State of play with modern SSDs?

[xchaotic]

I think any good partition imaging/restoring software will do the job. If you're on Windows 7 it has a system image backup option to move it onto a new drive.

One thing I'm not sure about and may be dependent on make/model is whether a 120gb SSD has that much formatted space, unlike mechanical drives where you lose about 10-15% of the advertised capacity once formatted. My 60gb one is reporting 59.6gb usable space.

There is an OCZ Vertex 2e at just a bit more than the standard Vertex 2 which apparently has more storage space (due to having a smaller reserved space for errors etc) but when I read up on it it wasn't clear if that means the standard one has less than 120gb formatted space or the 2e one has more than 120gb.

Not all software will have the ability to resize partititons, if your current is larger than the SSD (even if half-empty), but some certainly can.
Vertex 2e reserves more physical space unused, so in reality 120GB model is more like 160GB but some reserved for wear leveling. With normal Vertex2 it might be 150GB, should not really matter for home use.
Then when you format, the filesystem (NTFS) overhead will bring it down to almost 100GB, so be aware of that.
Other than that you're good to go with the one you linked to at dabs.com!

[PAH]

Is it fairly easy to clone my current HD onto one of those if I get it down to 100GB or less, then swap the SSD as the primary?

I think any good partition imaging/restoring software will do the job. If you're on Windows 7 it has a system image backup option to move it onto a new drive.

One thing I'm not sure about and may be dependent on make/model is whether a 120gb SSD has that much formatted space, unlike mechanical drives where you lose about 10-15% of the advertised capacity once formatted. My 60gb one is reporting 59.6gb usable space.

There is an OCZ Vertex 2e at just a bit more than the standard Vertex 2 which apparently has more storage space (due to having a smaller reserved space for errors etc) but when I read up on it it wasn't clear if that means the standard one has less than 120gb formatted space or the 2e one has more than 120gb.

[PRC1964]

We've got four of the Intel X-25's two of which we've had for about a year now. they have each written around 30Tb of data and one of them hold TempDb for our Sql Server database. I haven't seen them slow down at all and the bundled Intel optimiser app reports that they are both 100% healthy with no "Media wear out".

[d000hg]

So you'd recommend something like this: OCZ Technology 120GB Vertex 2 SATA II 2.5" Solid State Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G) (OCZSSD2-2VTXE12) - dabs.com

Is it fairly easy to clone my current HD onto one of those if I get it down to 100GB or less, then swap the SSD as the primary?

[xchaotic]

Short answer: get an SSD, don't bother with the hybrids.
The Decent ones to get now are all Sandforce based: Corsair Force series (even if you don't have sata3 it will do nicely) or OCZ Vertex 2
If you can wait, the next gen Intel ones are just around the corner, but they will be expensive and you don't need 500MB/s in your current system anyway...
Also look what sort of operations are a bottleneck in your daily routines.
Typically as dev you might be writing a ton of small files to the storage. Then the figures are nowhere near the 280MB limit of sata2, but still any SSD is expotentially better at this than an HDD and a fast SSD like Corsair Force is way faster than a basic SSD.

[PAH]

I've had SSD in my laptop (came with it) and PC for a few years now without any problems. Both running Windows 7 which has automatic optimisations for SSD, such as supporting Trim and switching off disk defragging etc.

Look at reviews for the OCZ Vertex 2 and Crucial C300 (supports the new SATA 6gbps interface) as these seem to be the current market leaders when comparing price to performance. Intel are supposed to be bringing out their next generation soon too. Both makes available in sizes from 60gb upwards, though check performance of each size as IIRC the Crucial ones get better the bigger they are where the OCZ is same throughout the range.

Non-SSD are still better for bulk storage (2TB drives are now around £60, which is hard to beat on price/performance per gb) but I prefer SSD as my main drive due to it being silent and fast.

Even if the worst happens and the SSD kicks the bucket due to too many writes I've read that they should still be accessible as read-only, though not seen any real-life reports from someone going through that experience.

[amcdonald]

All sold state have a finite number of writes in them, so the same with memory cards etc, but the technology will probably be obselete and replaced by the time thats a real problem

How often do you upgrade your IT kit ?

[Cipher]

Hello,

I personally think SSDs are worth the investment. I have recently purchased a Corsair Performance 3 SSD. Its rated speeds are : Read 480MB/s Write 320MB/s. I have to mention that these speeds are only possible on a SATA III connection. Otherwise you will be looking at 285 MB/S max speeds on the older SATA II connections. I paired this with a relatively inexpensive 1 TB Samsung 7200 RPM 3.5 Inch internal HDD. I have my OS (Windows 7) and other applications installed on the SSD and the other stuff including games and media on the Samsung drive. I have noticed an increase in performance and decreased boot up times since I have upgraded to the SSD. I have also noticed that the drive performance has increased a tad the more I have been using it, but I believe this down to TRIM on Windows 7

I don't really have much experience with the hybrid drives so I can't really comment on them but my colleague who has two Seagate Momentus XT drives says that while they do offer a slight increase in performance, he wouldn't recommend them over SSDs


Regards

Alex

[Durbs]

What is the current situation with drive longevity? It's a stereotype by now that you shouldn't use a SSD for a swap-file

Given that Apple now use the things in a lot of their notebooks and they are generally Apple Care'd up to 3 years i'd guess they are confident with longevity.

There were a few reviewed in the recent copy of Computer Shopper that i read and price-wise, they are now looking ok, think one they liked was: Kingston SSDNow V+100 96GB review | Expert Reviews and they metnioned another chipset that was good but cannae remember the name, may be on their site.

[d000hg]

Last time I looked into getting a SSD, the Intel X-25 was getting a load of good reviews. Is any company or range standing ahead these days or is it simply a case of picking something modern?

What is the current situation with drive longevity? It's a stereotype by now that you shouldn't use a SSD for a swap-file BUT does anyone know if this is now fixed? Unless you know specifically about modern drives, please don't bother posting what you read in the past, unless clearly stated, as this simply adds misinformation.

Some disks that got great reviews:

Kingston 40Gb boot drive
Intel X-25 M 2nd gen

But those reviews are over 1 year old and SSDs are a fast-moving technology. Anyone keep up with the hardware news?

And are hybrid drives mature by now (internal spinny disk with a small SSD stuck inside) and a good choice?