SSD Prices In A Free Fall

[A Guy]

Hard-disk drive vendors point to the higher price of solid-state drives as a reason to keep on buying hard drives, but as Bob Dylan sang, "The Times They Are a -Changin'." The advent of 3D NAND has become a game-changer for the storage industry by increasing SSD capacity and dropping SSD prices.

By packing 32 or 64 times the capacity per die, 3D NAND will allow SSDs to increase capacity well beyond hard drive sizes. SanDisk, for example, plans 8 TB drives this year, and 16 TB drives in 2016. At the same time, vendors across the flash industry are able to back off two process node levels and obtain excellent die yields.

Source

A Guy

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Yeah, earlier today I saw someone mention a 500 GB SSD for $160 on a sale of some type. First price I've seen where the capacity in GB was more than the triple the dollar price. I might become interested if 1 TB SSDs get down to $160. Otherwise, no.

 

[mjf]

But the reliability of SSDs has been questioned.
http://www.sevenforums.com/news/373040-when-ssds-not-solid.html
Around 120GB SSD seems a good size for me (installed programs, some data and efficient imaging). Maybe I'll consider them disposable items provided I have recent system images and the price drops even further.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

But the reliability of SSDs has been questioned.
http://www.sevenforums.com/news/373040-when-ssds-not-solid.html
Around 120GB SSD seems a good size for me (installed programs, some data and efficient imaging). Maybe I'll consider them disposable items provided I have recent system images and the price drops even further.

Yep; the term "commoditization" comes to mind. Seems to me the same thing has happened to USB thumb drives---a race to the bottom driven by price competition. And probably spinning drives for that matter.

But it does grate on me to pay $70 plus for disposable items.

 

[lehnerus2000]

I haven't seen any indication that it is happening here in Australia.

I'm still waiting for the 50% price drop that was trumpeted a few months ago.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I don't understand why people are so concerned about SSDs. My Samsung 840 Pro has been running pretty much 24/7 for about 2 1/2 years without any problems. SSDLife projects its life to be another 11 years (granted, it's no guarantee but it does indicate how good it is). I also have two Samsung 840 EVOs in my note books and they are doing just fine (granted, they do get light usage).

I've said this before and I will say it again; all drives, be they HDD, SSD, flash, whatever, will eventually fail. The only way to ensure the safety of your data is to have a good backup scheme in place. The recent report of the Samsung 850 PROs having issues with data loss were from a commercial server using them in a situation they were not designed for. Windows systems were not affected. The recent brouhaha over SSDs losing data while setting on a shelf turned out to have been exaggerated.

Consumer reviews of SSDs have been just as good, often better, as those for HDDs. Eschewing SSDs because of some questionable reports of problems with them is like not buying a car for a commuter or a grocery getter because of reports some of them had their engines fail after they had been used for drag racing or were used for pulling oversized trailers.

I'm usually slow to adopt new technology, especially if it isn't cost effective for me or the present technology is meeting my needs. Still, I will not hesitate to use SSDs in my machines. They have been well worth the money for me (and the prices have been plummeting lately). I'm looking forward to when it will be cost effective for me to nothing but SSDs, including for mass storage.

 

[strollin]

I personally have not had an ssd fail in the 5+ years that I have been using them (currently have 10 or so in use) and welcome the price free fall. I'd love to see the day where ssds become completely mainstream and totally supplant the hdd. That's not good for hdd manufacturers but it's good for consumers.

 

[MilesAhead]

Hmm, looks like I have to peruse the online discount stores daily looking for these imminent drops. I have noticed a bit of change in SSD size per buck, but not much in USB 3.0 sticks. They still seem to be trying to unload USB 2.0 and really slow USB 3.0 sticks on the unsuspecting customer. I have to hit Winkey Plus to keep checking the fine print in the item descriptions.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Hmm, looks like I have to peruse the online discount stores daily looking for these imminent drops. I have noticed a bit of change in SSD size per buck, but not much in USB 3.0 sticks. They still seem to be trying to unload USB 2.0 and really slow USB 3.0 sticks on the unsuspecting customer. I have to hit Winkey Plus to keep checking the fine print in the item descriptions.

I have noticed that USB 3 sticks aren't really getting much cheaper.

 

[Stephanie]

I don't understand why people are so concerned about SSDs. My Samsung 840 Pro has been running pretty much 24/7 for about 2 1/2 years without any problems. SSDLife projects its life to be another 11 years (granted, it's no guarantee but it does indicate how good it is). I also have two Samsung 840 EVOs in my note books and they are doing just fine (granted, they do get light usage).

I've said this before and I will say it again; all drives, be they HDD, SSD, flash, whatever, will eventually fail. The only way to ensure the safety of your data is to have a good backup scheme in place. The recent report of the Samsung 850 PROs having issues with data loss were from a commercial server using them in a situation they were not designed for. Windows systems were not affected. The recent brouhaha over SSDs losing data while setting on a shelf turned out to have been exaggerated.

Consumer reviews of SSDs have been just as good, often better, as those for HDDs. Eschewing SSDs because of some questionable reports of problems with them is like not buying a car for a commuter or a grocery getter because of reports some of them had their engines fail after they had been used for drag racing or were used for pulling oversized trailers.

I'm usually slow to adopt new technology, especially if it isn't cost effective for me or the present technology is meeting my needs. Still, I will not hesitate to use SSDs in my machines. They have been well worth the money for me (and the prices have been plummeting lately). I'm looking forward to when it will be cost effective for me to nothing but SSDs, including for mass storage.

Very true and sensible

 

[MilesAhead]

Hmm, looks like I have to peruse the online discount stores daily looking for these imminent drops. I have noticed a bit of change in SSD size per buck, but not much in USB 3.0 sticks. They still seem to be trying to unload USB 2.0 and really slow USB 3.0 sticks on the unsuspecting customer. I have to hit Winkey Plus to keep checking the fine print in the item descriptions.

I have noticed that USB 3 sticks aren't really getting much cheaper.

I did take a bit of a look around at the SSDs yesterday.
there are some temping drives. I think I saw a Crucial 512GB for around $225. If I could get the spinner out of this Laptop it might lighten the load a little. I wonder if people will wait and see on USB if the word is out cheap memory is just over the hill?

 

[ThrashZone]

Yep Best deals of the day,
I posted the sell from I believe Amazon or Newegg and Brian posted a link to Samsung with the same deal but no tax
I got one of the 500gb Samsung pro 850 evo's for 170.us not sure how I'm going to use it but that was a great deal directly from Samsung.

 

[carwiz]

I've had problems with a WD750 spinner that is constantly popping up with a Caution on health status. I installed it the same time I installed a Crucial SSD. And the WD was used only for intermediate backup files. The SSD is my system drive and is hammered daily. It's down to 96% after five years but it will probably outlast me. I have to apply for Medicare by October.

Sadly, the WD has retired before me.

 

[strollin]

... If I could get the spinner out of this Laptop it might lighten the load a little. ...

I'm not sure if you meant this literally or not but the difference in weight between an ssd and a spinner, installed in a laptop, is barely noticeable. Same as if you meant "load" as a power draw on your battery. Yes an ssd uses less power but the difference would be barely noticeable.

 

[MilesAhead]

... If I could get the spinner out of this Laptop it might lighten the load a little. ...

I'm not sure if you meant this literally or not but the difference in weight between an ssd and a spinner, installed in a laptop, is barely noticeable. Same as if you meant "load" as a power draw on your battery. Yes an ssd uses less power but the difference would be barely noticeable.

I guess subconsciously I think of spinners as 3.5" WD boat anchors. Oh well. Only way to lighten up a Toshiba Laptop is get a Laptop that ain't a Toshiba.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...Same as if you meant "load" as a power draw on your battery. Yes an ssd uses less power but the difference would be barely noticeable.

Actually, it is noticeable. I picked up almost an hour of runtime on the batteries of my notebooks when I swapped out the spinners for SSDs.

 

[Cr00zng]

I'm not sure if you meant this literally or not but the difference in weight between an ssd and a spinner, installed in a laptop, is barely noticeable. Same as if you meant "load" as a power draw on your battery. Yes an ssd uses less power but the difference would be barely noticeable.

Yes, the weight difference is close to negligible, but...

The power saving is most certainly noticeable, even in older laptops. The SSD does use less power and idles more than the HDD due to the increased transfer rate. Here's the OCZ link that compares the HDD to SSD.

With the latest Intel CPUs for laptops and SSDs, the Windows laptop's battery life almost cought up with Apple laptops. Almost..

 

[MilesAhead]

Hmm, I just bought a large USB 3.0 stick. I think I'll wait awhile for the next one to see how many GB/$ they give with the new technology.

 

[ThrashZone]

4th of July sells should be fun to see,
Heck I might be up for another 250-256gb if prices drop a bit more

 

[Boozad]

I just wish the British market would follow suit, our prices are astronomical in comparison.