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New SSD drive recommendation

t0rek

Wilson's Friend
So my SSD drive died yesterday al of sudden, it was a OCZ Vertex 4. I was browsing the web and doing stuff and suddenly the computer restarted, no blackscreen,no nothing. When the PC restarted the classic BIOS message "No OS found in any drive" whas posted. So the SSD wasn't even detected in the BIOS anymore! I checked all the connections, tried with different SATA cables and ports in the mobo without any luck, I also tried at other PC without any luck. I browsed the web and there are a lot of people having this problem with the Vertex 4.

So after this boring story, what SSD brand or model do you recommend, I want a good reliable brand this time, I am thinking about a Samsung 840. What do you guys recommend?
 

NES_player4LIFE

Texture Pack Invader
Moderator
I have only owned one ssd so far and it's a 128GB Kingston ssdNow V series.
It has held up fairly well over the last two years.
 

DuFF_BeeR

New member

PsyMan

Just Another Wacko ;)
For 25nm drives I'd either go with a Samsung 830, Crucial M4 or Intel 330.

Now for ~20nm drives the only reliable choices so far seem to be the Samsung 840 Pro (only the pro version) and Intel's 335.

Regarding the Vertex 4, it is a reliable drive considering the h/w itself. It is very likely however that you encountered a firmware bug or fail-safe measure. SSDs do not handle sudden power loss very well, no matter the company and the type of the drive. In that case you either need to update the firmware of the drive or reset the drive in order to make it work again.
 

LazerTag

Leap of Faith
I have tried a number of them for my company as we upgraded some not too terribly old laptops from HDD to SSD making them feel new again.

The Samsung 840 Pro Mz 256gb is by far my favorite in terms of speed. A new Win7 install on that took 10 seconds to come up.

Runer-ups included Corsair Neutron 256gb (though I couldn't get these to boot on Latitude 6420 and 6520 laptops, they worked on 7 other systems flawlessly), the Crucial V4 and M4 work very well too. Finally I've also purchased a few Vertex and really have not had issues myself. Probably have 4 machines with those and they all seem to be working great after 6 months.
 
OP
t0rek

t0rek

Wilson's Friend
For 25nm drives I'd either go with a Samsung 830, Crucial M4 or Intel 330.

Now for ~20nm drives the only reliable choices so far seem to be the Samsung 840 Pro (only the pro version) and Intel's 335.

Regarding the Vertex 4, it is a reliable drive considering the h/w itself. It is very likely however that you encountered a firmware bug or fail-safe measure. SSDs do not handle sudden power loss very well, no matter the company and the type of the drive. In that case you either need to update the firmware of the drive or reset the drive in order to make it work again.


How do you reset the drive? Is there any chance to do that when the drive is not even recognized by the BIOS?

I think I will buy a 840 pro but still wanna try to save it if possible
 

PsyMan

Just Another Wacko ;)
Being unable to have the drive appear on the BIOS is the whole point of resetting it.

I have no idea about the process for the vertex 4, but the following usually works (copy paste from elsewhere):

1. Plug in the drive's SATA power cable *only* (not the data cable)
2. Boot the PC and let it sit for around 30 minutes.
3. With the PC power still on, plug in the SATA data cable. Do not disconnect the power.
4. Press the PC's reset button.

Good luck.


PS: If you somehow end up getting a new ssd stay away from the crucial v4. Unlike the m4, it is very slow.
 
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OP
t0rek

t0rek

Wilson's Friend
I tried following your instructions without results. Thanks to everyone for the help, I just ordered a 840 Pro by the way.

PS: I was looking reviews for SSDs and I found this:

While you get a little more storage with the Vertex 450, we think reliability is the biggest consideration and OCZ's record here is mixed. Though they made a lot of noise about the vigorous testing procedures the Vector drives went through and the Vertex 450 is based on a similar design. Our samples are running well, but there's a lot of talk on PC forums about high failure rates with the latest OCZ drives.


Please consider if you are buying an OCZ drive ;)

http://www.techspot.com/review/685-sandisk-extreme-ii-ssd/page10.html
 
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Danny

Programmer | Moderator
OP: Strange, I have an OCZ Vertex and haven't had any trouble with it thus far..

How long did it last you before it broke?
 
OP
t0rek

t0rek

Wilson's Friend
Six months approximately. I didn't know about all the reliability issues and complains, until, well, it failed. It seems there is a high rate of sudden deaths, but even statistically speaking, a higher than average failure ratio doesn’t mean it will happen to everyone I guess.
In case you might encounter a problem, Samsung is currently the best bet. It will be a good idea to have a backup of your data, in my case I didn’t lose anything because I only use the SSD for the OS, apps and games, the documents, music and other stuff are in HDDs and in the cloud.
 

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