# Affordable SSD Drives?



## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Hmmmm.... this caught my attention this week. NewEgg has a OCZ Vertex 3 240GB hard drive for $209 minus a $20 coupon code minus a $20 rebate making the final price $169 plus tax and shipping. I'm looking at CamelEgg Considering that it was at around $340 back in March, suddenly this is getting my attention. (Not to mention LifeHacker)

Granted, you may have to move all of your data to a hard drive and leave the SSD for your programs, and leave all your programs on the SSD. Still, one wonders what the prices will be like in November.


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

I had to buy 1GB of memory for a SUN UNIX machine in 1991. Cost about $21,000.

Yeah,the SSID prices will come way down in the next few years


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## jadebox (Dec 14, 2004)

Generally, you only want to install your operating system and programs on the SSD, so you probably don't need one that's over 200G in size. But, if the price is right ....

I recently replaced the "boot" drives with SSDs in both my desktop and laptop computers. I used a 128G one in the desktop and a 64G one in the laptop. Both computers have a second drive that's more than large enough for my data.

The performance gains are impressive, especially on the desktop. The desktop boots from a full power-off, no sleeping or hibernating, state to Windows 7 up and running with no hour glass in just nine seconds.

Anyway ... I thought the prices were reasonable for the drives. The one for the laptop was under $100. So, I consider them to be affordable right now.

-- Roger


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

Nice find. I think I'm going to order one today. Been waiting for one to come down in price.

- Merg


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

The Vertex 3 is what i picked up a bit ago at $179 AR. It's amazing.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

"RasputinAXP" said:


> The Vertex 3 is what i picked up a bit ago at $179 AR. It's amazing.


Looks like it is $189 after rebate now. I'm gonna go with the Vertex Plus though as my motherboard doesn't support SATA III. Also grabbing another 8GB of RAM G.Skill Ripjaw Series for $45.

- Merg


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

For those looking at picking up this SSD or others with a rebate from OCZ, the rebate itself is via a AMEX Debit Card. You also get to pick Rush Service or normal service. With Rush Service, they take $2 off your rebate and mail it to you in 5-7 days. Otherwise, you get the full amount, but it is mailed in 4-8 weeks. The debit card itself has no fees for the first 6 months and then you will get it with a monthly maintenance fee if it still has a balance.

- Merg


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

I know most are concerned with consumer SSD, but looks like I'm getting my first SSD based server, a new model from HP. I can't wait to set that one up! Affordable of course is relative on that side.


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## wingrider01 (Sep 9, 2005)

Have had a lot of issues with OCZ SSD's with bad sectors after they have been running for awhile, RMA'd one 4 times before I purchased a Crucial SSD to replace it and threw the OCZ in the junk bin


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

wingrider01 said:


> Have had a lot of issues with OCZ SSD's with bad sectors after they have been running for awhile, RMA'd one 4 times before I purchased a Crucial SSD to replace it and threw the OCZ in the junk bin


What's purpose of the server (?) with the SSD(s) and how busy it ?


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

wingrider01 said:


> Have had a lot of issues with OCZ SSD's with bad sectors after they have been running for awhile, RMA'd one 4 times before I purchased a Crucial SSD to replace it and threw the OCZ in the junk bin


I know I shouldn't hold a grudge after this long, but I can never seem to get past the OCZ of the past when they were affiliated with The Overclockerz Store. When I go SSD, I'll probably use Crucial myself.


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## wingrider01 (Sep 9, 2005)

P Smith said:


> What's purpose of the server (?) with the SSD(s) and how busy it ?


what server? It was a gaming box, the ssd only holds the windows install, nothing else, default home directory was moved to a regular sata drive, data and programs are stored on a external 6tb raid 10 array. the only thing the drive was hit for was nothing but windows calls


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I see ... That would be worsted SSD if count such low load.


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## wingrider01 (Sep 9, 2005)

dpeters11 said:


> I know I shouldn't hold a grudge after this long, but I can never seem to get past the OCZ of the past when they were affiliated with The Overclockerz Store. When I go SSD, I'll probably use Crucial myself.


Disagree with holding the grudge, I hold one till it dies then take it to a taxidermy location and have them stuff it then put it on the fireplace mantle to hold it longer


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Maybe, but from everything I've seen, they are no longer a scam. That was 10 years ago and different owners/management. I just can't shake it though.


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...62812-_-EMC-062812-Index-_-SSD-_-20233191-L0B

Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F120GBGT-BK 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

$89.99 after mail-in rebate card


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

SayWhat? said:


> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...62812-_-EMC-062812-Index-_-SSD-_-20233191-L0B
> 
> Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F120GBGT-BK 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
> 
> $89.99 after mail-in rebate card


And Fry's http://www.frys.com/product/7187932 has same referb model for $69.99


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## Juanus (Jun 5, 2007)

Can someone recommend what they thing the best manufacturer is? I have always been partial to Crucial, but there is no rhyme or reason to it.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Intel. But prepare to pay premium buckazoids.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

Got mine installed and working. With my extra RAM and the SSD, boot time is very quick... about a minute from cold start. What gets me is how fast apps load and are ready to go. Dang that's nice.

- Merg


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

"Juanus" said:


> Can someone recommend what they thing the best manufacturer is? I have always been partial to Crucial, but there is no rhyme or reason to it.


Intel's certainly are good, but have not been problem free in the past. Crucial does also make a very good one in the M4.


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## dmspen (Dec 1, 2006)

wilbur_the_goose said:


> I had to buy 1GB of memory for a SUN UNIX machine in 1991. Cost about $21,000.


My friend Jay (RIP) worked for the Santa Clara School System in the 50s. In 1958 (!) he had to upgrade their 'computer' with more memory. 1 MB was $48000.:eek2:


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

I've set up price watches on CamelCamelCamel and CamelEgg for $180 for the 256GB models of the following:
OCZ Vertex 4
Crucial m4
They seem to be the best models out there, although I am willing to listen to suggestions beyond Intel (too much of a price premium). Of course, some suggestions for some good trayless drive bays would be nice too.

How is the "Out-of-box" install experience for the Linux distros and SSD?


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Just be sure to use a fairly recent distro and ext4, which is the default at least for Ubuntu.


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

Mark Holtz said:


> I've set up price watches on CamelCamelCamel and CamelEgg for $180 for the 256GB models of the following:
> OCZ Vertex 4
> Crucial m4
> They seem to be the best models out there, although I am willing to listen to suggestions beyond Intel (too much of a price premium). Of course, some suggestions for some good trayless drive bays would be nice too.
> ...


SSD 240 GB/6 Gbps for $179 at Fry's http://www.frys.com/search?search_t..._string=6989047&submit.x=19&submit.y=10&cat=0


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## DJ Rob (Jul 24, 2003)

Mark Holtz said:


> I've set up price watches on CamelCamelCamel and CamelEgg for $180 for the 256GB models of the following:
> OCZ Vertex 4
> Crucial m4
> They seem to be the best models out there, although I am willing to listen to suggestions beyond Intel (too much of a price premium). Of course, some suggestions for some good trayless drive bays would be nice too.
> ...


I've heard a few bad things about the OCZ ones. I got a couple of 256GB Crucial M4's for $179 a piece from Amazon about a month ago and they have been great. No problems whatsoever. I'm using them in laptops and it makes a big difference in speed... even the one that is an i7 which was already fast.


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## Juanus (Jun 5, 2007)

DJ Rob said:


> I've heard a few bad things about the OCZ ones. I got a couple of 256GB Crucial M4's for $179 a piece from Amazon about a month ago and they have been great. No problems whatsoever. I'm using them in laptops and it makes a big difference in speed... even the one that is an i7 which was already fast.


I am sorry that I missed that deal!


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## scooper (Apr 22, 2002)

wingrider01 said:


> Disagree with holding the grudge, I hold one till it dies then take it to a taxidermy location and have them stuff it then put it on the fireplace mantle to hold it longer


+1 - I still will not buy anything Sony after the rootkit fiasco....


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## Richard (Apr 24, 2002)

DJ Rob said:


> I got a couple of 256GB Crucial M4's for $179 a piece from Amazon about a month ago and they have been great. No problems whatsoever. I'm using them in laptops and it makes a big difference in speed... even the one that is an i7 which was already fast.


I bought 2 of those from Amazon when they had them for that price as well. Also bought a Samsung 830 256GB SSD from Newegg when they had them for $189.99 the last week of June (they are currently $274 though): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147164

Prices fluctuate almost daily, and by quite a bit.


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## Richard (Apr 24, 2002)

Newegg & Buy.com has the Crucial M4 256GB drives on sale for $179.99 today:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2112-_-EMC-072112-Index-_-SSD-_-20148443-L01C

http://www.buy.com/prod/crucial-m4-256gb-2-5-sata-iii-solid-state-drive-ssd/221150375.html


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Amazon is price matching it. I put one on order. In a few months, I'll probably pick up some at a lower price.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

So, the drive is on order, and should be arriving Monday or Tuesday. I am just going to migrate an existing Windows 7 64-bit drive to the SSD. I'm using Acronis True Image to back up my drives. I've looked over the instructions from Lifehacker and was wondering.... won't TrueImage do the adjustment when I do the restore from a backup?

Also, I'm thinking that I have to switch my GigaByte GA-EP45-UD3L to ACHI mode in order to better utilize the commands for SSD. Thoughts?


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I would use ACHI, at least it handle how-swap for non-system drives.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

Here is an article on Enabling AHCI mode AFTER Windows 7 Installation. Also, instructions on determining if your partitions are correctly aligned.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

"Mark Holtz" said:


> Here is an article on Enabling AHCI mode AFTER Windows 7 Installation. Also, instructions on determining if your partitions are correctly aligned.


Thanks. I'll need to go and check my setup now.

- Merg


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## P Smith (Jul 25, 2002)

I did switch to AHCI in a BIOS before installation - simple and easy way.


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## scooby2 (Nov 29, 2005)

I've had two of the Crucial M4 256GB SSDs for about 6 months now. Excellent drives (i'll never buy a hard drive for booting from again). I hear the Samsung 830 is now the top dog. I've been waiting for a deal to get one.


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## 3HaloODST (Aug 9, 2010)

I wouldn't exactly group the Intel SSDs into the "affordable" category but I have 2 X25-Vs and a 120GB 520 series and they are great! The benefit of the Intels is their firmware and their software is great as well. Not to mention their speed!


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

Warning about AHCI: some of the time you can just switch it. In my case because of full-disk encryption, that's not possible.

Kaboom.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

I got the drive today. I am still wrapping my head around the fact as to how SMALL the drive is, considering that I usually deal with the big huge 3.5" drives. I used to think that Spock used 3.5" disks on TOS, now I'm wondering if he was actually using these drives.


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