SSD vs SSD vs SSD Arrrrgghh!!

[macintosh doctor]

I have an OWC in wife's MBP and love it but a 3G, i Had an OWC 3G in mine then sold it to get myself the enterprise version of the OCZ 6G 480 up to 550MB/s
Love it, no faults yet and it files. Deneva2 is being used by all storage colos for their choice of drives for cloud raids, also intel for the ultra books
So I figured safe bet to get it.
Another brand I do like is patriot Wildfire same spec as the OWC 6G
I went Ocz because it was cloud enterprise rated - which to me means it will last.
But IMHO if buying SSD DON'T BE CHEAP or it will bite you in the rear.

Look for these specs in an SSD sandiforce and

- TRIM support (O/S dependent)
- DuraClass technology
- DuraWrite technology extends the endurance of SSDs
- Intelligent Block Management and Wear Leveling
- Intelligent Read Disturb Management
- Intelligent "Recycling" for advance free space management (Garbage Collection)
- RAISE. (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements)
- Intelligent Data Retention optimization
- Best-in-class ECC protection for longest data retention and drive life.
- Power/Performance Balancing
- Thermal Threshold Management

[MacDoc]

There was a study a while back and some of the server wonks put the consumer SSDs in their heavy use machines and found no different failure rate than the enterprise rated....and a lot less money.

But yeah that class spec list is a good reference.

In some cases it's not the drive itself that is at issue but a defective lappie can brick them up. I managed two in two weeks in Australia thanks to a wonky top case. And people need to be aware that if it bricks it's gone so back up is even more important even tho the failure rate is lower than mechanical drives.

The other big issue is to keep up to date on firmware. We've yet to figure a way to let clients know easily that there is new firmware for their SSD. So those buying various brands have an eye open on the website.
OWC posts theirs up and it's installable from a Mac in most cases.

OWC Solid State Drives Support For Mac

[Imtoast]

	Quote:			Originally Posted by macintosh doctor
	I have an OWC in wife's MBP and love it but a 3G, i Had an OWC 3G in mine then sold it to get myself the enterprise version of the OCZ 6G 480 up to 550MB/s Love it, no faults yet and it files. Deneva2 is being used by all storage colos for their choice of drives for cloud raids, also intel for the ultra books So I figured safe bet to get it. Another brand I do like is patriot Wildfire same spec as the OWC 6G I went Ocz because it was cloud enterprise rated - which to me means it will last. But IMHO if buying SSD DON'T BE CHEAP or it will bite you in the rear. Look for these specs in an SSD sandiforce and - TRIM support (O/S dependent) - DuraClass technology - DuraWrite technology extends the endurance of SSDs - Intelligent Block Management and Wear Leveling - Intelligent Read Disturb Management - Intelligent "Recycling" for advance free space management (Garbage Collection) - RAISE. (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements) - Intelligent Data Retention optimization - Best-in-class ECC protection for longest data retention and drive life. - Power/Performance Balancing - Thermal Threshold Management

I went to the "Enterprise" OCZ website and found that their Deneva2 performance numbers in IOPS were much lower than the consumer Vertex 3/4 and the Indilinx?? I don't understand how manufacturers can getaway with published number of their products varying across the board using the same damn Sandforce 2281 chipset?!?

The points you have mentioned here seems to come from manufacturer tooting their horn, I wonder who that may be?

ImToast

[MacDoc]

I'd not get too bogged in details. They are all practically "instant response" for the user.
The OWC gear works and good warranty and fast replacement if any issues plus they are on top of the game in firmware which is important.

[macintosh doctor]

OWC - as much as i love the products and think they are amazing.. you have to send it back to the US for service and warranty..
OCZ - hate them or love them, warranty is done in Canada [ I believe a place located in Markham ]
all things to consider.

[MacDoc]

No you don't. We can advance exchange OWC here. You do need an RMA tho.

[macintosh doctor]

	Quote:			Originally Posted by MacDoc
	No you don't. We can advance exchange OWC here. You do need an RMA tho.

That's good to know that advance exchange is offered- to ease having to deal with cross border.

[Andrew Pratt]

	Quote:
	LOL... You make it sound like I don't have a choice. I was wondering if there were any external Blu-ray player/burners compatible with the MBP then I would definitely consider it. BTW can you recommend a really nice external casing for the DVD drive should I go that route?

I believe there are BluRay drives that will work with our MacBooks but I haven't had need to look into them so can't really comment on brands etc. I got a cheap external shell for my SuperDrive from eBay that works well enough and looks very much like the Apple external drive. That said given how cheap the Samsung etc externals can be had I'm not sure i'd bother looking for an external case for the superdrive.

As for firmware all the Sandforce based models had issues until they resolved the firwmware awhile back. OCZ hasn't released a new version in quite a while now and ours have been rock solid since then. I'm trying a Muskin Chrono's out in my own machine at the moment and initial testing indicates that its a bit faster then the Agility I had in before.

[ldphoto]

I've been mostly in the windows world for the last year because of my work, but I'm slowly getting back into my Mac stuff at home, and I've had lots of experience with SSD's lately.

If IOPS are more important than sustained throughput, the new OCZ Vertex 4 is really good. If you need high IOPS and really high throughput also, the Vertex 3 MAX IOPS edition or Muchkin Cronos Deluxe are really great, albeit pricey. Just below those, the Intel 520 series does a great job, and is the most reliable on the market. all of the above drives use synchronous NAND.

Going to more value lines, like the Mushkin Cronos, OCZ Agility and others typically means going to asynchronous NAND. Personally, I can't really tell the difference in everyday use, so those drives are a good value in performance per $.

Now if only it wasn't so darned difficult to replace the hard drive in a 2011 mac Mini... argh!

[rampancy_fatalin.]

	Quote:			Originally Posted by Imtoast
	Could you please provide clarification, as it is somewhat ambiguous to state to "stay away" from them.

I've tried to look around for comments and feedback on OCZ's SSDs since some of the computer stores I know seem to always have them on sale. From what I've seen around the web on places like Amazon and NewEgg, Both OCZ's and Corsair's SSDs seem to be extremely unreliable, with many units failing within days or weeks of purchase. This seems to particularly hit OCZ's lower end SSDs like the Petrol. It seems to be linked to a combination of a buggy SandForce chipset and bad firmware.

Micron seems to be pretty decent though, in addition to OWC, Intel and Samsung.