Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Computers & Peripherals => Topic started by: PeterAit on November 10, 2013, 02:10:37 pm
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A few years ago when I bought an SSD there seemed to be some important differences between brands, some of which had not nailed the technology and made units that were prone to various problems. Is this still the case or can I feel safe with any major brand?
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After reading a lot of reviews and background information on various makes, models and technologies I went with Mercury Elite from Other World Computing as a second internal drive for my late 2009 i5 2.33Ghz 27" iMac. It replaced the internal DVD drive. My OS and applications, and Lightroom catalog reside on it with hot data on the internal HDD and my photo, video and iTunes archives on external boxes (Drobo 5D and an OWC RAID 5 array.
Putting the OS, Apps and LR catalog on the SSD massively sped up my Lightroom and Photoshop workflows.
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A few years ago when I bought an SSD there seemed to be some important differences between brands, some of which had not nailed the technology and made units that were prone to various problems. Is this still the case or can I feel safe with any major brand?
I've have the OCZ Vertex 2, Vertex4 (3) Agility4, and all have been flawless. I also have a Crucial M4 that has also been ok and my latest is the Samsung 840pro...really, really fast...to soon to tell about quality but I like it so far. The Samsung Evo is getting decent reviews as well.
I'm not an engineer but these have been good to me.
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My choice for now is Samsung.
I decided not to purchase other OWC brand SSDs after one failed without warning…(I was using the OWC as BU and the samsung 840 as a main SSD at that time.)
Samsung is better than OWC(and other sandforce based SSD) in sequential writing(especially un-compressible files such as digital camera raw files and jpegs) which is important for me since I don't compress my photoshop files(to save time)(which have bigger file size than compressed ones) and to save it often requires a fast sequential writing speed.
OWC and others(with sandforce controller) may have some stability issues… even though I'm not an expert.
Among the samsung, 840 Pro is respected and followed by 840 Evo which is cheaper.
For the very important file handling, I prefer 840 pro and for very fast BU, I prefer 840 Evo for now without solid tech background info understanding… I would say… a gut feeling...
From the SSD failure lesson, I don't use the SSD above 70% capacity since my SSD's failure happened when it was used more than 90%( Since it was BU SSD, I was a bit careless at that time.), I'm guessing a bit here…
Apple new macbook pro uses Samsung brand PCle Flash storage and I think it implies something… at least Apple relies on samsung's SSD and flash storage technology for it's reputation. I guess that Apple went through... a lot of tests for this decision.
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Not so long ago we had to worry about controllers because driver support was still evolving, SATA port II and III interfaces, some chip series were bigger/usedmorepwoer/ranhotter, and there was a heck of a lot of imagined things that could go wrong.. We also had to consider how many firmware fixes certain companies took to get it right.. so validation became key.
Today for the most part they all are fast enough to dicking around with drivers to gain an advantage is for teckies, they're al 19 and 22nm so they use little power and run very cool, and most manufacturers have learned their lesson about validation.
Basically manufacturers were all scrambling to get their product to market before the other guy and gain that initial marketshare, while picking and choosing chips, controllers, writing their first firmware versions, and basically getting their feet wet.
Today.. look for things like power draw, they'll all use very little .5-3watts, they'll all be pretty fast with some stand outs, validation issues are mostly in the past, everyone is using SATAIII, drivers are refined.. it's all good. Something to consider would be how much data you read and write per day verses life expectancy.. you might need an enterprise drive depending on your math. Doubt it, but if you do tons of video most every day or run a server with them.. then pay attention to this part.
Controllers, chip series, firmware.. will point towards a certain drive being ideal for a certain type of work. In our world of still photography we're good with just about anything. I've had more SSD's in/out of my hands while building machines than I care to remember with the important point I'm still waiting for my first defective one. I've owned maybe 12 or so. I have one in every laptop, two in my old workstation, and maybe 3 in my new Hack. As of last week the Samsung 840 pro for system drives were my favorite with the Samsung Evo for larger data drives. I've had 4 Samsung 840 Pro's, the longest for 7-8 months, absolutely reliable and the best toolkit (used to update firmware without dataloss, secure erase, reset, etc).
Today.. this very day I'd be looking at the OCZ Vertex.. newest tech, perhaps faster than the 840 pro, 7mm thin, 5 year warranty.. I'd look at this for system drives. If I wrote a ton of data or ran a server the OCZ 150, same fast speeds, 5 year warranty, 50g a day durable, but about 2.5 times the price of the Vertex. On the other hand the Samsung 840 Pro 256gb version is about $75 less than the new Vertex, already proven reliable on it's second firmware update.. and that great tool kit. Or a Samsung Evo if I needed a tb of SSD storage at an affordable price.. We live in good times!
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Today.. this very day I'd be looking at the OCZ Vertex...
My latest computer build has two OCZ SSD's, OS/program drive, scratch disk, catalog drive. In service for quite a while now without a single hiccup. Good value, me thinks. My "computer guy" spec'd them for me when I'd never heard of them - I just went with his recommendation and have not been sorry.
Rand
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It's in french but easy to understand: http://www.hardware.fr/articles/911-7/ssd.html
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Apple is transitioning to the faster PCIe based flash storage in the high end MacBook Pro and the upcoming MacPro.
http://www.zdnet.com/apples-new-mac-pro-kicks-hdds-and-ssds-to-the-curb-in-favor-of-pci-e-flash-7000016667/ (http://www.zdnet.com/apples-new-mac-pro-kicks-hdds-and-ssds-to-the-curb-in-favor-of-pci-e-flash-7000016667/)
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Apple is transitioning to the faster PCIe based flash storage in the high end MacBook Pro and the upcoming MacPro.
http://www.zdnet.com/apples-new-mac-pro-kicks-hdds-and-ssds-to-the-curb-in-favor-of-pci-e-flash-7000016667/ (http://www.zdnet.com/apples-new-mac-pro-kicks-hdds-and-ssds-to-the-curb-in-favor-of-pci-e-flash-7000016667/)
PCIe drives have been available for PC's for years, and they still are at speeds of up to 2200mbps. But, it seems the market has spoken and who knows how much longer they'll be available.
It comes down to than elusive point of marginal returns. Again. If you can load your largest program in 1.2 seconds, how much more are you willing to pay to load it in .2 and save that second? When hard drives were taking 50-90 second to load the same program a few hundred bucks for a SATA SSD to do it in 1.2 second seemed like a screaming bargain. But from .2 to 1.2?
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I tend to read this site (http://www.storagereview.com/best_drives) before making decisions. Good info.
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OK, everyone has been very helpful. Now to go buy the things and install. Carbon Copy Cloner or some other disc clone program for Mac, which do you prefer, or do they all work well?
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OK, everyone has been very helpful. Now to go buy the things and install. Carbon Copy Cloner or some other disc clone program for Mac, which do you prefer, or do they all work well?
CCC is fine, but I prefer SuperDuper! (http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html) from Shirt Pocket Software. The U.I. is clean, scheduling a snap, updates by the developer are great, etc.
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Thanks. Software downloaded, video installation guides viewed and bookmarked, order placed for 2 SSDs, cases for the evicted optical and HD drives, static grounding strap, tool kit, and SATA - USB adapter. Will report back on results, for benefit of others considering upgrade of a mid-2010 MBP. Here's hoping for a nice rainy and humid day to crack open the laptop.
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Thanks. Software downloaded, video installation guides viewed and bookmarked, order placed for 2 SSDs, cases for the evicted optical and HD drives, static grounding strap, tool kit, and SATA - USB adapter. Will report back on results, for benefit of others considering upgrade of a mid-2010 MBP. Here's hoping for a nice rainy and humid day to crack open the laptop.
The drier the air the more important this is.
Good luck!
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I never thought I would welcome those dreary rainy November days when the temperature hovers between 33 and 45 F - the sort of weather that makes you feel cold even though it is not all that cold. Bring it on! I do have an inbuilt static meter - I just comb my longish hair, and if it "floats" afterward, everything stays in the shrink-wrap box! ;)
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Sorry if I'm a bit late to the party...
I fully agree with Steve Weldon (http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=83982.msg678917#msg678917) that now, SSD are basically in the "good enough" territory, and performance differences are quite marginal, to the point theyare practically negligible in most scenarios (at least for us photographers).
But with OCZ bankruptcy (http://www.anandtech.com/show/7549/ocz-files-for-bancrupty-toshiba-offers-to-buy-the-assets), one might rather avoid that specific brand, at least as long as the warranty honoring issue is not fully cleared?
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Performance differences are only marginal compared to a hard drive - but SSD comparisons are still very relevant with double digit percentage speed differences between a top performer and a budget unit. I own a great OCZ and am sad to see them go. With Toshiba not yet saying if they are assuming any warranty service or simply purchasing assets (I would bet the latter) I would never suggest an OCZ for anyone now. The Samsung 840 Pro is the unit to beat overall and is a great deal for top performance, consumer wise.
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My preference was the Intel 520 Series with the 5 year warranty when I built my system. Last upgrade was to add one Samsung 840. My local shop (performance/gaming) had yet to see any malfunction with those drives so I beleive it will be alright.
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I hope there isn't much difference between them as I just bought 2 Crucial M500 @ 960 GB each to use in RAID 0 as the non system drive; the price it's lower than before (440) and with the current sales you might get also the 1TB 840 Evo at a good price.
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Unfortunately for you they are relatively poor units far below top performers with very noticeable differences in speed in use. Still way faster than a hard drive but for the same price you should have done some research and got a 840 Pro for example http://www.anandtech.com/show/6884/crucial-micron-m500-review-960gb-480gb-240gb-120gb/7 (http://www.anandtech.com/show/6884/crucial-micron-m500-review-960gb-480gb-240gb-120gb/7)
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They will be in RAID 0 so it should compensate a little.
The 840 Pro is much more expensive and I don't think they come in larger then 500 GB (the Evo does) which matters as I will use them as my work drive, I have a Samsung SSD as my system drive.
Lastly, my current board only support SATA II and while I plan to upgrade eventually right now it shouldn't be such a big difference in practical terms. As you said, it will be much faster than my current hdd (and silent!).
840 Pro is my current choice if I upgrade the system drive.
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Here is another review comparing it to the 1 TB 840 EVO, its real competition: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/crucial-m500-1tb-ssd,3551-13.html
Worse but not by much; the current sale makes it a better value unless the EVO goes on sale also.
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Anandtech still recommends warmly the M500, even if it's (a bit) slower : http://www.anandtech.com/show/7545/best-ssds-holiday-2013
SSD comparisons are still very relevant with double digit percentage speed differences between a top performer and a budget unit.
I agree, but are those differences significant for the user sitting in front of the computer?
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Apple is transitioning to the faster PCIe based flash storage in the high end MacBook Pro and the upcoming MacPro.
http://www.zdnet.com/apples-new-mac-pro-kicks-hdds-and-ssds-to-the-curb-in-favor-of-pci-e-flash-7000016667/ (http://www.zdnet.com/apples-new-mac-pro-kicks-hdds-and-ssds-to-the-curb-in-favor-of-pci-e-flash-7000016667/)
As responders to that article pointed out, the PCI e flash is merely an SSD with a different interface, PCI-e rather than SATA. Since Apples are a closed system, I presume memory upgrades would have to come from Apple and wonder what the cost might be.
Regards,
Bill
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I have two samsungs. So far so good....! Recommended!
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Pretty good sales on SSDs during these days, including on Samsung EVO 1TB mentioned above; the Crucial M500 960 GB at 430 or so remains the best value per GB. On the 120-256 range there are multiple deals on many brands.