Storage Solutions SSD Dilema

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satyanjoy

satyanjoy

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After using my Seagate Baracuda 1tb as my system drive+data drive and it got crashed and RMAed recently, I have decided to use a separate boot drive, which might be a smaller sized HDD or a SSD. My motherboard does not support AHCI, so I need to run the SSD in IDE mode. I want to use Windows7 and Windows xp in duel booting. As Windows xp does not support TRIM, will it be advisable to use the SSD for it ? My current HDD setup :
  1. Seagate Baracuda 80 IDE (using as Boot drive)
  2. Western Digitial Blue 620 gb (using for games)
  3. Seagate baracuda 1tb RAMed (using for data)

I have two options as of now :
  1. I can buy a 120gb SSD and partition it and use for both Windows 7 and Xp Or
  2. I can buy a 60GB SSD - use it for Windows 7 and use the current 80 gb pata drive for Xp

- Which one will be the better decision ?

As for SSD, I understand that marvell controller based drive are more reliable. But since I will use the drive for OS only, I am not going to store any critical information there, only the OS+ Office+browsers+media coders+media players etc. So even the SSD give problem within the warranty period, I can get it replaced. So far I have decided on the following SSDs :

OCZ 128GB Vertex 4 SSD, if I go with option 1 ( will cost me Rs.3799/3899, from SSDNOW.com)
OCZ 60GB AGILITY 3 SSD or Corsair 60GB Force 3 SSD, if I go with option 2 ( will cost me Rs.7699, from SSDNOW.com)

Price difference is around 3900,which I can use later on for a better PSU for my future upgrade.

Please suggest
 
Got Corsair FOrce GT 120 Gb from SSDnow/Primeabgb - i had similar requirements as yours. I am happy with my purchase. I would also recommend the Intel 330 or the Crucial M4 SSD from SSD now based on reliability and performance ratings.
 
sunny27 said:
Got Corsair FOrce GT 120 Gb from SSDnow/Primeabgb - i had similar requirements as yours. I am happy with my purchase. I would also recommend the Intel 330 or the Crucial M4 SSD from SSD now based on reliability and performance ratings.
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will you elaborate a bit ? Are you using the same drive for both Windows 7 and xp ?
 
satyanjoy said:
will you elaborate a bit ? Are you using the same drive for both Windows 7 and xp ?
Click to expand...

Better you go with the 120GB SSD, this allows leeway for deteriorating cells and will have more space to play with from the beginning.

Also with the newer OCZ Vertex4 you get a Marvel controller based solution which is faster and more reliable than older Sandforce based offerings (the Corsair Force GT also uses a Sandforce controller). A guy is selling his SSD for ~7000/- do give it a look -- http://www.techenclave.com/sell-trade-products/like-new-ocz-vertex-4-a-138584/#post1716380.

Even the Crucial M4 uses a Marvel SSD controller and is renowned for its reliability.

Here are a few benchmarks and articles that will help --> Solid-state revolution: in-depth on how SSDs really work | Ars Technica

Hope this helps, Cheerio!

P.S. -- Buy these from onlyssd.com if you want reliable after sales support.
 
Buy it from OnlySSD.com

I bought a Vertex 4 - 128gb today for 7700 shipped. Hope it comes soon. (Mumbai and its festivals...grrr)
 
Thanks to sunny27 , ALPHA17 and dafreaking
I like the Vertex 4 128gb with fw 1.5 as it comes with 5 yrs of warranty and cost 7799, whereas Crucial m4 128 cost me 8149 (350 extra) but comes with 3 yrs warranty. Crucial beats both Vertex 4 and corsair gt at avg read speed by a good margin- I think which implies that it will give better application load and response times.

As for the size, getting 120+gb will make more sense as SSD performs better with 50%+ freespace (correct me if i am wrong). My current Win7 64 install size around 25gb (without ms office installed). I don't use photoshop or any such application. My boot drive will contain mostly OS, Ms Office,browsers,media encoder/decoder,media player,torrent client,pdf reader/printer and evernote. So mostly I will do read operations on the boot drive (if I tweaked Windows 7 - no defrag,min page file,no indexing,no hybernation). So far I am very much inclined towards Vertex 4 due to 5 yrs warranty, which will really cover me for a long long time. In internet people saying highly about Samsung, Crucial and Intel for reliability. Samsung will cost me 10k, which way beyond my budget. Intel and Crucial almost cost same but Intel 520 128gb comes with 5 yrs warranty and 800 extra in compare to Vertex 4 but performs well in avg read and response time.
What you say guys
 
BTW... What are your Sytem Specs?

I went with the Vertex 4 because it was the cheaper drive with more warranty. Was leaning towards the M4 but at the end of the day....

I am going to be using it in a SATA 2 system (Laptop) for at least another 2 years (if I can extend my laptops warranty by another year) so at the end of the day the speed difference between the Crucial and vertex should be negligible, correct me if I am wrong.
 
dafreaking said:
BTW... What are your Sytem Specs?

I went with the Vertex 4 because it was the cheaper drive with more warranty. Was leaning towards the M4 but at the end of the day....

I am going to be using it in a SATA 2 system (Laptop) for at least another 2 years (if I can extend my laptops warranty by another year) so at the end of the day the speed difference between the Crucial and vertex should be negligible, correct me if I am wrong.
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PC duel core e5200+g31e2sl+4gb ddr2..I will use it in sata2 in ide mode as no AHCI in my mobo. Speed difference is less, and most importantly since I am using SSD for the first time, any drive will be look n feel faster for me. I am just thinking whether I should get the agility 3 60gb or spend extra 3900 for a 128gb vertex, I am sure after 3yrs things are going to change a lot. But 60gb seems to be good enough for me with a 50 percent free space after installing my required apps. I know that read speed of 60gb agility is almost half of the 120/128gb drives but still how much speed difference I can feel as a first time ssd user in day to day work
 
The point first is money/budget and reliability second as you said . Theres no competition in reliability in crucial M$4 . Its THE best after samsung which are a tad expensive . 350 bucks is no difference for you to go to vertex . Do you want to RMA your drive after 3/5 months ? I am not saying it will happen for sure but you never know . SATA II or SATA III speeds is fine but remember the pain of RMA . Read the reviews theres a reason why M4 is very highly recommended . Theres no reason for you to buy any other than M4 . Buy 60/64 GB is you dont want to spend too much . You have yourself said about the M4 speeds so you know that
Rest is your decision .
 
kuduku said:
The point first is money/budget and reliability second as you said . Theres no competition in reliability in crucial M$4 . Its THE best after samsung which are a tad expensive . 350 bucks is no difference for you to go to vertex . Do you want to RMA your drive after 3/5 months ? I am not saying it will happen for sure but you never know . SATA II or SATA III speeds is fine but remember the pain of RMA . Read the reviews theres a reason why M4 is very highly recommended.
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The Firmware v.1.4 OCZ Vertex4 has the same Marvell controller as the Crucial M4 and performs marginally better.

The Firmware v.1.5 OCZ Vertex4 has a different Indillinx controller and performs better than the M4. The SSD in question are available from onlyssd.com and the former is cheaper than the latter.

If OP gets the SSD from onlyssd.com I doubt he will have to undergo any pain, just the nuisance of sending it back to Prime ABGB for a replacement.

60 -->64GB will not be enough and more importantly the performance trails of pretty rapidly (dead MLC vs. reserve fresh MLC), the Crucial M4 60GB SSD is not only more expensive (vis-á-vis its competition at the ~60GB capacity-point), the competition is in the form of Sandforce controller based offerings only which are highly efficient. Pun intended.

Hope this helps, Cheerio!
 
satyanjoy said:
I want to use Windows7 and Windows xp in duel booting. As Windows xp does not support TRIM, will it be advisable to use the SSD for it ?
Click to expand...

In most SSDs manufactured after 2010, the file system supporting TRIM is not absolutely essential to keep good performance. OCZ Vertex 4 / Samsung 830 series / Crucial M4 / Intel 3 or 5 series are said to work fine without TRIM enabled file system.

BUT, do run TRIM manually every week - month at least. Not too sure about windows utilitites for them, but a quick Google shows ccleaner to be a good manual TRIM utility. You can do your research about which software is good, or other TE members can suggest.

Ideally, I would suggest you go with encrypted filesystem too, because your OS drive would contain sensitive data which can possibly be retrieved if you lose / sell your SSD. Secure erase by SSD manufacturers has not been reviewed yet with privacy in mind. Not sure if privacy is a concern for you, but just raising a point.
 
ALPHA17 said:
The Firmware v.1.4 OCZ Vertex4 has the same Marvell controller as the Crucial M4 and performs marginally better.

The Firmware v.1.5 OCZ Vertex4 has a different Indillinx controller and performs better than the M4. The SSD in question are available from onlyssd.com and the former is cheaper than the latter.

If OP gets the SSD from onlyssd.com I doubt he will have to undergo any pain, just the nuisance of sending it back to Prime ABGB for a replacement.

60 -->64GB will not be enough and more importantly the performance trails of pretty rapidly (dead MLC vs. reserve fresh MLC), the Crucial M4 60GB SSD is not only more expensive (vis-á-vis its competition at the ~60GB capacity-point), the competition is in the form of Sandforce controller based offerings only which are highly efficient. Pun intended.

Hope this helps, Cheerio!
Click to expand...
hmm , need to read that . thanks
 
ALPHA17 said:
The Firmware v.1.4 OCZ Vertex4 has the same Marvell controller as the Crucial M4 and performs marginally better.

The Firmware v.1.5 OCZ Vertex4 has a different Indillinx controller and performs better than the M4.
Click to expand...
Both Vertex4 drives have the same controller :P. Their Indilinx controller is a rebadged Marvell (rumoured to be the newer 88SS9187, while the M4 uses the 88SS9174). FW 1.5 has higher write speeds compared to the M4 but the M4 still has better read speeds. In practical situations the M4 is the better performer, but as mentioned in another thread, the V4 is cheaper and has more warranty.

- - - Updated - - -

satyanjoy said:
I am just thinking whether I should get the agility 3 60gb or spend extra 3900 for a 128gb vertex, I am sure after 3yrs things are going to change a lot. But 60gb seems to be good enough for me with a 50 percent free space after installing my required apps. I know that read speed of 60gb agility is almost half of the 120/128gb drives but still how much speed difference I can feel as a first time ssd user in day to day work
Click to expand...
Its not so much about read/write speeds but reliability of the controller. If there was a 64GB Vertex 4 we'd have still recommended it over the 60GB Agility 3 simply because it uses a more reliable Marvell controller instead of sandforce in the Agility 3.
Edit: You can get the 64GB M4 too if you want to stick to the 60/64GB mark and save some money.
 
I am super confused between Vertex 4 and m4...5 yrs warranty really means a lot. Crucial and Intel share the Micron and they produce their own NAND which insure better quality > reliability ,samsung do the same, but they too costly in India at this point
 
I have an m4 128GB in my main rig and a vertex4 64gb in my media center. In practical situations, the m4 feels faster. However the difference is small enough to be ignored. The media center PC boots faster than my Philips TV :P. Pick up whichever is cheaper.
 
I am also tempted with Intel 120GB 520 Series SSD, priced at 8599 and comes with 5 yrs of warranty.Although its a SandForce controller, Intel is best regarded in terms of reliability. Both Vertex4 and intel 520 are very new incompare to crucial m4. At this price point, somehow Intel 520 make more sense to me. I will wait till monday to finalize on the driver, either I will go with a cheapest 60gb drive (agility 3 or force 3) or Intel 520..Speedwise m4 still rule in the read department over intel and ocz. Between intel and ocz, both take blows but ocz take lead in terms of write speed, which may not impact much for a boot drive. I really wise for a reliable variant of 60-90gb at 4-5k price range.

So guys, anyone using SSD in IDE mode here
 
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