After all my dramas, I honestly can't believe they are as unreliable for everyone - due to the fact the company has a pretty good reputation. I must be just very unlucky or perhaps the courier company delivering the replacements to Australia are treating the packages like baseballs and they are being damaged in transit...
Anyway just got the paperwork for my third return this morning, so I reckon I won't receive the 4th drive until the new year.
Believe me I know how you feel. I had bought an Android based Galaxy Tab 10.1 from Verizon. The first one I got, the screen was all washed out. Seriously odd. Showed it to the Verizon store and they easily agreed and replaced the unit.
The second one quickly developed this weird oil slick in the screen. Here is an image from the
XDA-Developers forum.
I went back to Verizon to show this to them and get it replaced again. They told me I was past my 14 days, plus I could only exchange it once and I had already done that. Even so they replaced it yet again but warned me that if it happened again all they could do would be to ship it to Samsung for service. So I took the 3rd one, and turned it on in the store. As they did also, to inspect it for any defects before I left. All parties satisfied, I left with the 3rd one, left it in the original box and put it in my closet. I decided to buy an iPad 2.
About a month later a buddy was over and I was showing him the difference between the Galaxy Tab and the iPad 2. After only a few minutes of showing it off side by side, the Galaxy Tab reproduced the oil slick, sometimes called Neptune's Rings, yet again.
Now here is the real kicker. Before I bought the Galaxy Tab, I bought and still own the T-Mobile G-Slate, and before that they Galaxy Tab 7". I sold the 7", and I still own the G-Slate and the 4th Galaxy tab. These are the worst devices I've ever own. And if you think that's unbelievable, add to that I also bought a G2X, which many know as one of the worst made Android phones for its numerous problems. I switched to Sprint to get the Samsung Nexus S, which also was a disaster.
Before my experience with Android, I'd only had a problem with an electronic device serious enough to merit return once in my life way back in 1986. I was completely stunned to have 4 Android Galaxy Tabs go bad one after the other, and two Android phones, from different manufactures exhibit serious issues.
I'm no stranger to smart phones either. I owned them since the Treo line from Palm. Numerous Blackberry, Palm, Windows Mobile and iPhones prior to the Android. And even more Androids such as the HTC EVO, which by the way was the only Android phone that ever worked well for me.
So when I hear someone say they had to return something 2 and 3 times in a row, I can believe it. It happened to me.
My first SSD was a Super Talent. Can't even remember when I bought it... It's that old. And it still works. I bought it long before anyone ever complained about SSD issues. After I bought it I started to read what others were saying about SSDs. I never had any of the problems I read about. Still, I was nervous and so I waited before adding an SSD to my new 2011 MBP. I own a MacBook Air, which never had a problem with its SSD, so I just moved forward with OWC. Two days after I installed it I read a few horror stories about the very drive I ordered and just paid $1,099 for. That drive and the 16 GBs of RAM cost just about as much as the MBP itself. I got nervous for a while, but reminded myself we almost only ever see those with bad experiences. I've bought plenty of things others have sworn were trouble only to find no trouble at all.
If you browse the forums you'll find people with problematic Macs too. And I still buy Macs. Same can be said for PCs, hardware and pretty much anything. I subscribe to the concept that in order for a business to thrive and grow, it can't sell garbage. A business must always strive to have a low return rate. I work very closely with DVD manufacturing companies. I hear about someone who can't play a disc all the time. It just happens. There is a company out there, called IntelliKey and they have hundreds of DVD players and perform BANK testing of your DVD on their players to measure compatibility. No matter how good you make the disc, you'll get a report of some players failing to play the disc. And we're talking Hollywood discs here. Major films you've heard of.
I've come to expect this. And I believe these chip makers and controller makers also do their fair share of testing. If Sandforce was horrible, those utilizing them would run away for greener pastures. No one can stay in business long by taking back a high rate of returns. The free market will simply weed them out.
Eventually this SSDs will become so rock solid we'll all forget their operations were ever in question. Personally, I think we had a lot of firmware issues with a lot of SSDs from virtually everyone, including Intel. These SSDs are still bleeding edge and these manufacturers are still getting their sea legs.
I got a huge warranty and I plan to use it if needed.
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I know how you feel! I went through about 3 OWC SSDs in the past year as well and sending back and forth was a pain.
After that experience, I decided to purchase locally so RMAs would be easier and quicker. I ended up buying a OCZ Vertex III Max IOPS SSD for my early 2011 MBP and it worked pretty well. Only downside that it tended to have a lot of power draw so my battery level always dropped from 100% down to 94% and then the charger light would turn amber and start charging it.
My late 2011 MBP has the Crucial M4 256GB SSD and it's been running flawlessly so far. Even though it's about $20 more than purchasing from the States, I would pay that difference just for the convenience of RMA'ing the drive locally (saves the trouble of going to the post office, filling out paperwork etc). Hope your issues get sorted.
If I exhibit tons of trouble and a lot of back and forth, I'd go with the one you have, in a 512GB capacity or the Samsung. Learning towards the Samsung. I'll wait of course and see how this plays out. So far so good.
