OCZ SSD question.

[AbRASiON]

OCZ are having serious issues right now, go check their forums to see, it's pretty apparent.

 

[Puffnstuff]

While many people are reporting problems in the ocz forums I am not among them. My agility 2 is chugging along just fine with the 1.35 fw and win 7 ult x64. The speed difference between my ssd and mechanical hd's is like night and day, there's just no comparison between them. Even the vraptor can't hold a candle to the ocz.

 

[zlejedi]

Reviewers report what they see and experience, NOT what YOU want them to say just because that is your personal opinion!

When reviewer is checking hardware I fully expect from him that he will inform us as his readers that there's potential issue with drive reliability.

Good example of this is [H] showing how Sand Force drives with asynchro flash lose performance fast when you fill them with data compared to SF drives made using synchro flash.

 

[groberts101]

When reviewer is checking hardware I fully expect from him that he will inform us as his readers that there's potential issue with drive reliability.

Good example of this is [H] showing how Sand Force drives with asynchro flash lose performance fast when you fill them with data compared to SF drives made using synchro flash.

I think that fits within Wendy's statement quite well. The rest is obviously taken out of context for which the response was originally intended.

Reviewers report what they see and experience, NOT what YOU want them to say just because that is your personal opinion!

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

I think that fits within Wendy's statement quite well. The rest is obviously taken out of context for which the response was originally intended.

Reviewers report what they see and experience, NOT what YOU want them to say just because that is your personal opinion!

Reviewers won't be able to experience problems in the limited time they have with the drives (typically one week).

 

[groberts101]

Reviewers won't be able to experience problems in the limited time they have with the drives (typically one week).

I agree(although they have quite a bit longer when the model has been released and they actually run them for long-term tests).

And that statement alone should indicate that they should not be speculating too much as some seem to expect.

People expect the reviewers to save them from all the evil hardware.. but it ultimately biols down to some heavy research, patience(of which early adopters have little of), and a bit of gambling mixed in. It's your money.. and the bulk of the responsibility falls on you(relatively speaking of course).

 

[ingeborgdot]

When reviewer is checking hardware I fully expect from him that he will inform us as his readers that there's potential issue with drive reliability.

Good example of this is [H] showing how Sand Force drives with asynchro flash lose performance fast when you fill them with data compared to SF drives made using synchro flash.

Is the crucial ssd using the SF?

 

[Coup27]

could somebody please tell me how to delete posts on this forum? i misinterpreted what somebody said above and don't know how to delete it.

 

[semo]

Is the crucial ssd using the SF?

Crucial use Marvell controllers

 

[VirtualLarry]

Wow, I had no idea that the M4 drives had such problems. I hear nothing but praise for them in this forum, so I was considering one for my machine.

But then I decided to read the reviews on Newegg, for the 128GB model, after reading this thread. NOT GOOD.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148442

The first page of reviews is all ONE EGG. Most of them mention FREEZING, STUTTERING.

So much for that idea.

Why are SSDs to difficult to make reliable? CPU makers create chips that run fast, without issue. But SSD controller makers can't seem to do the same? Even Intel had the 8MB bug.

I guess I'm going to hold off on an SSD a while longer, until most drives are problem-free (and hopefully cheaper).

Edit: WEIRD. My Newegg preferences somehow got set to "lowest rated", rather than "date posted". My apologies.

 

[Diogenes2]

The first page all one egg ?

I see one out of 11 on the first page..

Are you sure you didn't click on the one egg reviews ?

There are only 12 total out of 108, with 85 being 5 egg..

I have M4 64g, and have had zero problems so far ..

 

[Idontcare]

Wow, I had no idea that the M4 drives had such problems. I hear nothing but praise for them in this forum, so I was considering one for my machine.

But then I decided to read the reviews on Newegg, for the 128GB model, after reading this thread. NOT GOOD.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148442

The first page of reviews is all ONE EGG. Most of them mention FREEZING, STUTTERING.

So much for that idea.

Why are SSDs to difficult to make reliable? CPU makers create chips that run fast, without issue. But SSD controller makers can't seem to do the same? Even Intel had the 8MB bug.

I guess I'm going to hold off on an SSD a while longer, until most drives are problem-free (and hopefully cheaper).

Edit: WEIRD. My Newegg preferences somehow got set to "lowest rated", rather than "date posted". My apologies.

This post is a testament to just how easily anyone can have their opinion and expectations of a product become changed and misguided by simple misunderstanding of how they are acquiring the information itself.

(not picking on you VirtualLarry, just pointing out how easy it is for any of us to become misled, even at the hands of ourselves)

 

[groberts101]

Good point and I see it happen on a daily basis where I often hang out during work hrs.

We also fall victim to the "grass is always greener" mentality if we have no issues as well. Many of these things are purely perspective from where you sit and often the one's who dislike a company(no names but we know who they are by now) becuase of principle or being burnt at one time are seeing only what they tend to notice or seek out when adding fuel to a fire.

I see guys who think that no other SSD's besides Sandforce controlled drives are having issues.. but then when I go search the mobo and other SSD mfgrs forums what do I find? Some pretty strange similarities to say the least.

things like this from moderators and tech support

the p and h67/z68 are having troubles with multiple makes of ssds, as you have found. intel themselves have altered their ssd firmware, turning off certain ata standard features, to work on their newer chipsets, so something is amiss

we'll get it sorted out eventually. Probably around the time Intel's Cherryville drives hit and for sure by the time the X79 becomes available.

I say if you have no issues?.. consider yourself one of the lucky ones and don't cast so many stones at the ones who do. Playing the blame game doesn't really help anyone in the long run as there is plenty of it to go around for all involved.

 

[scajjr2]

While many people are reporting problems in the ocz forums I am not among them. My agility 2 is chugging along just fine with the 1.35 fw and win 7 ult x64. The speed difference between my ssd and mechanical hd's is like night and day, there's just no comparison between them. Even the vraptor can't hold a candle to the ocz.

True my Agility 2 120Gb still works fine 8 months after I got it (put it in wife's computer when I got my HyperX).

Had my HyperX "freeze" last night this time while I was doing something on the computer (other 2 times and the 1 BSOD were when computer was sitting idle). Contacted Kingston, rep is giving all my info to engineering and they're going to be getting back to me.

Sam

 

[Coup27]

This post is a testament to just how easily anyone can have their opinion and expectations of a product become changed and misguided by simple misunderstanding of how they are acquiring the information itself.

(not picking on you VirtualLarry, just pointing out how easy it is for any of us to become misled, even at the hands of ourselves)

Going back to this, there is always a chance that whatever you buy, electronic or not, could be defective when it leaves the factory or breaks soon after. These will always end up in somebodies hands and that somebody is likely to complain and tell everyone that product X is crap.

I guess what I am saying VirtualLarry is do not ever decide not to buy a product because one person says something bad about it, or you will never buy anything.

You do however have to make a gauged judgement yourself on what might be a small percentage of defected products which have leaked out the factory and what might be a design fault.

 

[Anonemous]

I wouldn't get an OCZ drive. They've been having firesales on their drives lately (possibly due to the failures) and I got suckered into getting a OCZ Vertex Plus (I thought that the OCZ problems were due to Sandforce controllers but I was wrong). It had glitches and bugs and just stopped working within 24 hours of installation. I RMA'd it over a week ago and they still haven't updated the status. So if you want to take the chance of getting an OCZ drive be prepared to backup your stuff, read through the OCZ threads where the SSD drives failed time and time again, and get ready to pay the 'difference $$$' (when you could've gotten any other drive) by shipping it back to OCZ to RMA over and over again.

 

[groberts101]

Well jeez.. I must have gotten all the good ones then. Because my 15 drives are excellent.. and the other 4 that I've installed on friends and families are rockin' along just fine too. Must just be the stores I shop at, I guess.

 

[sequoia464]

Well jeez.. I must have gotten all the good ones then.

Nope, I managed to get a couple of good ones also. Vertex2's - never an issue with the drives.

That being said, I also have 4 Intels, 2 Kingston V100+'s and a couple of M4's also running with no issues.

 

[Saldir]

here you go...

http://www.comtread.com/news/New+SSD+Developments+From+The+Intel+Developer+Forum.htm


Expect Intel to sort out the sandforce controller issues via updated Orom's and RST drivers.That will sort alot of it out I'd imagine.

Besides user config issues.

 

[thescreensavers]

OP pass on OCZ, not only do their SSD's fail the company sucks

 

[rei]

I've come back onto the AT forums here after a few years sabbatical to vent that building my brand new Mini-ITX system with an Asus P8H67-I Deluxe mobo, my OCZ Agility 3 SSD died after exactly 6 days--BSODing and disappearing from BIOS. First with 2.11 firmware and then on a brand new second replacement Agility 3 another 6 days later.

Avoid OCZ and/or SandForce like the plague if you have a newer motherboard since it seems older-generations of SSDs and/or mobos have less trouble.

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?94404-Agility-3-Disappearing-from-BIOS

 

[rei]

Also, I've had 4 other SSDs on an X58 system and AMD system (40GB Intel and Kingston SSDNow V100) without any trouble.

 

[rei]

While I understand the level of support is non-existent on Intel's "self-help" community forums differs compared to the well-meaning but pointless OCZ-official-tech-support forums, the level of polish in Intel's SSD Toolbox software compared to the rinky dinky amateur hour SSD flashing program OCZ provides is very telling.

 

[Coup27]

While I understand the level of support is non-existent on Intel's "self-help" community forums differs compared to the well-meaning but pointless OCZ-official-tech-support forums, the level of polish in Intel's SSD Toolbox software compared to the rinky dinky amateur hour SSD flashing program OCZ provides is very telling.

lol I wouldn't have put it the same way but I do agree with you.

Intel amazingly seem happy to leave their forum users to get on with it and help themselves with an official Intel rep popping by for a couple of posts a week if you're lucky. For the size of the company I can't believe they don't have a properly managed and staffed forum; something OCZ do manage. The OCZ forum could do with a massive organisation overhaul though. Far too much information scattered all over the place far too many stickes and not enough different colours to help seperate topics.

The OCZ Toolbox GUI is quite embarrasing. MS Paint anyone?

 

[BigDH01]

I can't tell you about the SF drives, but I have two Vertex 1s. It has been ok I suppose. One locked up on me in windows once and wouldn't boot. A destructive flash fixed it. Not RMA-worthy, but losing my OS was annoying. The other has been fine.

Most problems with the V1s can be fixed with a destructive flash. I don't know if you'd call that defective, but it is troublesome. They also have SMART issues. The wear indicators move way to quickly to zero. I don't know if it's a SMART issue or a write amplification issue. OCZ says that the drives SMART attributes aren't being read correctly, but I doubt that. Either the drives have huge write amplification issues or it is calculating things incorrectly. A couple of users have gone to zero and claim it just resets.

Certain users were also promised the new Arowana firmware to make their drives into a plus. The announcement was made in May but the firmware is still not available and OCZ has been silent on the subject. Best guess is that they are having serious issues with that firmware (and Vertex pluses) and don't want to release it for the old Vertex 1. That should give pause to anyone considering buying a Vertex Plus.

There was also the issue of NAND upgrades in V1. Anand's original Vertex 1 review led to my purchase and understanding that the NAND was rated for 10k erases. However, users later found out after a FW flash that their max erase count had dropped from 10k to 5k. OCZ was releasing drives with lower rated NAND but leaving the attribute at 10k in their FW. When the accurate FW was released, OCZ made no statement. There was never a "btw, all drives being sold today are only rated for 5k writes." In the complaint thread, OCZ basically shrugged off the concerns. I'm not sure if I'll ever wear out the drive, but the first drive I purchased would've had its health indicator drop to zero at this point already were it not for a destructive flash.