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

You sure you weren't making the search too specific (long string?) or misspelling it?

 

Go search for Foremay SSD. All that comes up is their own website, the storagesearch and what's been discussed here. All the rest is some non English stuff with characters I can't even read on this computer. Did you make a search yourself before you assumed I don't know how to use google? There's nothing out there on this company. So either there so new to the industry that NOBODY has taken note of them or they're another scam site. Their website claims that they are "the leading company for SSD", and that they make for "for commercial laptops and desktops". Seems an odd claim for a company nobody has acknowledge exists. Considering how much they're charging compared to awesome companies we know are legit, it wouldn't be where I put my $.

 

I would stay away. This sounds like either a scam or a front for a military R&D lab.

 

Yeah, I don't have any reason to update for BIOS password problems on my Mac, and firmware updates require wiping the drive, right? In that case, I would just wait until I upgrade to Snow Leopard in September and do it all at once.

 

drive doesn't get wiped. didn't got at least the last time.

 

Anyone seen any reviews for the new Corsair Extreme Series SSDs? If live up to their rating they could beat out Intel. 240/170!

 

I believe Corsair Extremes are based on Indilinx controllers and Samsung memory... just like every other company. Most drives have faster sequential speeds but drop significantly for random R/W.

Also, the reason why you probably haven't heard of many SSD companies is because these don't target (nor do they rarely sell individually to) consumers. SLC is still the best in terms of reliability and speed and has been used by governments, military, and businesses that require mission critical reliability without worrying about cost. While they will be faster than even the best consumer SSDs, there isn't really a point in comparing them because pretty much no one here is going to be using it.

 

No, but their website says:

which concerned me a bit. Call me racist, but I want my SSD's made in Asia.

 

Yes, that's how they're made, and that's not a bad thing. We shall see how they measure up when someone reviews.

That might be a justification why *I* haven't heard of them, but not a good one as to why *no one* has heard or written anything at all about them. There are companies which don't get a lot of attention but they're good.. like Mtron. If this company was legit there would be *something* out there about them.

ETA: Did more research. They're not even an accredited business. Phone book has no listing either.

 

Have you guys seen the review on Notebookcheck? OCZ Vertex wipes the floor with Intel X25M when it comes to Vista installation and booting. Quite surprising to me.





Source: http://www.notebookcheck.com/SSD-versus-HDD-im-Vergleich.18732.0.html

Is this accurate?

 

dunno if it's accurate. but as the installation is, for a big part, writing a lot of data on disk, and the sequencial write of intel is very low, it can be true.

this doesn't mean it has to be accurate per se.

reason: i had vista installed in much less time on my intel. and it's not on a fast machine, but a 12" notebook.


maybe their sata drivers where on ide mode, and that wasn't liked by the intel? or what ever.

and 56sec to desktop? i have 30sec to desktop, here.. on different systems. 30-40sec, max.

 

And what about the performance degradation they measured?
I did not know it was so big.

 

never was that big before as well. so dunno.

it's quite a "ssd aren't that thing" type of article. and quite some of their results are not comparable to my results, so i guess they messed something up.

 

Even in a crappy benchmark, the intel has the best degraded average write speed ;-)

 

I think the minimum write speed is much more important than the average write speed, because most write actions during normal use are small files. I think the degraded Vertex will feel faster than a degraded Intel, based on those benchmarks.

 

Has anyone else tried this firmware update on a JMF602 drive like the OCZ Core V2? Will be interesting to see if flashing the drive has the same effect as doing a secure erase (resetting the drive to re-enable like new performance) as I don't have an HDDErase compatible motherboard.

 

the average contains the minimal in itself. and if the average is better, then it means, even in the worst case, it could handle and balance itself out very well.

and i'd bet, it won't feel faster. i don't think it will feel slower as well.

but to prove, i'd have to get my hands wet at a vertex. which i won't, as i have no use and need for those drives.

 

That performance degrading contradicts previous reviews: http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3531&p=13

You can really do a number on an SSD and make it look awful, but the truth is under normal wear and tear it doesn't get that big.

iaTa, updating firmware probably won't do the same as a secure erase, unless it completely wires the drive. I thought the firmware that I've seen doesn't erase data.. am I wrong?

 

as said. the intel firmware update doesn't harm your data. en contraire, a disk with a full perforamnce fail is back to normal after the update (and still all data there).

this is not true for other vendors (mtron f.e.). there, a firmware update kills all data.

 

Oooh, then maybe it would. Be interesting to see.

 

I'm french and we say "au contraire" not "en contraire" ;-)

 

Yeah before the wipe tool was released by OCZ it was recommended to reflash the firmware on Vertex drives to restore like new performance. Obviously it completely depends on the controller and thus far I haven't been able to find out much at all about this new JMICRON firmware.

I could test it myself but that would void my warranty. I have asked OCZ Tony if they can officially look into this. I think us early adopters deserve that they at least investigate this new firmware.

 

I think the minimum would be more indicative for the small random writes that are most important for real world speed. Although I don't have data to prove this.

 

in what kind of situations would we sequential write?

 

I imagine sequential write comes into play when ripping a DVD or installing an OS

 

well ill take a longer installation and ripping time (won't that be bottlenecked by the optical drive anyway?)

 

Installing an OS will not be dependent on sequential write speeds. Transferring large files or writing an image back to disk will.

 

the average shows if it fails to "un-issue" the minimum. the average on jmicron was terrible, as it couldn't handle it's own minimum.

both numbers, that would be best

 

I'm swiss in an english forum, I say "en contraire" (I would say "im gägeteil")



I try to remember it for the next time.

 

If your DVD has more than 70MB/s troughput at sequencial and, for installation, random reading, then yes. And there, you got your answer: No.

Because of the very bad random reads of a DVD, I install my vistas and win7s and such all from USB Sticks. Much faster (at 20MB/s read speed or so).

 

This Intel G2 I keep hearing about recently...is this a new one in the Intel line? Does it still require the firmware degradation fix? Anyone have a reading for this/link?

 

it's the new intel. just google it.

no, that degradation fix is on all intels that got factured after the fix came out.

stop the paranoya

 

khm

samsung firmware update didn't kill any data also

 

nice to know. afaik, ocz so far killed the data. (but may be controller related, too. and, it may be update related. if an update needs a new internal data structure, it may kill everything. if it doesn't, and can work with the existing data layout, it won't..).

 

The JMicron update does wipe your data by doing some sort of low level format so I have high hopes that it does restore like new performance.

Only one way to find out I guess.

 

good luck.

 

Aww stop the madness...I updated my Vertex and still retained my data.

Maybe the JMICRON controller drives but not the Vertex for sure.

 

nice. as said, maybe it's a bit controller dependent.

 

idk if this is posted, but here's a tidbit on the new x25-m i think should be noted

X25-m doesn't take well to BIOS passwords

Pertinent to G2 X25-m owners.

Jason

 

/\ is that why they are 'discontinued' in newegg

 

Yea it has been noted about 6 pages ago. This is the post! This appears to be a minor issue IMO though.

 

Damn Amazon is already OOS on the new 80gb/160gb Intel SSD.

 

I don't think they ever had them in stock. The pages were up, and the prices came just yesterday or the day before I believe.

 

When I updated my 64GB SLC Samsung drives, I lost the data.

 

So is there really a firmware update for OCZ solid drives?

 

^ Thinking about it I believe that I was able to retain my data because I already had fw 1275 installed and then upgraded to 1370. I want to believe that if I had a fw earlier than 1275 to begin with then I would be in trouble and lose my data if I was to update. So it may be a fw issue rather than a controller issue. I'm not positive on this though.

 

NCIX.com has listed the new Intel 80GB for 274.99 CAD!!! 99% sure I'm gonna get one

 

To update to the newest vertex firmware 1.3, you need at least 1275 or later installed. Upgrading to version 1.3 does not delete your data. On the hand, if you're firmware is lower than 1275, the flash to 1275 is destructive.

In any case, it's not really relevant for anyone looking to purchase a new drive, since I'm pretty sure new drives will come with at least 1370 nowadays.

 

What about the vertex turbo series compared to vertex or intel ????

 

Not officially...but yes, there is

Use at your own risk