Best SSD Reliability Choice?

Hi all,

Posting back as I feel SSDs have gone down far enough to justify considering an SSD for long term.

I have let the idea of the 64GB capacities go as they will be a struggle. I have a couple of choices, all for under £80 (<£80 my limit).

So I have three in mind for all different reasons

SanDisk Pulse (£66.98) - MLC NAND assumed but SandForce controlled?

SanDisk Ultra Plus (£76.94) -MLC NAND Marvell controller.

Samsung 840 120GB (£71.95) - However, TLC NAND. But this ones on the table just because of Samsungs own controller = reliability?


I know SSDs are expensive, but really I do want to keep the cost down, selling my accelerator just to make this more affordable. Reliability is top priority, definitely needs to last as long as my HDD if not more, I don't mind about ultra fast speeds :)


Operating system, programs and a few games will be installed on it, I don't move things around much so the same stuff will be on there for most of the time. I will be using an external HDD for my long term stuff and other programs.

Thanks all :) hopefully one of these will be worth it.

Intel X25-M (G2 only). I've had my 80GB since they were released in 2009 & have so far written 3.8TB to it and probably a few hundred remaining. They have a long-standing reputation for superb reliability - no newer drives have proven themselves in timeframes measured in years. You should be able to pick one up for between £70 and £80 on ebay, but make sure it hasn't had too many terabytes written to it. I suggest 1 or 2TB max, then you'll have a few hundred more headroom.

I bought a 160GB G2 six months ago for £80 and it only had around 300GB written to it. That was pure luck though.

The Intel DC S3700 will probably be my next upgrade in a year or two, as long as it also maintains an equally good reputation.

I have really forbidden myself from buying most hardware from eBay used, purely because not everyone states how much they've write to or even no. Bit risky considering it'll be my first proper SSD :P

I have had a look and at the moment there are only a few 80GB versions going, but ideally I just am looking for a hassle free purchase rather than a luck draw on eBay (past experiences with hardware :()

Thanks for the suggestion though. There is a 120Gb model new there for £77.

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Originally Posted by mikeo01

I have really forbidden myself from buying most hardware from eBay used, purely because not everyone states how much they've write to or even no. Bit risky considering it'll be my first proper SSD :P

I have had a look and at the moment there are only a few 80GB versions going, but ideally I just am looking for a hassle free purchase rather than a luck draw on eBay (past experiences with hardware :()

Thanks for the suggestion though. There is a 120Gb model new there for £77.

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Just stay away from anything with a SandForce controller in it. Can certainly vouch for the reliability of Crucial M4's and C300's and the Intel X-25M also which have lasted a long time with no issues where as my Kingston drive lasted less 5 months.

all i'm doing is repeating what i've read and been told. but it seems that crucial m4's and samsung have the best rep. which is why i went for a samsung for my first ssd..

That takes the SanDisk Pulse off the list then.

Haven't heard much about SanDisk's new drives though, apparently they're decent. But in terms of reliability does it mean SanDisk's Ultra Pulse would have a higher endurance than Samsungs non-pro drives with TLC NAND.

The included Magician software sounds tasty too :P but there are conflicting reviews on the drive itself.

Crucials M4 is up there but a bit expensive for me :(

Have a Samsung 830 512GB in my laptop which is very good. About to build a new PC and will be putting a Samsung 840 Pro in it.

I think I may go the safer option and try out the SanDisk Ultra Plus, just because the TLC of the Samsungs scares me a bit :)

My Samsung 830 and proposed 840 Pro both use MLC NAND so don't have any experience of TLC but I doubt Samsung would have used TLC if they have any great doubt about it's endurance.

Read a great article ages ago now about the endurance of the Samsung 840 non-pro and it turned out to last much longer than expected. OK most of the testing was sequential writes and doesn't truly reflect average usage, but it faired well.

They figured up to writing as much as 30 GiB per day it should last 24 years. Again it's not going to truly reflect real world usage but it does reflect how well Samsung has managed to tweak it for increased endurance.

The article is here: http://us.hardware.info/reviews/4178...nal-conclusion


However I still am unsure, I do assume there will be many times where this drive will slow down due to TLC which is putting me off a bit.


Whereas SanDisk has introduced a small portion of SLC for small data operations which sounds nifty. The name SanDisk makes me assume it'll be reliable and it uses Marvell 9175, not too sure about this controller, broken down version of the Marvell 9174.

Both are great names, cheap but there are some main differences that make it harder to decide on.

Still pondering what SSD to get and been reading up a bit more.

Samsung 840 -TLC with their own controller, some onboard compression.
SanDisk Ultra Plus - Got my eye on
Plextor M5S - Best garbage collection, uses Marvell based controller and cheaper than the SanDisk Ultra Plus and Samsung.
Kingston Hyper 3K - Older Sandforce controller however.

The Plextor and Kingston seem best priced, I'm leaning towards this Plextor SSD now.

Any advice on these two? :)

Out of those two I'd definitely go for the Plextor, Mavell controller way more reliable than Sandforce iirc.

Between the SSD you are oscillating I woould go for the Plextor as well after reading quickly about it.

Plextor it is then :-P thanks for all the input.

Can't wait to see what this SSD will feel like.

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Originally Posted by mikeo01

Can't wait to see what this SSD will feel like.

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If you're coming from a mechanical hard drive...........Fast would be my guess ;)

I went from the Intel 520 to the plextor and i can say i am not unhappy with it, overall it feels about the same speed as the intel and performs just as well and i havent noticed any loss of performance anywhere.