SSD worth it right now ?

[darkchazz]

I have been using my 500gb western digital green hdd for a while now as a win7 boot drive (big mistake I know), and I had enough I can't take this anymore.
It freezes randomly from time to time especially when I'm browsing the web or watching a video, it freezes usually for like 30secs then everything back to normal....

At first I thought it was faulty, but after googling a bit I found out that it is a common problem with the green WD hdds.

So now I'm thinking about getting a SSD, is it worth it now or I should wait for price drops ??
I'm still using my SATA II gigabyte AM3 mobo with Phenom II 955.

Specs:
- CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955BE Quad Core @ 3.8Ghz + Zalman CNPS10X Quiet cooler.
- Motherboard: Gigabyte MA770-UD3P.
- RAM: Corsair Dominator 4GB DDR3 1600mhz.
- GPU: ASUS GTX 560 Ti oc.

 

[hunuok]

An SSD would instantly speed up your system.

ATM, prices have come down and stabilized somewhat.

You can get some good deals on newegg etc.

If your budget doesn't stretch, you can get SATA2 versions ex Vertex2 or smaller capacity SATA3 versions.

If you still can't decide, just get a fast 7200HDD such as Samsung Spinpoint F3, WD Caviar Black or Seagate XT.

Remember, SSDs have limited capacities. You will generally install OS/Programs on the SSD and keep the HDD for storage.

 

[darkchazz]

Yea I will use it just for the os and programs, and keep my HDDs for storage and games.
So either 64 or 128gb will suffice , I think..

I should better get a sata3 version, since I will eventually upgrade my pc...

What are your recommendations ?

 

[beenthere]

If you can afford BSOD and lost data for a little system performance gain, then an SSD might be viable. If however your data is important and you don't want the hassles of firmware updates or RMAs for drives that fail, you'd be better waiting awhile in hopes that the SSD vendors sort out their issues.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-solid-state-nand-reliability,2998.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/SandForce-SF-2200-Firmware-bsod-update,13738.html

 

[darkchazz]

If you can afford BSOD and lost data for a little system performance gain, then an SSD might be viable. If however your data is important and you don't want the hassles of firmware updates or RMAs for drives that fail, you'd be better waiting awhile in hopes that the SSD vendors sort out their issues.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-solid-state-nand-reliability,2998.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/SandForce-SF-2200-Firmware-bsod-update,13738.html

That's unfortunate
Does it happen often?? the BSODs I mean

 

[RetiredChief]

NO it does not happen that often (Excluding the OCZ SATA III and simular SF22xx controller models).

I have eight SSDs: two each in I5-750 (Sata II MB), I5-2500k, and I5-2410m laptop. Only one in my older C2D laptop. Have had NO BSODs, no data loss. Some have been in use over 1 1/2 years.

Have had no problem upgrading the Firmware on any of the drives, And Have NOT had to do it frequenly (except for the 2 Agility 3 SSDs (which I DO NOT recommend any way).

I, as many others, would NOT go back to a Mechanical HDD for a OS + Program drive - Love my Curcial M4's.

Yes, you can use the 64 gig M4 (most recommended on this site) (60/64 gig is the MIN size. sweet spot is the 90 -> 128 gig SSDs.

Some tips:
Steps:
.. Disconnect ALL old HDDs, connect New SSD.
.. Go into Bios and VERIFY that the HDD controller is set To AHCI
.. Install windows 7. Note if your system is an Intel system you will want to go to Intel’s website and download and install the latest RST drivers (ver 10.6) http://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&ProductFamily=Chipsets&ProductLine=Chipset+Software&ProductProduct=Intel%c2%ae+Rapid+Storage+Technology
Just select your Operating system and in the right pane click on drivers.
Everything is OK. Power down and reconnect your Old HDD. Note: do NOT delete anything for a couple of weeks, until you are sure everything is running fine. You will be able to dual boot to the SSD or the HDD simply by pressing the hot key during post that brings up the boot menu (F12 on my gigabyte MB and F11 on my asrock MB. You can simply copy Your favorites over from HDD -> SSD and for email you can do an export/import. After a couple of weeks you can then (1) delete windows from HDD, or (2) back up your data to BU drive and reformat your HDD and copy your data back (This is what I normally do.

3 Things that I normally do for an SSD:
.. (1) disable hibernation - save 4 -> 6 gigs
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920730
.. (2) Set page file (virtual memory) min and max to the same value, ie 4 gigs ram set it to 1024 mb. > 4 gigs ram set to 512mb. And you can redirect it to the HDD to save alittle more (Very slight performance hit - but compared to HDD even with SRT you would think its a race car). This save upto 6 gigs
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Change-the-size-of-virtual-memory
.. (3) manage restore points. limit the number of restore point or disable. This one if not done can eat up space in the long haul.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/3187/disable-system-restore-in-windows-7/
.. (4) One Final Important step: Use windows 7 backup (Under Control panel -> System & Security) and creat a image backup for your “C” drive. You can place on your internal HDD (and as a added precaution copy to BU drive). As long as you have the Windows Installation disk, you do NOT need to create the “Restore Disk” when prompted.


A very good website on SSDs is Johnny's: http://www.johnnylucky.org/data-storage/ssd-database.html

 

[hunuok]

NO it does not happent that often (Excluding the OCZ SATA III and simular SF22xx controller models).

I am using Vertex3 (firmware 2.13) and I admittedly I do get crashes about once a fortnight. Firmware 2.15 seems to have solved the problem.

I used Vertex2 and Phoenix Pro before that.

@OP:

There are many different SSDs out there that are plenty stable. Crucial, Intel, Samsung.

I too, will never go back to mechanical drives for OS/Programs.

Retired Chief has given you good tips on getting the most out of SSDs.

There are programs (SSD Tweaker) that can do it for you.

 

[beenthere]

That's unfortunate
Does it happen often?? the BSODs I mean

Yeah, unfortunately it does but some folks don't like to admit it. They think if they don't have an issue, then there are no issues. As the second paragraph in the link I gave you shows, there are still lots of SSD issues to be resolved with consumer grade SSDs. Only you know how much pain you are willing to tolerate... to be an unpaid Beta tester for the SSD companies.

As I indicated and the Tom's SSD review story confirms, ALL of the major SSD brands including but not limited to Intel, Crucial, OCZ, Corsair, Samsung and others have had and or continue to have SSD reliability or compatibility issues though thankfully with customer outrage expressed online these companies are finally working to resolve some of the many issues. NOT ready for Prime Time sums up the current consumer grade SSD products.

 

[adampower]

Yeah, unfortunately it does but some folks don't like to admit it. They think if they don't have an issue, then there are no issues. As the second paragraph in the link I gave you shows, there are still lots of SSD issues to be resolved with consumer grade SSDs. Only you know how much pain you are willing to tolerate... to be an unpaid Beta tester for the SSD companies.

As I indicated and the Tom's SSD review story confirms, ALL of the major SSD brands including but not limited to Intel, Crucial, OCZ, Corsair, Samsung and others have had and or continue to have SSD reliability or compatibility issues though thankfully with customer outrage expressed online these companies are finally working to resolve some of the many issues. NOT ready for Prime Time sums up the current consumer grade SSD products.

Once there was a hard drive failure... I heard ALL of the manufacturers of spinning HDD drives had failures too. In fact they report failure rates as do ssd manufacturers. imho your odds are better with ssds. AND how hard is it to back up a 64gb ssd from time to time?

 

[lokii_0]

I own 3 SSDs installed in 3 different systems. I have never had any issues. I have had multiple mechanical HDDs fail on me but I still wouldn't say that they 'aren't ready for prime time'. Computer parts do fail sometimes, but paying attention to online feedback and purchasing a part from a reputable vendor with mostly good consumer feedback should help negate that possibility.

Also, if you are just purchasing an SSD for a boot drive, what is the worst thing that could possibly happen if it fails? You reinstall Windows? Not a big deal IMO, though again, I have never had any problems with any of my SSDs.

I would never go back to a mechanical HDD for my boot drive. Ever. The $115 that you spend for something like a Crucial M4 is money well spent.

 

[RetiredChief]

(1) Please go look at the Tom's Forum on people that ask this same question. You will find a lone voice that say's NO. Sometimes the lone voice is right, but not in this case.
(2) When looking at the problems:
... Never buy a SSD, or a HDD that has NOT been on the market for 3 Months - you will know by then if it has a problem. Most of the problems that the first link pointed to where found and CORRECTED (Only exception is the SF2281 problems - WHICH I DO NOT RECOMMED anyway). Another group that had problems were Apple/max users, not really relavent if the problem was specific to Mac (ofcoarse unless you are in the 10% who oun a mac). This accounted for nearly half of the low ratings when the m4 first came out.
... People that do have a problem are more vocal. For example if 1000 buy a given SSD, only about 100 -> 200 will provide feed back, care to guess which ones, yes it is weighted toward individuals who have a problem - EVEN when self inflicted they blame manuf!!! Some of the HDDs have the same percentage of Bad reviews as some of the SSDs!!!

24% give this HDD a1/2 egg rating, does that tell me to not buy a HDD - NO, it tells me maybe I should pick a different one.
Ref: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145473&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&PageSize=10&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&IsFeedbackTab=true#scrollFullInfo
HUMMM the Curcial M4 only has a 6% 1/2 egg rating.
Ref: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148448&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&PageSize=10&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&IsFeedbackTab=true#scrollFullInfo

Not nice to cherry pick!
Looking at beenthere's first link
Quote
There's no debating whether SSDs offer blistering performance. That that doesn't really matter if you can't trust the device holding that important information. When you read about Corsair's Force 3 recall, OCZ's firmware updates to prevent BSODs, Crucial's link power management issues, and Intel's SSD 320 that loses capacity after a power failure, all within a two-month period, you have to acknowledge that we're dealing with a technology that's simply a lot newer (and consequently less mature) than mechanical storage. End quote.

BUT IT ALSO SAYS:
Quote
In the end, our investigation shouldn't deter you from adopting solid-state technology; we're still bullish on SSDs overall. For those who want to take that first step, we highly recommend reading Crucial's m4 SSD Tested At 64, 128, 256, And 512 GB and Second-Gen SandForce: Seven 120 GB SSDs Rounded Up
End quote

beenthere's 2nd link is to the SF2281 problem - Which the majority here do NOT recommend!

 

[dish_moose]

I totally agree, my Intel 64GB boot drive has given me no problems at all - almost 2 years old. As mentioned above, if you have any doubts, back up your drive and go for the SSD.
-Bruce

 

[JohnnyLucky]

As I indicated and the Tom's SSD review story confirms, ALL of the major SSD brands including but not limited to Intel, Crucial, OCZ, Corsair, Samsung and others have had and or continue to have SSD reliability or compatibility issues though thankfully with customer outrage expressed online these companies are finally working to resolve some of the many issues. NOT ready for Prime Time sums up the current consumer grade SSD products.

Samsung should not have been included in your comment. The Samsung 470 SATA 2 3Gb/s solid state drives which have been out for over a year have not experienced any major problems or issues. On the contrary, the Samsung 470 series has a stellar record.

Tom's Hardware has not published any articles or reviews indicating the 470 has problems or issues.

I check over 80 sites a day for the latest hardware reviews to add to databases I maintain, including the SSD Database. I have not found any indications the 470 has experienced any problems or issues.

Based on comments you made in other posts and other forums I googled several times during the past month for 470 problems and issues. I could find no evidence that the 470 has any problems or issues. I did find a few users who were experiencing difficulty but nothing to indicate problems or issues on the scale experience by OCZ and SandForce.

News reports and advertising indicate Samsung captured a 29% share of the market. Unfortunately the reports and articles do not indicate how that percentage was arrived at other than to mention that Samsung furnishes OEM versions of the 470 to Sony, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Apple, and a few smaller pc retailers. If Samsung does indeed have such a large market share, then shouldn't we have read about some sort of major problem or issue? Wouldn't have customers expressed their outrage online like they did with OCZ and SandForce? That simply has not happened.

Unlike other companies, Samsung did not flood the market with a lot of different ssd types, models, and configurations. Instead, Samsung made only one ssd model in house with their own components and it happened to be a very good. One good model just happens to be all I want.

 

[darkchazz]

Thanks for all your comments!
I'm looking at the Curcial M4, it has lots of positive feedback, probably the most reasonable buy for me.