Good 64gb SSD

[swanysto]

I am looking for a quality SSD drive, especially now that prices have come down. I bought a Vertex 30gb back in the day, and it was really nice, but it didn't last long. It was fantastic for the work I do. I have a gift card to Amazon that would pay for most of a 64gb size SSD. That is really all I need. I just need it to hold about 20-30gb worth of files really. Although it might not hurt to go to 128, cause it looks like for the most part they are only $20-30 higher. I will consider those as well.

The question I have is which brand to get. Even though I am not broke up about the OCZ drive going bad cause I chalk it up to newer technology bugs, I would like to go with some quality this time. Looking at amazon and my price range, I see Samsung 830, and OCZ Vector series at the absolute top end of budget at $140. I see Crucial M4, Transcend, and OCZ Vertex are in the lower category from $100-120.

I do not have Sata 6.0 yet, but probably in the next 6 weeks. Is there are particular brand and version that is known to be good? I have found that people here know whih versions and stuff are buggy or not very good as opposed to reviews on Amazon.

TIA

 

[SithSolo1]

There is no point getting a 64GB drive when for less than double the price you can get double the space with a 120-128GB drive.

Long term proven drives to look for:
Crucial M4
Samsung 830
Intel Anything
Plextor M3/M5

Drives that are usually good but can be hit or miss(note all drives can be hit or miss but these usually have a few more misses than the ones above):
Kingston HyperX 3K
OCZ Vertex 4
Corsair Force Series GT
SanDisk Extreme

Looking good but have not been on the market long:
Samsung 840/840 Pro
OCZ Vector



I would probably just pick up a 120GB Samsung 840 for under $120 and call it a day. Amazon has them for $99 right now: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Series.../dp/B009NHAF06

 

[Coup27]

You can get a Plextor M5P from Amazon for $125. It may not be as quick as the very latest OCZ Vector or Samsung 840 Pro, but it is a very solid drive, has been out a while now with no bugs and is one of the fastest modern SSD's going.

 

[bbhaag]

Here is the one I have and so far it has worked great. Installed it in August of last year and so far I've been really happy with the performance.
I do wish I would have gone a little bit bigger size though.

http://www.amazon.com/Plextor-Solid-.../dp/B0073C32EE

 

[swanysto]

Thanks for the replies guys. Do you guys have any opinion on the 3 year warranty of most of those drives, compared to the 5 year by OCZ? Does it really matter?

 

[Arkaign]

Thanks for the replies guys. Do you guys have any opinion on the 3 year warranty of most of those drives, compared to the 5 year by OCZ? Does it really matter?

Imho it matters depending on how long you want to keep it.

Personally I am upgrading something every 6-24 months. So the TLC-based 840 doesn't bother me.

But if you fill one near capacity and use it hard, then you may start seeing problems around the end of warranty time.

So if you want to see hard use for 3+ years, I'd say look at 840 Pro and Vertex 4. Also if you give yourself a good bit of breathing space with capacity, you'll see longer life out of the NAND.

 

[Kippa]

Just for os and applications is 128gb big enough or do you really need a 256gb ssd to make it last longer with regards to capacity. Is there a big jump in life expectancy of the drive going from 128gb to 256gb?

 

[swanysto]

After looking around Amazon, I am leaning towards the Crucial M4. It is the lowest price of the drives in Sithsolo's proven list by about $20. I really like the specs of the Vertex 4, and the price of $120 is really appealing as well. Just don't know if I can go with OCZ again after my Vertex 30gb issue.

The 840 was a nice price, but after reading into TLC drives, it leaves me a little uneasy. I am really looking for rock solid at this point, even if it is a bit slower.

 

[Arkaign]

Yeah MLC is just a tougher tech. There's nothing wrong with TLC, but for someone who wants to keep the same drive for a long period of time, and use it to high capacity with lots of writes, MLC is the way to go.

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

The Intel® SSD 330 60GB has a 3rd year warranty and the Intel SSD 520 60GB is better performing and has a 5 year warranty.

 

[jwilliams4200]

Thanks for the replies guys. Do you guys have any opinion on the 3 year warranty of most of those drives, compared to the 5 year by OCZ? Does it really matter?

I'll second the recommendation on the 128GB Plextor M5Pro, which has a 5 year warranty.

I would not trust a 5 year warranty from OCZ, since who knows if OCZ will even be around in a few years.

 

[Charlie98]

For a while MicroCenter was selling the 64GB Agility3's for $49, I've got one and it's OK. (Truth be told, I just got my Samsung 256GB 840Pro... setting right here on the desk. FedEx brung it to meeee! The Agility will be going into the HTPC...) Having learnt that lesson, I would recommend the 128GB drive unless you KNOW the 64GB is all you will need. I thought it would be... and mine is almost at 50GB (out of 55GB useable.)

 

[swanysto]

The Intel® SSD 330 60GB has a 3rd year warranty and the Intel SSD 520 60GB is better performing and has a 5 year warranty.

I am still considering the 330 120gb at this point. Just trying to justify 8 less gigs for $10 more.

 

[Coup27]

I am still considering the 330 120gb at this point. Just trying to justify 8 less gigs for $10 more.

Why? From Amazon:

Plextor M5 Pro 128GB $124.99
Intel 330 120GB $119.99

The Plextor has ~8GB more user addressable capacity and 2 additional years warranty. It is also based on the latest Marvell controller where as the 330 is based on a SandForce 2281. Not only has that controller has enormous reliability issues it is also likely to be superseded this year by a newer model.

Plextor are probably the market leader in reliability. There have been no reported bugs in any of their drives and I have never seen anyone of this forum make a thread with a bug saying they have a Plextor. There really is no logic to buy 330 over an M5 Pro.