New drives for our computers

rotNdude · 05-28-2012, 01:36 PM

The hard drive in our secondary computer appears to have failed. SeaTools diagnostics revealed that important sectors on the drive failed the test because they are difficult to read. No big deal, since there is nothing important on this computer and a reformat/reinstall wouldn't hurt anyhow, but I'm going to assume the drive is dead from a magnetic media perspective.

I will definitely do some more testing of it. The symptoms are:

It takes forever for WinXP to get past the loading screen (both safe mode and normal)
Once it gets to the login screen it takes forever to get to the desktop (both safe mode and normal)
Once it gets to the desktop explorer.exe cannot initiate (both safe mode and normal)

What SSD would you buy today assuming something around 128GB? I would be buying one for the secondary computer and one for the primary computer. The price isn't that important to me, so I am looking for reliability and performance.

The secondary and primary computers are both a couple of generations old. Here are the motherboard make and model for each of them.

Primary computer - ASUS P5W DH Deluxe
Secondary computer - ASUS P5B Deluxe

They both run 3Gb/s SATA ports.

Overclocker_ · 05-28-2012, 02:08 PM

Corsair Force 3. 60Gb/90Gb/120Gb. Whatever suites you. They're fairly cheap and the specs are 550MB/s read and 490MB/s write, so if you ever get a motherboard with 6Gb/s you'll see a nice speed boost.

That's assuming you mean SATA2 (3Gb/s) and not SATA3 (6Gb/s). It gets confusing.

SirDrexl · 05-28-2012, 02:29 PM

Just be advised that with XP, you won't have native TRIM support, although it looks like Intel's drives can do it with their toolbox (although I haven't researched this extensively). Also, you'll have to align the partition(s) manually, and look into how to install AHCI drivers.

rotNdude · 05-28-2012, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirDrexl

Just be advised that with XP, you won't have native TRIM support, although it looks like Intel's drives can do it with their toolbox (although I haven't researched this extensively). Also, you'll have to align the partition(s) manually, and look into how to install AHCI drivers.

I'll probably purchase Win7 for the secondary computer as long as I'm doing a clean install. Thanks for the advice.

SirDrexl · 05-28-2012, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rotNdude

I'll probably purchase Win7 for the secondary computer as long as I'm doing a clean install. Thanks for the advice.

That would make it easier. Just be sure that the motherboard is in AHCI mode before you install it, and Windows will take care of the rest.

seseorang · 05-28-2012, 03:33 PM

A lot of things to consider.
1) Customer support
2) Quality of the drives
3) Cost to performance ratio
4) Average MTBF rating
5) Actual performance alone. Depends if writes or reads are important.
6) Power consumption (could be an issue)
7) Known problems in different communities who have that particular drive.

dosbox · 05-28-2012, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rotNdude

What SSD would you buy today assuming something around 128GB? I would be buying one for the secondary computer and one for the primary computer. The price isn't that important to me, so I am looking for reliability and performance.

The secondary and primary computers are both a couple of generations old. Here are the motherboard make and model for each of them.

Primary computer - ASUS P5W DH Deluxe
Secondary computer - ASUS P5B Deluxe

They both run 3Gb/s SATA ports.

Intel 320 for reliability. Crucial m4 for reliability and better performance. The 3Gb/s SATA ports are going to limit any performance gain from the faster drives.

I would only consider a Sandforce based drive if you're expecting to put compressible data on it, and have a backup.

rotNdude · 05-28-2012, 04:37 PM

So, are you talking about these two drives?

Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC 7mm Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $125

Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW120G310 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - OEM $180

dosbox · 05-28-2012, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rotNdude

So, are you talking about these two drives?

Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC 7mm Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $125

Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW120G310 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - OEM $180

Yes. It should be noted the Intel comes with a five year warranty, and capacitors that allow for writes to be completed in the event of sudden power outage.

The Crucial m4 has a three year warranty, but better performance.

Doc_Gonzo · 05-29-2012, 05:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rotNdude

So, are you talking about these two drives?

Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC 7mm Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $125

Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW120G310 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - OEM $180

They're the two best drives on the market IMO. I own a Crucial M4 and it has been completely hassle free. Even updating the firmware was a breeze and I'd never done that before

It might be worth checking out the 520 SSD's by Intel as they have SATA 3 support which could be useful if you carry it over to a future build.

05-28-2012, 01:36 PM	#1
rotNdude Volunteer Moderator Join Date: Dec 2004 Reputation: 9193 Posts: 45,480	New drives for our computers The hard drive in our secondary computer appears to have failed. SeaTools diagnostics revealed that important sectors on the drive failed the test because they are difficult to read. No big deal, since there is nothing important on this computer and a reformat/reinstall wouldn't hurt anyhow, but I'm going to assume the drive is dead from a magnetic media perspective. I will definitely do some more testing of it. The symptoms are: It takes forever for WinXP to get past the loading screen (both safe mode and normal) Once it gets to the login screen it takes forever to get to the desktop (both safe mode and normal) Once it gets to the desktop explorer.exe cannot initiate (both safe mode and normal) What SSD would you buy today assuming something around 128GB? I would be buying one for the secondary computer and one for the primary computer. The price isn't that important to me, so I am looking for reliability and performance. The secondary and primary computers are both a couple of generations old. Here are the motherboard make and model for each of them. Primary computer - ASUS P5W DH Deluxe Secondary computer - ASUS P5B Deluxe They both run 3Gb/s SATA ports. __________________ Support Articles \| Support Account \| Forum Rules

05-28-2012, 04:37 PM	#8
rotNdude Volunteer Moderator Join Date: Dec 2004 Reputation: 9193 Posts: 45,480	So, are you talking about these two drives? Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC 7mm Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $125 Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW120G310 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - OEM $180 __________________ Support Articles \| Support Account \| Forum Rules

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05-28-2012, 02:08 PM	#2
Overclocker_ Join Date: Oct 2011 Reputation: 415 Posts: 2,465	Corsair Force 3. 60Gb/90Gb/120Gb. Whatever suites you. They're fairly cheap and the specs are 550MB/s read and 490MB/s write, so if you ever get a motherboard with 6Gb/s you'll see a nice speed boost. That's assuming you mean SATA2 (3Gb/s) and not SATA3 (6Gb/s). It gets confusing.

05-28-2012, 02:29 PM	#3
SirDrexl Join Date: Mar 2009 Reputation: 277 Posts: 955	Just be advised that with XP, you won't have native TRIM support, although it looks like Intel's drives can do it with their toolbox (although I haven't researched this extensively). Also, you'll have to align the partition(s) manually, and look into how to install AHCI drivers.

05-28-2012, 03:33 PM	#6
seseorang Join Date: Feb 2010 Reputation: 683 Posts: 7,234	A lot of things to consider. 1) Customer support 2) Quality of the drives 3) Cost to performance ratio 4) Average MTBF rating 5) Actual performance alone. Depends if writes or reads are important. 6) Power consumption (could be an issue) 7) Known problems in different communities who have that particular drive.