[SOLVED] What to look for in a SSD?

groo

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Feb 3, 2008
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MTBF is an obvious spec to look for, but some high MTBF drives have a lot a died right away complaints.

I see some people talking about chip technology, but I haven't a clue what it means.

I am looking at a SATA 3 SSD, so they all have about the same read/writes.

Is buffer memory a big deal?

Any brands that are crap or golden?

Anything else I need to keep an eye out for?
 
Solution
MTBF is an obvious spec to look for, but some high MTBF drives have a lot a died right away complaints.

I see some people talking about chip technology, but I haven't a clue what it means.

I am looking at a SATA 3 SSD, so they all have about the same read/writes.

Is buffer memory a big deal?

Any brands that are crap or golden?

Anything else I need to keep an eye out for?
You can't go much wrong with a reliable brand.
Samsung, Crucial, Intel, Sandisk.
Secondarily, WD, possibly SK Hynix.

Is it possible for a single instance of a good quality drive to die early? Of course.
That's what the warranty is for. And your own proactive backups to protect your data.

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
MTBF is an obvious spec to look for, but some high MTBF drives have a lot a died right away complaints.

I see some people talking about chip technology, but I haven't a clue what it means.

I am looking at a SATA 3 SSD, so they all have about the same read/writes.

Is buffer memory a big deal?

Any brands that are crap or golden?

Anything else I need to keep an eye out for?
For a SATA SSD, the Crucial MX500s are one of the best. Good value, good performance.
Length of vendor warranty is a sign of quality. A longer vendor warranty means that the manufacturer has high confidence that very few will fail in that period.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
MTBF is an obvious spec to look for, but some high MTBF drives have a lot a died right away complaints.

I see some people talking about chip technology, but I haven't a clue what it means.

I am looking at a SATA 3 SSD, so they all have about the same read/writes.

Is buffer memory a big deal?

Any brands that are crap or golden?

Anything else I need to keep an eye out for?
You can't go much wrong with a reliable brand.
Samsung, Crucial, Intel, Sandisk.
Secondarily, WD, possibly SK Hynix.

Is it possible for a single instance of a good quality drive to die early? Of course.
That's what the warranty is for. And your own proactive backups to protect your data.
 
Solution
MTBF is an obvious spec to look for, but some high MTBF drives have a lot a died right away complaints.
People are more likely to provide feedback if they have a problem than if they didn't.

I see some people talking about chip technology, but I haven't a clue what it means.
Terms like SLC, MLC, "3D Nand" are just buzzwords as far as consumers are concerned.

Is buffer memory a big deal?
It can be, as it can help keep consistent performance for normal activities. Most data requests to and from storage tend to be smaller and all over the place in storage, and having DRAM or a larger buffer can help smooth out hiccups.

Any brands that are crap or golden?
The go-to brands I've seen for SSDs are Samsung, Intel, and Crucial. I've also seen people put Kingston and SanDisk in positive regard for at least their not-bottom tier drives. I'm sure if you heard of the company, you also can't go wrong.

Anything else I need to keep an eye out for?
Warranty. Good mainstream SSDs will offer 3-5 years. I wouldn't consider anything that offers less.
 
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