[compnovo]

waldojim, on 01 August 2012 - 06:18 PM, said:

Intel drives are rated extremely well in regards to long term reliability.

I think one reason is that the X-25 used Intel's own controllers. As far as read times go this is probably my slowest SSD (with my Plextor being the fastest), but I'll bet it lives the longest.

[waldojim]

compnovo, on 01 August 2012 - 09:18 PM, said:

waldojim, on 01 August 2012 - 06:18 PM, said:

Intel drives are rated extremely well in regards to long term reliability.

I think one reason is that the X-25 used Intel's own controllers. As far as read times go this is probably my slowest SSD (with my Plextor being the fastest), but I'll bet it lives the longest.

I would actually be surprised if the Plextor wasn't right there with it. Both seem to have taken quality as being the first goal. Intel is known for the X-25, but Plextor is known for a long line of quality products.

[Pilege21]

I am thinking about going with this one. It seems like a great drive and is the lowest in prices that I have seen so far for a 256GB.

[waldojim]

Pilege21, on 10 August 2012 - 09:47 AM, said:

I am thinking about going with this one. It seems like a great drive and is the lowest in prices that I have seen so far for a 256GB.

Those M4's are very well rated. You should be happy with it.

[compnovo]

Pilege21, on 10 August 2012 - 09:47 AM, said:

I am thinking about going with this one. It seems like a great drive and is the lowest in prices that I have seen so far for a 256GB.

That's less than I paid for the 120GB Intel I mentioned earlier in this thread! Great price, good reviews --- I agree with waldojim.

(Boy those 256s are getting tempting. )

[Pilege21]

The Corsair that I mentioned at the beginning were on sale and with a rebate was $175. That one is still tempting to get, but don't know which one to get.



http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820148443
or
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820233208

[LiveBrianD]

I wouldn't get the Corsair, since it uses a SandForce controller. (I'm being a bit cautious though - those controllers are known for problems, but they may have been fixed with firmware updates.)

[waldojim]

I am with Brian on this one. Not so much a SF are junk mentality, but more of a they have higher incompatibility rates mentality. For example, they are known incompatible with both of my laptops, while the Marvel based devices work perfectly fine with just about anything.

The Marvel based drives should treat you extremely well.

[Pilege21]

I am going with the Crucial 256GB. Thanks for everyone's help and opinions. Everything helped me out.

[waldojim]

For anyone still following along, I thought I would mention a deal I came across recently. The local Fry's has the 64GB Patriot P100's for $30! They seem to have a mixed history regarding quality, but for $30, I figured it was worth a shot. Glad I did. I replaced the 320GB 5400rpm spinner in the wifes laptop, and it is freaking terrific. The drive only reads at some 210MB/sec (Sata 2 interface), but she has certainly noticed the difference. If you guys just want a cheap drive to tinker with, it is certainly worth it.

[compnovo]

Pilege21, on 10 August 2012 - 05:42 PM, said:

I am going with the Crucial 256GB. Thanks for everyone's help and opinions. Everything helped me out.

Good luck, I hope you let us know how it turns out.

[LiveBrianD]

Really, your email domain is parked? (I noticed the last bit on the URL)

That's not a bad deal, though I should mention that the Crucial M4 has been at $100-110 for a while.

[compnovo]

LiveBrianD, on 15 August 2012 - 12:55 PM, said:

Really, your email domain is parked? (I noticed the last bit on the URL)

That's not a bad deal, though I should mention that the Crucial M4 has been at $100-110 for a while.

I have to be more careful with what I post.

[waldojim]

Well guys... I have to say that I am in a bit of a pickle. While I certainly do agree that SSD's are the way of the future... man there is much to be gained on the spinner front.

I picked up a Seagate Barracuda 2TB over the last few days. For those interested in near SSD performance - that is it! I averaged 160MB/sec over a complete backup from my media center (1.8TB of data) - with the first half of the disk running between 180 and 200MB/sec. I am not sure what crack my drive is on, but the Raid array was holding it back.

I picked mine up at Compusa mind you... It is certainly still quite impressive. The real question now, is this performance consistent across the entire line, or did I just get lucky? Hard to say - but for anyone interested, it is still impressive.

[LiveBrianD]

I doubt that can beat an SSD when loading things, due to the seek tines. That said, looking at the reviews, I guess you must've gotten a good one.

Personally, I'm tempted to get SSDs instead of HDDs where possible, simply because they've been keeping the prices so unnecessarily high for a while.

This post has been edited by LiveBrianD: 16 August 2012 - 08:18 AM

[waldojim]

LiveBrianD, on 16 August 2012 - 08:18 AM, said:

I doubt that can beat an SSD when loading things, due to the seek tines. That said, looking at the reviews, I guess you must've gotten a good one.

Personally, I'm tempted to get SSDs instead of HDDs where possible, simply because they've been keeping the prices so unnecessarily high for a while.

I don't think $114 for 2TB is that high. Secondly - with a 180MB/sec read speed - It sure doesn't seem slow. In fact, it seems to be running at SSD speeds for the most part. Then again, I filled this drive with 1.5TB in movies give or take. As such, everything should be nice and unfragmented - so there should be next to zero seeking.

[LiveBrianD]

Hmm, they must've come down even further since I last checked. I've been using SSDs in all the test builds I've made up lately (but not actually built) while researching stuff.

Are you running an OS off that drive? If so, how are the boot times? (and what type of RAID are you using?)

[waldojim]

LiveBrianD, on 16 August 2012 - 11:26 AM, said:

Hmm, they must've come down even further since I last checked. I've been using SSDs in all the test builds I've made up lately (but not actually built) while researching stuff.

Are you running an OS off that drive? If so, how are the boot times? (and what type of RAID are you using?)

Right now, that drive is handling my backup. After I get done restoring to the new raid setup, I will toss it into a machine and abuse it for a few hours. I am still rolling Raid 5 across my 1TB drives. I just had to swap out to my Intel board, and thus re-build the array as my AMD board got to being too flaky for daily use.

[LiveBrianD]

What do you mean by the AMD board getting flaky?

[waldojim]

LiveBrianD, on 16 August 2012 - 08:43 PM, said:

What do you mean by the AMD board getting flaky?

I mean that it would only start when it felt like it. Meaning it was getting to be too unreliable for 24/7 use. The last time it was powered off, it took over 12 hours to get it to start again.