M4 SSD 5200 hour timebomb

[ChrisD.]

hmmm, i was just about to order an M4 to replace my Velociraptor I have been using for the past god knows how long. The Velociraptor is going strong and my motherboard only supports 3gbps instead of 6. With the 5200 hour thing on top, do you think its wise to stick with my WD Velociraptor?

The problem is fixed in the latest firmware update.

 

[robgmun]

ie, there is no problem anymore

 

[Mookzen]

Well not really, most of these SSD drives, stripped use the same components

We need to pass the 5 year mark since the inception of SSD in the mainstream in order to confidently say one is more reliable over the other.

Because going back 5 years and saying 'everyone listen, turns out this piece of old tech is better than that one after all' is the modus operandi of the tech enthusiast community.

 

[Guest2]

Havent SSDs been around for almost 5 years now?

I'm trying to weigh up if an SSD (Crucial M4 128gb) would be beneficial to me. I only really use my PC for music, films and the net now. I also only have a motherboard that supports 3gbps so would this mean I would only benefit from half the speed I could

Plus my Velociraptor is still running fine

 

[JamesM]

Havent SSDs been around for almost 5 years now?

I'm trying to weigh up if an SSD (Crucial M4 128gb) would be beneficial to me. I only really use my PC for music, films and the net now. I also only have a motherboard that supports 3gbps so would this mean I would only benefit from half the speed I could

Plus my Velociraptor is still running fine

Yes your right, you wouldn't get the full speed of the M4 drive however it would still be a lot quicker than your velociraptor.

Depends if you think that a quicker loading windows, instant browser loading and silent running are any benefit to you?

 

[Guest2]

Depends if you think that a quicker loading windows, instant browser loading and silent running are any benefit to you?

Windows currently takes ~30 seconds to fully boot from me turning my machine on. This is quite fast in my opinion but would be nice to be quicker. I also have 4 other HDDs plus my OS drive, wouldnt these need to spin up to be recognised, even if I got an SSD?

Browser loads up fast enough, at work we use machines with i5s and an SSD. The browser opens in around the same time.

Silent running my machine is not, its currently got 5 HDDs, PSU, 570GTX

 

[chaparral]

Plus my Velociraptor is still running fine

I upgraded from a 150GB raptor to an 128GB M4 and i would never want to go back to the raptor


Remember the slowest Components of a PC system are harddrives & Optical Drives

 

[Guest2]

I upgraded from a 150GB raptor to an 128GB M4 and i would never want to go back to the raptor


Remember the slowest Components of a PC system are harddrives & Optical Drives

I never use my optical drive, so thats ruled out. Even with my motherboard only supporting 3gbps, would it still be a big difference?

I would like to try an SSD just to see how much faster it really is

 

[crinkleshoes]

I never use my optical drive, so thats ruled out. Even with my motherboard only supporting 3gbps, would it still be a big difference?

I would like to try an SSD just to see how much faster it really is

I just bought an M4 and still only have a Sata2 motherboard... no big deal, only thing I'm missing out on is the top end of seqeuential read speeds.

The main reason for them, the low latency - still works just as well on a Sata 150 connection...

It's definitely worth the expense.

 

[Hen_Dawg]

Windows currently takes ~30 seconds to fully boot from me turning my machine on. This is quite fast in my opinion but would be nice to be quicker. I also have 4 other HDDs plus my OS drive, wouldnt these need to spin up to be recognised, even if I got an SSD?

Browser loads up fast enough, at work we use machines with i5s and an SSD. The browser opens in around the same time.

Silent running my machine is not, its currently got 5 HDDs, PSU, 570GTX

Tough to advise your case. SSD is clearly way better but you seem satisfied so perhaps hold off until prices drop a bit more

 

[Guest2]

Tough to advise your case. SSD is clearly way better but you seem satisfied so perhaps hold off until prices drop a bit more

I was thinking the £1 a gb seems a good price for SSD to buy. However its down to £140 delivered for the 128 gb M4 at the moment anyway.

Anyone think there is a chance this could rise or will SSD drop in price as much as HDDs originally did?

I bought a 1tb external drive in 2009 and sold it for the same price a couple of days ago. I only paid £6 more for it 3 years ago (Western Digital Elements 1TB USB 2.0)

Do you think SSD will drop as much as HDD - ie 128gb SSD for £50 in the not too soon future

 

[crinkleshoes]

Do you think SSD will drop as much as HDD - ie 128gb SSD for £50 in the not too soon future

Definitely - probably not for another ~2-3 years though minimum. Even that might be optimistic...

 

[Guest2]

Definitely - probably not for another ~2-3 years though minimum. Even that might be optimistic...

Isnt an SSD basically a bit of flash memory with a better controller and SATA conneciton? You can get 32gb and 64gb pen drives for dirt cheap now.

Or is it the controller that costs the money?

 

[LanceCrossfire]

Isnt an SSD basically a bit of flash memory with a better controller and SATA conneciton? You can get 32gb and 64gb pen drives for dirt cheap now.

Or is it the controller that costs the money?

The controller, the size of flash modules in them are typically larger and demand higher prices, they have better transfer rates and sell in lesser numbers then pen drives. This and they need to be as reliable as possible so go through a lot more QC then pen drives. All contributes to the cost

I personally think they're a great buy and they can be used in future systems you potentially build. My M4 however did recently 'pop' on me and despite a dodge RMA system they had online, they replaced it with a new unit within a week.

 

[Guest2]

Has anyone got an M4 that uses a SATA2 motherboard rather than SATA3?

I would like to see how much performance would be lost over SATA3 and if its worth me just waiting until i get a new motherboard, CPU and memory and SSDs come down in price a bit more

 

[crinkleshoes]

I just bought an M4 and still only have a Sata2 motherboard... no big deal, only thing I'm missing out on is the top end of seqeuential read speeds.

The main reason for them, the low latency - still works just as well on a Sata 150 connection...

It's definitely worth the expense.

Has anyone got an M4 that uses a SATA2 motherboard rather than SATA3?

I would like to see how much performance would be lost over SATA3 and if its worth me just waiting until i get a new motherboard, CPU and memory and SSDs come down in price a bit more

5 posts behind yours

The only difference is the peak of the sequential read speeds - which isn't even used very often or the real reason to buy an SSD... IOPs

 

[Guest2]

yeh, i saw that post. But wanted to see side by side benchmarks to see what is missed

IOPs? - I looked (Input/Output Operations Per Second) Is there a big increase in IOPs on SATA3 over SATA2? Again, benchmarks would probably show this

 

[crinkleshoes]

yeh, i saw that post. But wanted to see side by side benchmarks to see what is missed

IOPs? - I looked (Input/Output Operations Per Second) Is there a big increase in IOPs on SATA3 over SATA2? Again, benchmarks would probably show this

No.

What I am saying is that, the ONLY difference between Sata 2 and 3 with the M4 drive is that Sata 3 will allow higher sequential read speeds (of big files).

The most important reason for an SSD is the increased IOPs over a spinning platter hard drive. This is not affected by Sata2/3... as the speeds of reading and writing these small files do not exceed the 300MBps limit of Sata 2, they don't come close.

You are not missing out on much by "only" having Sata 2.

 

[Warduke_uk]

M4 64gb updated no problem at all.

 

[Martini1991]

I've just got my M4, it's running 009.
What's the best way to flash it?