Do SSDs go slow as they age? [Archive] - RedFlagDeals.com Forums

IMWHFMPC

Jul 20th, 2012, 03:40 AM

I've got an OCZ Vertex 120GB, the manufacturer speed is 250mb read and 180mb write. When I first got it a couple of months i ran tests and the speed were about 90% close to the posted speed. But after 2 years today I ran a test again the speed fell to just 60%. Is this normal?

Jimboski

Jul 20th, 2012, 03:46 AM

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that It's been a while since you formatted your SSD meaning your SSD capacity Is nearing full therefore It's slower!
Don't think anything can run at 100% years of usage!

IMWHFMPC

Jul 20th, 2012, 05:18 AM

willy

Jul 20th, 2012, 07:22 AM

Which OS are you running ?

gnuman

Jul 20th, 2012, 08:17 AM

Technically drives don't slow down it's just how much garbage you have in your Windows which causes it to slow down.

dazz

Jul 20th, 2012, 08:59 AM

Technically drives don't slow down it's just how much garbage you have in your Windows which causes it to slow down.

Geez, If you don't know, don't answer. Otherwise you look like a liar or an amateur 6 year old....

--

SSDs DO slowdown with time, especially older models. They can start at say 200MB and a year later be around 170 or less. If you read reviews online, you'll see the same feedback. Some older models from 2009-2010 were so bad that after a heavy of 3-6 months use they'd slow down by half!!!
SSDs also have a shorter lifespan. According to my own experience and by reading a lot of feedback, it seems as most don't survive even 3 years. I have to RMA my drives ever 6-12 months all the time as I use them heavy. They can't handle heavy loads.
Quality of SSD drives went up from about 2011,but they are still far from being on the same level as good ol' HDs.

Another issue with SSD drives is that when they crap out, they tend to just shut down and take all the files with you. With HDs, you may have a few bad sectors and you can still access the drive with a recovery software and easily transfer the files. It's not so easy with SSD drives as often it's not even discoverable...
All in all, by Intel Drives. They were the best and still the best.

n3o321

Jul 20th, 2012, 09:13 AM

I gave up after RMA-ing my 4th SSD from OCZ.
I just went back to the good old HDs. Looking for a good deal on the intel 530s? SSDs. much pricier although the reviews are making me want to switch back. i'm even thinking about getting extended warranty from stores knowing how much hassle i had to go through for the OCZ SSDs i had to RMA.

I'm a heavy user like the poster above mentioned. every 3-6 months sounds about right lol.

IMWHFMPC

Jul 20th, 2012, 12:40 PM

i am on OS X lion. I am actually looking to get another SSD from OCZ

ShadowVlican

Jul 20th, 2012, 12:43 PM

I have an ocz agility 3 120gb in my laptop... my fingers are crossed in hopes it doesn't fail on me..

george__

Jul 20th, 2012, 01:26 PM

This doesn't sound good for me... Just ordered a Intel 520 180GB models and it's going to be used heavily ><

Adevictus

Jul 20th, 2012, 01:33 PM

Not entirely sure if this applies to your specific SSD, but I saw this video today and it is somewhat relevant but is talking about flash storage SSDs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR3mrXbctXY

edit: also on a side note, I also have the 120 GB OCZ Vertex 3 SSD as my primary boot drive on my desk top and I can confirm that its read/write speeds are less than what they were when I bought it

also this SSD keeps giving me damn BSODs

xalex0

Jul 20th, 2012, 01:43 PM

Did you enable trim?

george__

Jul 20th, 2012, 02:04 PM

SSDs are still so "Bleeding edge" -_-

recordman

Jul 20th, 2012, 02:16 PM

I have an ocz agility 3 120gb in my laptop... my fingers are crossed in hopes it doesn't fail on me..

I have the same. It BSODs about once a week. No problem with my Intel/Crucial SSDs.

george__

Jul 20th, 2012, 02:38 PM

If my Intel 520 goes *boom* I'm blaming RFD for giving me false sense of hope :P

Jimboski

Jul 20th, 2012, 02:42 PM

xalex0

Jul 20th, 2012, 02:46 PM

I didn't watch the video but no offense but where does he live..?Apple store, where else do you think?

george__

Jul 20th, 2012, 02:57 PM

Sooo technically if you have a long warranty on your SSD. You can get a new one at least after 3 years?

Jimboski

Jul 20th, 2012, 02:58 PM

Sooo technically if you have a long warranty on your SSD. You can get a new one at least after 3 years?

That's what warranty Is for!
My OCZ comes with 3 year warranty, That's good :)!
They have a RMA facility In Markham too IIRC!

willy

Jul 20th, 2012, 04:33 PM

i am on OS X lion. I am actually looking to get another SSD from OCZ
I think this is where the problem lies (no native TRIM support). Read this ... http://www.anandtech.com/show/5453/trim-enabler-20-for-os-x-lion-released

IMWHFMPC

Jul 20th, 2012, 05:12 PM

no native TRIM, thats right but it has garbage collection so it works pretty good still IMO. I am just gonna format (secure erase) it and see if it makes any difference.

IMWHFMPC

Jul 20th, 2012, 05:12 PM

That's what warranty Is for!
My OCZ comes with 3 year warranty, That's good :)!
They have a RMA facility In Markham too IIRC!

thats good to near about facility!

Vertex 4 has five year warranty btw@

george__

Jul 20th, 2012, 05:22 PM

@Jimboski -- lool

willy

Jul 20th, 2012, 05:45 PM

no native TRIM, thats right but it has garbage collection so it works pretty good still IMO. I am just gonna format (secure erase) it and see if it makes any difference.
But since you are gonna to format it anyways, why not give that TRIM enabler 2 utility a try first ... Coz without TRIM, you will eventually end up in the exact same situation once again. I have a feeling the garbage collection algorithm in the first gen Vertex (Indilinx) may not be that mature. Just my speculation ...

george__

Jul 20th, 2012, 06:03 PM

Another reason not to buy a mac

Jimboski

Jul 20th, 2012, 06:07 PM

thats good to near about facility!

Vertex 4 has five year warranty btw@

Vertex 4? I have a Vertex 3!

george__

Jul 20th, 2012, 06:19 PM

@Jimboski -- Is there any chance you come to KW often?

Jimboski

Jul 20th, 2012, 06:19 PM

@Jimboski -- Is there any chance you come to KW often?

Never went there before, Closest I've been would be Niagara!
Why what's up?

Hello-

Jul 20th, 2012, 06:25 PM

That video made me want to kill myself. Took 4 minutes to say what I could've told someone in 20 seconds.

Jimboski

Jul 20th, 2012, 06:26 PM

That video made me want to kill myself. Took 4 minutes to say what I could've told someone in 20 seconds.

Just from the preview It shows It made me feel It was so ghetto that It wasn't worth the time watching It!

george__

Jul 20th, 2012, 06:31 PM

Never went there before, Closest I've been would be Niagara!
Why what's up?
Be my item "getter" from NCIX in Markham and then you bring it here to KW when you visit here so I save the shipping fee :P

Jimboski

Jul 20th, 2012, 06:42 PM

Be my item "getter" from NCIX in Markham and then you bring it here to KW when you visit here so I save the shipping fee :P

The gas fee would be much worse!

xalex0

Jul 20th, 2012, 06:44 PM

Be my item "getter" from NCIX in Markham and then you bring it here to KW when you visit here so I save the shipping fee :P
I'm sure that it would cost much more to ship Jimboski there.

george__

Jul 20th, 2012, 07:00 PM

That's why I asked if he came to KW often. If he did, then it wouldn't matter tooo much :D

I'd even by Jimboski coffee or something :P

redline

Jul 21st, 2012, 12:31 PM

So according to that video, a lifespan of 7 years of writing 100GB per day is a bad thing!? That sounds fairly long-lived to me with such extreme usage.

To extend the lifespan and improve performance, get a bigger drive with more over-provisioning/free space, and/or buy a second SSD as a "disposable" scratch disk for video-editing and other disk-intensive operations.

256GB SSDs are the sweet spot to contain the OS and most apps with lots of space left over to reduce write amplification (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Write_amplification).

xalex0

Jul 21st, 2012, 01:10 PM

So according to that video, a lifespan of 7 years of writing 100GB per day is a bad thing!?Fear mongering.

buy a second SSD as a "disposable" scratch disk for video-editing and other disk-intensive operations.SSDs are not intended for video editing anyway. They don't have much space, and random access speed is of little use. Just use an HDD.

Jimboski

Jul 21st, 2012, 01:48 PM

That's why I asked if he came to KW often. If he did, then it wouldn't matter tooo much :D

I'd even by Jimboski coffee or something :P

I don't drink coffee, Not even trolling. Lol.

toalan

Jul 21st, 2012, 08:44 PM

When I first got my refurb corsair SSD it was only doing 70mb/s reads and writes, format and fresh install did nothing, I read that I should do a secure erase and after I did that the read and write performance doubled. It only affected my benchmarks, in terms of usability; pre and post secure erase was not noticeable.

t3359

Jul 22nd, 2012, 01:15 AM

Not entirely sure if this applies to your specific SSD, but I saw this video today and it is somewhat relevant but is talking about flash storage SSDs.

That video made me want to kill myself. Took 4 minutes to say what I could've told someone in 20 seconds.

So according to that video, a lifespan of 7 years of writing 100GB per day is a bad thing!? That sounds fairly long-lived to me with such extreme usage.

To extend the lifespan and improve performance, get a bigger drive with more over-provisioning/free space, and/or buy a second SSD as a "disposable" scratch disk for video-editing and other disk-intensive operations.

256GB SSDs are the sweet spot to contain the OS and most apps with lots of space left over to reduce write amplification (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Write_amplification).

WTH was that guy talking about - I watched the whole thing waiting for the punch line. I wanted to tear my eyes out watching that thing...

Didn't know what TRIM was until now - makes sense...

bjl

infamouskid

Jul 22nd, 2012, 06:07 PM

after 5 rma's on 2 different model ssd's from OCZ i would say buy anything but OCZ.

ichpen

Jul 22nd, 2012, 07:12 PM

after 5 rma's on 2 different model ssd's from OCZ i would say buy anything but OCZ.

I agree. After 2 ocz drives I'm calling it a day. Got myself an intel 520. I don't care if ocz rma is around the corner for me, it's a major inconveniece to have your OS drive blow up twice.

Redfrog1

Jul 23rd, 2012, 03:36 AM

Crucial and Intel seems popular. One friend recommend me Crucial. I don't know, but I'd like to have a try.

http://www.*****/ssd/storage/canada/2193?_tk= 4

Agafaba

Jul 23rd, 2012, 12:07 PM

I think this is where the problem lies (no native TRIM support). Read this ... http://www.anandtech.com/show/5453/trim-enabler-20-for-os-x-lion-released

+1
Format or not, you should make sure to enable trim.

wilsonlam97

Jul 23rd, 2012, 03:28 PM

Because of the design of the SSD the more space you use the less speed your going to get out of it.

george__

Jul 23rd, 2012, 03:36 PM

Because of the design of the SSD the more space you use the less speed your going to get out of it.

Doesn't this beat the purpose of buying a ~256GB + SSD then?
Wouldn't it be smarter to just get a 60GB SSD (as the main OS drive) and buy another "regular hard drive" for programs?

IMWHFMPC

Jul 30th, 2012, 12:24 AM

Doesn't this beat the purpose of buying a ~256GB + SSD then?
Wouldn't it be smarter to just get a 60GB SSD (as the main OS drive) and buy another "regular hard drive" for programs?

well, not me. I want my programs to run fast also. What I do is a get a 128GB for programs and OS, then a hard drive for movies and video files.

128GB is sufficent for me, OS 10GB, programs 30GB, photos 20GB, songs 10GB = 70GB.

Leave out 10% of the space for optimal speed performance, this is enough. So it is 12GB for 128GB, and 25GB for 256GB

At the end i still get 20GB for documents and other stuffs.

xalex0

Jul 30th, 2012, 12:53 AM

well, not me. I want my programs to run fast also. What I do is a get a 128GB for programs and OS, then a hard drive for movies and video files.

128GB is sufficent for me, OS 10GB, programs 30GB, photos 20GB, songs 10GB = 70GB.

Leave out 10% of the space for optimal speed performance, this is enough. So it is 12GB for 128GB, and 25GB for 256GB

At the end i still get 20GB for documents and other stuffs.
I doubt you will gain anything from putting songs and photos onto the SSD.

george__

Jul 30th, 2012, 01:44 AM

I doubt you will gain anything from putting songs and photos onto the SSD.

Maybe big photo load faster but I think you're right

IMWHFMPC

Jul 30th, 2012, 02:17 AM

I doubt you will gain anything from putting songs and photos onto the SSD.

I see where you are coming from, I have my SSD in my laptop, not a desktop.

But photos do make a dramatic difference.

Songs no difference at all, just for the convenient, i am not going to hook up my external every time i listen to songs :D

Jimboski

Jul 30th, 2012, 02:18 AM

I see where you are coming from, I have my SSD in my laptop, not a desktop.

But photos do make a dramatic difference.

Songs no difference at all, just for the convenient, i am not going to hook up my external every time i listen to songs :D

You only have a SSD on your laptop? That's bad!

george__

Jul 30th, 2012, 02:22 AM

You only have a SSD on your laptop? That's bad!

...how come? maybe his desktop is old and slow

IMWHFMPC

Jul 30th, 2012, 03:16 AM

You only have a SSD on your laptop? That's bad!

Well, this is going to hurt you but I hate using PCs! LOL! My PC is more like a movie and gaming server, otherwise useless to do anything else. I even put a 5400rpm laptop drive in my desktop to run XP for some older games. That's how i don't give a damn about the performance of my PC, so why would i still put a SSD in it? It's an overclocked E8400 with 9800GT, currently powering two HD monitors. Not so new but still works. Just dont need a SSD.

I use a Macbook connected to an external monitor as my primary computer.

Forhad

Jul 30th, 2012, 07:16 AM

I have a OCz Vertex 3 120GB and its super fast.

valinrace

Jul 30th, 2012, 09:13 AM

All computer parts go slow as they age but not too slow, what I min is they usually don't release their 100% power as they age.

xalex0

Jul 30th, 2012, 11:46 AM

But photos do make a dramatic difference.
How exactly? Thumbnail generation?

I have my SSD in my laptop, not a desktop.Well, if you don't want to get a bigger one or to move away some of the stuff, speed degradation is what you will get.

IMWHFMPC

Jul 30th, 2012, 03:12 PM

How exactly? Thumbnail generation?

Well, if you don't want to get a bigger one or to move away some of the stuff, speed degradation is what you will get.

Now my speed is back at normal, deleted a bunch of stuffs leaving me with 12GB left in my drive

Jimboski

Jul 30th, 2012, 03:53 PM

Well, this is going to hurt you but I hate using PCs! LOL! My PC is more like a movie and gaming server, otherwise useless to do anything else. I even put a 5400rpm laptop drive in my desktop to run XP for some older games. That's how i don't give a damn about the performance of my PC, so why would i still put a SSD in it? It's an overclocked E8400 with 9800GT, currently powering two HD monitors. Not so new but still works. Just dont need a SSD.

I use a Macbook connected to an external monitor as my primary computer.

I was more surprised of how your laptop doesn't have two HDD/SSD slots or whatever.

cruisx

Jul 30th, 2012, 04:00 PM

I was more surprised of how your laptop doesn't have two HDD/SSD slots or whatever.

Most do not. You can use a optical drive/ssd combo. And having pics on a SSD can make a big diff if they were taken with a DSLR and you do photo editing, then there is no delay in opening up images in windows image view for example. (if you use the right/left arrow keys its instant)

Jimboski

Jul 30th, 2012, 04:02 PM

Most do not. You can use a optical drive/ssd combo. And having pics on a SSD can make a big diff if they were taken with a DSLR and you do photo editing, then there is no delay in opening up images in windows image view for example. (if you use the right/left arrow keys its instant)

Mine has two and It was bought like 3 years ago, Lol.