#340508 - 22/12/2010 14:26
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: gbeer]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 06/04/2005
Posts: 2026
Loc: Seattle transplant
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10101311 (20GB- backup empeg) 10101466 (2x60GB, Eutronix/GreenLights Blue) (Stolen!)
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#340509 - 22/12/2010 14:32
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: Robotic]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
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What SATA controller is it? Is it in legacy or AHCI mode?
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#340511 - 22/12/2010 14:35
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: gbeer]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14489
Loc: Canada
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Haven't they released (publicly) their very simple/automatic Linux firmware updater yet??
Dagnabbit!
It's a single file, incredibly simple to use, automatically finds/downloads the correct/latest firmware, and takes all of 5-seconds total to run.
But still in beta, I guess.
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#340527 - 23/12/2010 01:48
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: tman]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/12/2000
Posts: 2665
Loc: Manteca, California
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What SATA controller is it? Is it in legacy or AHCI mode? It's an older (2005) HP media center pc. No options in the bios for ahci. I did try setting the regedit option by it's self. No joy there. So if ahci is required, that machine is hopeless.
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Glenn
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#340528 - 23/12/2010 02:07
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: mlord]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/12/2000
Posts: 2665
Loc: Manteca, California
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Dagnabbit!
But still in beta, I guess.
Found a link to the beta. Also see. tags: ssd's linux flash beta firmware update OCZs
Edited by gbeer (23/12/2010 02:11)
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Glenn
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#340529 - 23/12/2010 02:25
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: gbeer]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
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It's an older (2005) HP media center pc. No options in the bios for ahci. I did try setting the regedit option by it's self. No joy there. So if ahci is required, that machine is hopeless. The OCZ updaters I've used generally wanted legacy mode instead of AHCI. They were very picky about the controllers and what port you ended up attaching it to though. The easiest update seemed to be from the motherboard integrated Intel controllers and if you used the first 4 SATA ports.
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#340550 - 23/12/2010 20:44
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: gbeer]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14489
Loc: Canada
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Dagnabbit!
But still in beta, I guess.
Found a link to the beta. Also see. tags: ssd's linux flash beta firmware update OCZs Peachy. Just grab and use that then. It's dead easy to use, and you should totally skip on any attempt to follow that bloated "Partition magic" nonsense. Just boot Linux (from a LiveCD or USB stick if necessary), open up a terminal window, and run the updater from the command line. It wants a single argument after the command name: the device path for the drive, which is normally /dev/sda in a single drive system. Works on pretty much any controller, even AHCI ones. Because it's Linux. Cheers
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#340646 - 30/12/2010 11:42
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: mlord]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14489
Loc: Canada
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I pulled down and tried out the latest beta (Linux) firmware updater here today, on the drive inside my netbook. Worked fine. I also discovered an interesting workaround, that might be useful to others. Normally, the BIOS in this Samsung netbook issues a "security freeze" command before booting. This prevents any further attempts to use the security "feature set", as well as any attempts to modify the firmware. Why? Well.. as yet another security layer against MS-Win viruses and the like (thank you Mr.Gates.. not!). Note that this machine has never run anything other than Linux here. This also prevents the firmware updater (Linux, Windows, whatever) from working until the drive is power-cycled, which is a problem in a machine like this one which requires complete disassembly to remove the drive. But.. they didn't get the BIOS quite correct. After a suspend (to-RAM) and subsequent resume, the drive is "unfrozen" again, permitting the update without having to crack the case open. Hurray for buggy BIOSs ! ![smile smile](/images/graemlins/default_dark/smile.gif)
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#340654 - 30/12/2010 16:48
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: mlord]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/12/2000
Posts: 2665
Loc: Manteca, California
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Arrgh!
That reminded me. The desktop I was trying to do the update from, has a bios that locks out the use of Smart monitoring. No doubt this is also interfering with the drive firmware update.
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Glenn
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#340655 - 30/12/2010 17:49
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: gbeer]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14489
Loc: Canada
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For desktop systems, running Linux, I just unplug the drive and plug it back in again, hot, while the system is running. That clears the "frozen" state and permits firmware update, security-erase, etc..
Cheers
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#340656 - 30/12/2010 18:07
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: mlord]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/12/2000
Posts: 2665
Loc: Manteca, California
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Head slap! (self inflicted) Kudos to Linux. I have been totally forgetting about this nettop I have running in the bedroom. Used primarily as a web & Calibre server. Forgetting about it because I don't have to mess with it. Next attempt will be there.
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Glenn
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#340861 - 08/01/2011 00:21
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: gbeer]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 3608
Loc: Minnetonka, MN
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I got a 60GB version of this OCZ drive. Good choice ? Read Speed Up to 285MBps Write Speed Up to 275MBps Average Seek Time .1ms It has TRIM and the read/write speed sounds good anything I am missing. Just want to ask the experts before opening it ![smile smile](/images/graemlins/default_dark/smile.gif) Got it for 129.00 at Microcenter same price as Newegg so I figured what the heck I can bring it back if I made a bad choice.
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Matt
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#340864 - 08/01/2011 01:10
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: msaeger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14489
Loc: Canada
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Those were on sale here last month for CAD$80-$100 or so. If you're happy enough with what you paid though, then the drive itself is excellent.. Just be sure to upgrade the firmware FIRST. ![smile smile](/images/graemlins/default_dark/smile.gif) Cheers
Edited by mlord (08/01/2011 01:12)
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#340866 - 08/01/2011 01:25
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: mlord]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 3608
Loc: Minnetonka, MN
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Thanks !
Price I paid is ok I didn't pay much more than what NCIX wants including the shipping.
I am planning on booting off a USB drive to update the firmware. My desktop is dead until I get the new one together and I don't have a SATA to usb adapter to do it from the laptop.
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Matt
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#340871 - 08/01/2011 04:20
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: msaeger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14489
Loc: Canada
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Great! Installing an SSD is by far the best upgrade one can do for just about any machine. It really boosts responsiveness of just about everything.
Cheers
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#340878 - 08/01/2011 11:00
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: mlord]
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veteran
Registered: 21/03/2002
Posts: 1424
Loc: MA but Irish born
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Any one know what SSD drives Dell uses in it laptops? Just curious.
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#340884 - 08/01/2011 13:17
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: Phoenix42]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 3608
Loc: Minnetonka, MN
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I am trying to boot from usb to update the firmware. I made a bootable usb using the pendrivelinux universal installer and ubuntu 10.10. Boot up stops at syslinux 4.02 2010-07-21.
I made the stick on a Lenovo T61 and it boots fine on there but on the new motherboard it stops.
I have made these things a bunch of times so I don't know what the issue could be.
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Matt
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#340885 - 08/01/2011 14:04
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: msaeger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14489
Loc: Canada
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I have found that different versions of "syslinux", aka. the MS-DOS bootloader, work or fail depending upon the hardware/BIOS.
Best bet is to boot from a LiveCD, or use an Ubuntu system to create a bootable pen drive from an Ubuntu CD (System->Administration->StartupDiskCreator).
Cheers
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#340896 - 08/01/2011 15:38
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: mlord]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 3608
Loc: Minnetonka, MN
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Got the firmware updated to 1.24 and have Windows 7 installed. Does anyone recommend any thing I should check or change ? I am going through the ABC guide on OCZs website. http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/content.php?306-SSD-ABC-GuideI made sure TRIM was on, and indexing is off so far.
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Matt
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#341186 - 15/01/2011 17:05
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: mlord]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 06/04/2005
Posts: 2026
Loc: Seattle transplant
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Woohoo!
Lookie what showed up at DX today! 2.5" IDE Male to SATA Female PCB Adapter Pity they got the wrong sex on the SATA connector, though.Oh, waitasec.. that's the right sex for what most of us need it for.. duh! EDIT: ordered one! Good find! Just ordered one. With the colder weather my original drive is starting to act up, so I'm planning to pair this adapter with either an OCZ Agility 2 60GB or 90GB SSD, or possibly the 90G Vertex 2 SSD. This will be my first empeg/SSD experience; recommendations and advice from those that have been down this path would be greatly appreciated. I've just ordered one a couple days ago. Now I notice another (seemingly identical) for a couple bucks less. Any updates from you guys on your trials with this card? I have my eye on SSD prices. If they'd just inch a little closer to $1/GB I think I'd jump on a 128GB drive. My main empeg is complaining about drive reads these days. ~sigh~
_________________________
10101311 (20GB- backup empeg) 10101466 (2x60GB, Eutronix/GreenLights Blue) (Stolen!)
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#341187 - 15/01/2011 17:22
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: Robotic]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14489
Loc: Canada
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Mine arrived (took 4+ weeks). There's no way this will ever fit into a notebook hard drive bay, so don't expect it to.
Mine's in the adapters pile, waiting for an opportunity to arise.
Cheers
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#341419 - 21/01/2011 21:31
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: gbeer]
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addict
Registered: 11/01/2002
Posts: 612
Loc: Reading, UK
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I'm kinda waiting for: http://bcache.evilpiepirate.org/but ... in the meantime ... what's the sweet spot at the moment for SSDs? In terms of cost/size/reliability/performance/features - running linux of course and thinking of TRIM etc too
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LittleBlueThing
Running twin 30's
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#341423 - 22/01/2011 02:37
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: LittleBlueThing]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14489
Loc: Canada
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Sandforce (SF) controller, 120 or 160GB. Preferably OCZ for the frequent firmware updates and easy Linux updater.
120GB goes for around CDN$200 or so now. 60GB for under $100.
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#343090 - 03/03/2011 23:15
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: mlord]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 3608
Loc: Minnetonka, MN
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I just filled out the RMA form for my 60 gig.
I was getting many BSODs which could have been other things but I updated the Drive to 1.29. After that it still was working the same for a few days then I got a BSOD and the drive will no longer show up in the BIOS after doing many reboots and reconnects. I tried a different SATA cable, power connector and SATA port.
So I guess I will see what OCZ tells me.
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Matt
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#343882 - 30/03/2011 22:00
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: msaeger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 3608
Loc: Minnetonka, MN
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Got the replacement drive yesterday. I didn't actually mail the drive until the 14h and I sent it ground so it wasn't too slow of a turn around on OCZ's part. They actually sent me a new drive sealed in the retail packaging. Either the old one was bad or OCZ doesn't bother testing them. I guess we'll see what happens with the new drive.
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Matt
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#345778 - 16/06/2011 22:17
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: msaeger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 3608
Loc: Minnetonka, MN
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I haven't had anymore lockups since using the new drive so I guess I had a bad one.
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Matt
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#345781 - 16/06/2011 23:25
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: msaeger]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/07/1999
Posts: 5546
Loc: Ajijic, Mexico
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I haven't had anymore lockups since using the new drive so I guess I had a bad one. I've heard so many horror stories about the SSDs exhibiting wonky behavior or just failing totally that I have put my SSD upgrade plans on indefinite hold. My five-year-old 80 GB IDE system drive just keeps plugging along. Peripherally related to system drive upgrades, last night I was surprised to find out that Windows Vista (except for the "Home" edition) has built into it a cloning utility that will create a restore file (either on an external hard drive or on a series of DVD data disks) that will allow one to recover from a system drive failure, just like Acronis or Norton Ghost. But you guys probably already knew that, didn't you. tanstaafl.
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"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"
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#345783 - 17/06/2011 00:48
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: tanstaafl.]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
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If you buy a well known good SSD, it will last you a long time too. The difference is that all the really shoddy hard drive manufacturers faded away ages ago. The SSD field on the other hand has all kinds of bad manufacturers cranking out crap, leading to the horror stories. SSDs are also just manufactured chips, much like most of the other components in your system. Sometimes bad batches occur, leading to bad batches of SSDs.
Basically if you follow a proper backup plan, you have nothing to worry about beyond some downtime if a drive fails. That downtime is likely to be much shorter then the time gained due to SSD benefits. And trust me, the benefits are quite huge if you deal with any I/O intensive workloads.
Oh, and remember every single empeg made has an "SSD" sitting inside it, in the form of the flash chip saving settings. How many of those have failed over the years? I can't remember any specific threads here about flash failure. All about sourcing good components.
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#345785 - 17/06/2011 01:12
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: drakino]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/07/1999
Posts: 5546
Loc: Ajijic, Mexico
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How many of those have failed over the years? How many of them are 80 GB or larger? ![smile smile](/images/graemlins/default_dark/smile.gif) The more transistors you have in the package, the higher the likelihood of failure. Fron what I've read, the genuine Intel SSDs seem to be the most reliable. But of course the last time I looked into it was four months ago, so by now everything is probably different. Just like with hard drives, this week Seagate is junk, last week it was Maxtor, and next week who knows. tanstaafl.
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"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"
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#345787 - 17/06/2011 02:12
Re: SSDs faliures?
[Re: tanstaafl.]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14489
Loc: Canada
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No, the Intel ones have had total data loss failures due to firmware bugs, same as the others. But they probably do have more exhaustive internal testing for new firmware than some other sellers.
But really, I've had six mechanical drive failures in the past two years, compared with only one totally dead SSD, and one SSD that required a full reformat.
And that's with all of my systems booting/running from SSD -- all OCZ branded, with the latest available firmware on each.
Cheers
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