Which SSD brand give best performance over time?

[adjuster]

I have always used OWC SSD's because of the benefits of the SandForce controller: SandForce DuraClass™ technology with ultra-efficient block management & wear leveling offers highest endurance and performance in a SSD. According to the tests I have read, other SSD's slow down after considerable use.

Here is why I am confused:
- One post in this forum says the SandForce controller does not work well. A clear reason was not provided.
- Others recommend the Samsung 830. Why? I understand that Apple uses that model, but what if I put it in an external enclosure to use a boot drive. I have done this with the Macsales SSD and it works well on a 2012 MacMini. And will adding a Samsung 830 have the same performance as buying one from Apple?
- Others use Intel. Some Intel models use the SandForce controller, but are all versions of that controller the same?

I would appreciate your thoughts on this. Have scoured the forum and I cannot find an answer. If one exists please direct me to it and accept my apologies for not finding it myself.

[philipma1957]

Originally Posted by adjuster

I have always used OWC SSD's because of the benefits of the SandForce controller: SandForce DuraClass™ technology with ultra-efficient block management & wear leveling offers highest endurance and performance in a SSD. According to the tests I have read, other SSD's slow down after considerable use.

Here is why I am confused:
- One post in this forum says the SandForce controller does not work well. A clear reason was not provided.
- Others recommend the Samsung 830. Why? I understand that Apple uses that model, but what if I put it in an external enclosure to use a boot drive. I have done this with the Macsales SSD and it works well on a 2012 MacMini. And will adding a Samsung 830 have the same performance as buying one from Apple?
- Others use Intel. Some Intel models use the SandForce controller, but are all versions of that controller the same?



I would appreciate your thoughts on this. Have scoured the forum and I cannot find an answer. If one exists please direct me to it and accept my apologies for not finding it myself.

sandforce have a higher failure rate then samsung 830's or crucial m4's. bottom line is get an ssd from a company that will back it up rma wise. owc is good if your gear breaks. I have sand force intels and mushkin
all good . I have samsung 800's 810's 830's all good I have crucial m4's also all good.

[motrek]

Originally Posted by adjuster

I have always used OWC SSD's because of the benefits of the SandForce controller: SandForce DuraClass™ technology with ultra-efficient block management & wear leveling offers highest endurance and performance in a SSD. According to the tests I have read, other SSD's slow down after considerable use.

Here is why I am confused:
- One post in this forum says the SandForce controller does not work well. A clear reason was not provided.
- Others recommend the Samsung 830. Why? I understand that Apple uses that model, but what if I put it in an external enclosure to use a boot drive. I have done this with the Macsales SSD and it works well on a 2012 MacMini. And will adding a Samsung 830 have the same performance as buying one from Apple?
- Others use Intel. Some Intel models use the SandForce controller, but are all versions of that controller the same?

I would appreciate your thoughts on this. Have scoured the forum and I cannot find an answer. If one exists please direct me to it and accept my apologies for not finding it myself.

First of all, there's nothing wrong with SandForce in particular, and even Intel is now using them for controllers, and Intel makes the drives that are most commonly trusted for enterprise and industrial level installations. If SandForce is good enough for Intel, it's good enough for you.

Second, to answer your question of best performance over time, I would get a drive that's obviously overprovisioned. Get a 120GB drive instead of 128GB because you can be pretty sure it really has 128GB of memory, and it just keeps 8GB erased and ready for writing all the time. So no matter how full the drive is or how much data you've written to it in the past, it will still perform like new.

In theory, if you have TRIM working right (on your drive *and* OS) then you are supposed to get the same benefit--i.e., that unused space is erased and ready to be written to--but it's sometimes a hassle to enable TRIM and then you have to trust that it's actually working.

[davidlv]

Originally Posted by motrek

In theory, if you have TRIM working right (on your drive *and* OS) then you are supposed to get the same benefit--i.e., that unused space is erased and ready to be written to--but it's sometimes a hassle to enable TRIM and then you have to trust that it's actually working.

Now that ChameleonSSDOptimizer is available for the Mac platform, enabling trim is very easy, click-click done. It has other options too, enabling noatime, etc., which basically reduces your IO volume. You can check to see if Trim is enabled using the System Profiler (Menu, About this Mac, More Info, System Report, Serial-ATA, and scrolling down it should say;
Trim enabled Yes. )
SSDs all have their own characteristic features, and strengths/weaknesses, 'cause very company uses different controllers/firmware. Due to technical reasons beyond me, related to un-compressed versus compressed data, SandForce-based and Crucial SSDs do not have blazing write speeds as shown by utilities like the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, yet they are lightning fast in actual use, especially on later model MBPs etc., that have 6GB/s SATA III connections.

[adjuster]

Originally Posted by davidlv

Now that ChameleonSSDOptimizer is available for the Mac platform, enabling trim is very easy, click-click done. It has other options too, enabling noatime, etc., which basically reduces your IO volume. You can check to see if Trim is enabled using the System Profiler (Menu, About this Mac, More Info, System Report, Serial-ATA, and scrolling down it should say;
Trim enabled Yes. )

I am confused. I thought the benefit of SandForce is that you don't have to use trim? Do Macs play well with trim? Is it a benefit with SandForce or something else to go wrong?

[Weaselboy]

Originally Posted by adjuster

I am confused. I thought the benefit of SandForce is that you don't have to use trim? Do Macs play well with trim? Is it a benefit with SandForce or something else to go wrong?

Some Sandforce firmware applications seem to have trouble with the TRIM hack. For example, OWC explicitly says not to do it as it causes instability. You will see user reports here in the forums with this same thing.

But at the same time, we have Apple shipping their new Macbook Airs with native TRIM on in a Sandforce controlled Toshiba SSD with no problems.

So I think all we can conclude at this point is with some Sandforce firmware/hardware combinations, TRIM causes problems.

[motrek]

Originally Posted by Weaselboy

Some Sandforce firmware applications seem to have trouble with the TRIM hack. For example, OWC explicitly says not to do it as it causes instability. You will see user reports here in the forums with this same thing.

But at the same time, we have Apple shipping their new Macbook Airs with native TRIM on in a Sandforce controlled Toshiba SSD with no problems.

So I think all we can conclude at this point is with some Sandforce firmware/hardware combinations, TRIM causes problems.

I will repeat my advice to buy a drive that's obviously overprovisioned and you will never have to spend even a fraction of a second worrying about TRIM.

[peterson12]

Originally Posted by Weaselboy

Some Sandforce firmware applications seem to have trouble with the TRIM hack. For example, OWC explicitly says not to do it as it causes instability. You will see user reports here in the forums with this same thing.

But at the same time, we have Apple shipping their new Macbook Airs with native TRIM on in a Sandforce controlled Toshiba SSD with no problems.

So I think all we can conclude at this point is with some Sandforce firmware/hardware combinations, TRIM causes problems.

Guess TRIM by default on in all controllers, its upto the manufacturer to enable it or not

[keema]

here in UAE, Abu Dhabi I can only see Intel 330 SSD and the from Kingston.

Which one will you choose if you only have these 2 to choose from?

Thanks,
Christian