SSD Question and Help

[Throc]

I'm currently running and 320GB operating drive (OS and programs) and a 500GB Storage drive in my computer. My operating drive is using about 120GB and my storage drive is using about 2GB. The storage drive on the computer is used only for private documents and backups of programs I keep on hand. I have a custom built WHS with 3TB of storage that I use for all my music, pictures, and video storage and backups for the all my machines.

I'm looking on downsizing space for this machine and increasing speed. I really don't need a 500GB HD to back up ~2GB of information. I've not done a lot of inquiry into the new SSD technology. All I've heard is that's it's a lot faster than spindal drives.

I was looking at maybe getting a ~120GB SSD for my operating drive and maybe ~30GB SSD for the storage drive. Any flaws in my thinking?

What brands are good. One of my friends bought an offbrand (can't think of the name) and it was awful. He said something about the writing ability of the drive so he ended up getting rid of it. Any suggestions on what to look for?

Thanks,

Throc

 

[Impulse]

Even tho manufacturers advertise the sequential read/write speeds of SSD a lot, their real value is in their random read/write speeds... While sequential speeds might be 2-3x as fast as a regular HDD (at best), random read/write speeds will actually be a few dozen times faster. Basically when you're loading a program that calls upon half a dozen DLLs and random files, or when your OS has to make a change in the registry while opening Firefox and maybe hitting the swap file for something, an SSD will really shine.

'Course most SSD are still faster than regular HDD when it comes to sequential reads, as far as sequential writes it depends... Intel's X25-M SSD are actually slower than some top-shelf HDD in that regard, Indillix-based drives (OCZ, Patriot, etc.) are about equal or a lil' better than the average HDD in that regard (depending on the capacity of your SSD). Smaller SSD like the 30GB Vertex and the 40GB X25-V in particular tend to have somewhat lower sequential read/write specs.

Regardless, moving up to an SSD for your OS drive is a fantastic upgrade and you'll curse yourself every time you're forced to use a system w/o a SSD after you've experienced it imo... But I'm not sure I'd order up that secondary SSD just for backups and such, might be kind of a waste. Unless you have a very specific need to read data very fast off that data drive, I'd just stick w/the 500GB drive.

Right now there's really only two SSD to recommend... Intel's or Indillix-based drives. Most people go w/OCZ's Indillix drives (even tho other manufacturers also use the same controller, Patriot, Crucial, etc) because OCZ has pretty good support and first-dibs on Indillix's newest firmware updates. Intel's drives fare a lil' better at random read/write operations, but the Indillix drives have better sequential write speeds, so it's kind of a toss-up.

Most people just end up going by the amount of money that they're willing to spend or the capacity that they need really... Intel makes an 80GB X25-M G2 that's still (amazingly) hard to find in stock or for anywhere near MSRP ($220), so it usually sells for $270+. The 40GB X25-V has half the sequential write speed but it's a nice lil' budget drive at $120. The 160GB X25-M G2 goes for $450+. Meanwhile OCZ's 60GB Vertex can be found for anywhere from $180 (Newegg last week) to $210. The 120GB version is about $300, and the 30GB version is actually priced pretty close to to the 40GB X25-V.

Don't get fooled into buying older X25-M drives (G1) since they don't support TRIM. All current Indillix and X25-M G2 or X25-V drives support Trim under Win7 and it's vital to keep up the performance of the drive over time. Your friend probably bought a first-gen SSD w/a JMicron controller (or something worse) that wasn't really optimized for random read/write operations and was just tuned for sequential reads, that's why it'd choke up randomly as an OS drive and he'd see stuttering, etc. Probably didn't support TRIM either so it just got worse over time.

You'll probably wanna ditch that Vista install and move to the Win7 RC or a full licensed copy of Win7 if you're gonna upgrade to an SSD. There's a number of Samsung-based drives out there as well (along w/a lot of JMicron drives too, from Kingston, etc.) but generally speaking they're a few steps below Intel & Indillix-based drives. There's some new competition coming this year from Micron, Seagate (?), and SandForce-based drives but NAND flash shortages (Samsung & Intel supply most of it) and the fact that they'll only be introducing 120GB+ models at first means prices are probably gonna remain stable thru mid-year. Hard to predict anything beyond that...

Anandtech has some very good broad-picture articles on the state of SSD that discuss all this in a great deal of detail (he goes into it throughout his reviews of the Intel & Indillix drives along w/the OCZ/SandForce preview, I think that was the last article).

 

[sabregen]

Pretty much stay away from drives with Intel controllers, but not the brand name. Intel is keeping the latest firmware updates (which you will want) for themselves, for now. Indilinx controllers are used by a few companies (OCZ and Supertalent come to mind). I tihnk your best bet probably is an OCZ drive. The warranty is shit-hot (they basically cross ship a brand new one from Taiwan to you. No RMA bullshit, no waiting for repairs, etc), they are fast (even the low end ones are top-tiered transfer speeds), support TRIM and GC firmwares, and even have a turbo model, if you really have some coin.

Although there are other manufacturers that use the Indilinx controller, none come with the warranty and support, or transfer speeds, that the OCZ ones do. Intel makes a good drive, but pissed a lot of people off with the destructive firmware updates.

 

[Impulse]

Yeah, the only company putting out G2 Intel drives (34nm flash) besides Intel themselves is Kingston I think, but no firmware updates for TRIM as of yet (and they're priced the same so there's really no reason to go w/them). There's a few small brands selling upgrade kits w/the older G1 drives but they aren't as common. It's amazing how the price on the X25-M drives has actually gone up since they were put out...

I bought mine for $250 when they were harder to find but even tho they're a bit easier to find now I can't seem to find it anywhere for less than $270-ish. Been shopping for one to give my to my sister as an upgrade to her new laptop but I might end up going w/a 60GB Vertex instead if the Intel drives haven't come down in price at all a month from now.

Intel makes a good drive, but pissed a lot of people off with the destructive firmware updates.

Destructive in the sense that the update wipes your data (they don't, unlike some of OCZ's updates), or destructive in the sense that they did have some firmware issues at one point which bricked drives? I think everyone's had firmware quirks and issues, the technology has been maturing... Tho frankly Intel's issues were just a matter of QC, and they do pour a ton of R&D into that but stuff still slips thru.

There's only really been two issues, one they caught before almost anyone could actually purchase a drive (weird BIOS hard drive password issues), the second one came up when they first put out their TRIM firmware but AFAIK they RMA'd bricked drives w/no hassles as well. I was un-affected by either w/mine, I just waited a week or so before doing any firmware update.

If I was gonna complain about anything it'd be the fact that they left G1 owners out in the cold and never provided TRIM firmware updates to them even tho they paid quite a premium as early adopters, that did stink (even if they never promised it'd be provided).

 

[Throc]

Thanks for all the info.

@ Impulse: I am running Win 7 Pro. I haven't updated my profile in a while.

I also looked at cutting down some size on my OS drive. I thought 120GB seems high because I don't have that much installed. Turns out I had two Windows.old file from previous installations that consumed a huge (74GB) amount of space. I think this makes my options a little easier. I might wait around to find a decent price on the Intel X25-M G2 80GB. $290 at the egg right now seems a little pricey but maybe they'll go on sale or pirces will drop a little soon. I've found another option for the storage drive. I got a good deal on an Intel X-25V. Turns out my friend had an extra that he's selling to me.

I'm just afraid I'm going to like it so much that I'll have to buy another for my netbook!!

 

[Impulse]

I wouldn't hold my breath on a price drop of the 80GB X25-M at Newegg... They were actually one of the first, if not the first, online store to start marking it up and selling it at prices way higher than the MSRP (the automated Newegg system even had it up near $400 at one point for a couple of days), and it's been going in and out of stock at $300-ish ever since.

Short term, your best bet is probably finding it elsewhere... Though obviously the places that have it the cheapest ($260-270) tend not to have it in stock for very long. I think Tankguys is the only place I've seen it where it's still $250 flat but they've been OOS for a while. Even Microcenter has the price jacked up to $290. Edit: Actually. NCIX seems to have it in stock at $267... Dunno what they charge for S&H.

I'm just afraid I'm going to like it so much that I'll have to buy another for my netbook!!

Been there, done that! (see sig) I went with the X25-V for my netbook, kinda glad I passed on the Kingston version when they had them on Newegg at $85 after rebate, since TRIM firmware has yet to materialize for those. I even tried bidding on one at Ebay shortly after the rebate period ran out but other people's bids pushed it past $120 so I decided to wait, came out ahead after all.