Question Good gaming storage SATA SSD that is *NOT* Samsung

[fishyjack]

Hello. Within the span of 12 months I've had two 2TB 870 EVO's fail on me within 6 months of each other. Both performed extremely well as storage drives until completely out of the blue both developed bad sectors. At first I thought my first drive was a lemon, as it happens and I RMA'd it, got a refund and ordered a new one. All is well ... until 6 months later again and this one begins to fail exactly the same way as the first. Both were barely 10% full at the time of their descent into failure.

I'm currently running "repairs" on the current drive via Samsung Magician and will do Windows 10's chkdisk afterwards but I do not have faith because these both failed to "repair" the first drive. It's currently sitting at 6 bad sectors.

So I'm going ahead to look at potential brands that are not samsung, in the 2TB storage range and reliable in terms of gaming storage but I'm unsure of what brands to consider. I'm currently looking at the Crucial MX500, but I've heard reports/instances of these drives sometimes obsessively writing/reading and reducing their lifespan. Also looking at Western Digital because I've used their HDDs in the past and always got 4+ years out them but I'm unsure if their SSDs have the same quality.

Specs:
Windows 10
Ryzen 5 3600 (1 year)
GTX 970 (3+ years)
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16gig 8x8 (1 year)
EVGA P2 750 (8 or so months)
MSI B450 Tomahawk Max II (1 year)
870 EVO 250 gig (1 year, boot drive)

 

[USAFRet]

every company makes lemons, and some people are lucky they don't run into theses defective units but it does happen. Me personally don't like samsung because every samsung product I've bought has failed in some way, tv's, phones, that m.2,washers,and dryers. and my friend has had the same issues with varies samsung products besides that tv. The problem is with quality control and consistency, which samsung has lacked for years now. and they recently shut down making there own tv panels, which was called samsung display, and are buying them from 3rd parties. Don't get me wrong, if the thing works I don't really care what brand it is, but in my honest opinion samsung has become bad qulity for the price point they sell there goods at. But hey if you like them then cool, go for them but I think I'll stay clear of them.

Well, there's this:
https://www.techspot.com/news/92976-puget-reliability-report-shows-samsung-ssds-fail-least.html

Yes, every manufacturer has duds.
Samsung generally has fewer.

 

[HaizRail007]

Well, there's this:
https://www.techspot.com/news/92976-puget-reliability-report-shows-samsung-ssds-fail-least.html

Yes, every manufacturer has duds.
Samsung generally has fewer.

I read the source you linked to, but the testing was limited and didn't include all the factors and they even admit that they left key factors out.plus it's not really apples to apples because they are comparing hh'd to ssd's. In addition, if you read the comment that also paints a negative view not only on the material but samsung as well. but what caught my eye was that where they state (" The company notes that it has sold over 35,000 Samsung drives during its entire recorded history, yet fewer than 100 have failed"). However, that isn't realistic in the slightest because most people don't report failures, they either throw them away and buy a new one or they go on forum posts to figure out the problem, with a end result of no solution, having the problem fixed, or trowing it out and buying a new one. because most people feels like rma's are a waste there time.

 

[USAFRet]

It wasn't so much the comparison, but rather the raw numbers (or lack of) on Samsung fails.

RMA a waste of time? Not for me.
Dec 2018, I had a 960GB SanDisk fail.
Sudden fail, zero warning.

33 days past the 3 year warranty.

I knew it was past, SanDisk knew it was past. They replaced it anyway.



You can choose to disregard the numbers from Puget, and just about everyone else regarding Samsung drives vs others.
Me personally, I'd have zero issue buying a new Samsung today if I needed another drive.
YMMV.

 

[HaizRail007]

It wasn't so much the comparison, but rather the raw numbers (or lack of) on Samsung fails.

RMA a waste of time? Not for me.
Dec 2018, I had a 960GB SanDisk fail.
Sudden fail, zero warning.

33 days past the 3 year warranty.

I knew it was past, SanDisk knew it was past. They replaced it anyway.



You can choose to disregard the numbers from Puget, and just about everyone else regarding Samsung drives vs others.
Me personally, I'd have zero issue buying a new Samsung today if I needed another drive.
YMMV.

I don't mind rma's either but most people won't fool with them and/or don't know how to rma them, or you have the people that get the run around, so it discourages people from rma's. the company's want to make money so if they can stuff you they will.

However, if he gets a new drive and it fails no matter the brand, then I'd be concerned that it's a heating issue or he's reaching or surpassing the read and write limit.

 

[USAFRet]

I don't mind rma's either but most people won't fool with them and/or don't know how to rma them, or you have the people that get the run around, so it discourages people from rma's. the company's want to make money so if they can stuff you they will.

However, if he gets a new drive and it fails no matter the brand, then I'd be concerned that it's a heating issue or he's reaching or surpassing the read and write limit.

In his case, neither drive was even at 1% of the warranty TBW value.
And only 6 months.

I'm still thinking something else in the system caused this.

Eventually, he may find out.


What drives are on YOUR "Do Buy" list?

 

[logainofhades]

If you insist on no Samsung, Crucial is your next best bet. I have had my MX500, in my laptop, for a couple years now, 0 issues. If you happen to live near a Microcenter, Inland drives are worth considering. It is their house brand, so returns should be easy. I have one of their Gen4 drives, in my main rig, and a sata drive in another.

 

[HaizRail007]

In his case, neither drive was even at 1% of the warranty TBW value.
And only 6 months.

I'm still thinking something else in the system caused this.

Eventually, he may find out.


What drives are on YOUR "Do Buy" list?

I'd have to go with western digital, crucial, and pny. The main reason is I haven't had failures with there flash memory, and I have to say pny has been the most reliable in my case.

PNY CS3140 M.2 NVMe
Western Digital sn 850
Crucial P5 Plus PCIe® 4.0

and the reason I would recommend theses is because all the company's have been devloping flash memory, ram, thumb drives for years. Western digital on the other hand is newer considering they bought scan disk. nevertheless, theses would be my picks, but of course it would come down to price, so I'd recommend the companys over each device.

 

[HaizRail007]

regardless, of brand, here are somethings I can think of that could cause the issue,

heat
read and writes
corruption
Ring level virus
faulty motherboard power delivery
Esd
power surge

and here's a link that explans what rings are.

https://www.baeldung.com/cs/os-rings

Also have you used samsung magician, to update the firmware, because in some cases just like bios updates if the firmware isn't installed properly or it gets interrupted, it will brick the devices. Moreover, there have been people saying that the provided software may lead to drive failure for some.

and please note all m.2's and SSD's regardless of what you end up buying will have limited read and writes, but under normal usage it shouldn't be a issue, if things go well they should last the given warranty.

 

[fishyjack]

Considering the overwhelming cases of people having the same issue as me with their 870s I'm more under the belief this is a manufacturers issue. I decided to go with the MX500 afterall, I just made absolutely sure I got a revised model. I picked one up from best buy just a bit ago. If this one dies in the same way as the 870 then I'll know I'm either stupidly unlucky or something in my system has a vendetta against secondary storage drives.

 

[Pextaxmx]

And I have a selection of Samsung 8XX, going back almost a decade.

840/850/860...nary a fault, all still running just like new.

I am curious... those 2 840 EVO drives in your signature, do they have higher number of P/E count (or weal leveling count) relative to other drives?
I heard that their firmware rewrites all the stored data over and over to prevent slowdown, on their planar TLC NAND.
I wouldn't trust any planar TLC NAND drive with higher than 300 P/E cycle.

 

[USAFRet]

I am curious... those 2 840 EVO drives in your signature, do they have higher number of P/E count (or weal leveling count) relative to other drives?
I heard that their firmware rewrites all the stored data over and over to prevent slowdown, on their planar TLC NAND.
I wouldn't trust any planar TLC NAND drive with higher than 300 P/E cycle.

That system (BigBrother) and its drives are offline right now, and won't be stood up again for quite a while.
Those 2 drives lived from Nov/Dec 2014 to Dec 2021, running 24/7.

There was an initial problem with the 840 EVO firmware, rectified in an update.
Zero problems after that update, and the last time I checked them for performance (Oct 2021?), the read/write performance numbers were pretty much as brand new, and comparable to the 860/850 cousins.

 

[Pextaxmx]

That system (BigBrother) and its drives are offline right now, and won't be stood up again for quite a while.
Those 2 drives lived from Nov/Dec 2014 to Dec 2021, running 24/7.

There was an initial problem with the 840 EVO firmware, rectified in an update.
Zero problems after that update, and the last time I checked them for performance (Oct 2021?), the read/write performance numbers were pretty much as brand new, and comparable to the 860/850 cousins.

Fair enough... if you ever get a chance to fire up your old system, please upload the CDI screenshots of your drives, for our information. It will be such a treat for SSD nerds like me 😁😁😁 .

 

[USAFRet]

Fair enough... if you ever get a chance to fire up your old system, please upload the CDI screenshots of your drives, for our information. It will be such a treat for SSD nerds like me 😁😁😁 .

Here ya go.
(connected via a toaster style USB dock)

 

[Pextaxmx]

thank you - this is interesting data point.

So your drives been powered on for 10 years.

But has low host writes and low P/E.

Now the question is, how much of these drives have been filled over the 10 years?

My guess is nearly empty most of the time.

If those were filled significant portion most of the time, your example contradicts to the theory of 840EVO rewriting scheme....

 

[USAFRet]

Consumed space went up and down.
One of those was the OS drive at one time.

But never over 150GB or so.

 

[fzabkar]

See this thread (and the other threads that are referenced therein):

https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=31501

Some Apple/Samsung SSDs were reporting excessive wear levelling counts, eg ...

https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...k-bad-health-windows-bootcamp-on-mac.2241816/

There are many similar reports from Apple users. At the time I assumed it was a firmware bug, but I'm wondering if this was a symptom of deliberate rewriting in the background.

 

[geofelt]

Where were these Samsung 870 devices bought?
I have heard of samsung 870 devices which wereworn out in chia mining that have appeared and sold as new.

Something is amiss here.
Puget systems has sold more than 1000 such drives without a single failure:

Most Reliable PC Hardware of 2021

Here at Puget Systems, our goal is not only to provide the fastest workstations possible, but the most reliable as well. As a part of our constant drive to offer only the highest quality components possible, we track and regularly review the failure rates for each part we carry. Today, we want...

www.pugetsystems.com

 

[fishyjack]

Where were these Samsung 870 devices bought?
I have heard of samsung 870 devices which wereworn out in chia mining that have appeared and sold as new.

Something is amiss here.
Puget systems has sold more than 1000 such drives without a single failure:

Most Reliable PC Hardware of 2021

Here at Puget Systems, our goal is not only to provide the fastest workstations possible, but the most reliable as well. As a part of our constant drive to offer only the highest quality components possible, we track and regularly review the failure rates for each part we carry. Today, we want...

www.pugetsystems.com

First was purchased physically straight from Microcenter. Brand new, manufacturing date I believe was around Jan-Feb of 2021 (Purchased in June 2021) so it was from a very early batch. The second one was ordered brand new off of Amazon (Sold and Shipped by Amazon itself not a a shady 3rd party). The 2nd one's manufacture date was iirc September of 2021 (Purchased December of 2021). There seems to be compromised batches everywhere so for the time being I'm just going to avoid Samsung for now and keep an eye on my 870 256gig boot drive.

I'm kicking myself a little, at Microcenter they had a bunch of 860 EVOs on sale but in my ignorance chose the 870. I've learned much since then.