Buy new SSD, question is which?

Ok I know I've been giving advise to others so now time to give me some

I'm looking at a 160-256Gig drive. Currently I got 150Gig usable on my raid array, and eeking out roughly 20-30Gig free space most of the time. Probably would have a few more programs installed on C: if I could but wanting to keep that free space, and if im upgrading might as well go more.

Right now I just have a SATA II connector on my PC, so SATA III could be nice for future upgrades. Right now just looking for increased write performance, since my lovely drives cap out right now at 80MB/sec thanks to no GC ability in Raid0 for me right now.

I've been looking at the 256Gig C300 and M4 Crucial drives (good speed, and good prices). OCZ I know has been having there issues which is an touchy subject. Then we have Intel. I'd love to get one of there drives, but a 250GB is still $140 more than Crucial. If the prices where closer I'd probably get one of them with little to no questions asked but its still pricey.

Reads as high as it will go (Max out SATA II), and writes to actually write compressible data at its rated speed (sorry OCZ). Not sure how much I use of my 450MB/sec reads I get currently, maybe Raid0 would still be ideal in this situation as well, yet I want to maintain drive performance over the life of the unit. Or the nice fast writes which just the single drive would blow that away currently.

Here is links of what I've been thinking...
M4 128Gig http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442 (2x $230)
M4 256Gig http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148449 ($460)

C300 128Gig http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148348 (2x $235)
C300 256Gig http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148363 ($487)

Will update the link when the site comes back online.

Thoughts suggestions, any research or conclusions you've come to doing this? This all hinges on right now me landing a secondary job if its golden its getting ordered ASAP along with a new monitor.

You have GC in R0, you do not have TRIM (assuming Intel drives have GC, which I believe they do).

Anyhoo, Vertex3 or New Intel drives would be my choice.

EarthDog said:

You have GC in R0, you do not have TRIM (assuming Intel drives have GC, which I believe they do).

Anyhoo, Vertex3 or New Intel drives would be my choice.

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Actually on my G2 I have no GC cross talk between the 2 drives. Zero GC between them to improve performance beyond minimal speeds, which makes me believe that it does it on the fly when it needs more space considering the write speed varations. It was one of the issues with the drives back when I got them and still exists today. I got benches showing reads are perfectly fine, but writes are 60-80MB/sec now. Use to get over 150MB/sec.

Learn something new daily! Nothing in the intel tool box to clean it up? HDDerase? Image your current, HDDErase, then drop image back on to array?

EarthDog said:

Learn something new daily! Nothing in the intel tool box to clean it up? HDDerase? Image your current, HDDErase, then drop image back on to array?

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Yeah its a nagging issue. Intel Tool Box doesn't work on the drives in Raid. So yes I can take it out of raid, secure erase and reimage but... more space is more pleasing to me at this point in time, and can use the other drives else where too. Besides not sure if the imaging would take 100%, guess there is some issues with Acronis and replacing partitions on SSD's (takes it out of alignment).

The big one is just finding a brand, that is good (yes I know and love my Intel's) but if I go with 2x drives can I recover my speed on the drives without re-imaging. Me I don't do that, really I'd just wipe the system and start over. I've had the same OS install since I got these drives (21 months ago) and it runs great, just writes are getting slower and its starting to bug me a little more and more.

Does the new intel's support proper GC via raided drives now? Downside of raided drives is can't use or monitor drive health which really im not to concerned of unless it craps out on me then I would be pissed

Yup im picky and like the most options that I can get What can I say im undecided. Surprised I jumped on my G2's as I did, yet I do not regret it.

I hear ya... Honestly though, one single Vertex3 will give you those speeds......on SATAIII and give you all the benefits of TRIM/GC.

EarthDog said:

I hear ya... Honestly though, one single Vertex3 will give you those speeds......on SATAIII and give you all the benefits of TRIM/GC.

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Though, I only have SATA II currently. Is there really any good SATA III addin cards?

Not sure what is good or bad...: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...EPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=pcie+sata+6

But plenty available fairly cheap.

There is also the revo drive which they claim is faster if you have a PCI-E x4 slot available. I thoght of getting one myself but my mobo was one of the three listed that it will not run on. Out of stock of the one I was considering but there are others and other vendors.
I would suggest that the reason that your array has slowed is because it is past 50% full. I have no real proof that it will slow once it gets past 50% but I know that mine do and have had to upgrade disks or resize partitions to keep them at less than 40. When they write on the fly it seems that they like to spread it around in chunks and will slow way down if they are limited to smaller areas.

It seems to be a myth...sort of. IMMOG posted a thread about this, and in his testing, no degredation happened. However, OCZ still says to keep at least 10-20% free space available (not 50%)...

I wasn't having degrading issue when brand new when I only had 10Gig free. Its not a free space issue and its not like I write gigs of data to the drive daily, heck typical day I'd be lucky to write 2Gigs at most as long as its not installing files. As long as the drive has space free to do GC on it, really there shouldn't be a performance issue. The 50% myth was back when the drives where brand new to market.

I've thought of the Revo Drives as well but @ 160Gig to even match my current setup is $449 bucks. I'd only look at the X2 versions because they offer higher speeds. :/

I would purchase the Vertex3 ive seen good reviews on it.

Aren't people still having big issues with OCZ drives? That is one of the bigger reasons why I've stayed away from them or even recommending them.

Reviews of the V3's all seem great though.

deathman20 said:

Aren't people still having big issues with OCZ drives? That is one of the bigger reasons why I've stayed away from them or even recommending them.

Reviews of the V3's all seem great though.

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I've heard some bad stuff about their new agility line (something about cold boot issues due to the newer firmware). At any rate, my vertex 2s have been doing well... haven't had any issues at all with them.

Last issues I recall have to do with the 25nm Vertex2... I havent heard a peep about Vert3 issues (doesnt mean they dont exist of course).

aphellyon said:

I've heard some bad stuff about their new agility line (something about cold boot issues due to the newer firmware). At any rate, my vertex 2s have been doing well... haven't had any issues at all with them.

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Maybe thats what I've been seeing a lot recently was the Agility series.

EarthDog said:

Last issues I recall have to do with the 25nm Vertex2... I havent heard a peep about Vert3 issues (doesnt mean they dont exist of course).

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Yeah I know about the #2 25nm issues. Wasn't sure if it carried over to 3 series or not hence the question?

Have been and always a little hesitant on a controller/drive that relies on compression to get its speed. But hey if its gotten better its always something to consider, though still prefer not to do it. Guess its the Intel in me where consistent performance is key.



I know I wanted more information on the Crucial drives went to the site and signed up and people don't seem to have a single issue with M3/C300 series at all with Raid setups which is a huge plus, even running 4 drives in Raid0 for months on end. Key now is finding out if the M4 series if people have had nice success with it considering its cheaper If it sounds remotely good consider it sold, and maybe we'll have another option for people that is cheaper.

As well revised.... im to eager to get the new drives now so if information lands right might be able to get the drives ordered by tomorrow and in my hands by Friday (crosses fingers).

deathman20 said:

Aren't people still having big issues with OCZ drives? That is one of the bigger reasons why I've stayed away from them or even recommending them.

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All of OCZs '3' series drives are susceptible to a new problem. You can get stutter and BSODs which OCZ is claiming is due to a particular SATA command not coming in soon enough (because the drives themselves are so freakin' fast). OCZ also claims the error rears its head in only two thirds of 1% of drives. If your drives does exhibit it, there is a firmware update but it slows down the maximum speed of the drive.. apparently. I have four different 3 series on my desk and none of them have any issues.

deathman20 said:

Besides not sure if the imaging would take 100%, guess there is some issues with Acronis and replacing partitions on SSD's (takes it out of alignment).

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Any more info on this? I had Acronis on a Vertex 3 today and it took FOR-EV-ER.

nightelph said:

All of OCZs '3' series drives are susceptible to a new problem. You can get stutter and BSODs which OCZ is claiming is due to a particular SATA command not coming in soon enough (because the drives themselves are so freakin' fast). OCZ also claims the error rears its head in only two thirds of 1% of drives. If your drives does exhibit it, there is a firmware update but it slows down the maximum speed of the drive.. apparently. I have four different 3 series on my desk and none of them have any issues.

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Good to know.

Any more info on this? I had Acronis on a Vertex 3 today and it took FOR-EV-ER.

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Looked into it a bit more.
http://kb.acronis.com/content/2699

Seems to be that if you have the latest version (2011) the issues with restoration is non-existent. Otherwise if its older drives it will restore but have speed issues since it offsets the 63 sectors instead of 64 which the SSD's require for the speed. Good to know.

I know backups where not the issue, though restores could cause that issue, guess they fixed that.

Another option, instead of Intel 510 250GB for ~$600, is the Intel 320 300GB for ~$560 just a thought, performance wise the 320 300GB is 270MB/s sequential read, 205MB/s sequential write, Sata 2 though .

Psykoikonov said:

Another option, instead of Intel 510 250GB for ~$600, is the Intel 320 300GB for ~$560 just a thought, performance wise the 320 300GB is 270MB/s sequential read, 205MB/s sequential write, Sata 2 though .

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I'd take Intel over anything else just because it has been good to me in the past but this time they aren't giving me a price advantage. Considering I paid $220-240 for my drives (forgot which) nearly 2 years ago.

Its landing I guess between the V3 and M4 drives now. More leaning on the M4 (just because its not reliant on compression). Think a night sleep, maybe a few coin tosses will settle this. Really leaning on 2 drives at this time.