SSD Quandry...

So I'm getting ready to order a Sager NP8130, mainly for music production but also for a little bit of gaming.

I'm getting an i7-2670, 8G ram, and the 460m graphics card. I'm looking at the 300G intel 320 SSD, but for some reason it makes me nervous using an SSD as my only drive.

I'd like to have this computer for three years or more and I'm concerned about reliability. I've read that intel is supposed to be the most reliable manufacturer and they back up their drives with a 5 yr warranty. I'm also going to be getting a USB 3.0 external drive for backup. This typically should be enough tp give me piece of mind, so why do I still feel nervous about going SSD?

I'm thinking that it's newish tech that hasn't developed much of a track record in the consumer market. I'm curious as to how many people are using SSD drives as their only drive, how long you've had it and if you've had any trouble.

Thanks, I've really appreciated all of the info I've gotten from haunting this forum.

 

I ran into the same problem. As a software developer my data is critical. The Intel is a great ssd as long as its firmware is updated.

But having it be your only drive you MUST have a daily backup it not more. I use SOS online backup and I have mine set to backup once a day, and backup locally to my 750GB second drive every hour.

 

With storage being so cheap these days, its foolish to rely on one drive, be it SSD or HDD. I am a programmer by trade, so losing data means I lose thousands of dollars of code, simple as that.

I have an SSD as my primary, daily backups to my secondary drive. Weekly backups an external.

The only flaw in my arrangement is if my house burns down, or someone steals both my laptop and external drive at the same time I lose everything. I'll be migrating to a cloud drive by the end of the year to mitigate that risk.

In short... the more you back up your files the less you have to worry.

 

Thanks for the replies. I'm good about backing stuff up, especially my audio projects. It seems that my liklihood of getting a lemon after 3 or 4 months is greater with an SSD as opposed to an HDD. Have you found this to be true? Or am I just paranoid?

 

Like HDDs, SSDs can get bad sectors but they're virtually immune to mechanical failure. I had an Intel 320 for less than a year and didn't have any issues but in the end I went back to HDDs. Also it's a good idea to have a backup of your backup. Nothing worse than having a drive fail and seeing parts of your backup are corrupt

EDIT: In response to above reply, just stick with Intel if you want peace of mind. You can go to Newegg and compare 1-egg ratings between Intel and, say, OCZ SSDs

 

Lol so true. I DO NOT go OCZ, I have one in my purely gaming pc at home and it crashes once about every 6 hours use.

 

So I guess if I'm taking the plunge I've got a good bet with intel. What about the 510? anyone have expierience with them? Also is size an issue? Does say a 120G have a better track record than a 300G? Doesn't seem like it would but I'm curious nonetheless.

 

I have an Intel X-25M 160GB SSD in my primary laptop which has been running for 2 years now without any problems at all.

The only thing I do to it is a weekly run of the Intel SSD Optimizer every Sunday. Windows 7 and TRIM take care of the rest. It's still a snappy drive, but the only thing slowing it down is the mess of registry entries for uninstalled programs and what not.

If you are going to get an SSD, make sure it is only an Intel SSD, for your sanity.

 

I think i read somewhere that the higher the intel ssd's capacity is the better it will perform because of high NAND or something (sorry couldn't find that post or url where I read it from).

but quality wise I'd rarely think you'd get a lemon from Intel, also a lot of good reviews and feedback for the crucial m4. cheaper and faster.

personally I'd like to think that an SSD could outlive a mechanical HDD, simply because of no mechanical moving parts to wear out, aside from drives getting cheaper every year.

 

The main reliability issue that you run into with SSD's is the limited read/write cycles. That's why you wouldn't want to put a consumer grade SSD into a high usage server environment. For consumer use though, you'll never bump into that ceiling with typical usage. Even when SSD's do fail, it's very rarely the flash memory- but rather it's the controller that fails. HDD's on the other hand can have failed motors, but head crashes and other data destructive failures are more common.

That said, a good backup strategy is the best way to avoid problems be it on an SSD or HDD. If its data you just cannot replace, you should have at least one backup. Best practice is to actually have at least two (one onsite and one offsite).

 

I have been running SSD's for well over a year and a half, and all of myine show 100% life. No issues. Also for anyone worried about limited write cycles, see this thread: SSD Write Endurance 25nm Vs 34nm

 

Thanks everyone, this has been a load off my mind. Seems a lot of negitive info I've been reading about comes from the whole 8mb problem intel fixed with a firmware patch.

I guess the bottom line is, drives can fail no matter what type, so hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

 

My backup plan is simple really and covers all angles. Like I said I do development work and cannot afford to lose data.

Dell M6500
Primary Drive Intel 320 200GB
Secondary Drive WD 7200 750 GB Black

I run a full windows 7 image every 7 days to my external HDD.

I run a active mirror which mirrors everything in my user folder to the 750GB drive. This if so if the SSD just outright fails I will be back up and running within a few hours.

I run SOS local backup that backups my full drive every week, and backups my coding folders every hour from the SSD to the 750GB Secondary WD.

I run a SOS online backup once a day that backups my user folder.

This plan has me covered in case of HDD failure, theft, lose, dropping the laptop in the river and just needed to view archived data.

I am sure there are better plans but this one works for me for now at least.

 

I like this. I'm doing it.

Pulling the trigger today! Soon I'll be obsessively checking my tracking number for shipping progress.

I've seen a lot of reviews of this machine for gaming. Maybe I'll do one for audio. Test CPU load on track counts, large sample loads, rendering, etc.

Thanks once again! I'm excited to be joining the crew!

 

i have a similar backup solution, abit a bit more simplistic ^_^

My Laptop / Desktop / Home computers all back up to my Windows Home Server (Raid 10 array) and once a month I have an off site backup.

All mobile devices have VPN access to my home, and laptops have cached copies of all their work for local access while on the road.

I've avoided online cloud based solutions due to me not trusting them (that and my content is too valuable for some 3rd party company to have access to TYVM!)

 

o_o NP 8130 comes with GTX 560M standard now

 

Nice catch. I think my brain's a little fried from all the research!

Made the order today. After talking with J.P. At xoticpc, I figured it made way more sense to go with the intel 120G 510 SSD and get the 750G HDD in the optical bay. Now I'm getting a faster SSD and the storage I need. I even had enough leftover in my budget to upgrade the ram and the wireless!

 

FYI it would be cheaper to buy an Intel 510 from newegg and tell Xotic PC to ship it with no drive.

 

unless I'm missing something looks to me like they are the same price at $280.00


xoticpc
120GB Intel 510 Series Solid State Drive (SSD2 Serial-ATA III) (SKU - S5R055) ( + 280 )

Newegg
Newegg.com - Intel 510 Series (Elm Crest) SSDSC2MH120A2K5 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Seems odd to me, but there it is..

Besides, I'm willing to pay a little more to have the experts install it. I know it's easy to do, but don't like digging around my computers unless I have to. I'm clumsy and have thick, strange, meat hooks for hands..