Which SSD Should I Buy?

[Unsaturated]

About a year ago, I did a bunch of research on SSD's, looking for the best value for an SSD in the 250 to 500 Gbyte range. (I could go to 1 Tbyte, but more than that is necessary for my purposes). At the time, I remember the Samsung EVO something-or-other was considered to be "best" after reading reviews on places like Tom's Hardware, etc...

Ultimately I didn't buy, since the price of the SSD seemed too high to justify the increase in system performance. The main reason why I wanted one was to speed the boot time of the system, but I wasn't really willing to spend the money.

However, it's a year later, and I still want one. Assume the prices have fallen, hopefully to the point where I can bring myself to spend the money (bit of a tightwad). I remember I did a lot of research, learning about things like which controller was best, read/write times, mean time before failure, cost per Gigabyte, etc...

Hoping someone here has awareness of all this technical data, and might be able to save me some time going through the research process all over again. I'm familiar with all the technical characteristics involved, but will need some "reminding". Also it occurs to me that there may have been some advances in technology since then, that might make buying one over the other a better decision. I like to buy the right hardware the first time, and not regret that I didn't do more research after I discover I should have went one way, rather than the other. Open discussion. I'm interested in all aspects of SSDs, so anything interesting would be appreciated, in case there's some hardware gurus that like to share what they know.

[phd21]

Hi Unsaturated,

If you do not already have an SSDrive (SSD), then it is one of the best purchases you can make to improve your overall computer system.

If you want to replace your current mechanical hard drive(s) with no special requirements like built-in hardware drive encryption, then you can use any of the SSD manufacturer's drives. I highly recommend checking warranty information, the longer the warranty the better.

I have been very impressed and pleased with Silicon Power SSDrives with a 3 year warranty, and they have others with 5 year warranties, etc...

Amazon.com: Silicon Power 256GB SSD 3D NAND With R/W Up To 550/450MB/s A55 SLC Cache Performance Boost SATA III 2.5" 7mm (0.28") Internal Solid State Drive (SP256GBSS3A55S25) $56us
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075R ... UTF8&psc=1

Hope this helps ...

[sdibaja]

Hoping someone here has awareness of all this technical data

well, that is not me. But I have been using SSDs for more then a year, and now own several, and using them on several devices...
Last year I was rehabbing some Dell 5410 laptops, found some 120 GB drives on Ebay for $40 each. I forget the brand. They are all serving well, and not over full. HUGE improvement in overall performance. One needed more room so I put a 750GB HHD in a CD tray adapter for storage space.
In Laptops they really shine. Less power so more battery life, less heat, and a fall to the floor does not kill the drive.
I use them in my desktops also, as a primary drive. Use for Storage is a waste.
One laptop has a 512 M.2 SSD combined with a 240 SSD... fast, and backups are lightning fast.

Bottom line: I personally feel any of the "known brands" are good. And the bargain ones are also good.

PS: I am anal about Backup! of all data regardless.

[lsemmens]

I'm more than happy witht the Kingston 120Mb drive I have installed in my Lappy. I'm seriously looking to replace my OS drives on my other machines too. For data storage, Bang (space) for buck, a magnetic drive is still best value. Performance wise, SSDs are brilliant! Windows 10 used to take me about 10minutes to perform a re-boot with a conventional HDD my lappie now only takes just on a minute!

[Citizen229]

I have been using OCZ brand, pretty much since 60gb cost $300 USD. I still use every SSD i have purchased. Have yet to have to discard one for wear.

[Pepi]

I've got 6 Samsung SSD drives and they have all been flawless

[sevendogs]

Samsung 850s here, both pro and standard. Pro has a 10 year warranty. Working great for me.

[AndyMH]

The only thing I would add is - what are you fitting it into? If a laptop, check out the height requirements. Just replaced the SSD in my Thinkpad with a bigger one. Needs a 7mm drive, a 9mm drive won't fit. Unlikely, but, my previous Thinkpad (a T410) had a 1.8" drive not 2.5" = less common = more expensive.