peterh337
25th Feb 2012, 06:23
I have installed a number of SSDs (example (http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT256M4SSD2)) in desktops (24/7 operation) and all failed within a year or so.
They get replaced under warranty but the result is still rubbish, not to mention hassle, loss of data (we have tape backups but it's still a hassle). It seems that specific files (specific locations in the FLASH) become unreadable. The usual manifestation is that the disk becomes unbootable (sometimes NTLDR is not found; those are fixed using the Repair function on the install CD).
Just now I have fixed one PC which used to simply reboot (no BSOD) and then report "no OS found" but if one power cycled it, it would start up OK. Then it would run for maybe an hour before doing the same. That was a duff Crucial 256GB SSD too - £400 original cost.
Years ago, on a low power PC project which shut down its hard drives, I did some research on what types of disk access windows does all the time. It turns out that it accesses the registry c. once per second, and it is a write, not just a read. At ~100k writes per day to the same spot, this is going to wear out a specific area pretty quick.
But don't these SSDs have a microcontroller which is continually evening out the wear?
Their performance is great, especially if you get one with a 6gbit/sec SATA interface and a quality fast controller (Adaptec) to match that. I've seen 10x speedups in some functions.
I gather that under win7 things are done differently but for app compatibility reasons, etc, we use XP.
OTOH I have installed 3 SSDs, much smaller at 32GB, in XP laptops, and all have been 100% fine. But those don't get run 24/7.
I have a couple of 256GB SSDs which have been replaced under warranty but which are basically unusable for windoze (XP). Can they be used under say Unix (we have a couple of FreeBSD email servers)? Or is there some winXP driver which can continually remap the logical sectors?
They get replaced under warranty but the result is still rubbish, not to mention hassle, loss of data (we have tape backups but it's still a hassle). It seems that specific files (specific locations in the FLASH) become unreadable. The usual manifestation is that the disk becomes unbootable (sometimes NTLDR is not found; those are fixed using the Repair function on the install CD).
Just now I have fixed one PC which used to simply reboot (no BSOD) and then report "no OS found" but if one power cycled it, it would start up OK. Then it would run for maybe an hour before doing the same. That was a duff Crucial 256GB SSD too - £400 original cost.
Years ago, on a low power PC project which shut down its hard drives, I did some research on what types of disk access windows does all the time. It turns out that it accesses the registry c. once per second, and it is a write, not just a read. At ~100k writes per day to the same spot, this is going to wear out a specific area pretty quick.
But don't these SSDs have a microcontroller which is continually evening out the wear?
Their performance is great, especially if you get one with a 6gbit/sec SATA interface and a quality fast controller (Adaptec) to match that. I've seen 10x speedups in some functions.
I gather that under win7 things are done differently but for app compatibility reasons, etc, we use XP.
OTOH I have installed 3 SSDs, much smaller at 32GB, in XP laptops, and all have been 100% fine. But those don't get run 24/7.
I have a couple of 256GB SSDs which have been replaced under warranty but which are basically unusable for windoze (XP). Can they be used under say Unix (we have a couple of FreeBSD email servers)? Or is there some winXP driver which can continually remap the logical sectors?