SSD system Drives

It works like a charm. You install the OS on the SSD and it boots in one quarter the time or faster than from a HDD. Most operations are faster because, if you make a system call most calls go to the SSD. The HDDs do well for mass storage and particularly for video (which has no great advantage when reading from an SSD compared to a HDD).

+1^ SSD is probably the greatest computer advance we have ever seen, they are amazing and truly do perform, if you are in the market unquestionably you should get one.

i will never build another computer without an ssd, they are that good, thinking about getting a 2nd one for my most used games

+1^ As i said defiantly the way to go! =)

The issues are SSD compatibility and reliability. See Tom's SSD review for the problems. Basically SSDs are immature technology that is not yet reliable.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-solid-state-nan...

SSD firmware is very complex because if it's need to wear leveling of the flash memory cells. As a result there have been a number of issues with recent SSDs. But there's no basic issue with the underlying technology - I've been using an Intel X-25M G2 SSD for almost 2 years now and it's worked flawlessly.

My recommendation would be to avoid the very newest SSDs and instead buy something that's closer to the end of its product cycle - that should help to ensure that any firmware bugs have been identified and solved before you run into them.

So sminlal are you saying stick to older models? The models without sand force and garbage? I have been using the same Intel SSD as sminlal for about a year and a bit and haven't had a days issue.

I wouldn't rule out any particular drive or technology - but I do think it would be prudent to wait for 6-12 months after a drive is released so that any issues have hopefully been identified and fixed.

My Intel drive works perfectly, but even for it there was a problem with the first release of the firmware update to add TRIM support (it sometimes wiped out the existing contents of the drive when it was applied).

Well thats pretty much like any hardware you buy wether it be motherboards GRA'S CPU'S and so on, you got to kinda buy when you can SSD is new irrelevant the technology has only recently become available to the market therefore i say you buy when you buy.

Currently have 8 SSDs, 4 of them are the SATA III SSDs.
The first 4 date back to the Intel 80 Gig G1 (Does not support trim – 3 different controllers. Have Had NO PROBLEMS and all except the Intel G1 are still in use, 2 as an OS/Program drive and 2 as a 2nd SSD for storage.
The 4 Sata II drives are 2 Crucial M4s and 2 OCZ Agility III. The M4s are in my SB Laptop (Samsung RF711). On as an OS/program drive and the 2nd one as Storage drive. Originally tried the Agility III in the Laptop – Could NOT get it to install windows 7. Currently both Agility III drives are in an I5-2500k Desktop.

Fully support sminlal's assessment on SSDs.
Additional comments on newer SATA II and III Drive:
SATA II
.. Intel 320 – Have not seen a resolution to the 8 mb bug that may brick the SSD.
.. Samsung 470 is the best option for a NEW sata II SSD – The least complaints/problems.

Sata III drives.
.. Marvel based seems to be the best choice, lower than ones using the Sandforce SF2281 controller. Includes the Intel 510 (First Intel drive to use a 3rd party controller, also the most expensive) and the Crucial M4 – couple of others
.. Sandforce based SF22xx – seems to be the highest performance but; My opinion still PLUG and PRAY. If they work they are great, emphasis on IF.
.. Newest addition will be the Samsung Sata III drives – Unk, but I’ll go out on a limb and say they will be good in terms of problem free, may not be tops in performance, but close enough that should not be a factor.

So there you have it its a given referring back to the original question at hand GET AN SSD =)

Hey retired chief

Just touching on the issue you had with the drive and the laptop did you ever figure out what the issue was that the drive wasn't working im having a similar problem with a clients laptop and am running out o ideas.

^ Short answer - NO. At the time I spent several days and tried every way to Sunday.
Initial attempt I would not get windows to intall. Did a secure wipe and upgraded the firmware from ver 2 to ver 6 (They are upto 11 as of a check 2 weeks ago). I tried several times, wiping the disck using toolbox on my desktop system inbetween attemps. With the ver 6 firmware I was able to complete the installation, but on reboot would give error and bomb out. Completed an installion using the Intel G2 80 gig SSD. made an image copy and used that image to load onto agility III - Still NO Workee. Finally gave up and ordered a M4. Install was a breeze. Since then I've upgraded the firmware for the M4 to 9 which also was a breeze and gave a nice performance boost.

Laptop = Samsung RF711-S01 (I5-2410M, 17" w/blu-ray, w/daul HDD bays (have two M4's installed).

Have NOT tried updating the Firmware from 6 -> 11. From what I've seen on OCZ form, 8 helps, reduced some problems, 9 a little better, but also reduced performance for some and 11 also still has problems.
Samsung finally came out with a bios upgrade which I have applied to my laptop, but since I already now have to Working M4s and OCZ looks like they still have a problem with their latest Update, I have not retried.

11 releases of firmware for an SSD does not inspire confidence...

A give them a break - NOT
Not really 11, for some reason they skipped some numbers. But you are RIGHT, to many and Not even fix the problem!!

LOL that is true that a lot of updating for one piece of hardware just to get functioning. Awesome Chief will try the firmware upgrade and see how that goes, will let you know the results thank you for your time.