Corsair SSD any good?

e36Adz

e36Adz

e36Adz

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My primary hdd is on its way out. Couldn't boot into windows today, have managed to get it sorted and back up data but it is showing errors so needs changing ASAP really.

Now I know very little about SSD hdds. Looking at my local PC shop, they have the following:

Kingston 64GB SSDNow V-Series SATA-II Solid State SSD 2.5" Drive with Desktop accessory kit - £115

Corsair Storage Solutions X32 32GB 2.5" Solid State Disk Drive - £111

OCZ 30GB Agility Series SATA-II Solid State SSD 2.5" Drive - £124


I have heard that the Kingston isn't all that great however it is twice the storage size of the other 2. The OCZ and Corsair are the cheapest SSD's I can find at the moment, how good are they and which would be worth going for? It will only be used for Win7 installation really and afew programs.

Which 1 hdd should I get? Is there an alternative SATA II hdd that gives good enough performance for a fraction of the price? How good are the WD single platter drives for example? I can get a 500GB one of them for under £40.

I want something reliable but since I am forced to change the hdd now, with the current one showing errors, I would like to also take this opportunity to upgrade the hdd aswel rather then simply replace it.

Please advise... I plan to buy today (friday).

I am leaning towards the Corsair atm.
 
Ok the shop was closed today so I will be purchasing it this weekend.

Corsair SSD 32GB ???

or

2x SATA hdds in Raid-0 ???

or

1x single platter 500GB WD ???
(cheapest option, use this for 6-12 months until SSD's become more affordable)


Just went shopping and spent way more then I intended too, so option 3 is now looking the more favourable.

I will be gutted if I fork out over £100 for a measly 32GB only to find a huge price drop in SSD's in the next month or so, is this likely to happen?
 
First things first, the 30gb SSD's are too small for a Windows 7 install, so you would need either x2 in raid or a 64gb SSD...
 
UKDTweak said:
First things first, the 30gb SSD's are too small for a Windows 7 install, so you would need either x2 in raid or a 64gb SSD...
Click to expand...

My windows folder currently sits at ~15GB. I assumed for Windows and afew basic programs 32GB would be sufficient...?

Are the Corsair's any good though compared to the other brands?
 
Kingston make a cracking little 40GB SSDNow V series drive that uses the Gen2 Intel controller, I got 2 of them for my Christmas from the missus, and they are sweet little drives.

They only cost £75 each as well, running 2 of them in RAID-0 gives you better performance than a single Intel X25 M 80GB drive for considerably less £££..
 
DavyBoy said:
Kingston make a cracking little 40GB SSDNow V series drive that uses the Gen2 Intel controller, I got 2 of them for my Christmas from the missus, and they are sweet little drives.

They only cost £75 each as well, running 2 of them in RAID-0 gives you better performance than a single Intel X25 M 80GB drive for considerably less £££..
Click to expand...

How does 1 of these drives run on its own compared to other SSD drives and also compared to standard SATA2 drives?

One of these is definately an option and 40GB seems alright, I could manage on that and possibly buy another one for RAID-0 at a later date.

I was going to actually buy one of these awhile ago but couldn't find any in stock. Just done a search now and they are available! Just a few though so could be gone anytime, more info please on the performance of just 1 of these drives???
 
I thought screw it, just gone and ordered 2 of these for £153 all in. :eek::D

2x 40GB SSDNow V-Series SATA2 2.5"

I think that is well and truly my last PC upgrade for at least a year now. :p


Ok, having never in my life set up a RAID-0 before, is there anything I need to know? Can anyone point me in the direction of some useful info, regarding setting up RAID please! I think these should compliment my system nicely.

timmymeuk1 said:
Where you get it for £75???
Click to expand...

Email me if you wish to know where it is in stock atm for ~£76 inc delivery.
 
You won't regret buying these drives mate, I can assure you.

One thing I will say though, if you bought the desktop bundle version that comes with Acronis True Image HD for cloning your existing OS, I had problems with it, at first it wouldn't recognize the RAID array, then when I eventually managed to successfully clone my old OS install, it used the incorrect alignment, and the performance of the drives were extremely poor.

As soon as I did a clean install everything was fine..

You've ordered them from the same place I got mine.. ;)
 
DavyBoy said:
You won't regret buying these drives mate, I can assure you.

One thing I will say though, if you bought the desktop bundle version that comes with Acronis True Image HD for cloning your existing OS, I had problems with it, at first it wouldn't recognize the RAID array, then when I eventually managed to successfully clone my old OS install, it used the incorrect alignment, and the performance of the drives were extremely poor.

As soon as I did a clean install everything was fine..

You've ordered them from the same place I got mine.. ;)
Click to expand...

I plan to do a fresh install so hopefully I won't encounter any problems.

Any pointers regarding setting up a RAID-0? I have never set up any RAID before. I will grab my mobo manual for a quick read before the drives arrive just so I have an idea of what I will need to do.

Do the drives come with something to fit them into a standard sized case ie. for 3.5" drives?

Oh and how long did yours take to arrive? :D
 
If you just bought the bare drives, then no, all you get is the drive, you have to buy the desktop bundle to get a pair of rails, and a copy of Acronis..

As for setting up RAID it's a doddle.

Enter the BIOS and enable RAID, save and exit, after the system POST's you come to the Intel RAID BIOS, press Ctrl + I to enter the BIOS, select "Create RAID Volume", then you come to another screen where you select which type of RAID array you want to build (you will want RAID-0), select which disks you want to use for the array, however if you only have the 2 SSD's connected to the ICH slots, then you don't have to worry about this bit.

After that you choose which stripe size you want to use, I personally just went with the default 128k stripe, once you've done that you just select "Create Volume", and that's it done..

There really is nothing to it, however, you must watch what you're doing if you ever have to reset your CMOS, there has been two occasions when I first started using RAID0 that I lost my array because I had reset the CMOS which set it back to IDE mode instead of RAID, so when I tried to boot into Windows, the RAID array wasn't recognized, and I got an error after the POST, so when I restarted again and entered the BIOS to enable RAID, once I got to the RAID BIOS again, both of my drives were showing as Non Member Disks!!!

There is no way that I know of that you can get your RAID array back if this happens to you, except from rebuilding your array and reinstalling Windows again, that's why it's always a good idea to make a clone of your OS once you've installed all your apps, drivers, games etc, so if anything like this does happen, you can just re-image your drives with your previous OS again without the need for reinstalling all your apps and drivers again.

::edit::

Forgot to say, but I got my drives 2 days after I ordered them, I live in the North East of Scotland though, so it generally takes longer for stuff to arrive up here.
 
Tbh mate, setting up a RAID array is pretty much self explanatory once you get into the RAID BIOS, you just need to follow the on screen instructions.

The only thing to really remember is to re-enable RAID if you reset the CMOS for any reason..

::edit::

Forgot to say, but you can get a 2.5" to 3.5" mounting kit from here for less than a £10..
 
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e36Adz said:
I thought screw it, just gone and ordered 2 of these for £153 all in. :eek::D

2x 40GB SSDNow V-Series SATA2 2.5"

I think that is well and truly my last PC upgrade for at least a year now. :p


Ok, having never in my life set up a RAID-0 before, is there anything I need to know? Can anyone point me in the direction of some useful info, regarding setting up RAID please! I think these should compliment my system nicely.



Email me if you wish to know where it is in stock atm for ~£76 inc delivery.
Click to expand...


cant see email! hehe mine [email protected]
 
DavyBoy said:
Tbh mate, setting up a RAID array is pretty much self explanatory once you get into the RAID BIOS, you just need to follow the on screen instructions.

The only thing to really remember is to re-enable RAID if you reset the CMOS for any reason..

::edit::

Forgot to say, but you can get a 2.5" to 3.5" mounting kit from here for less than a £10..
Click to expand...

Cheers mate.

Have found something more local even though it is slightly more...

OCZ Solid State Drive 3.5" Adaptor Bracket 2

for £8.21

Will just pick this up instead as it is literally round the corner from me.

EDIT:::

Or even better...

Hard Drive Bay Converter 2.5 to 3.5 inch 2x metal bracket

for £5.33
 
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