SSD recommendations or pitfalls to avoid

[jpelg]

I'd like to extend the life of a 3.5 y/o laptop by replacing the stock HD with an SSD. The plan is to use it for OS (Vista64) & apps only, with data kept external. Don't want to overspend since it is an ever-aging laptop, so I figure the 64GB models strike a good balance between capacity & price (~US$100).

Trying to catch up on this tech by reading various reviews & comparing to what is for sale these days. It seems older models were plagued with reliability issues, which I don't need. Brands with better track records include Plextor, Crucial, & Samsung. Surprisingly, Kingston has more than their fair share of negative reviews. So, although they cost a bit more, I will likely stick with the former brands mentioned.

Since many of you are computer-tech cognoscenti, including building silent HTPC's & such, I thought I'd pose the question before pulling the trigger. Any other recommendations, or pitfalls to avoid (obvious or not-so-obvious)?

Thanks y'all.

[Iron_Dreamer]

Intel are my go-to SSD's. Others might be cheaper per gig, or claim faster speeds in various regards, but I will take Intel's rock-solid reliability every time, and the speed is still such a boon over any mechanical drive (and earlier SSD's), that I don't feel I'm missing anything significant. Sandforce-based drives get great empirical reviews, but have a poor reliability track record, especially the current gen. If you're going to out outside Intel, Crucial looks like the next best pick to me.

[HDen]

Corsair Force Series are great and not terribly expensive.

I agree with Iron_Dreamer, If you can spend a bit more money get Crucial or Intel.

[Mister X]

Even though the 4th one works rather well, after RMAing a Force 3 drive 3 times I would suggest you stay far away from the Corsiar drives.

I 3rd the Crucial recommendation and would go with this one -------->

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820148441

Edit: to many 3s in there I guess.

Edited November 1, 2011 by Mister X

[The Monkey]

So far I have used Intel and Crucial without issues.

[n_maher]

For even cheaper $ you might try a hybrid drive. They seem to be love hate but I've had good luck with mine.

[roadtonowhere08]

I only trust Intel and Crucial SSDs right now. I am going to use my X25-E until the end of time. Snappy as hell and the SLC chips should last forever for a consumer. In reality, the controller is the weak link for a lot of SSDs, so I suppose the Marvell controller in the Crucial and the Intel's controller are the ones to beat currently for reliability.

Edited November 2, 2011 by roadtonowhere08

[manaox2]

I bought a 256GB Crucial M4 earlier today. Its on sale from Amazon. The new firmware increased speeds another 20-32% in August. Now I just need a new laptop or a SATA iii card.

http://www.amazon.co...2/dp/B004W2JL2A

I still have a an OCZ Agility 60Gb thats going strong. It seems their newer iterations have had major problems, but have a new firmware version as well that is supposed to cure the bluescreen problems and such. Seems like it worked, no complaints in the last three weeks from users on the OCZ forums.

Edited November 2, 2011 by manaox2

[HDen]

That is tempting, I got a 128GB M4 a while back and the 256GB was almost at $450!

[jpelg]

Thanks for all the responses guys.

Are there any issues using a SATA III drive in an older laptop with a SATA II controller (other than missing out on the speed advantages)?

[Mister X]

Nope.

Oh and FWIW SuperBiiz has a slightly better deal on the Crucial drive then Newegg but the only one they still have in stock comes with a "transfer kit"

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=CT064CCA

Add coupon code RUN4LIFE to get $10 off

[HDen]

For those who have a Crucial M4: http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/M4-firmware-0309-is-now-available/td-p/80286

[dsavitsk]

Newegg is running a 24 hour sale on Crucial M4 SSDs. They are all ~$1/G

[Salt Peanuts]

^ Frick, that is rather tempting as one of my hard drives just died, so if I grab a SSD, I can just replace the dead drive with the laptop drive I'd be replacing with a SSD. Hmmm.

Edited February 28, 2012 by Salt Peanuts

[n_maher]

The 128 is sold out, frack.

[grawk]

it looks like it's still in stock, nate

[n_maher]

it looks like it's still in stock, nate

Thanks Dan, I mistakenly looked at the 64 based on the price. $30 for that drive isn't enough of a deal to get me to pounce since it'd mean also buying a 1TB internal drive for the second bay in my laptop.

[dsavitsk]

The deals seemed to dry up as the day went on. I picked up a 256 for my X201, but I need the space for running a bunch of VMs.

[Salt Peanuts]

They also had a 128 for $129 at one point, which I was going to buy but by the time I got to it at home, it was gone.

Edited February 29, 2012 by Salt Peanuts

[kevin gilmore]

I bought the samsung 512mb ssd for my new computer, actually tests over 5.5 GB/S at the moment.

In the future with die shrinks, the amount of times you can rewrite a sector is going to go down a bunch.

So buy the current intel's or samsungs now, because in the future, something is going to have to

be done with the operating systems to prevent rewrites. And always put in way more memory than

you need, and add a regular hard drive, and put the swap file on it.

[roadtonowhere08]

I keep reading that with each NAND shrink, the number of projected re-writes goes down. I think it went from 10,000 with the first generation of popular MLC SSDs to about 3,000 now. I am sure that something will be done to remedy this, but I always thought that was an interesting tidbit.

[dsavitsk]

For most purposes, it doesn't matter. By the time you use one up, which is realistically at least several years, you'll be able to get a new one that is much larger and much cheaper, and probably faster.

[roadtonowhere08]

Yep, I agree. The best part about SSDs is that, assuming the controller does not take a dive, the NAND is still readable if it cannot re-write any more. Can't say the same for standard HDs (aside from really expensive recovery services).

Edited March 2, 2012 by roadtonowhere08