Are SSD's actually reliable?

[Raphhashem]

I'm unsure whether I should buy an ssd as I always hear about limited reads and writes they can perform before they die. I've never heard this about standard hard drives and somehow I've never had a hard drive die on me. I'm still using a 20gb maxtor hard drive as a boot from, I can't even remember when. I have a 1tb Wd blue hard drive for games and pretty much everything though. If I buy an SSD and use it as a boot drive, will it last me? And would it be worth it on sata two?

 

"I'm planning on buying a Samsung 840 EVO 120gb ssd and want to use it as a boot drive. Will it last as long as my normal hard drive  and be worth using on sata II?"

[SAV1OUR]

their more reliable then spiny disks  

[MangoJuiceStain]

Yes, they're way more reliable than hard drives.

[Benjamin G]

I'm unsure whether I should buy an ssd as I always hear about limited reads and writes they can perform before they die. I've never heard this about standard hard drives and somehow I've never had a hard drive die on me. I'm still using a 20gb maxtor hard drive as a boot from, I can't even remember when. I have a 1tb Wd blue hard drive for games and pretty much everything though. If I buy an SSD and use it as a boot drive, will it last me? And would it be worth it on sata two?

 

"I'm planning on buying a Samsung 840 EVO 120gb ssd and want to use it as a boot drive. Will it last as long as my normal hard drive  and be worth using on sata II?"

If you just use it for reading then it should outlast a regular harddrive. Write to it however and it will degrade relatively quickly depending on your usage.

[Jaybird]

your SSD will out last your system, in theory. they are very much reliable. just bought 2x 120gb evo the other day. 

[WoodenMarker]

A modern ssd should last longer than you need it to and is generally more reliable than the fragile ticking time bomb that is the hdd.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-reliability-failure-rate,2923-3.html

http://us.hardware.info/reviews/4178/10/hardwareinfo-tests-lifespan-of-samsung-ssd-840-250gb-tlc-ssd-updated-with-final-conclusion-final-update-20-6-2013

 

What makes a ssd feel snappy is the random read speed and random seek time. Sata 3gb/s will not bottleneck that. 

[SpaceSquid]

You will upgrade the SSD before it even comes close to dying.

[Ryan Leech]

Throughout my experience, I have never had a drive die. So I can't speak as to the quality of SSDs. I do still have a 2006 WD Caviar SE that works fine

[DeViLzzz]

Love my hard drives.  I have never had one die.  I did have one DOA but quickly replaced by NCIX and not a problem with the drive I was given.  As for SSDs the more you write to them the closer they are to death.  Also if you don't shut your pc off who cares about fast boot up times benefit from an SSD.  Seriously no need for SSDs in my household.

In regards to them being reliable I haven't heard as many bad things about them after some real stinks from OCZ long ago and I believe OCZ isn't even around as a company anymore.  Is that correct?

[Analog]

I have two Samsung 830 256GB SSDs, which I am abusing for a 1 year now. I have made at least 3-4 Windows reinstalls with all of the programs, which go with it, I have installed and deleted at least 200GB of games multiple times, etc., and their health status in S.M.A.R.T. is still at maximum. This means that they are pretty reliable indeed. 

[paulsterio]

Love my hard drives.  I have never had one die.  I did have one DOA but quickly replaced by NCIX and not a problem with the drive I was given.  As for SSDs the more you write to them the closer they are to death.  Also if you don't shut your pc off who cares about fast boot up times benefit from an SSD.  Seriously no need for SSDs in my household.

In regards to them being reliable I haven't heard as many bad things about them after some real stinks from OCZ long ago and I believe OCZ isn't even around as a company anymore.  Is that correct?

 

This is the most ignorant thing I have ever read with regards to PC hardware. It's not about just fast boot up times. You will experience no lag when opening up programs, your computer will be more responsive, your games will load in like half the time...etc. 

[DeViLzzz]

This is the most ignorant thing I have ever read with regards to PC hardware. It's not about just fast boot up times. You will experience no lag when opening up programs, your computer will be more responsive, your games will load in like half the time...etc.

I am not ignorant of the fact that little things will load up quicker but seriously when it comes to games generally the only benefit is loading cg movies quicker.  Big freaking deal.  Sorry but I would rather have a hard drive and oh hey what is the GB per dollar ratio for SSDs? 

[DeViLzzz]

I have two Samsung 830 256GB SSDs, which I am abusing for a 1 year now. I have made at least 3-4 Windows reinstalls with all of the programs, which go with it, I have installed and deleted at least 200GB of games multiple times, etc., and their health status in S.M.A.R.T. is still at maximum. This means that they are pretty reliable indeed. 

Yeah and how much did those 2 x Samsung 830 256 GB SSDs cost you?

[Analog]

Yeah and how much did those 2 x Samsung 830 256 GB SSDs cost you?

 

A lot, something like 500 euros back in the day.  But it is still much faster than a HDD.

[BrightCandle]

I bought a m4 512GB about 3 years ago and its been trucking along ever since. I have done probably about 5-6 reinstalls of the machine since then, its get heavily used everyday, I benchmark on it and do quite a lot of professional work that reads and writes a lot of files with it. Currently it tells me its got 99% of its life left. I have literally barely scratched the surface of the disks usable life, its almost new.

 

I have a much older Intel 80GB first gen SSD that I have had since they came out. Its been installed in many different computers, only used for work (which in my case is heavy on the small disk writes as a programmer) and has been reinstalled in terms of OS and such about 25 times. It must be 5 years old now, maybe 6 and its showing 94% of its life remaining.

 

Saying that I have had 2 Vertex 2E's die on me within just a little over a year.

 

I think the wear for SSDs is basically a none issue for most people. You can write Peta Byte's of writes to them before they fail and no one does that in the life time of the drive. Their reliability however is still questionable, they aren't at the quality of RAM/CPU/GPUs in terms of being solid state devices. They still fail like hard drives although the data tells us they fail a lot less. 

[paulsterio]

I am not ignorant of the fact that little things will load up quicker but seriously when it comes to games generally the only benefit is loading cg movies quicker. Big freaking deal. Sorry but I would rather have a hard drive and oh hey what is the GB per dollar ratio for SSDs?

Have you used an SSD? If that's your argument, you clearly haven't.

[wpirobotbuilder]

Depends on the drive and use case.

 

If you put a consumer SSD into an enterprise storage machine and run your storage off of that, it'll probably be dead within weeks. On the other hand if you put an enterprise SSD into a consumer gaming PC, it'll last for decades. Similarly with hard drives, a WD Blue or Seagate Barracuda in a rack with spinning disks and fans creating vibrations will die pretty quickly. Using a WD RE or a Constellation in your gaming PC will probably outlast its warranty by several years. Appropriately matching the drive you purchase to your needs will ensure your drive lasts close to your warranty.

 

With that said, SSDs are far less likely to die from being dropped or shipped improperly, and generally don't suffer quick deaths as a result of a manufacturing defect like hard drives can.

[DeViLzzz]

Have you used an SSD? If that's your argument, you clearly haven't.

No I haven't used an SSD and I gave valid reasons throughout my posts as to why I and some others have not jumped on board with these.  There just really is no point in me getting one at this time and for many reasons I can't recommend others getting them in certain situations ... many situations honestly.

[paulsterio]

No I haven't used an SSD and I gave valid reasons throughout my posts as to why I and some others have not jumped on board with these.  There just really is no point in me getting one at this time and for many reasons I can't recommend others getting them in certain situations ... many situations honestly.

 

How can you possibly, with any validity, claim that SSDs are not required when you have not used one? 

 

Of course, you're entitled to your own opinion, but I personally have used both SSDs and HDDs, so have many others who are in favour of using an SSD. 

[Analog]

SSDs are expensive, but they are definitively worth it. Once you get one, there is no turning back! You will never want to use a traditional HDD for your Windows and programs, only for mass storage or a scratch disk (what I am doing with mine). 

[Guest]

HDD vs SSD is like membrane vs mechanical... Why get mechanical if you can type on a membrane keyboard?

[Homicidium]

your SSD will out last your system, in theory. they are very much reliable. just bought 2x 120gb evo the other day. 

 

Bought two Evo's and has a glorious beard? Ladies, this man is a winner!

[Paralectic]

They are certainly reliable, way more than HDDs.

[SMURG]

I use 2 SSDs as read and write caches for a server, and these things see terrabytes worth of read/write cycles. Not had one fail on me yet.

[Jaybird]

Bought two Evo's and has a glorious beard? Ladies, this man is a winner!

I know right! How the heck am I still single?!