[wcfields]

Something Awful's Hardware/Software forum has a huge thread on SSDs. The thread name is pretty explicit of what NOT to use:

"The SSD Megathread - Don't buy OCZ or Crucial drives, read the OP!"

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=345...

To summarize if you don't have an account:

I don't want to read anything just tell me what SSD to buy! (last updated: 07/25/2013)

The Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe is consistently the best value, get a 240GB or larger drive if you can for best results. The non-Deluxe version uses slightly slower memory, but the Deluxe is usually only ~$5 more expensive so get that unless the non-Deluxe is on sale. See the lists below for more options:

Great, rock-solid drives: * Samsung 840 Pro

* Intel SSD 520 (probably not worth the price premium, discontinued)

* SanDisk Extreme

* Intel SSD 330 (3K-endurance memory)

Good value drives: * Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe (best value, the non-Deluxe version is only a bit slower, but also usually not much cheaper)

* Intel SSD 335 (1.5K-endurance memory, 240GB+ only)

* Samsung 840 non-Pro (1K-endurance memory, 250GB+ only, 120GB version may only last ~3.5 years)

BAD drives to avoid: * OCZ drives have very poor reliability, probably due to insufficient memory validation.

* Kingston drives seem to have reliability issues, perhaps also due to insufficient memory validation?

* ADATA drives also seem to have issues due to memory validation.

* Crucial drives are plagued by firmware issues. The M4 has had a lot of problems but seems to have stabilized (but is a poor value today so shouldn't be purchased), the M500 is brand-new and has known issues, and the V4 is the worst SSD on the market (far slower than an HDD).

* Plextor drives benchmark well but have poorly-tuned firmware.

* SATA300 and other older/last-gen drives are not as reliable as modern drives.

NEW drives to avoid until they mature: * Samsung 840 EVO (potential to be the best SSD)

* SanDisk Extreme II (brand new, lots of potential)

* SanDisk Ultra Plus (would make a decent low-end drive, but isn't usually much cheaper than the other faster drives in the "Good" list above such as the Mushkin Enhanced Chronos)

* Seagate 600 and 600 Pro (new LAMD-based drives, seem to have potential)

* Crucial M500 (960GB model is interesting, but M500 has firmware issues, Crucial has a BAD history resolving those)

* Corsair Neutron (new LAMD-based drive with the same name and better performance, how to tell apart from old slower Corsair Neutron?)

[AsymetricCom]

Funny, my 520 got flaky after 6 months and failed after 2 years.

[StavrosK]

I have an Intel (not sure which model, X-25M? Does that exist?) I got in 2009, it started failing last year (SMART warned me). I emailed Intel about it and they asked me to send them SMART results, I did, they told me to mail them the drive, I backed everything up just fine and sent it in, and a (hellish, HDD-slow) week later I got a brand new one.

Restored the data, it's still going like a champ.

[Freaky]

> not sure which model, X-25M? Does that exist?

Yup, famous for being pretty much the first range of affordable SSDs that didn't suck.

The year before you'd be lucky to get more than double digit random writes/sec with anything. One OCZ I tried around that time couldn't even get past one digit - it managed something like 6 writes/second. Then the X-25M/E, came out and suddenly we get tens of thousands.

[epsylon]

Anecdotal evidence. No manufacturer has a 0% defect rate.

Still, the return rates (for some online retailers but they are probably generalizable) have shown that Intel and Samsung are your best options.