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

Interesting!

Any links for more info? Thanks.

 

http://www.uvm.edu/energy/?Page=sleep.html

 

sgilmore62, that link is only for monitor sleep mode - I think?

 

Well....its not the drive...heres the numbers after a fresh install with the automatic driver update:

 

looks faster than corsair P256:

 

Well figured it out... Got the whole system installed and here are the final marks as well as the culprit file that slows the drive down to a crawl. It is the first of two Nvidia Chipset downloads within the Win 7 drivers section.

I had a feeling and its the only file I did not reinstall....the checked one. Systems perfect now with no exclamatory yellow triangles in the System Devices and everything purring like a kitten.

 

Well, it looks like I come in after you have resolved the problem, but my general advise is to always perform a clean install and get all the drivers by yourself. I've never had any issue with my Samsung SSD's this way. Also, if you want to learn how to use HDDerase should the occasion ever arise, look at this link for instructions:
http://www.iishacks.com/index.php/2...e-erase-reset-an-intel-solid-state-drive-ssd/
Even though it's for an Intel SSD, a Samsung SSD should be able to use it as well.
Good luck

 

what's your samsung firmware version?

 

Not a clue...it would be the version that originally shipped with the disk. I cannot find any upgrades to it either.

 

FYI Greg, HDDErase is a program which initiates the "Secure Erase" command that is in the SATA specification, so they are really one and the same.

 

Can someone offer advice about how I should distribute files and apps with my new setup? I have an Intel X-25M 160 GB SSD and a 320 GB 7200 RPM HDD. Once the new firmware issue is fixed, I'm going to run Windows 7 from the SSD as my main hard drive.

Programs I run:
Photoshop
PaintShop Pro
Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint)

I also run Steam and own like 80 games on it, including newer ones like Borderlands and Dragon Age that take up a lot of space. I think if I wanted newer games to run as fast as possible, I'd need to install Steam to the SSD. But if I do that, I'll run into storage issues a lot, as I don't think Steam allows you to install games to separate directories (such as some games on the SSD and some on the 7200 RPM). Should I keep Steam on the 7200 so that I can have lots of games installed simultaneously?

 

I have a SAMSUNG MMCRE64G8MPP-0VA (MLC) in a T400. Had a couple of questions:

1. Is this 2nd generation Samsung MLC or 1st generation?

2. Is there any hope for TRIM firmware update for this drive?

3. Should i expect a huge performance degradation filling this up to 85% capacity? I am planning to do a fresh install after a secureerase. I expect Vista+Apps will take up around 40 GB's and data will take up around 10-15 GB leaving around 10 GB empty.

4. For SSD's why don't the manufacturer's come out with a "reclaim" program which you can run like defragmentation to reclaim the "dirty" bytes. This can be run whenever the performance goes down.

 

I meant the program called Secure Erase...which apparently is OCZ's custom tool for erasing Vertex and Agility hard drives. But I know what you speak of.

 

A good workaround I read a while back is to install everything normally to C: (the SSD) and Move the specific folders of games/programs you don't use all the time to D: (mech HD). When you want to play a certain game, simply move it to the program directory on C: (and if you have to, space-wise, first move off a couple of games to D .

I don't know how practical all this moving back and forth is, but the original poster thought it was a good work around for the limited space on an SSD (and I think he/she was using a 60 GB drive for C .

Would this work for you too?

 

Well, with Steam you can delete and redownload a game at any time, but backing it up on D: would certainly be faster than redownloading. I was thinking that removing and putting games on the SSD all the time might be bad since SSDs have a limited number of writes. Or is the limit so high that I shouldn't worry about it?

EDIT: I found a potential solution.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/howto_master_your_file_system_mklink

This article shows how to use symbolic links to move Steam apps to a different drive. Steam still sees and can run them as if they're in the default location.

 

I had a problem with the Nvidia storage driver too--had to uninstall it and let the Microsoft driver install. The Nvidia driver is only recommended for RAID setups.

 

don't fear the limited number of writes. they're way beyond the limits you can hit. i'ts not like you redownload steam games filling your whole ssd 10000 times, now, do you? (if so, i'd like to get your internet connection )

 

just a question, was looking at yr futuremark scores and i found this
Hard drive model Hitachi HTS723232L9A360 ATA Device

what kind of hitachi SSD is this ?

 

is it possible to buy that cheaper Dell OEM Samsung 256GB SSD and flash it with OCZ firmware? http://www.ocztechnology.com/drivers/Vertex_Firmware_Flashing_Guide.pdf

 

Although this would solve the limited space and moving/copying/deleting dance, you will not be enjoying the SSD benefits of your steam games though.

As davepermen said; don't worry about the limited write cycles on SSD's. In Intel's G1/G2 80GB as an example, Intel warrants that small drive to 100GB of data written and erased each day for five years - I can only assume that the 160GB model would have even more robust write endurance. Please don't extrapolate this example to other drives though - I think here, Intel is clearly the leader (by stating it publicly as a 'feature' of their SSD's).

So, I would still install to Steam to C:, copy the whole Steam directory to D:, delete all or most of the games I play infrequently from C: and when I wanted to play a certain game, just copy (not move) from D: to C: and when I was finally finished with a game, or wanted to now play a different one, simply delete it before I copied the new game over.

 

sgilmore62,

I've asked before, (you may have missed it), but the link you supplied only talks about sleep mode for a monitor.

How is your computer doing GC when you put it to 'sleep' (and on my systems, 'sleep' makes the HD power go off)?

 

gc should happen while you don't use your hdd, means no saving or loading anything. i don't know if it waits for a while, but at least on the intel it happens right after usage that it clean ups and correcting. that means if you don't use your sdd for a second, it will gc for a second.

 

IDK tiller, but I do know that my drive was not being restored using the log off method. I complained @ OCZ forums and a member suggested that the drive was not recognizing the system as being idle and that I should try sleep mode. I put my computer in sleep mode overnight and the drive was restored. Maybe GC is working @ the log on screen after resuming? IDK, but I do know using sleep mode works everytime my drive gets degraded such as after running those IOMeter 4k random write tests.

 

You can not cross flash Samsung and Indilinx firmware

 

http://www.vistax64.com/vista-general/115597-sleep-mode-does-not-power-down-hard-disk.html

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/63567-power-options-sleep-mode-problems.html

 

320gb 7200rpm--but my OS is on the 60gb Summit.

 

i mean ocz summit which is samsung oem. http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...iews/22118-ocz-summit-120gb-ssd-review-6.html

 

check drive cache setting and pcie link power state setting also

 

@ vostro1400user, I am sure that Dell will release the flasher for their SSD's as soon as it is available from Samsung.

 

^

They better or there are going to be a bunch of unhappy customers!

 

for those who have intel turbo cache+SSD, the intel chip, rather than RAMDISK, could be used to accommodate IE cache and system TMP directories to minimize SSD writing:
http://blog.tiensivu.com/aaron/
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showpost.php?p=442160&postcount=5

 

It will not work. Plus, there is no flasher for Summit drives right now.

 

may i ask what caused the performance difference between corsair P256 and ocz summit and samsung MMDOE56G5MXP-0VB as shown in http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-flash-ssd-charts/Write-Throughput-h2benchw-3.12,908.html ? are these three SSD exact same in hardware but only different in firmware?

 

The Corsair drive is 256gb and the Summit is 120gb but yeah it's probably firmware. They get a bunch of drives and benchmark them hard, if a drive has 1801 firmware it isn't going to recover between benchmarks. While those drives are the same, the Corsair probably had VBM18C1Q and the Summit VBM1801Q. VBM18C1Q has Samsungs version of garbage collection that allows the drive to recognize deleted data and clean/consolidate those blocks to like new performance. Samsung says, "within 80% of like new performance."

 

That's good to know, thanks.

 

live is hard. doesn't change a thing about the statistical chance to get that problem. i had buggy ram, buggy hdds, buggy ssds, buggy cpus, buggy mainboards, buggy what evers. it all falls back to me, unimportant who makes the fault.

getting a buggy intel ssd should give you the knowledge that the chance to get ANOTHER buggy ssd now got even more tiny

 

I really wish that it's as easy as telling them that the chance of them getting a bad drive is almost none, I really do. They just don't listen. Oh well, what ya gonna do

 

For everybody waiting on firmware updates there is "Tony TRIM". He uses perfectdisk 10 for free space block consolidation and AS-cleaner to write and delete 1's to free space that actually cleans the free space.
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64753

 

What's the best deal on a good 128GB SSD? Prices seem to not be falling, maybe even going up, and Intel can't make enough SSDs. I plan on buying in early 2010... what's the expected outlook for the time frame? Will Intel be able to meet demand? Will prices fall from now?

 

Thanks for posting these links!!! I have been asking these questions in a few other threads and no one seems to be thinking along these lines? I like the idea of changing the way the "turbo cache/ readyboost" module is used, to lighten the load of temp files away from the SSD. I'm not after a boost over the SSD performance, just would prefer not to write to the SSD unless it is necessary.

I'm not as into the RAM drive thing though, I like the idea of speed but not the lengthened start up and shut down times. and writing the image to the SSD with every power cycle

I would like to
(1) use my SSD for my OS an often used program files
(2) use a "turbo cache/readyboost" module for temp files
(3) put my HDD in the media bay as a secondary device (store music/ movies/ rarely used games/ ect)
(4) add a mini-PCIe SSD that I could copy files onto from my HDD for faster use on a "as needed" basis (i.e. when I want to play those games, ect)

Looks like I may be pursuing some add-on modules before my SSD even shows up (already ordered X25-M 80GB). Very sweet! Thanks again vostro1400user

 

OCZ Agility

 

(Note, this is not a response to the particular poster, but a general response to everyone)

Regarding the "8MB bug", I believe this has to do with compatibility with the SSD controller and the SATA controller on the motherboard. Some boards that were using the Nvidia controller and also Apple(most common) systems had the 8MB bug.

I'm not sure if anyone tried it, but I believe using HDAT2 and recovering the space back and doing Secure Erase after might be able to fix it. It's not the flash chip that's dead, its the controller somehow not recognizing all the flash memory.

 

Speaking of crappy Dell OEM SSDs mine decided to stop responding today. Actually I haven't used it in over a month, popped it in and the bios doesn't recognize it.

 

buy them kingston drives.. you know, as they're different.. they have kingston written over it

well, statistics are not for everyone.. just for the ones that.. get it?



in other news, tomorrows the x25-x out for around 100$. i don't need another ssd, but you know, it's tempting

 

Mandrake, is the BIOS updated to the latest Dell offers for your notebook?

Now;
Just a quick update on my client's Dell notebook with Samsung 128GB SSD with the '19' firmware (no GC, as I understand).

Spent another day trying to get his notebook up to speed (for me; he thought it was fine as-is). Looking on the Dell support site, there were a few driver and software updates available for Win 7, but simply checking version numbers, most seemed to show that he had the latest versions.

One update, that seemed to be a likely culprit; the Intel Matrix Storage Manager, did offer an update (almost a year newer than the one installed) and it made a very minor difference. More importantly, it didn't stop the stuttering though.

I then decided to NOT check version numbers and simply install each and every Win 7 x64 driver/software that Dell offered for his specific service tag. That decision is what made the difference; I can't say which specific driver/software update stopped the apparent stuttering, but after all were installed the computer was now operating at its theoretical speed!

My client opened up an AutoCAD file and it opened AC and the file in less than 2 seconds - his desktop AMD Opteron with Intel G2 SSD opened the same file in just over a minute (and AutoCAD was already running) - Now, even he could easily appreciate the differences too.

(This little 'test' is what convinces me that an SSD should be the last step in the upgrade process... the platform, although much better with an SSD, may still not be worth upgrading - not when it is still 30x slower simply opening a drawing, SSD or no SSD installed).

So, to all who might be having issues - make sure you do the updates Dell offers - even if they seem irrelevant to you (we have to trust Dell on this...right? ).

My next 'test' is to do the Tony Trim procedure and see if there is even more performance from the Samsung.

That may be next weekend. Stay tuned. I'm starting to really like Samsung SSD's!

 

--Mandrake

Are you trying to put the drive in your thinkpad and is there BIOS options for SATA compatability mode? I know there has been issues with thinkpads not recognizing non Lenovo OEM SSD's and HDD's.

As far as restoring the drives performance, assuming that you will be able to get it recognized, is to use HDDErase from bootable ISO disk or USB stick. AFAIK, HDDErase is the only way to restore performance on Samsung drives without GC.

 

tilleroftheearth: have fun with inferior hardware

 

I did Tony Trim procedure on my both Vertex and Samsung , it didn't work on my SSD.

 

Yes, I tried it in both a Dell Latitude and my Thinkpad both with the latest bios.

It worked outside of compatibility mode in the past. Plus I'm using my OCZ Summit drive as the main drive with no issue in AHCI mode.

I looked into HDDErase before and I remember there was an issue where the drives were "frozen". It gave me an option to bypass that but I didn't in fear of something would go wrong. Have you tried it before?

Edit: By the way I'm hopping on the Intel bandwagon for my SSD of choice. Has the firmware for trim been re-released yet? I'm wondering which firmware my new drive will come in. It's supposedly being shipped directly from Intel.

 

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/p/19277507/19495117.aspx#19495117