I've only had direct or inside knowledge of a handful of failures, but the sample size isn't large. I still think the m4 is a good drive, and infinitely superior to any OCZ or SandForce-derived drive, but I recommend Samsung over them now.
Perhaps the most important item on the m4 is to make sure you stay current with firmware updates. They've done a good job at resolving issues, but most users never check for an updated firmware. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Alden Trull Sent: Monday, December 03, 2012 11:05 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [H] Ram musing? Greg, How many failures have you seen on the M4 SSD? I see where NewEgg is selling the 256GB for what about what I paid for 128GB in Sept. On 12/3/2012 9:29 AM, Greg Sevart wrote: > I've seen enough failures with the Crucial m4 that I hesitate on that one > now. It's certainly nowhere near the level of the old Indilinx Barefoot > based drives, or the myriad of issues that have plagued Sandforce drives, > but enough that Samsung gets my exclusive nod now. I used to be big on Intel > as well, but all recent Intel drives are based on Sandforce. They have > custom firmware that does seem to be superior to the masses, but I still > personally hesitate based solely on the Sandforce lineage. > > Of course, that has to be tempered against the one fundamental truth of tech > parts: they will eventually all fail. The overall failure rate with SSDs > seems to be around the same as HDDs, but with quite a bit more variability > between manufacturers. Basically, avoid OCZ and you're already doing quite > well compared to any HDD. > > The good news is that the difference between the fastest and slowest > (modern) SSD is trivial compared to a tired old mechanical drive. > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of James Boswell > Sent: Monday, December 03, 2012 4:44 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [H] Ram musing? > > I totally agree with Greg on point 1, surprised by point 2... and > > 1. Crucial M4 is also worthy, keeping 160GB spindles in use at this point > is just being obtuse. the difference in feel between a NEW harddisk and an > SSD is massive, between an old spindle and an SSD it's like going from the > 386 to a Pentium 2 > > 3. 16GB is also very very cheap, which is why I'm running 16 here :) > > On 2 December 2012 21:55, Greg Sevart <[email protected]> wrote: > >> My thoughts: >> >> 1. Dump the ancient HDDs and either buy something current or, more >> preferably, go buy Samsung 830, 840, or 840 Pro SSDs. Cannot overemphasize >> this point--it would be a tragedy to pair those nice systems with such >> horribly slow, outdated drives. >> >> 2. Honestly, I'm not fond of ESET's antimalware. When I tested it several >> years back (in a work scenario) against several others, its actual system >> impact (in terms of performance delta vs. no AV) was FAR greater than its >> reputation would lead you to believe--it was in the worst half of the >> bunch. >> I'd recommend MSE, but that seems to have declined as of late for 0-day >> threats. A MSE + MalwareBytes Pro combo may be the best bet right now. >> >> 3. 2x4GB=8GB is an appropriate amount. 32GB is overkill unless you're > doing >> something special (e.g., running multiple local VMs), and any less doesn't >> really save you much. >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: [email protected] >> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of DSinc >> Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2012 12:28 PM >> To: HWG >> Subject: [H] Ram musing? >> >> (Yes, Boz, I did mis-type my last. I really meant 32GB!) Fine. >> But, I've backed off a bit............... :) >> >> So, I am circling in on my new machines(3). >> Plan to re-use my SeaSonic 610w psus. >> Plan to re-use my nVidia 5900GT video cards (unless circumstances make > this >> difficult). >> Plan to re-use my Seagate sata 160GB hds (3.0GB series.) >> >> These machines will run to failure for their lives. I plan their >> lifetimeat 4 years (2016). >> Well, unless I see my electric bill take an upward spike! >> >> That said, I think I've chosen the Asus P8Z77-V-Pro m/b. It seems to >> give me >> most of the 'new', but, still lets me do some 'old' also. Plus, it does >> give me one >> Intel on-board NIC. To me, this is important! >> >> Yes, I will most likely start Win7 on each in 64-bit mode; though I do >> have some long >> memories of ESET A/V having a long list of glitches w/64-bit operation. >> Yes, I will deal >> with FireFox Browser and ThunderBird Email in 64-bit also. I still can >> not fathom what >> Office 2003 will present me with yet. >> >> Thinking about machine base RAM. Thinking about 8GB to start (2x 4GB). >> Seems like >> a lot, but I do use 2GB in WinXP now. >> >> The Egg has a deal of 8GB for $70 w/m/b. It is there 'Xtreme' series >> (one rev back per >> the G.Skill website. Fine. >> Have not visited the Corsair website yet. I've never used Corsair Ram. >> Today, I see that Crucial offers RAM for the m/b. The price is ~half the >> G.Skill Ram. >> >> Decisions, decisions? Opinions, suggestions, experiences welcome. >> Duncan >> >> >> >> >
