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Storage Anything wrong with this SSD?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by russ555, 28 Jan 2012.

  1. dBass

    dBass What's a Dremel?

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    Not just this forum but every forum. What's wrong with Crucial?
     
  2. PocketDemon

    PocketDemon Modder

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    The sky is falling down...!

    Well, taking your farmyard mentality in a different direction, every time someone mentions a specific & limited problem then running around like Chicken Licken's animal friends & believing that the sky's falling down isn't exactly useful either.


    Okay, so something that Crucial didn't foresee has had a fix that's caused an issue in a specific context.

    Well, the old problem hadn't had any effect upon most people as they'd not reached the time count that triggered it & the new problem (as Pookie's related it) doesn't actually affect anyone who's not got M4s in an array...

    ...not forgetting, of course, that it's not a great idea to be using something like the M4s in raid anyway as their GC isn't great.

    Hence there's no need for mass panic... ...& there will be a fix because there always is.


    Similarly, looking at (hugely predominantly) historical issues with the 6Gb/s SFs - which are every brand, not just OCZ & Corsair - which only ever affected a tiny fraction of a %age of people, to claim that this magically means that the >99% of people who haven't had issues is simply foolish.

    [NB again, there have been cold boot & freezing issues on the M4 & 510 & whatnot on specific machines.]


    So, what have we had -

    - Well, some people have posted that a SSD of brand X arrived DOA - that's just life & a small %age of any product will be DOA (or fail early on in the life cycle)...

    - Some people have had either the bsod issues with SF or the cold boot/freezing issues with the non-SFs - that's unfortunate, is partially down to (esp) intel on the orom & driver side# (though also mobo manufacturers not updating bioses to the newer oroms) & 'if' you were/are affected by the specific issues then return the SSD & buy another brand - just as you would with any other product.

    [# it's generally believed that, just before the intel 520 is released, there will also be a set of drivers (& possibly an orom) released which will cure any remaining issues for all SFs on intel boards - obviously, again down to mobo manufacturers implementing the required orom.]

    - & there's these new odd issues which are affecting the M4 - whilst not ideal, if you're nowhere near 5,000 hours on &/or are not running them in a raid array (as would be generally sensible) then there's no instant reason to worry... ...you have time to wait for Crucial to fix it.


    So there's no reason at all to avoid any of the 3 brands mentioned just because, by chance, acorns fall on a (comparatively tiny) no of people's heads.


    [Edit]

    Should also have said that -

    - the flip side to DOA/early failure is that there will always be a small %age of a product which will last far beyond its normal lifespan.

    - & the reason why we keep on focusing upon Corsair, Crucial & OCZ products is because they're generally the biggest players in the informed consumer SSD market now d.t. the performance to price ratio.

    This, combined with that more people will tend to post when (a) something goes wrong or (b) to justify their purchase to themselves by putting another product down, will tend to give a very artificial impression...

    Well, if random brand X making 6Gb/s SFs sold 5% of, say, Corsair's 6Gb/s SFs within the consumer market then it shouldn't take a genius to realise that having more posts on a consumer forum with issues about Corsair's ones doesn't mean that they are less reliable...
     
    Last edited: 31 Jan 2012
  3. Cutter

    Cutter What's a Dremel?

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    Indeed. In my case, the purchase of an M4 is not because of the sheep mentality, but because (a) I'm in the market for a complete new system anyway, (b) in the round, across various sources, I've read positive reviews of the M4 and (c) since buying a new system involves a reasonable expenditure on my part, if I can get a discount/price reduction for part or all of that system compared to the price I'd pay elsewhere, I might as well take advantage of that and buy direct from the manufacturer, especially if their offices are located close to where I live.

    In my case, as I'd posted elsewhere, I had a 1TB Western Digital Black FAEX, which also generally got good reviews, fail on me within 6 months of purchase. As Pocketdemon says, things like that just sometimes happen, and thats why we have RMA / Warranty / Sale of Goods Act.
     
  4. russ555

    russ555 What's a Dremel?

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    Did you pay using paypal? I did and my account still says I have made no purchases :(
     
  5. PocketDemon

    PocketDemon Modder

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    it can take a couple of weeks for topcashback things to show up from some companies - if it's not there after about 4 weeks then raise it with them... ...they've certainly got a couple of things sorted for me.
     
  6. GeorgeK

    GeorgeK Swinging the banhammer Super Moderator

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    I find topcashback to be slow at tracking purchases but they do eventually - the key bit is to not forget about it and raise a claim for missing cashback if it doesn't appear. From memory they do have a thing on their site so that you can check to make sure you are being tracked properly (I clear my cookies before every cashback purchase to make sure)
     
  7. Pookie

    Pookie Illegitimi non carborundum

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    To be fair the crucial drives were fine until the bug kicked in, and i have managed to upgrade the firmaware on around 30 drives since saturday. I replaced the drives in RAID arrays (crucial M4 drives removed from LSI certified list lol) with 10k SAS drives for the now until the firmware is released and i can put the 512gig drives back in. Its hard to know what brand to pick, but the only drives i havn't tried is Intel. Has anyone got anything positive to say about intel drives?
     
  8. dBass

    dBass What's a Dremel?

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    A quote from a recent Tom's Hardware article:
     
  9. feathers

    feathers Minimodder

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    My grandpa swears by Intel SSD.
     
  10. Pookie

    Pookie Illegitimi non carborundum

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    Lol I wish ihad known him before i started rolling out M4's. I think i will give intel a shot on SAS expanders for a while:sigh:
     
  11. feathers

    feathers Minimodder

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    Kingston Hyper X 120.

    :)
     
  12. alph4a

    alph4a What's a Dremel?

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    Been using OCZ ssd's for 18 months now not had any major problems with them.
    Got a 60gb Vertex 1 that was OS drive up until last month, now using a 120 gb Vertex 3 as OS drive and the Vertex 1 for steam.
    Was unsure about getting the Vertex 3 because of all BSOD problems with Intel P67 but not installed the RST drivers and its been fine.
    A mate of mine has a Vertex 2 and an Agility 3 an he has never had any probs either.
     
  13. PocketDemon

    PocketDemon Modder

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    That'd be no better or worse than the nearest OCZ or Corsair equivalent (the standard V3 & the GT respectively) reliability-wise, as they appear to use the same quality sync nand (mostly 25nm intel or micron nand rated for 3000 cycles, with some 5000 cycle stuff used on occasion) & base f/w.

    (Okay, the OCZ version has an alt pcb design but, other than it meaning that they didn't have to go through the recall that Corsair did at the beginning, it's basically immaterial now.)

    The big differences are really that OCZ tend to be quicker with f/w updates than any other company using the SF controllers & their forum is quite useful (do Kingston even have a forum???) - but beyond that then there's marginal difference... ...each f/w that's released by each manufacturer may marginally tweaks different speeds.


    Then, as with brands like OWC & Patriot, afaik Kingston aren't quite shifting the same kind of units as OCZ or Corsair &, as pointed out earlier, the bigger players are always more likely to show up in forums if there's an issue...

    ...well there's far more posts in consumer forums about the M4 having cold boot & freezing issues than the 510, but that's because there's been far more M4s sold within the consumer market.

    Or, in the middle of last year, whilst the 320 had the major fault of randomly turning into a 8MB drive d.t. a f/w fault (initially corrected with a destructive f/w flash which took around a month - though apparently it didn't cure everyone's SSDs), i don't believe this appeared on here at all as it's not been a preferred choice for the type of consumers who use this forum.


    Anyway, generally, if you've unluckily got a system that still gives BSODs with one of the SFs with the latest base f/w, switching to another using the same base f/w is incredibly unlikely to make any difference as the tech's the same...

    ...whereas obviously, if there were issues in the past using old f/w & controller driver, a f/w & controller & driver update will improve the chances of there being no issues no matter which brand you go for.
     
  14. Cutter

    Cutter What's a Dremel?

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    Nope. Used credit card. Ordered about 9pm last night, TCB showing the transaction as pending as of about 1pm today...
     
  15. MjFrosty

    MjFrosty Minimodder

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    I get drive drop outs with one of my Vertex 3s on X79. Momentarily... doesn't cause any instability, though.

    Both have their flaws, I had a mare with the Vertex 3 Firmware SATA timing issue before they released the firmware fix. That said....

    Saturation, anyone? :naughty:

    [​IMG]
     
  16. Pookie

    Pookie Illegitimi non carborundum

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    The drive dropouts are only when the 512's are in SAS expanders. Crucial tech support confirmed to me today that the next firmware will be released in around 2 weeks time fixing this problem. I spent too much time trying out different RAID cards with the same results. To be fair with 0309 firmware the drives on there own are great (sorry no benchmarks).
     
  17. PocketDemon

    PocketDemon Modder

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    Just typing out loud...


    Mmmmm... There seems to be a bit of a lack of info as to the latest intel orom for the X79 boards.

    Well, the WHQL RSTe version's at 3.0.1.7016, but i can't even find the release notes for that atm as, based upon the RST release notes, i'd expect it to list the latest version that intel have released (though checking the ones for 3.0.0.3020 & there's no mention).


    Simply that, it 'may' be the case that there's a newer orom that Asus haven't implemented yet -
    the latest bios for your board being the 23rd of December, whilst the RSTe versions are the 20th of Dec & 15th of Jan... ...remembering, of course, that mobo manufacturers tend not to instantly implement new oroms...

    ...well, the only way to get something approaching an up-to-date intel orom on the Asus' P67 boards is through modded bioses.

    [NB another reason for suggesting this 'may' be the case is that Asus are only showing the 3.0.0.2003 RSTe driver from last October on the download page for the P9X79 PRO - whereas there are at least 4 revisions after that; 3002, 3016, 3020 & 7016.]


    Now, for my P67 board (& have checked a couple of others), the latest intel orom included in the official bioses is 10.5.1.1.070, whereas the RST 11.0.0.1032 (out on the 23rd of Dec) was paired with a 11.0.0.1339 orom release; 4-5(+) oroms later than Asus are providing...


    So all of this 'could' be read as an indication that there may also be a newer intel orom for your board that 'might' appear at some point if Asus decide to add it to a future bios - it appearing to be a little early for modded bioses on the X79 boards.


    Anyway, the reason for posting some slightly disjointed info is that, as said earlier, an issue with a SSD (such as the freezing, cold boot &/or BSOD issues that can occur on at least the Marvell & SF 6Gb/s controller SSDs) can be some combination of the SSD's f/w itself, the controller driver & the controller f/w (or orom)...

    ...it only being possible for the SSD manufacturers to deal with the first of course...

    ...so if intel/amd/whoever don't do their bit with the other 2 & the mobo manufacturers don't then promptly add in the oroms then, whilst it's a damn nusiance for anyone who's affected, it's not always entirely correct to blame whoever made the SSD.
     
  18. russ555

    russ555 What's a Dremel?

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    It arrived an hour or so ago :D

    impressive considering I ordered it at 7am sunday morning. The order was completed at 11pm :)eeek:) monday and was sent by royal mail free shipping which should have been 3-5 days.

    Just getting ready to install it now. Just wondering though when I try to install windows to the SSD will it give me any grief because my current C drive is connected?

    Also how do I see what firmware it is using? I have already downloaded and burned the newest one to a cd so should I just try and use that and see what it says?
     
  19. feathers

    feathers Minimodder

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    Do you have bios POST info displayed? If it's not shown there then I suggest the FW update utility, that should read the current FW and display it.
     
  20. russ555

    russ555 What's a Dremel?

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    Drive isn't in yet. For some reason I was thinking I needed to install windows to the SSD straight away.

    what is the FW update utility?
     

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