OWC SSD's Die Fast?

[derbothaus]

I have received sand force ssds that ran at half speed.

Exactly half speed? Like the link negotiation is wrong? That's SF firmware issue. If all negotiation and controller links are stable the SSD murders HDD. Are you arguing the opposite? Don't know anything other than the OP is bummed his geekbench score is lower which has nothing to do with hard drive testing.

 

[philipma1957]

Exactly half speed? Like the link negotiation is wrong? That's SF firmware issue. If all negotiation and controller links are stable the SSD murders HDD. Are you arguing the opposite? Don't know anything other than the OP is bummed his geekbench score is lower which has nothing to do with hard drive testing.

yes the firmware caused a half speed link. then after the firmware was upgraded and the ssds' were set up as raids one ssd died a month or so later.

 

[derbothaus]

yes the firmware caused a half speed link. then after the firmware was upgraded and the ssds' were set up as raids one ssd died a month or so later.

Sorry. I am 50/50 myself. 1 6g still awesome on Mac Pro but had to RMA dead 6G in MBP then get replacement 6G with the jacked up firmware only to call and complain and get a 3G in it's place as they now have a section on their website that states the issues with 2008/ 2009 MBP SATA host controllers. I lost some cash in the process but they were fairly accommodating. Can't say outstanding as they passed the buck a few times. I have since pretty much stopped recommending them. Only problem is when you get good ones they are really rock solid.

 

[philipma1957]

Like I posted earlier it is not that the ssd failed the ram process was far too slow. My samsung or intel batting rate is 1000 with over 20 drives. most as raid 0 setups.

 

[derbothaus]

Like I posted earlier it is not that the ssd failed the ram process was far too slow. My samsung or intel batting rate is 1000 with over 20 drives. most as raid 0 setups.

RAM process or RMA?

 

[philipma1957]

RAM process or RMA?

R M A

the lion auto correct strikes again!

 

[trajan2448]

SATA II is a standard. If the SSD does not work correctly within the standards set out for SATA II then it is the SSDs controllers fault. If every other SSD and HDD works absolutely fine with that controller, then it is clearly the SSD...

Plain and simple.

I believe my new Macbook Pro 17" quad uses sata 3. Mercury pro Ex 6g 240gb
works great. controller is sandforce 2282.

 

[oweng]

My Kingston 128Gb lasted just a few weeks before reporting serious errors so Ive just bought a OWC 120GB and it failed after 30 mins.

Think I am cursed.

 

[NickZac]

My Kingston 128Gb lasted just a few weeks before reporting serious errors so Ive just bought a OWC 120GB and it failed after 30 mins.

Think I am cursed.

Everyone is cursed by SandForce... Get a Crucial or Intel and you won't have to deal with a variety of issues of SandForce design problems or poorly made products

 

[nzst205]

OWC ZIFF Drive Feedback - am I wasting my time

Just sending back my 60Gb OWC SSD ZIFF drive for the third time, anyone with similar experience. am I wasting my time with their drives for the Gen I MBA. Has anyone had good experience with any alternatives?

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Just sending back my 60Gb OWC SSD ZIFF drive for the third time, anyone with similar experience. am I wasting my time with their drives for the Gen I MBA. Has anyone had good experience with any alternatives?

Should have mentioned never got more than 13 days use out of any of the drives before they failed.

 

[ClassObject]

Just sending back my 60Gb OWC SSD ZIFF drive for the third time, anyone with similar experience. am I wasting my time with their drives for the Gen I MBA. Has anyone had good experience with any alternatives?

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Should have mentioned never got more than 13 days use out of any of the drives before they failed.

I use intel 320 in a mac pro, a mac mini, and a windows laptop. No problems. I think it would be a good choice.

 

[saulinpa]

New firmware just came out for OWC drives. Hopefully makes things better.

http://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/OWC/SSD/PC

 

[Apple Corps]

I've just returned my second OWC 6G Pro ssd - latest firmware - will not stay recognized on the desktop or disk utility.

I'm back to Hiatchi enterprise HDDs and life is good again. Huge capacity, quiet, cool, no vibration and fast enough.

 

[Bear]

I've just returned my second OWC 6G Pro ssd - latest firmware - will not stay recognized on the desktop or disk utility.
...

Choose 2:

• Low Price
• High Quality
• High Capacity

You are not going to get all 3 unless you luck out on a sale.

Apple's are high quality and very high priced. You can get the same quality for less money. Just don't expect to pay bottom dollar for the quality.

 

[Apple Corps]

Bear - not sure of your point. The OWC 6G SSD cost $$$ - they are not low price that I know of.

I paid the $$ but have not received a reliable product for my MP 4,1.

 

[smetvid]

I think part of the problem is that SSD's are marketed to be much more reliable then normal HDD. A lot of people end up having a false sense of security just by buying one and the fact is that just isn't the case.

SSD's had two advantages:

1. Super fast - They are
2. Super safe - Not as much as we would hope.

There is a reason why SSD's have the same warranty as HDD's. They have about just as much of a chance of failure. It isn't any higher the HDD but it isn't much better either. I own dozens of HDD drives and some of them are 10 years old and still work. This is just the way storage is and why large companies use LTO tape or other data tapes for data storage long term. Even then LTO tapes still are not perfect.

 

[Apple Corps]

smetvid - the issue I am having with the OWC ssd is incompatibility with my MP 4,1 on 10.7.2

I have not been able to get the drive consistently recognized - it takes several reboots - works fine until I sleep or shut the MP down - back to multiple reboots.

OWC says the drives check out but clearly some type of "handshake" is not taking place on awakening or restart.

 

[derbothaus]

That now makes 4,1 Mac Pro and 5,1 Macbook Pro (maybe 5,3) that are having link issues with host controllers. So obnoxious. They really need to post a "death list" on the OWC site. Or at least fix the firmware.

 

[Weaselboy]

That now makes 4,1 Mac Pro and 5,1 Macbook Pro (maybe 5,3) that are having link issues with host controllers. So obnoxious. They really need to post a "death list" on the OWC site. Or at least fix the firmware.

Agreed. I really think this is an ongoing issue with the Sandforce controllers. Over a year ago OWC and others vendors were struggling with hibernation issues on their SATA II SSDs. That finally got fixed around the time they came out with new SATA III drives and the cycle started all over again. I honestly don't think Sandforce is capable of making stable firmware.

I noticed the recent Anandtech review of the Intel 520, which uses a Sandforce controller, talked a lot about Intel working with Sandforce to fix bugs in the firmware.

 

[derbothaus]

I noticed the recent Anandtech review of the Intel 520, which uses a Sandforce controller, talked a lot about Intel working with Sandforce to fix bugs in the firmware.

Yeah, but at a 150.00 price premium over the existing SF stuff. But I think I may have lost that amount shipping and swapping product anyway so it may be worth it.

 

[Apple Corps]

Yeah, but at a 150.00 price premium over the existing SF stuff. But I think I may have lost that amount shipping and swapping product anyway so it may be worth it.

I can't describe the number of hours I have lost due to this instability issue. I really regret having gone down this route. Stability and reliability are so far more important to me than the boot up speed and "snappiness".

 

[NickZac]

Bear - not sure of your point. The OWC 6G SSD cost $$$ - they are not low price that I know of.

I paid the $$ but have not received a reliable product for my MP 4,1.

I am sorry to hear you had a bad experience

However, you should give SSDs another chance. The SandForce driven one you had is well, SandForce driven and they have been, as a general rule, problematic. Just this time check out the Intel or Crucial drives. Both have demonstrated that they have the support capability for users in general and Crucial has shown, with a timely firmware update, that they are here to serve Mac users, and that when an issue arises, they handle it...and promptly at that.

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Agreed. I really think this is an ongoing issue with the Sandforce controllers. Over a year ago OWC and others vendors were struggling with hibernation issues on their SATA II SSDs. That finally got fixed around the time they came out with new SATA III drives and the cycle started all over again. I honestly don't think Sandforce is capable of making stable firmware.

I noticed the recent Anandtech review of the Intel 520, which uses a Sandforce controller, talked a lot about Intel working with Sandforce to fix bugs in the firmware.

I am not sure if I want to buy the 520 or not. The 510 is definitely the pinnacle of excellence when it comes to performance blended with reliability. While I realize the 520 will have Intel behind the support aspect now too, all of the SandForce issues I have read about has left a bad taste in my mouth and I am hesitant to get a 520. At the same time, the speeds are ridiculous which makes it appealing.

 

[wonderspark]

I've been very pleased with my Crucial M4 256GB so far. I clone it to the original 640GB HDD from Apple every few days just in case, but I think I'm going on a month so far without a hitch.

That reminds me of a question I've got. I don't have TRIM enabled, as my digging for info says that it runs a little slower with that on, and that the garbage collection runs later when "idle."

What constitutes "idle" in order for GC to activate? Is it milliseconds, minutes or what? I have Geektool that has shells running every ten seconds or so, and Hardware Monitor updating every second or so, and I wonder if it would matter to shut those off now and then.

For what it's worth, speed tests are the same as day one so far, and I have 149GB free on the SSD.

 

[Apple Corps]

NickZac - I may revisit ssd down the road, it will take a bit for the sting of wasted time to wear off though

As wonderspark did, I left my HDD boot/apps drive inBay #1 and did a fresh install of everything on the replacement ssd - it was not so painful a process to return the second one this go around - prepared for failure.

 

[Schismz]

New firmware just came out for OWC drives. Hopefully makes things better.

http://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/OWC/SSD/PC

OhMyGawd! NEW firmware!

So, uhm, anybody installed 501ABBF0 to a 6G Extreme with the Toshiba Toggle NAND and SF-2282 yet? Did it... make you Happy Inside or brick your SSDs?

I'm just... not gonna be running the installer when my drives are working. What's the upside?

Also, this burn .iso to optical disk ****** is awful. Just, no. Any reason "burning" it to a HDD connected via FW wouldn't work?

Blah ... it's NEW and therefore must be BETTER, but my drives are working just fine. Whatever will I do. Oh, wait, I know. Wait for somebody else to see what happens. If nothing terrible happens to a handful of people, I may "upgrade" anyway, russian roulette is exciting.