SSDs are fast, but do they last?

[legacy7955]

I actually wouldn't mind paying extra for a bit more speed, but that SSD better be AT LEAST AS RELIABLE AS THE MOST RELIABLE HDD!

Then and only then am I sold on the SSD.

What will drastically drop the SSD prices will be when the OEMs start offering them in their regular lines of consumer and small business PCs.

Just out of curiosity does HP, or Lenovo offer an SSD option in any of their current desktop PCs for home and small business? If so what are the model numbers?

 

[pparks1]

The Mac Book Air's offer SSD's standard.

 

[toughbook]

Every laptop that I have looked at in the last 3 months offer an SSD. It just makes sense. Less moving parts to worry about, etc.

Legacy~You had better go buy a SSD today. There is not one spinner I would take over any SSD in regards to reliability.

 

[Nemix]

I think most are just over worried about SSD's write endurance which was started by portable flash media and USB thumb drives.

Check out the thread: SSD Write Endurance 25nm Vs 34nm

They're doing some pretty intensive testing on SSD's write endurance with different brands and controllers, the thread is updated everyday.

As legacy7955 mentioned SSD's in general should outlast the most reliable hard drive. Based on early testing from the thread mentioned above, if you want to be safe with brand; stick with Samsung, Intel or Crucial for reliability.

 

[Dave76]

That is an interesting test (same link in post#4).
It's a good idea to stay with the companies that manufacture nand, they get the first choice and therefore best nand.
These are generally large companies with large R&D departments which may have better controllers, which is the most important factor for speed and reliability.

The nand manufacturers are IMFT (Intel/Crucial), Toshiba, Samsung and Hynix.

Time and testing will give more information and hopefully support this claim.

 

[smarteyeball]

The only people who have nothing but negative comments about SSD's are the one's who can't afford them.

They certainly are the vocal majority.

I actually wouldn't mind paying extra for a bit more speed, but that SSD better be AT LEAST AS RELIABLE AS THE MOST RELIABLE HDD!

Well that's good news for you then, since they are. Enjoy

 

[Tarka Dal]

The only people who have nothing but negative comments about SSD's are the one's who can't afford them.

They certainly are the vocal majority.

I actually wouldn't mind paying extra for a bit more speed, but that SSD better be AT LEAST AS RELIABLE AS THE MOST RELIABLE HDD!

Well that's good news for you then, since they are. Enjoy

I can buy a hundred of them if I wished. But, sorry their not worth their weight!
That puts paid to that theory!

 

[toughbook]

I would say a lack of common sense

 

[Dave76]

The other one is Raptor owners, don't like not having the fastest hard drive anymore :shock:

 

[smarteyeball]

I can buy a hundred of them if I wished. But, sorry their not worth their weight!
That puts paid to that theory!

Ahh, but you are merely choosing not to based on perceived value - not reliability.

Theory stands

 

[essenbe]

I have 4 SSDs of differing brands. 2 of them I have owned for a year and have had no problems. I've RMA'd several mechanical hard drives, or threw them away. I don't see the problem. This is the computer world. Sure there are failures. The same can be said with motherboards, ram or any other components. Read this thread. The only ones who talk about doom and gloom for SSDs are those who don't have one. Most of us who have them and used them feel quite comfortable using them. If one of mine died, I'd have another in the mail the next day. Sure it is prudent to back up frequently, but I've done the exact same before I owned an SSD. Backing your data up is not wise whether you have a mechanical or SSD drive. That is not new information. The failure rate is the same as mechanical drives so you are not taking a bigger risk. The cost, sure it is higher. the same can be said of other components. But tou are paying for speed. DDR3 1866 ram costs more than 1066, but you pay it for the speed. Same can be said for CPU's. An Athlon is much cheaper than an i7, but you won't do nearly as much with the Athlon. I fail to see the difference. And you'd have a hard time convincing me that the Athlon is better if you never tried the i7.

 

[legacy7955]

I'm also interested in hearing more about how the SSD will slow down to protect iself from excessive writing
is there a way for the user to monitor this scenario provided by the SSD manufacturers?

Also I never heard of "garbage collection" being required to maintain an SSD until reading here, I didn't think they needed that. How does this work compared to "defragmenting" of a HDD.

Again does anyone know of a PC OEM like HP offering an SSD on their desktops?

I'm surprised that the major OEMS don't because you can configure many different options and price points with them.

Anyone know WHY the big OEM PC markers haven't migrated to offering SSDs yet, aside from price?

 

[pparks1]

Anyone know WHY the big OEM PC markers haven't migrated to offering SSDs yet, aside from price?

It's price and lower capacities. The average computer user when faced with getting a computer with a 120GB SSD, or a 2TB SATA drive is likely going to pick the 2TB drive for storing all of their music, movies and games. If you ask an enthusiast the same question...it's not even a question. We get both drives.

 

[essenbe]

I have seen some Dells with an option for an SSD. But, they charge twice as much as you can buy one yourself, and you get their branded SSD, which means you really don't know what you are getting.

 

[pparks1]

I have seen some Dells with an option for an SSD. But, they charge twice as much as you can buy one yourself, and you get their branded SSD, which means you really don't know what you are getting.

That's pretty much true about anything from mfg's. RAM, HDD and SSD. Although unless an enthusiast the make/model usually isn't a big concern. But as enthusiasts, and especially with SSD's..we really care.

 

[sygnus21]

Maybe I do. Or maybe he is bad at IT support. It's not an RMA process I'm likely to deal with.

You're right about it not mattering though, figments rarely do.

At any rate, I know he'd have an SSD and to hell with the consequences

I just had to laugh out loud reading this

 

[essenbe]

I have seen some Dells with an option for an SSD. But, they charge twice as much as you can buy one yourself, and you get their branded SSD, which means you really don't know what you are getting.

That's pretty much true about anything from mfg's. RAM, HDD and SSD. Although unless an enthusiast the make/model usually isn't a big concern. But as enthusiasts, and especially with SSD's..we really care.

That's very true, and the reason I prefer to build my own. At least I know exactly what's in it. With OEM's, what's in it is whatever they can get the cheapest.

 

[CreepinJesus]

I have seen some Dells with an option for an SSD. But, they charge twice as much as you can buy one yourself, and you get their branded SSD, which means you really don't know what you are getting.

True - I just got a new laptop for work with a "Dell Mobility SSD" (could be anything, right?).

After the drivers are installed, it appears to be a Lite-On LAT-128M2S, and I can't find much info on it at all.

 

[smarteyeball]

I didn't know Lite-On had even joined the SSD bandwagon, let alone released anything. Looks like mainly OEM only drives.

 

[Tarka Dal]

I find it hard to believe that a few grown men, can get so argumentative over the fact that a device that brings a small advance in computing, is so advantageous that it is worth forking out £85 Crucial CT064M4Solid State Drive2 64GB M4 Solid State Drive: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories (25% of a new computer). When you already have a HDD drive doing the exact same function only milliseconds of difference which add up too not much over a week.
If your talking about boot time then ''why don't you go and make yourself a cup of tea whilst the computer boots up like most people do''! Or, just leave it on.
£85 not worth it. £30 I'll consider it but there are disadvantages that I have pointed out before.
I don't think I have anything more to say on the subject.