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I have avoided them since I started buying SSDs because I associate their brand with Sandforce controllers, and I associate Sandforce controllers with drive fai

by bhauer 13y ago

I have avoided them since I started buying SSDs because I associate their brand with Sandforce controllers, and I associate Sandforce controllers with drive failure. Whether these associations are informed by and backed by data or not, they are among the points that steered me into the arms of Intel and Samsung for my SSD needs.

JohnBooty 13y ago
I associate their brand with Sandforce controllers, and I associate Sandforce controllers with drive failure. Whether these associations are informed by and backed by data or not, they are among the points that steered me into the arms of Intel and Samsung Intel has been using Sandforce controllers for a while, starting with the 520 early in 2012. I believe all their products since then have used Sandforce controllers - 330 and 335 definitely do. Source: http://www.storagereview.com/intel_ssd_520_review http://www.storagereview.com/intel_ssd_520_review http://www.anandtech.com/show/6388/intel-ssd-335-240gb-review http://www.anandtech.com/show/6388/intel-ssd-335-240gb-revie... etc All other things being equal (quality of NAND, workload, etc) the NAND on Sandforce drives will last longer because of their write compression. Of course, most drives will be replaced or retired before that point anyway. I think Sandforce had a bit of a bad rap for a while because they were the go-to controller for brands like OCZ who competed on price. Their actual silicon is great. In the hands of a manufacturer like Intel (or even OWC - not to be confused with OCZ) who puts quality and stability first, Sandforce controllers really shine.
- skrause 13y ago
  > All other things being equal (quality of NAND, workload, etc) the NAND on Sandforce drives will last longer because of their write compression. The write compression is the reason why I associate Sandforce with "I'm being punished for using full-disk encryption". I could never convince myself to buy any drive with a controller where one of the main advertised "advantages" was completely useless for my usecase.
tanzam75 13y ago
Intel's consumer SSDs use Sandforce controllers. However, Intel seems to have a more thorough QA team than the other companies. They made a lot of changes to the SF-2281 firmware before they accepted it for their drives. And then after it shipped, they discovered an AES-256 bug that every other manufacturer missed for over a year.
- aen0 13y ago
  Almost unrelated but every SSDs with the old SF-1200 (such as Corsair F60) are not compatible with the current Intel Haswell platform. The drive randomly disappears from the system and this on ALL motherboards. Google "sandforce 1200 haswell"

by bhauer 13y ago

JohnBooty 13y ago

I associate their brand with Sandforce controllers, and I associate Sandforce controllers with drive failure. Whether these associations are informed by and backed by data or not, they are among the points that steered me into the arms of Intel and Samsung Intel has been using Sandforce controllers for a while, starting with the 520 early in 2012. I believe all their products since then have used Sandforce controllers - 330 and 335 definitely do. Source: http://www.storagereview.com/intel_ssd_520_review http://www.storagereview.com/intel_ssd_520_review http://www.anandtech.com/show/6388/intel-ssd-335-240gb-review http://www.anandtech.com/show/6388/intel-ssd-335-240gb-revie... etc All other things being equal (quality of NAND, workload, etc) the NAND on Sandforce drives will last longer because of their write compression. Of course, most drives will be replaced or retired before that point anyway. I think Sandforce had a bit of a bad rap for a while because they were the go-to controller for brands like OCZ who competed on price. Their actual silicon is great. In the hands of a manufacturer like Intel (or even OWC - not to be confused with OCZ) who puts quality and stability first, Sandforce controllers really shine.

skrause 13y ago
> All other things being equal (quality of NAND, workload, etc) the NAND on Sandforce drives will last longer because of their write compression. The write compression is the reason why I associate Sandforce with "I'm being punished for using full-disk encryption". I could never convince myself to buy any drive with a controller where one of the main advertised "advantages" was completely useless for my usecase.

tanzam75 13y ago

Intel's consumer SSDs use Sandforce controllers. However, Intel seems to have a more thorough QA team than the other companies. They made a lot of changes to the SF-2281 firmware before they accepted it for their drives. And then after it shipped, they discovered an AES-256 bug that every other manufacturer missed for over a year.

aen0 13y ago
Almost unrelated but every SSDs with the old SF-1200 (such as Corsair F60) are not compatible with the current Intel Haswell platform. The drive randomly disappears from the system and this on ALL motherboards. Google "sandforce 1200 haswell"