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OCZ Vertex 2 (E) SSD lifespan too short?

H

hzxu

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 17, 2008
112
5
I am thinking of buy a 60GB OCZ Vertex 2 (E) SSD for my 13" MBP, when I was doing research, I found in OCZ's technology forum that people complaining its lifespan drops a percent for every 3-4 days, so I am worried that if this is true, then it can last only a little bit more than a year, although I can get replacement under 3-years warranty, the time spend for re-installing system and migrate all my files is another problem. Also, I do programming, VM and Photoshop, plus web surfing and music, so there is lots of "writes" involved, I'm afraid it won't last a year.

Furthermore, keep watching its health status while using it is a painful experience as you see it dying slowly, similar to checking Load_Cycle_Count of HDD which is the reason I want to switch to SSD.

Anyone using OCZ SSD or other brands, can you share your experience and advice?

Thank you very much!
 
Last edited:
hzxu said:
I am thinking of buy a 60GB OCZ Vertex 2 (E) SSD for my 13" MBP, when I was doing research, I found in OCZ's technology forum that people complaining its lifespan drops a percent for every 3-4 days, so I am worried that if this is true, then it can last only a little bit more than a year, although I can get replacement under 3-years warranty, the time spend for re-installing system and migrate all my files is another problem. Also, I do programming, VM and Photoshop, plus web surfing and music, so there is lots of "writes" involved, I'm afraid it won't last a year.

Furthermore, keep watching its health status while using it is a painful experience as you see it dying slowly, similar to checking Load_Cycle_Count of HDD which is the reason I want to switch to SSD.

Anyone using OCZ SSD or other brands, can you share your experience and advice?

Thank you very much!
Click to expand...

Where have you been reading this? I have never heard that... some talk of the drive itself losing speed, but not actually shortening the lifespan on the drive. I have an OCZ Vertex 2 and honestly, I am not worried what so ever.
 
If the decrease really was a percent per 3-4 days, the drive would be completely dead within a year. Despite some quality concerns I have about OCZ products, the Vertex 2 uses the SandForce controller which will maximize the life, speed, and size of the drive and give you years of performance.
 
I have been using a Vertex 2E (120gb) for about 4 months now on my Macbook Pro and mine shows as having 100% life left. The total data writted/read in 4 months was about 320GB/320GB.

I did turn off hibernation though, having hibernation makes your macbook write 4GB worth of data everytime you put it to sleep which might hurt its lifespan alot I think.

AFoUA.png
 
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riyadc said:
I have been using a Vertex 2E (120gb) for about 4 months now on my Macbook Pro and mine shows as having 100% life left. The total data writted/read in 4 months was about 320GB/320GB.

I did turn off hibernation though, having hibernation makes your macbook write 4GB worth of data everytime you put it to sleep which might hurt its lifespan alot I think.

AFoUA.png
Click to expand...

Thanks for your input, I saw your SSD has 120GB while only 6GB free, do you notice any speed degradation or other side effects of having small amount of free space?
 
That field seems to be completely wrong. I have 2 partions one for OSX and one for Windows 7. The OSX parition has 90 gigs of capacity with 30 gig being used, while the Windows partition is 27 gigs with 6.9 gigs free. Since that tool is running from windows, I think it things windows is using the entire drive with 6 gigs free. And I don't notice any degradation, I haven't run any benchmarks in awhile but Window/OSX boots in like 20 seconds and apps like Photoshop or Word takes like 1-2 seconds to start.
 
riyadc said:
That field seems to be completely wrong. I have 2 partions one for OSX and one for Windows 7. The OSX parition has 90 gigs of capacity with 30 gig being used, while the Windows partition is 27 gigs with 6.9 gigs free. Since that tool is running from windows, I think it things windows is using the entire drive with 6 gigs free. And I don't notice any degradation, I haven't run any benchmarks in awhile but Window/OSX boots in like 20 seconds and apps like Photoshop or Word takes like 1-2 seconds to start.
Click to expand...

That sounds good, my 7200RPM HDD boots in 30 secs and Photoshop takes 10 secs to start, so SSD will give me noticeable difference.
 
I just sent back my second OCZ Vertex 2 after failing from 23 days of usage.

The first one was dead within the first day.

Not sure if i'm doing something wrong or if they truly just suck.

My intel x-25m G2 has been chugging along for over a year in my 15" MBP.

Ill gladly give up some speed for reliability. I asked newegg to just refund my money, i didnt want a third SSD drive.
 
When they work they are great and probably the fastest SSD out their, but the Vertex 2's quality control stinks, and I will never buy OCZ products because of it.

Before you tell me that I am wrong, do this. Go online and compare the reviews of the Vertex 2 to the Intel X-25 and Crucial C-300 (all of these are similar in pricing). Then check out the reviews for other OCZ SSDs. After you read them, you won't even consider purchasing an OCZ SSD.
 
Now I'm scared my Vertex 2 is going to **** the bed at any moment. For what it's worth it's perfect up to this point.

Thanks guys :(.
 
riyadc said:
I have been using a Vertex 2E (120gb) for about 4 months now on my Macbook Pro and mine shows as having 100% life left. The total data writted/read in 4 months was about 320GB/320GB.

I did turn off hibernation though, having hibernation makes your macbook write 4GB worth of data everytime you put it to sleep which might hurt its lifespan alot I think.

AFoUA.png
Click to expand...

In the OCZ forum people have reported their system stutters (beachball lock up for 10-15 secs every 5-10 mins). Apparetnly this happens with firmware v 1.10 and above. I notice your FW is 1.23 - do you or have you had this problem?
 
My OCZ Vertex2E 180gb is about 3 months old now and running fine and I've been writing/reading/rewriting it left and right. Guess what? It's running just fine....and if anything happens to it, I'll give them a call and have it replaced under warranty. In the mean time, I am using my MBP for what I need to use it for and will worry about it once failure happens (if ever).

Just get the SSD, use it, make frequent backups and worry about the problems IF they arise. If you are concerned and think spending the $ and having one will make you worry incessantly over it, then buy something else and wait until later....but coming from someone who has had a SSD now...I'd say the reward definitely outweighs the risks :)
 
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