Best SSD?

MiniNukinfuts

So I'm thinking of upgrading to an SSD, but there are so many brands out there now that I'm finding it hard to choose the right one.

Can anyone recommend any good SSD? I'm looking for a 120GB sata III 6GB/s model.

I'm thinking bout getting either the Kingston HyperX 120GB or the OCZ vertex 3 MAX IOPS. Anyone ever tried these?

Serephucus

Have a look at either the Crucial M4, or the OCZ Octane.

The Vertex 3 is nice, but it's got a very unreliable controller. You'll see plenty of issues if you google for it. Don't know about Kingston SSDs.

deconduo

+1 for the crucial M4, great balance between speed, reliability and price.

PseudoFamous

Serephucus wrote: »

The Vertex 3 is nice, but it's got a very unreliable controller. You'll see plenty of issues if you google.

I've been using one for nearly six months now, and there hasn't been a single hitch. Only niggle I have with it is that programs install to it rather than my HDD per default (although there's probably a way to change that, I'm just lazy), and I have to go through the effort of uninstalling and reinstalling.

MiniNukinfuts

Serephucus wrote: »

Have a look at either the Crucial M4, or the OCZ Octane.

The Vertex 3 is nice, but it's got a very unreliable controller. You'll see plenty of issues if you google for it. Don't know about Kingston SSDs.

Yeah, i've read a lot of articles about the faults with it. I'd say it's a hit and miss story really.

Also, I've been turned away by the M4's specs, the write speeds it gets are poor when compared to the two i've mentioned above. 175MB/s compared to 510MB/s. Isn't that a bit slow? Wouldn't I be better off paying that little bit extra for the faster writes?

nesf

I got this one and am pretty happy with it: http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=47179&agid=1145

Corsair ironed out the bugs and instability and the new versions of the drive aren't affected. Wouldn't be a best in class by any means but a good drive for the price.

Monotype

PseudoFamous wrote: »

I've been using one for nearly six months now, and there hasn't been a single hitch. Only niggle I have with it is that programs install to it rather than my HDD per default (although there's probably a way to change that, I'm just lazy), and I have to go through the effort of uninstalling and reinstalling.

Start-> type in "regedit"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

List of default directories are there. Be careful not to mess up your registry unless you fancy a reinstall for windows.

MiniNukinfuts wrote: »

Yeah, i've read a lot of articles about the faults with it. I'd say it's a hit and miss story really.

Also, I've been turned away by the M4's specs, the write speeds it gets are poor when compared to the two i've mentioned above. 175MB/s compared to 510MB/s. Isn't that a bit slow? Wouldn't I be better off paying that little bit extra for the faster writes?

When you think about it, you actually write very little to drives. Most of the time you'll be reading. You write when you install windows, new programs, copy a few files (bulk files should be on HDD) and all the tiny bits when you're using the internet. You'll be reading windows every time you start up and continuously when running and the hundreds of times you'll be opening programs that you install. Unless you're the type of person who is installing and deleting new stuff every few minutes, it's not going to make much difference.

deconduo

Monotype wrote: »

Start-> type in "regedit"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

List of default directories are there. Be careful not to mess up your registry unless you fancy a reinstall for windows.

You could also set up a junction point which is a bit trickier to do but gives a lot more control and is safer. I only have a 30GB SSD so I used one to move my appdata folder which freed up about 8GB :P

Serephucus

deconduo wrote: »

You could also set up a junction point which is a bit trickier to do but gives a lot more control and is safer. I only have a 30GB SSD so I used one to move my appdata folder which freed up about 8GB :P

These are very handy. I moved my Dropbox cache (me having a 50GB plan, doesn't really hold well for a 32GB SSD. :P) to another drive.

nesf

Serephucus wrote: »

These are very handy. I moved my Dropbox cache (me having a 50GB plan, doesn't really hold well for a 32GB SSD. :P) to another drive.

Been considering a paid plan actually. Just need to figure out what I'd use it for. :P

johnners2981

I've got an agility 3 120gb, very fast at a great price and have had no problems so far. Very little difference in it and a vertex 3

Burgo

Wouldn't touch off an OCZ ssd, went through three agility 3's before getting a crucial c300 and couldn't be happier. A friend of mine had similar trouble, had to rma 2 vertex 3's before he had enough.

MiniNukinfuts

I might try the kingston hyperX, i've read nothing but good reviews and i've heard very little problems related to it. Has anyone here tried it?

I'm going to stay away from OCZ, i've heard more negative stories than good about them. I'm interested in the crucial but tbh, the price for the M4 and the hyperX are the relatively the same and the specs are higher for the kingston.

Eamonn Brophy

Everyone raves about the crucial m4, I'd buy that if I was buying.

AlmightyCushion

Monotype wrote: »

When you think about it, you actually write very little to drives. Most of the time you'll be reading. You write when you install windows, new programs, copy a few files (bulk files should be on HDD) and all the tiny bits when you're using the internet. You'll be reading windows every time you start up and continuously when running and the hundreds of times you'll be opening programs that you install. Unless you're the type of person who is installing and deleting new stuff every few minutes, it's not going to make much difference.

Plus, the only thing that will give you a high enough read speed to make use of the higher write speed on other SSDs is another SSD or a raid array. When are you going to be copying from one of those?

G-Money

I have two Intel SSD's and have had no issues with them so far and have had them for several months at this stage. I'm actually buying another one to put into another computer and relegating the existing HDD to file storage only.

cgarrad

Make sure you have 6Gb sata before buying the faster ones

MiniNukinfuts

It'll be going into my 2011 Macbook pro, it's capable for the 6GB/s connection

MiniNukinfuts

Thought I'd update this thread.

I bought this SSD: OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G.

I highly recommend this drive, the speeds are exactly as specified. And my MBP now boots with firefox opening in 12 seconds

ShadowHearth

MiniNukinfuts wrote: »

Thought I'd update this thread.

I bought this SSD: OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G.

I highly recommend this drive, the speeds are exactly as specified. And my MBP not boots with firefox opening in 12 seconds

not the cheapest one though..

MiniNukinfuts

Well, i'm happy that the speeds were as advertised, rather than getting a drive where the speeds don't perform. And the stock was low in memoryC.ie at the time and that was the only one left.

cgarrad

If you have it for 2 years thats only 33c a day, a great investment.

Probably get €50 in 2 years for it as well

MiniNukinfuts

I'll be keeping it forever, the speed increase when moving from the HDD to SSD is actually crazy, i thought it would be fast, but not this fast. Photoshop loads and opens in less than a second.

Serephucus

It's wonderful, eh?

To think, I'm still running a 32GB 130/70MB/s drive. The two components I'll be upgrading next:

Keyboard: Logitech G11 -> Corsair K90
SSD: 32GB OCZ Onyx -> 128/256GB Crucial M4 / Samsung 830, or whatever's good at the time.

Given current speeds, I'll probably be focusing more on capacity than speed, I think.

cgarrad

Forever????, obsolete in a couple of years , I know mine are all 18 months old and I want new ones :eek:

Where its going...

http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/6/2686902/marvell-ocz-z-drive-r5-pcie-ssd-storage-kilimanjaro

Yours is 500Mb/s, these are 7500Mb/s (mine are 200Mb/s )

MiniNukinfuts

Yeah, 120GB is very small for storage, i've removed the DVD drive from my MBP and installed a 2nd HDD bay, i the put in the 750GB HDD that came with the laptop. I use the SSD just for the Mac OSX and the applications and i use the 750GB for storing everything else. If you have a laptop, removing the DVD drive is a brilliant idea for extra storage.

AlmightyCushion

MiniNukinfuts wrote: »

Yeah, 120GB is very small for storage, i've removed the DVD drive from my MBP and installed a 2nd HDD bay, i the put in the 750GB HDD that came with the laptop. I use the SSD just for the Mac OSX and the applications and i use the 750GB for storing everything else. If you have a laptop, removing the DVD drive is a brilliant idea for extra storage.

I done the same a long time ago. Never use the DVD drive so it just made sense. Any one doing this make sure you get one that fits your laptop. I had to rip mine to shreds to get it to fit.

MiniNukinfuts

cgarrad wrote: »

Forever????, obsolete in a couple of years , I know mine are all 18 months old and I want new ones :eek:

Where its going...

http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/6/2686902/marvell-ocz-z-drive-r5-pcie-ssd-storage-kilimanjaro

Yours is 500Mb/s, these are 7500Mb/s (mine are 200Mb/s )

Well, i suppose your right, forever is a fairly vague term in the technology sector. But what i meant is that i'll be keeping this drive for a long time. Even if i do decide to replace it, i'll be using this as an external drive. Or just put it into another computer.

They are also well into the €1000's, not economically viable for consumers yet, maybe in 2-3 years. Have a look at this: http://www.zdnet.co.uk/blogs/mapping-babel-10017967/fusion-io-lays-minefield-with-a-billion-iops-10025151/