HardOCP Question on SSD

My OCZ Vertex with indilinx controller is superb, would look forward to same OCZ with barefoot controller as well!
 
I don't especially care who's sticker is on it, but here are the three controller brands I would buy.

  1. SandForce
  2. Micron
  3. Intel
In that order.

Of course Intel controllers just about guarantees an Intel branded drive(does Kingston still make them?), and the Micron controller more or less guarantees a Crucial branded drive but SandForce drives are whoever's got the best deal.
 
Intel and Corsair.

I will include Crucial as well I suppose, but only because of Sandforce.
 
OCZ, Intel, Crucial

However, I would look specifically at the bugs in each model before buying and determine how they will affect you. Pretty much all SSDs have bugs at this point, some of which are showstoppers in certain scenarios. For instance:

OCZ Vertex 2 (really any Sandforce-based SSD) is likely to have problems coming out of suspend mode. Good luck using it in a laptop, although I'm happy using one in my desktop.

With certain firmware, some generations of Intel's X25-M SSDs will have problems responding to SMART queries when the drive itself is saturating the bus with data throughput, which may end with the drive forcing itself "offline" from the OS perspective. This will happen in rare cases while connected to a 3Gbit SATA port if you have relatively frequent SMART status polls (like some Linux distros do with smartd). The problem is badly exacerbated if you connect the SSD to a SAS initiator without a hardware interposer, which adds the overhead of SATA tunnelling protocol to the mix.

Current generations of the X25-M have supposedly fixed this problem. The X25-E has never exhibited the same problem to my knowledge, but it has a significant price premium that most home users can't justify.

Also, some people have commented that the sticker itself doesn't matter so much as the internal controller. This is mostly true, and for that reason I would almost consider the OCZ Vertex 2 and Corsair Force SSDs interchangeable. However, OCZ has done some firmware tweaks that result in a slight performance gain vs Corsair, and OCZ has actually made tangible steps to produce an SSD firmware updater that works under Linux. The default SSD firmware updater from Sandforce is a Windows-only app--Sandforce doesn't even release an MSDOS/FreeDOS-compatible updater, which to me is completely unacceptable.
 
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Intel, Corsair, Crucial

OCZ is on my do not buy list from their fiasco years ago.
 
I don't really care who's name is on the box, I'm more interested in the controller and having at least a competitive warranty. If i had to pick I'd go with companies with a great support track record, so probably Intel, Corsair and Crucial. That way I can also get a drive from four of the major SSD controller makers. :D
 
OCZ
Corsair
Intel


I use an OCZ SSD and no PC I build will be without at least 1 SSD Boot Drive, simple as that now. Took me a long time to switch to SSD, no going back now.


Y.
 
I think every one is in agreement.

I would like to know more about the pitfalls of the other brands, if any. Or are they just not as popular.
Mythbusters, is Intel really more reliable?
 
OCZ, Intel, Corsair

I've used many of the OCZ Agility drives, and 1 Intel drive, for embedded systems at work. Set them up with Win7 & RH EL6 in Dual boot config. Setup on the Intel went really fast, but the OCZ drives went noticably faster.
Haven't tried Corsair drives yet, but am a big fan of their other products.
 
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