Clevo/Sager brothers and sisters with SSD's!

hey guys,

i'm finally ready to make my first SSD purchase! i was wondering what are some of the best choices i have now and what kind of SSD's are u guys using in your machines?

i don't have any real "heavy" use to where i'd need peak SSD speeds. the SSD will be going into my NP8850 (in sig). my main uses: streaming lots of HD content, multitasking, web browsing, and the occassional 6-8+ hours of gaming once in a while. basically, i am looking for an SSD with the best/fastest "real world use" speeds.

 

Got the SSD thats in my signature.
Works really great, but im no poweruser.

I dont think its the fastest SSD money can buy but as long as its an improvement im happy.

DEagleson

 

I use a Crucial C300 in my desktop and I put the OS (Windows 7 Ult.) in one partition. When I first booted it up it took less than 10 secs. I was in awe! (It was my first SSD) I put all of my heavy load applications (e.g. Photoshop) and games on the other Partition. Loaded in a few mere seconds!

 

I don't know if your motherboard support sata 6gb/s but if it does you should get the new SSD that are just coming out. For example OCZ Vertex 3. They are like 40% + faster i think. If not when you buy OCZ Vertex 2 make sure its on sale. They have rebates and sale since the new one is coming out. I brought a OCZ Vertex 2 for 69 dollars. But it was 60GB. Enough to run my OS with some apps and my extra hd drive for media. Also the new OCZ Vertex 3 shouldn't cost that much more to the current Vertex 2.

 

what's your price/size?

if no sata 3, i'd suggest one of the intel 320's..

if you have/want sata 3, then you can probably find a good deal one the c300's. i personal wouldn't go for OCZ vertex drives, just from reading about their shadiness lol, but others seem to be happy with their vertex 3 drives so far (except the 128gb size. seems to be very disappointing atm). intel 510 drives are goood, have higher sequential read/writes, not as high of randoms as the crucial drive though..

 

I bought a SLC 64G ssd for system disk use

it's really fast , and :

slc-ssd has a very long life , though the spec is medium-level but login windows7 just need 30s (from push the power button to get into the desktop) , and logout windows7 only 10s.

life is valuable for not wasting time

but if you need a 120GB or larger ssd , you can choose intel new series

510 is ok , just Intel , DON'T use OCZ 'cause they often patch the ssd for invalid/wrong flash block , they give you a high paper performance , but a troublesome hurt in use .

 

thanks. i remember a few of the other members recommended the vertex 2 as well. there's actually a sale going on right now for a 240GB vertex 2 SSD for $309 AR. i'm kind of iffy about the supposedly bad failure rate though.

no prize range really. i would like to spend nomore than around $300, BUT if it were a superior product then i have problem spending more. i know that all SSD's will give that "snappiness" compared to the traditional HDD, so i guess i'm really more concerned about reliability. i want something that will last me a while and not die on me. i'm looking for the best SSD in terms of reliability : performance, with reliability being a bit more important. a plug and play-type of drive, that requires minimal maintenance, would be ideal for me.

 

When I talked to my reseller about SSDs, when I wanted to add mine to my order, I was informed of the high rate of failure they've experienced with the Vertex drives. They did however tell me that the Intel drives, in their experience, have had a 0% failure rate. I went with Intel due to strong performance (not the best but up there) and incredible reliability.

 

Reliability = Intel they supposedly have the lowest failure rates.. That's why I went with the 510 (and to utilize my sata3 speed).. 320's are performing pretty well..

C300s have become pretty reliable. They've been around a while now, and lots of people recommend them. Been reporting issues of freezing with them and the c400's though..

One of the mods that hangs around the ssd section recommends the sanding 470 series for good reliability with sata 2 performance.

Overall (if you don't plan on hopping over to a sata3 computer anytime soon) I'd recommend the intel 320 series. You should be able to pick up a 160gb one for around $300
Newegg.com - Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW160G3K5 2.5" 160GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

 

C300 256GB in use on a machine which is used to develop/compile software and run virtual machines. No real gaming, photos, or movie watching.

Besides, flashing the firmware to '0006', which had to be done on a machine supporting normal SATA (No AHCI flashing, but supposedly that will be addressed in any future firmware) no other complaints. No freezes. Super fast boots / performance:

 

It is also interesting to note that a main reason Sager themselves only offer Intel SSD's is because of the very high reliability rate with a very, very, low failure rate.
_

 

Personally I'd choose Intel X25-M G2 for several reasons, but has max size of 160GB:

(1) Solid history of performance and reliability over time
(2) Fast 4k read/writes which are most important for "general" Windows use
(3) Excellent Intel toolbox and other software (disk migrator, etc) for free
(4) Non destructive firmware updates (although backing up data always a must of course)

It's not the fastest, but has a good history. If you want more capacity and fastest for SATA II, then the C300 256GB or new Intel 510 250GB. The C300 also has a good history, but also has had issues with occasional freezes or pauses during use. Firmware updates are destructive too. Even the new Intel's have no history though, but I would put my faith in them over the other vendors at this point. I've used everything from a Kingston, OCZ, Intel, and OWC, and have had the best experiences with Intel, and now own three Intel SSD's.

Since yours system is SATA II, you won't reap the benefits of the newer drives, but those mainly boast fast sequential speeds.

 

Hmmm... Second person to mention the C300 and a freeze or pause.

Is this a system freeze or perhaps a freeze in a particular piece of software? How old is the info regarding freezing? What firmware was in use? Was it different than what I've posted?

I've never encountered any kind of system freeze in the six months of use on this laptop (see sig.) and am curious if I am unique or what may be the cause of others who've encountered it. Note, I have had a freeze or two using Firefox 4, but apparently this is related to Firefox 4. Every other piece of software on the x7200 runs as expected.

 

I have both the Corsair Nova 128 and the intel x25-m 120gb. The nova is better in large file usage (the sequential writes are great), like photo work, but the intel is better in everyday usage (the 4k random writes are way better). But I love them both. I do, however, love the toolbox that you can use with the intel.

 

I decided upon two Intel x25-m drives - did not have a single issue ever, so I guess I can recommend this SSD.

Be warned that the screws which connect the disk module to the chassis will be very tight... and that's like TIGHT (at least mine were) be careful not to strip a screw or two.

Good luck, enjoy your SSD!

 

Hmm, my screws weren't tight. No issue at all. Must have gotten a drive with the holes on the low end of the tolerance or screws on the high end, or both!

 

after many mlc ssd.........i went back to x25e 64g slc^^

 

I would get the 34nm Intel G2 X-25 SSD, it'll have more lifetime than a 25nm drive.

 

Realisically, You'll probably change laptops or can find better/cheaper ssd's long before you'll write through the life of either drive (assuming it's properly functioning and maintained)

 

I'm running a Samsung 470 series (128 GB) and it's great.

I'm adding an OCZ Vertex 3 240 GB drive as soon as the damned thing finally arrives.

Personally, I'm now a huge fan of SSDs. They're fast, no vibration. I use this machine for work, which means that I perform regular backups. (Once I get the new backup solution up and running I'll be performing a backup of my essential, work-related data on a daily basis)

I'm excited to see how the two SSDs compare in the same machine.

 

On Crucial's forum, a few owners have experienced issues with the 0006 update so probably firmware. They're working on a fix right now that's supposed to be released late this month. New firmware for C300 update - Crucial Community. I personally am still running the stock version 0001 when the drive first came out. Haven't ran into any issues in the year I had it but I think I'm due for an update lol

 

I stumbled across this one on Saturday - Solution: C300 Disk Freeze-ups in Windows 7 solved... - Crucial Community

My guess is reported freezes referred to with others were related to the intel chipset, C300 and intel's Link Power Management. Near the last page of the thread, this can, supposedly, be addressed with some hacks to the registry.

That would also explain why I haven't seen anything. The x7200 runs chipset X58 which does not seem affected.

 

thanks alot for all the suggestions guys. it looks like i'll "settle" with the best intel SSD. i haven't looked at any of the newer models yet, but i read something about there being a "sweet spot" with the new intel drives, GB-wise. i'm looking for something with at least 180~ GB to boot my main OS and a few games. all downloading and info will be going into an external 500GB portable HDD.

i'll go back and rep u guys slowly. thanks again! i would love any additional tips if u guys have any. info on maintenance and recommended tweaks would be stellar.

 

Good luck w/ the drives. Here are some links for SSD which may help...

Guide Vista 32/64 SSD Windows Registry tweaks

SSD Tweaks and Optimizations in Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums

Support and Q&A for Solid-State Drives - Engineering Windows 7 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

The SSD Optimization Guide | The SSD Review

Also look at tools like SSDLife, AS SSD, and Crystal Dew's Crystal Disk Info and Crystal Disk Mark. Also, if you go w/ Intel, make sure you install/understand the Intel SSD Toolbox.

 

maintenance on ssd's require wd-40.

 

Haha, don't say that, someone may believe you..

I for one am loving my 510 guys. 18sec boot times, sc2 boots in about 4secs.. Just wish I'd gotten a bigger one lol. (may save my pennies and buy a 250gb soon)..

 

Is that a Western Digital 40GB drive?