Could a SSD controller card help with SSD performance?

[tankman1989]

I've been using an Intel X25-M drive for about a year. The first one I bought was dead within a month (but it just sat the first 25 days - shoulda checked it right away...) but Intel's RMA department was TOP NOTCH A+++! and had my drive back to me within 2 days. I bought the Intel because it had all 5 egg reviews on Newegg and it seemed to be the best made drive by far as compared to others. The new drive is amazingly fast but I did experience my first BSOD last night and I am wondering if it was due to the SSD.

I also spent some time reading a discussion about switching SAS for SSD's but a lot of people seem to be hesitant in doing this because when SSD's fail they seem to be catastrophic with little to no chance of recovery (unless new software is allowing this now).

So, I'm wondering if there couldn't be some kind of controller card that could be installed which would "prep" or "organize" the data flow going into the card. What I envision is the card having onboard RAM which would act as a buffer and it would have a processor that would decide the best location/order to place the data. This board could also be used for defragging or other system processes (I'll think of more later).

IDK if this would help with any of the problems but if something like this would help I think it would be popular as many more people would migrate to SSD if it were more secure/stable.

If this process would work mother board manufacturers could build in SSD controllers that could either use system RAM or they could have its own dedicated RAM slot. If the latter were the case for onboard or addon card, I would think that old ram would be plenty fast enough for SSD cards although the higher the capacity the RAM the better performance it could theoretically offer.

So what do you, smarter than I, techies out there think of something like this?

 

[JRS]

...The new drive is amazingly fast but I did experience my first BSOD last night and I am wondering if it was due to the SSD.

Probably. When I put two SSDs into my dekstop, I had a blue screen almost every week, with one or none, maybe one every two-three monthgs and usually when I was gaming and running VMs and watching a movie at the same time.

I also spent some time reading a discussion about switching SAS for SSD's but a lot of people seem to be hesitant in doing this because when SSD's fail they seem to be catastrophic with little to no chance of recovery (unless new software is allowing this now)

SSDs are still fairly new and the SSD technology is changing fast, even compared to the typical pace that other computer technologies change at, therefore all the discussion of them is over-hyped, all problems are overblown, etc. From what I've seen of SSD failure rates, there is no more risk to data loss from an SSD vs. a mechanical drive. That is my very humble opinion.

Folks should back their stuff up. No matter what/how it is stored. I have no sympathy for folks who do not back up their computers. With all the online options, Windoze having a decent backup feature of its own, nope, no sympathy at all for those who don't prepare.

So, I'm wondering if there couldn't be some kind of controller card that could be installed which would "prep" or "organize" the data flow going into the card. What I envision is the card having onboard RAM which would act as a buffer and it would have a processor that would decide the best location/order to place the data. This board could also be used for defragging or other system processes (I'll think of more later).

"You just keep thinkin', Butch. That's what you're good at."

IDK if this would help with any of the problems but if something like this would help I think it would be popular as many more people would migrate to SSD if it were more secure/stable.

I'd bet money it would not help. I'd also bet money if such a fantasy piece of technology existed, most folks would still migrate to SSDs the same way most migrated from 4 platter 320gb drives to single platter 500gb drives, by replacing their old computers with new ones.

So what do you, smarter than I, techies out there think of something like this?

I learned a long time ago that everyone on the internet is smarter than I... but... if you are not familiar with a song the Beatles recorded called "Lucy in the sky with diamonds", give it a listen.

 

[Aesma]

You must understand that SSDs use MLC memory, with not many writes possible for each cell. So, the controller of the SSD has to "do its thing" to keep it performing and lasting. There is no way around this, and since new flash technology comes by every 6 months, you can't have a standard either.