Why the large SSDs now? Not just for OS & programs?

[Triggaaar]

I think I need a new SSD, and I was thinking of getting a 120 / 128Gb drive, for my OS and programs only.

Reading through some threads I see a lot of people are going for larger SSDs - is that because they're also using the drives for data that they want to access quickly? In the past it wasn't good to keep writing to the SSD over and over, as it could cause errors, so they weren't generally used for data. Has that changed?

I appreciate the drives are cheaper now, and they were perhaps too expensive to use for large date storage before, but as above, I didn't think that was the only reason.

Thanks

 

[Triggaaar]

Thanks.

my advise is to buy the largest capacity you can afford,you cen never have enough fast storage space,

you can soon fill it up with os/games/programs ect

Is it still the case the regular writes to the drive cause problems? Should our page file be on our SSD, or should we move it?

My existing SSD is the Crucial M4. I'd like to run some tests on it to see if it's ok or not.

 

[Triggaaar]

Thank you for all the replies, very helpful.

+1

Ive got a 120gb ssd that is half empty and i probably wont be buying a new ones unless this breaks or my new mobo is sataexpress

When my current SSD is working, I'm using 90 of the 120 Gb. And that's all of my programs (although I've got a couple more things to install). I don't game on the PC much.

Crucial m500 480gb for £160 is a no brained

So you'd recommend using the SSD for a lot of data too?

The m500 240Gb is £90, compared with the m550 at £120 and the Samsung 840 evo at £126.

Is the m500 likely to be just as reliable as the m550 and evo 840? I don't feel the need for the fastest fastest SSD, I just want it to work. My current SSD is causing me a lot of pain.

Can I take my thread off topic?
My current PC often can't see my SSD when I boot up. I took it out a few months ago, and have worked without problems since. I also put a new power supply in during that time. Yesterday I put the SSD back in. It started, then Blue Screened after a while, and when I rebooted, the Bios couldn't even see the drive. Sometimes it sees it, sometimes not. I assume it's a drive problem?

 

[Triggaaar]

The M500 gained popularity for being a reliable sand force based SSD. Also, yes, use the SSD for writing a lot of data.

Thanks. This forum could do with some 'thanks' buttons.

Are the M550 and Evo 840 sand force based too?
Is it possible my existing issue is due to a SandForce issue (as I believe there have been some compatibility issues)?
My MB is the Asus p6x58d-e which was one of the early adopters of 6Gb/s SATA, and not that reliable (when my SSD problems started, I switched to the 3Gb/s connectors).
It's a Marvell SATA 6Gb/s, not an Intel 6Gb/s port.

A summary of what I'd like to do:
1) Find a way of testing my Crucial M4 SSD, or
2) Return my Crucial M4 SSD to Overclockers and ask them to check it out
3) If my SSD can't work reliably, replace it with an alternative SSD (and I wonder if I should get something other than a sand force based drive)

 

[Triggaaar]

Just typed a massive reply, and as I was about to post it, got a Blue Screen

what model is the current ssd?

Crucial M4 128Gb.

be sure to run latest motherboard bios,if its a crucial m4 then flash to latest firmware

I spent a lot of time getting the latest stable MB firmware some time back - I think it's the most suitable one. 0701 I think. I haven't changed the M4 firmware for a long time, but the one I had was said to be stable (2 years ago). I used the 6Gb/s port (Marvel controller) successfully for over a year. When I started getting problems, I switched it to a 3Gb/s port, but it didn't help.

i think crucial have always been marvell controlled? the Samsung uses its own tri arm controller

I'd just been reading up on the Samsung, and I see they do it all themselves (so not sandforce). I don't know if that would be good for me or not, but I may need to use a Sata 3Gb/s port anyway.

use the intel ports on that board,if your using the marvell ports then try uninstalling the marvell driver and just use what Microsoft installs

I'd like to check that. I've googled for help, and I don't know what drivers I'm using, or how to change them (I think I'm getting old and the brain is going). What's the easiest way to check what I'm using?

But I assume my current problem isn't due to a driver, because when it's failed and I reboot, my Bios often can't even see the SSD (and the drivers are loaded by Windows at a later stage).

 

[Triggaaar]

Not easy to run SSD life when half the time my PC can't even see the drive.

Anyway, it can see it now, so...
Drive health is Excellent
M4-CT128M4SSD2 (Fw: 0009)
Work time: 6474 hours
Powered on 2937 times (no idea why so many)
Health 99%
Estimated lifetime 8 years 7 months 13 days

So looks like I need to update the firmware

 

[Triggaaar]

Arghhhh!

Just downloaded and run Crucial's firmware updater, and it says "There are no SSDs on your system that need to be updated"

Even though I can currently access the drive.

I continued anyway, and agreed the license, and the PC rebooted. Once the PC started again, I ran SSDlife and it says the firmware is still 0009.

 

[Triggaaar]

Make sure the updater is on the root of the SSD itself (not in any folders).

Thanks. My SSD was my E: (wasn't stable as an OS) and I tried that, and nothing. I managed to boot with my SSD as the OS (C and tried it. Again it said "There are no SSDs on your system that need to be updated", but I tried to run it anyway. It rebooted, and did manage to update the firmware! (confirmed with SSDlife)

And it only took a couple of hours. So now I'm running my OS on my SSD. Sweepstake: how long until it crashes?

Questions:
Is it likely that my SSD was disappearing due to having over 6000 hours use, and being on old firmware?
Are my SSDlife results very reliable - ie, it says my SSD is very healthy, so is that likely to be accurate (given the troubles I've had).

If this doesn't crash, I'm going to be very happy.

 

[Triggaaar]

it should be fine now on updated fw,no crashes or dissapearing

I can't tell you how happy I'll be if you're right. If so, I shall be back handing out thank yous like Santa hands out presents.

 

[Triggaaar]

That's 100% the reason it was crashing.

Don't sit on the fence

So far so good.

 

[Triggaaar]

Don't ssd slow down at a certain % full ? i swear my 64gb M4 gets slower if I don't leave 20% or so free space.

I think the OS needs a bit of space? With a small SSD, that will be a larger percentage of the drive.

 

[Triggaaar]

It's still working!

what model is the current ssd?

be sure to run latest motherboard bios,if its a crucial m4 then flash to latest firmware

the m4 has a freeze bug 5400 hour use,look in ssdlife and see if the hours usage is around that time you need latest fw

These posts have helped me so much, thank you thank you thank you.

Although I've since read that SSDlife is far from accurate, it did give me the impression that maybe my SSD was ok still. It also told me how many hours my SSD had been on, and that, together with the posts above lead to a difficult firmware update, that has made my PC a dream to use again. Given that I'm on my PC for 8 hours a day, that's a big deal.

That's 100% the reason it was crashing. Old firmware

Happy days, thanks.

With a 250Gb SSD for £90, I'm tempted to get another for my huge photos.

 

[Triggaaar]

Most PC games see little speed difference installed on an SSD as the large data files do not see much benefit from an SSD at all as SSD's are not usually optimised for large data files. SSD's tend to be optimised for small files which is why they are ideal for OS or application installs.

I forgot about that. Maybe and SSD won't be so brilliant for my photos after all.