[PKeeble]

Developers do a lot of 4KB operations. Source files tend to be small as do database updates.

The current market leader in this is the OCZ Vertex 3, a considerably faster drive than the Intel 510. Indeed intel's X25-M is better at 4KB operations than the new drive.

The 510 is a disappointment, get an OCZ Vertex instead, its cheaper and faster for the sorts of operations that matter. See anandtech for more details:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4202/the-intel-ssd-510-review

[justinsb]

Avoid OCZ. I had a Vertex 2 SSD fail after about two weeks. What's really a big gotcha is that it fails 100% immediately; there are no warning signs as there often are with a hard disk.

I looked into it: I believe that there's actually an assertion that got hit in the OCZ firmware, and then it goes into a lock-down mode. However, there's no way for an end-user to exit this mode and recover any data (it simply won't respond to SATA commands), nor are OCZ willing to unlock it for you.

[moe]

I had a Vertex 2 SSD fail after about two weeks.

Anecdote != data. We have 8 of them in database-server for over 6 months without problems. Yes, we abuse them for a server workload.

[justinsb]

Sure, just sharing my personal experience. The pathological failure behaviour due to a software bug is not something I'd previously considered when choosing a drive.

I hope you've got good backups.

[reeses]

It's a very common problem with certain levels of firmware. Fortunately, OCZ has been very good for replacing bricked drives for us, almost no questions asked, so yes, keep backups.

Drives fail. SSDs are no exception. That doesn't mean it doesn't drive me crazy when they do, however. :-)

[moe]

The pathological failure behaviour

This is not specific to SSDs. Drives fail. Usually very early (infant death) or very late, google for 'bathtub curve'.

Spreading FUD about a specific vendor isn't fair unless you can back it up with data. The failure rate that is commonly cited for sandforce drives is around 2% - regardless of vendor. If you have different data then I'm curious to read about it.

[justinsb]

I think there's a bigger problem here - this isn't just normal bathub-curve component failure. What seems to be happening is that the firmware panics due to an assertion being hit, and what could be a hiccup that requires a reboot becomes a total data loss event.

"gamble" suggested above that this is related to power-saving modes. That fits with our different experiences (laptop vs server). Think about how you would feel if you rebooted your server, it went through a different power mode as part of shutdown, and when it came back all eight of your presumably nicely RAIDed drives were dead. Of course a lightning strike could do the same thing, but you have a surge protector that guards against that. How are you protecting against your SSD's firmware? That's my real concern.

As to whether it's SandForce or OCZ, I'm just going to go Intel next time. You're free to go with OCZ or a non-battery-backed ramdisk - it's all the same to me :-)

[moe]

this isn't just normal bathub-curve component failure

What part of "unless you can back it up with data" didn't you understand?

How are you protecting against your SSD's firmware?

Just like against any other hardware fault: By having backups and redundancy. Bugs happen. You're making it sound as if this was somehow specific to OCZ - which remains bullshit until you provide data beyond anecdotical evidence.

And FWIW I'm neither affiliated with OCZ, nor emotionally tied to the brand. We also run X-25s in production, my Mac Mini has an X-25 and my Macbook has an OCZ.

[dablue]

+1 for good backups

My strategy from now on is to to mirror the SSD to a traditional HDD. That way, in the case of a SSD failure, we can accept the performance hit and still be able to run smoothly from the platter.

[justinsb]

Check out Facebook's FlashCache: they use SSDs as a cache on to traditional HDDs. You can have a read-cache to keep 'hot' data fast, and (if you want to) you can have a write cache that will buffer writes on SSD before flushing to HDD.

I don't know whether it's ready for general (non-Facebook) use yet, but it is definitely one to watch.

[coin]

My only concern with OCZ SSDs are initial quality. Just look Newegg's reviews, there a whole bunch of people who received DOA units or they fail after a month.

[wiredfool]

I've had two OCZ ssds (granted, they were early models) that worked for a combined total of 2 weeks. My intel ones, though, have been solid. I keep looking at OCZ, thinking that they're a pretty good price for the performance, but not wanting to go down that rathole again.

[calebhicks]

I keep looking, but can't find the Vertex 3 available anywhere. Any news on a release date?

[CognitiveLens]

From what I've read, most sources are expecting late March availability.

[nickbp]

On the flip side, they apparently optimized for large sequential accesses, so this can be good drive if you do a lot of image/video editing.