us that purchased the Kingston V+ drives before they were shipping with TRIM firmware, how do we get our hands on a flasher to get the firmware to the TRIM level?