(AMAZON) Open Box? - Crucial M4 256GB SSD - $139.99 + FS (Prime Eligible)

okashira said:
Damnit. Missed it. Any other 256 m4 deals?
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Not that I know of, but just check frequently in this section of the forums. Some of these deals, depending on how "hot" they are, they usually don't last long at all.
 
ccityinstaller said:
The drive will be long outdated well before you wear it out, even if you "fill it" more then 60%...C'mon Cecil, I expected more outta you then this..You usually tend to be right on the mark, but you missed the target completely here..
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http://hardocp.com/article/2012/12/19/samsung_840_series_tlc_250gb_ssd_review/10
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6337/samsung-ssd-840-250gb-review/11

One aspect of the utility that is particularly helpful is the ability for users to easily adjust the over-provisioning level of the SSD. Extra over-provisioning helps to level out long term performance and brings the huge benefit of increased endurance that is especially pertinent with the type of NAND employed on the Samsung 840
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Ouch, performance takes a big hit. Usually 20 minutes isn't enough to put 256GB drives on their knees but it definitely is for the 840. Write speed drops to as low as 25MB/s, although it's nearly restored before all user-accessible LBAs have been filled. The way to avoid this worst case state is to keep as much free space on your drive as possible. We typically recommend around 20%, however with TLC NAND it might be advisable to bump that up to 30%.
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Even with TRIM and GC, it doesnt easily fully recover from being filled up. TLC NAND is not like SLC or MLC. The Intel 335 drive also has issues from it (which I expieranced first hand and had to return it.)
Overprovisioning 10%, and leaving 30% available space should ensure there are no issues with it. Im not going to risk a $350 drive just to have a few more games installed, when the 15 or so I have installed right now are plenty.
 
Cecil said:
I have a Samsung 840 non pro. On my phone and can't link it, but check out the anandtech review and testing the durability of TLC nand.


Also, telling someone to fill an SSD without knowing which one is very bad advice, since you can literally brick some sandforce drives by doing that.
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You can brick sandforce drives in all sorts of ways. The only way to be sure you won't brick a sandforce drive is to not purchase/install one in the first place! There's some real advice.

As for the Anandtech article, you mean the one with the heading "TLC Flash Lower Endurance: Hardly an Issue"? Because I'm left wondering why you're making such an issue out of it. They estimated at 10GB of writes per day, with 10x write amplification the 250GB would last 7 years. Your 500GB would last twice as long, 14 years. Of course in your usage scenario of Game Storage Drive you're unlikely to write 10GB/day, and highly unlikely to see anywhere near a 10x write amplification.

Cecil said:
http://hardocp.com/article/2012/12/19/samsung_840_series_tlc_250gb_ssd_review/10
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6337/samsung-ssd-840-250gb-review/11


Even with TRIM and GC, it doesnt easily fully recover from being filled up. TLC NAND is not like SLC or MLC. The Intel 335 drive also has issues from it (which I expieranced first hand and had to return it.)
Overprovisioning 10%, and leaving 30% available space should ensure there are no issues with it. Im not going to risk a $350 drive just to have a few more games installed, when the 15 or so I have installed right now are plenty.
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Risk?! The drive in that review didn't break. All that happened was the write speeds slowed down as the drive was filled to capacity then tortured by 4k random Erase/Write cycles for 20 minutes. Read speeds remained quite fast throughout. And again: In your usage scenario you won't encounter a situation where you're performing 4k random erase/write ops for 20 minutes.
 
Not trying to make an issue out of it, just pointing out the reviews which show and point out issues when filling them. Im anal about getting all the performance I can, so I dont like to have my drives filled much past 50%. Ive also had about 30 SSDs now, and have had issues with many of them. The ones I havent had issues were Intel (pre-Sandforce), M4s, and Samsung drives. All of which I overprovisioned by 10%, and kept at least 50% of room on them. I dont have much stuff to store on them in the first place. My HTPC has 4 2TB F4s with all my media.
 
Got mine today. Came in the drive-only retail package that was obviously resealed with packing tape. Covered with a few inventory stickers, two of which curiously say "new in box". Drive is in good condition. I updated the firmware and am restoring Windows to it right now. Will run an SSDLife and report.
 
i didn't update the firmware on mine , i will run them and if they give me an issue then will apply as necessary.
1 came with 0009 firmware , usage 400 powered on , as ssd score 666 ( this will most likely need newer firmware )
1 came with 0309 firmware , usage 0 ( has 3 now) , as ssd score 709 :)
 
Mine came with 000f firmware. I updated to 040h. Looks good.

M4%20256%20GB%20SSDLife.png
 
Mine came today -- one in the old style box one in the new, firmwares were 0309 and 000F, respectively. The one that came in the new box was sealed with about 20 pieces of scotch tape, hahahaha.

I'm not paying $19 for SSDLife Pro, so they'll be fine :p

Both firmwares updated to 040H.
 
Free SSDLife does the same thing, minus some goodies you really don't need.

I'm not really convinced the program really does anything at all useful though.
 
got mine as well, 000F firmware. 1 turn on. came in a brown box.
 
Got mine. 155 Hours, came with 000F firmware in the original box...but very beat up, then wrapped up with excessive packing tape.

Updated firmware, installed Windows (7), laptop shipped with 8 and I had been waiting to put in the SSD to go ahead and install 7. So far so good.
From pressing the power button on my Vaio S15 to the login prompt is about 10 seconds.

Swapping out the optical drive in my laptop for the HDD caddy was quite a pain though.
 
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