Most Reliable SSD

[mastypk]

Hello,

I am willing to buy 2 SSD for my laptop & desktop.

I am comparing between Intel 520, Samsung 830 & Crucial M4.

Intel 520 > > Samsung 830 > > Crucial M4 (Very low writes)

However, I read that SSD based on sandforce always create issue.

Can someone help me to select some reliable drive without any issues? I don't/cannot format my systems again & again.

Hope someone will help.

Best Regards

[JRS]

Your choices of Intel 520, Samsung 830 & Crucial M4 are all good ones. I would add the Corsair Performance Pro series and Plextor as well. Also, for scenarios without OS trim support (like Vista or Win XP), go with Intel or Samsung as their SSD software can do trim manually.

[madmattd]

The Intel 520 is based on Sandforce, I'd be looking at the 510 over the 520 personally since there appear to still be some issues even with the Intel Sandforce drive (though Intel at least might fix them unlike a certain Other company...) You are correct in being concerned about Sandforce-based drives.

You won't notice a performance difference between the drives in real world fyi. Among the Intel 510, Samsung 830, Crucial M4, just get whichever is cheapest. They are all fabulous reliable drives. The Plextor (M3?) uses the same controller as the Intel 510 and Crucial M4, so would be a good pick as well I would think.

[s2odin]

Samsung 830 has an excellent RMA process if anything ever happens.

[mastypk]

Thanks for precious suggestions.

I am getting
$335 = Intel 520 Series 240 GB SATA 6 Gb/s 2.5-Inch Solid-State Drive - SSDSC2CW240A3K5 (Reseller Kit)

$330 = Samsung 830 - Series MZ-7PC256D/AM 256 GB 2.5 Inch SATA III MLC Internal SSD Laptop Kit with Norton Ghost 15

So, Samsung is offing 16GB more space & Norton Ghost 15. So, I should go with Samsung. Right?

[madmattd]

I'd go with the Samsung over that Intel even if the prices were reversed and no Norton

[s2odin]

Norton Ghost sucks.

You can't go wrong with either one. Go with whatever is cheaper.

[mastypk]

I am also not interested in Ghost, but samsung is offering 16GB extra space in same price. However, Intel offers 5 years warranty.

So, what to get?
16GB more space
or
5 Years warranty.

[s2odin]

What is Intel's warranty policy?

Samsung is next day label emailed, you ship it out, they receive it next day, they ship you one as soon as they receive it while being shipped next day.
Total turnaround: 3 days.

[JRS]

I am also not interested in Ghost, but samsung is offering 16GB extra space in same price. However, Intel offers 5 years warranty.

So, what to get?
16GB more space
or
5 Years warranty.

A note on the extra space. An Intel 520 Series 240GB is actually a 256GB that is pre-overprovisioned. So technically they are the "same size", but the Samsung and Crucial SSDs are not "pre" overprovisioned.

"The entire SSD 520 series employs 7% over-provisioning. So while the 60 GB model, for example, includes 64 GB of raw NAND, it's advertised as a 60 GB drive that Windows reports as having 55.9 GB available (due to the conversion from decimal to binary units). In comparison, Crucial's and Samsung's offerings don't have any NAND specifically set aside for over-provisioning, allowing them to claim 64 GB of capacity, even if that gets converted down to 59.6 GB in Windows."

The above taken from:

Intel SSD 520 Review: Taking Back The High-End With SandForce : Intel?s SSD 520: Enthusiast Storage By SandForce?

imho, best practice is to over-provision at least that much.