120Gb Intel SSD €58

KrakityJones · 24-09-2014 12:50pm #1

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/harddrives-internal/solidstate/120gbto200gb/ssdsc2cw120a310.html

Ordered one of these the other day, good value decent SSD - £40 + Parcel motel worked out at €58

Review here : http://www.storagereview.com/intel_ssd_520_review

In case anyone is tempted they wouldn't take irish credit card, but I was able to pay using the same card by paypal

MuffinsDa · 24-09-2014 1:06pm

Not a bargain. You can get a Sandisk which is bigger (128GB vs 120GB) and faster (530MBPS vs 500 MBPS) from Amazon with free delivery, working out the same price (€58.73 to be precise) and have Amazon's peace of mind wrt to returns/defects etc.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-Ultra-Internal-Notebooks-SDSSDHP-128G-G25/dp/B0093HMKVI/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1411560160&sr=8-4&keywords=120GB+SSD

KrakityJones · 24-09-2014 1:09pm

Dangit I already bought it, ah well I thought it was a good deal anyway.

MagicMarker · 24-09-2014 1:10pm

KrakityJones wrote: »

Dangit I already bought it, ah well I thought it was a good deal anyway.

If you've only just bought it then there's probably an option to cancel the order.

54kroc · 24-09-2014 1:41pm

KrakityJones wrote: »

Dangit I already bought it, ah well I thought it was a good deal anyway.

It's still a very high quality drive, yes it's old now but it's a goodie.

KrakityJones · 24-09-2014 1:50pm

It's already been shipped but anyway i'm still happy enough, can't go too wrong at that price

MuffinsDa · 24-09-2014 2:42pm

@KrakityJones - don't worry, you haven't been ripped off by any means, that's a good price. It's just not a bargain, it's just the normal price for it.

adox · 24-09-2014 3:43pm

MuffinsDa wrote: »

Not a bargain. You can get a Sandisk which is bigger (128GB vs 120GB) and faster (530MBPS vs 500 MBPS) from Amazon with free delivery, working out the same price (€58.73 to be precise) and have Amazon's peace of mind wrt to returns/defects etc.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-Ultra-Internal-Notebooks-SDSSDHP-128G-G25/dp/B0093HMKVI/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1411560160&sr=8-4&keywords=120GB+SSD

Thats showing as £58 sterling? Unless it was cheaper earlier?

MuffinsDa · 24-09-2014 4:12pm

Was £45.99 earlier. Looks like just gone out of stock from Amazon, it's showing 3rd party seller prices.

It's still 45.99 from amazon but backordered - see 1st item below:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B0093HMKVI/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

Alanstrainor · 24-09-2014 4:25pm

Anyone unsure of whether they should get an SSD or not...just do it. 256GB are ~100quid these days!

styron · 24-09-2014 4:37pm

Thanks OP. It's£55.76 + PM on Amazon - so a bargain and a reliable quality drive. A 240GB Intel 335 running flawless on the laptop, this will rejuvenate an 8 year old desktop cheaply and move on in to its (eventual) replacement.

Outkast_IRE · 24-09-2014 4:56pm

I actually have that intel drive , i got it about 3 years or more ago. They are an excellent drive built for reliability and mine has been perfect so far with a hell of a lot of use.

Drive is very quick too i use it as my boot drive and the computer is booted by the time you get comfy in the seat.

It may not be the fastest anymore but it is an excellent drive.

RustDaz · 24-09-2014 5:23pm

i got this last week.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT256MX100SSD1-256GB-Includes-Spacer/dp/B00KFAGCWK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411575750&sr=8-1&keywords=crucial+mx100

Came to 105 euros, installed and very happy with it

longshotvalue · 24-09-2014 6:13pm

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Anyone unsure of whether they should get an SSD or not...just do it. 256GB are ~100quid these days!

Try to stick to

Intel/Crucial/ Samsung

MuffinsDa · 24-09-2014 8:38pm

aidankkk wrote: »

Try to stick to

Intel/Crucial/ Samsung

Said the man in the pub.

Ardennes1944 · 24-09-2014 10:01pm

Ive a Latitude e7440 for work, has a 256gb SSD already but its not enough, whats the best 750gb/1TB SSD bang-for-buck and it there any complications with putting one in that large in memory? And is there likely to be good offers in the run up to christmas?

54kroc · 24-09-2014 10:18pm

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

Ive a Latitude e7440 for work, has a 256gb SSD already but its not enough, whats the best 750gb/1TB SSD bang-for-buck and it there any complications with putting one in that large in memory? And is there likely to be good offers in the run up to christmas?

I believe the Samsung evo is the best where 1tb is concerned, there's a chart over on toms hardware that will give you a bit of help, it's updated regularly.

Alanstrainor · 25-09-2014 10:04am

MuffinsDa wrote: »

Said the man in the pub.

They're all highly regarded as far as their SSDs go. And the price differential for other brands isn't all that significant when looking at the 256GB capacity.

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

Ive a Latitude e7440 for work, has a 256gb SSD already but its not enough, whats the best 750gb/1TB SSD bang-for-buck and it there any complications with putting one in that large in memory? And is there likely to be good offers in the run up to christmas?

I hope the IT dept has a decent budget! But to be fair, they're not madness like they were a year or more ago. But still upwards of 300 quid.

MuffinsDa · 25-09-2014 10:24am

Alanstrainor wrote: »

They're all highly regarded as far as their SSDs go.

By who, the man in the pub?
I didn't say they are not highly regarded, I have a crucial myself. But what makes you think OCZ, Kingston, Sandisk, PNY etc are less well regarded? They are all fairly similar and there are only a couple of manufacturers that make the internals for them. Far more important than the brand is the type of cells used.

So, if you still want to go ahead with man in the pub sweeping generalisation, go ahead...

unkel · 25-09-2014 12:07pm

MuffinsDa wrote: »

By who, the man in the pub?

Nah. The Samsung Evo 840 250GB is the one I'd buy. If the 927 5 star reviews on Amazon aren't good enough for you, I'd suggest you'd do a bit more research yourself

MuffinsDa · 25-09-2014 12:35pm

The top 20-30 on Amazon (when sorted by avg. customer rating) have all 5 star reviews too. I would look at performance, price, and rating. Something could have been good value for money 6 months ago when introduced, but the competition may have caught up with it now. Basing a decision solely on historic customer reviews in a fast-moving area of technology like this is not the most logical in my opinion.

Blitzkrieger · 25-09-2014 1:29pm

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

Ive a Latitude e7440 for work, has a 256gb SSD already but its not enough, whats the best 750gb/1TB SSD bang-for-buck and it there any complications with putting one in that large in memory? And is there likely to be good offers in the run up to christmas?

Does everything have to go on the SSD? A cheap mechanical 2nd drive for storage might be a better option. It'll be slower but for most applications it should be okay.

Blitzkrieger · 25-09-2014 1:30pm

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

Ive a Latitude e7440 for work, has a 256gb SSD already but its not enough, whats the best 750gb/1TB SSD bang-for-buck and it there any complications with putting one in that large in memory? And is there likely to be good offers in the run up to christmas?

Does everything have to go on the SSD? A cheap mechanical 2nd drive for storage might be a better option. It'll be slower but for most applications it should be okay.

Ardennes1944 · 25-09-2014 1:30pm

No it doesnt but it'd just be handy, its almost all VMs and their snapshots

MuffinsDa · 25-09-2014 1:38pm

A relatively fast alternative to SSD (obviously not as fast - but may be better bang for your money) would be to combine a cheap 32 or 64 GB SSD with a very large 7200 rpm HDD in an Intel RST Configuration if your motherboard supports it.
http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/highlights/sftwr-prod/imsm

Do-more · 25-09-2014 1:41pm

Looking at the Crucial CT256MX100S vs. the Samsung 840 EVO on Amazon, the product description on the Samsung mentions

Using a SATA-to-USB 3.0 connector provided in the laptop upgrade package, for a data size of 100 GB, you can migrate all the data from your HDD to 840 EVO in just 24 minutes.

I assume that you get the sata to USB cable with the Samsung even though it is not mention in "what's in the pack" or is the laptop upgrade pack something you need to buy in addition?

Is there one included with the Crucial? Or how does one go about transferring data from your existing HDD to the SSD?

Alanstrainor · 25-09-2014 1:49pm

MuffinsDa wrote: »

By who, the man in the pub?
I didn't say they are not highly regarded, I have a crucial myself. But what makes you think OCZ, Kingston, Sandisk, PNY etc are less well regarded? They are all fairly similar and there are only a couple of manufacturers that make the internals for them. Far more important than the brand is the type of cells used.

So, if you still want to go ahead with man in the pub sweeping generalisation, go ahead...

Out for an argument are we?

All I said is that they were highly regarded. Which they are.

And it's the controllers of these drives that would cause me more concern than then memory chips themselves. OCZ's vertex 3 were a disaster on this front. Yes, I believe later models were fixed. But as I said, for little or no price differential I'd go with the more popular well received drives.

MuffinsDa · 25-09-2014 3:54pm

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Out for an argument are we?

No.

unkel · 25-09-2014 8:34pm

Fair points, MuffinsDa.

But:

MuffinsDa wrote: »

The top 20-30 on Amazon (when sorted by avg. customer rating) have all 5 star reviews too.

I challenge you to show me one other SSD on Amazon with over 900 5-star reviews, or say 100 5-star reviews in the last 6 months (and no reviews under 4 stars)

Troubling finding one?

MuffinsDa · 26-09-2014 9:23am

unkel wrote: »

Fair points, MuffinsDa.

But:

I challenge you to show me one other SSD on Amazon with over 900 5-star reviews, or say 100 5-star reviews in the last 6 months (and no reviews under 4 stars)

Troubling finding one?

I made my point, don't see any point in wasting my (and everyone) else's time on this. If you choose not to get it then let's move on.

unkel · 26-09-2014 11:11am

I rest my case

The_B_Man · 26-09-2014 12:15pm

Is this the Samsung one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R3G28SXQBETFR9/ref=cm_cr_dp_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00E391OX6&channel=detail-glance&nodeID=340831031&store=computers#wasThisHelpful

MuffinsDa · 26-09-2014 5:19pm

The_B_Man wrote: »

Is this the Samsung one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R3G28SXQBETFR9/ref=cm_cr_dp_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00E391OX6&channel=detail-glance&nodeID=340831031&store=computers#wasThisHelpful

Thanks for bothering to find it The_B_Man.

unkel wrote: »

I rest my case

Would you like some dressing on your hat?

loki7777 · 26-09-2014 10:23pm

The_B_Man wrote: »

Is this the Samsung one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R3G28SXQBETFR9/ref=cm_cr_dp_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00E391OX6&channel=detail-glance&nodeID=340831031&store=computers#wasThisHelpful

Will be fixed in next FW in middle of next month.

MuffinsDa · 26-09-2014 10:56pm

loki7777 wrote: »

Will be fixed in next FW in middle of next month.

Brilliant!!

colossus-x · 27-09-2014 12:46am

Is it the case that many ppl are buying these ssd's and putting them in laptops that wern't designed for them although they fit. I read the port speed you connect it too has to match the speed of the drive which it wouldn't if it previously had a HD attached to it, thus the overall performance is minimal and not worth it ? Of cousre is your just upgrading from your previous SSD then it would be worth it.

loki7777 · 27-09-2014 1:10am

Not true at all. Most of modern laptops use msata port for ssd. If this port is not available main hdd is connected to sata 3 port and that will give you max speed of new ssd drive - for example my 3 years old dell x502l achieved ~520mb/s with evo 840 250gb - same as all new pc's can do. Overall performance- os,running apps,games,using web browser -You will never have that comfort with hdd,never-it will be always slower.

TireeTerror · 01-10-2014 4:28am

I bought the earlier model to this, the 510 series. I still use it as my main drive for windows and for battlefield 4. I have been tempted to buy a newer faster higher capacity drive as I do find I'm running out of space a lot even though I try to install everything onto my secondary drive.

The main reason why I have not bothered to buy a new one is that despite all of the reviews of the latest SSDs showing much faster speeds, in reality when I'm playing Battlefield 4 I am almost always first to be loaded in and I can then quickly spawn in the vehicle of my choice before it gets snapped up. So what real difference will it make? Not much I would say.

I just looked out my receipt, I bought it from Komplett.ie on 6th July 2011 and I paid €294.03 for it! So you could get 5 of them now for the price I paid.

Its a bitch being an early adopter!

vectra · 01-10-2014 9:48am

colossus-x wrote: »

Is it the case that many ppl are buying these ssd's and putting them in laptops that wern't designed for them although they fit. I read the port speed you connect it too has to match the speed of the drive which it wouldn't if it previously had a HD attached to it, thus the overall performance is minimal and not worth it ? Of cousre is your just upgrading from your previous SSD then it would be worth it.

This si something I have thought about and wonder if you could advise me if my Laptop would benefit from an SSD and if so which one?
I don't need anything too big as I have lots of external storage.
Around 256gb would be plenty.

My laptop sis a Samsung RC520. It is just 3 years old now.

Cheers

Alanstrainor · 01-10-2014 10:43am

vectra wrote: »

This si something I have thought about and wonder if you could advise me if my Laptop would benefit from an SSD and if so which one?
I don't need anything too big as I have lots of external storage.
Around 256gb would be plenty.

My laptop sis a Samsung RC520. It is just 3 years old now.

Cheers

I've been running a 5+ year old machine with an SSD for 2 years. I had upgraded the graphics card, the RAM (to 16GB...) and nothing compared to the difference the SSD made. We're talking 10 fold speed improvement. It's incredible, my machine will boot in under 15 seconds (Windows 7 ultimate), and I'll be browsing boards. Any applications saved on the SSD will open almost instantly.

My machine is SATA2, which is older/slower than SATA3, and yet I still see a huge improvement. As for which SSD, don't get too hung up on the read/write speed, it's not something you're realistically going to notice in everyday usage as they are all sufficient these days. I'd be looking for reliability and price, and a balance of the too. Samsung or Crucial get my vote, mine is a Crucial drive and it's still fantastic.

beauf · 01-10-2014 4:35pm

I stuck a SSD in a 5yr old latop. Makes a big difference.

If you then get a new laptop you can move the SSD to the new one. So its not money wasted.

killbillvol2 · 01-10-2014 7:02pm

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I've been running a 5+ year old machine with an SSD for 2 years. I had upgraded the graphics card, the RAM (to 16GB...) and nothing compared to the difference the SSD made. We're talking 10 fold speed improvement. It's incredible, my machine will boot in under 15 seconds (Windows 7 ultimate), and I'll be browsing boards. Any applications saved on the SSD will open almost instantly.

My machine is SATA2, which is older/slower than SATA3, and yet I still see a huge improvement. As for which SSD, don't get too hung up on the read/write speed, it's not something you're realistically going to notice in everyday usage as they are all sufficient these days. I'd be looking for reliability and price, and a balance of the too. Samsung or Crucial get my vote, mine is a Crucial drive and it's still fantastic.

beauf wrote: »

I stuck a SSD in a 5yr old latop. Makes a big difference.

If you then get a new laptop you can move the SSD to the new one. So its not money wasted.

Same for me. I've put SSDs in two older laptops and the difference is phenomenal.

GekkePrutser · 01-10-2014 7:28pm

MuffinsDa wrote: »

By who, the man in the pub?
I didn't say they are not highly regarded, I have a crucial myself. But what makes you think OCZ, Kingston, Sandisk, PNY etc are less well regarded?

I have nothing against the others but OCZ has a really bad reputation in the industry. They have messed their customers about on several occasions.

First they take a controller (JMicron) for their Core series that isn't suitable for the multi-readwrite actions of modern PCs. It should never have been used in a general-purpose SSD. To be fair, they weren't the only one to use this controller.

More importantly, with the Vertex 2, they changed mid-cycle to a cheaper chip type (from 34 to 25nm) which caused the formatted capacity and write performance to reduce, all the while using the same (indiscernible) packaging. Customers who complained were offered the original model at extra cost. They backed off with that cost only after significant uproar in the media. Source

So saying they are less well regarded sounds like a reasonable claim to me.

TerrorFirmer · 01-10-2014 9:26pm

I would never use OCZ again on principle after the disaster that was their earlier SSD's. I had two which both failed within months, housemate's failed after a few weeks.

zom · 01-10-2014 11:42pm

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

I would never use OCZ again on principle after the disaster that was their earlier SSD's. I had two which both failed within months, housemate's failed after a few weeks.

I experienced the same - or even worse as I advised such drive to friend and he lost all his data after OCZ sdd crashed.
It is not giving any warnings - just stops working and nothing can be done then. No SMART errors or any other signals of disk be going to die.

colossus-x · 02-10-2014 1:39am

colossus-x wrote: »

Is it the case that many ppl are buying these ssd's and putting them in laptops that wern't designed for them although they fit. I read the port speed you connect it too has to match the speed of the drive which it wouldn't if it previously had a HD attached to it, thus the overall performance is minimal and not worth it ? Of cousre is your just upgrading from your previous SSD then it would be worth it.

Guys cheers for all the great feedback on the above quoted issue. Looks like the upgrade is worth it after all. I'd love to have one for my lappy and esp my HTPC but I'd really like a nice 4TB drive for HTPC also. Think I better start saving.

Alanstrainor · 02-10-2014 9:47am

colossus-x wrote: »

Guys cheers for all the great feedback on the above quoted issue. Looks like the upgrade is worth it after all. I'd love to have one for my lappy and esp my HTPC but I'd really like a nice 4TB drive for HTPC also. Think I better start saving.

A small capacity SSD for the operating system and applications (even 64GB would do...) and a large normal HDD for storage would suit that application.

I run a 64GB drive on my main PC with other HDDs as storage and have no issues whatsoever on Windows 7 64bit with a decent amount of applications installed.

For anyone who has ordered/install SSDs in their systems, make sure to turn off Disk Defrag, there is no benefit on an SSD, it only serves to hammer the disk and increase wear.

colossus-x · 02-10-2014 3:48pm

Alanstrainor wrote: »

A small capacity SSD for the operating system and applications (even 64GB would do...) and a large normal HDD for storage would suit that application.

I run a 64GB drive on my main PC with other HDDs as storage and have no issues whatsoever on Windows 7 64bit with a decent amount of applications installed.

For anyone who has ordered/install SSDs in their systems, make sure to turn off Disk Defrag, there is no benefit on an SSD, it only serves to hammer the disk and increase wear.

Yes that's right my system partition is only 40GB ,more than enough for my HTPC and makes it easy to restore the partition from time to time. Could you recommend any particular model or are they all more or less the same like hard drives. I only have the first version of SATA I think on the mobo.

Edit: I don't' have any msata port on the htpc but I do have spare pci-e slots If I was to get some kind of adapter.

LanceStorm · 02-10-2014 3:59pm

anyone able to give a rough explanation or link on how you'd go about moving your OS to the SSD once you've got one?

Its the one thing that's been putting me off getting one, not knowing how you'd go about doing it!

Do-more · 02-10-2014 7:35pm

LanceStorm wrote: »

anyone able to give a rough explanation or link on how you'd go about moving your OS to the SSD once you've got one?

Its the one thing that's been putting me off getting one, not knowing how you'd go about doing it!

I borrowed a USB to SATA adapter from a mate, I think they are about €15 or so to buy one. Then Google for "How to clone a hard drive" there is various free software available if you didn't get some on a disc with your SSD.

Just installed a SSD into my new laptop today, only 31Gb to clone so it was all done in about 10 minutes.

[Edit] If you are buying the Samsung Evo SSD there are two different versions available, the "Basic kit" which has just got the drive and the "Laptop kit" which includes the USB to Sata adapter cable.

killbillvol2 · 02-10-2014 7:38pm

Alanstrainor wrote: »

A small capacity SSD for the operating system and applications (even 64GB would do...) and a large normal HDD for storage would suit that application.

I run a 64GB drive on my main PC with other HDDs as storage and have no issues whatsoever on Windows 7 64bit with a decent amount of applications installed.

For anyone who has ordered/install SSDs in their systems, make sure to turn off Disk Defrag, there is no benefit on an SSD, it only serves to hammer the disk and increase wear.

Doesn't Windows recognise an SSD and do that for you?

120Gb Intel SSD €58

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