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I avoid Crucial SSDs like the plague. They shipped the M4 and similar models with a firmware bug that causes the drive to stop working after 5000 hours of power

I avoid Crucial SSDs like the plague. They shipped the M4 and similar models with a firmware bug that causes the drive to stop working after 5000 hours of power on time: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Crucial-m4-Firmware-BSOD,14544.html http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Crucial-m4-Firmware-BSOD,14... Not cool.

kabdib 12y ago
Crucial, OCZ and Kingston were the favorite failure complaints on the email list I was on at Microsoft ("Hardware Junkies"). The wisdom a few years ago was to stick with Intel and Samsung. I see no reason to change that. I'd rather spend fifty or a hundred bucks more and get a drive that I'm pretty sure won't fall flat on its face.
- btgeekboy 12y ago
  OCZ is the worst - I avoid them like the plague now. I've had 2 of 3 of their SSDs fail on me.
yorick 12y ago
They actually found the bug and released a fimware update fixing it before anyone's SSD was 5000 hours old, and SSD owners (at least back in those days) are generally expected to install firmware updates. It was quite well-publicised, too; they handled it really well, except for the actual release.
- grapeshot 12y ago
  That wasn't even the only firmware problem with those drives. There was a later bug that would cause the drive to not be recognized after a hard power down, and it wouldn't show up again until you left the computer sitting at the BIOS screen for at least 20 minutes.
commandar 12y ago
It was fixed quickly and that's been the only major complaint I've seen. Further, the bug would cause reboots, but wasn't outright destructive. This is about the same time Sandforce based drives were failing left and right. tl;dr - Crucial is one of a handful of brands I do trust, and I've owned a number of the M4 series.
pling 12y ago
SSDs are complicated beasts. We don't use them on anything other than disposable workstations. Every problem with SSDs is down to software rather then hardware. Your M4s I wouldn't touch. There's nothing wrong with the hardware at all but the firmware sucks. As far as you can go with SSDs is buy the ones with the least shit firmware, which is Samsung 840 Pro. If your kit is mission critical, SAS is still the right choice. Crucial/Micron RAM has no firmware! As an ex EE this sort if crap is why I trust the hardware guys more than the software ones in life. We still haven't figured out software engineering yet.
- dale-cooper 12y ago
  I think the main issue is that hardware companies in general really suck at writing software.
  - pling 12y ago
    ALL companies suck at writing software. Our tools are in the dark ages still. There is nothing that combines the wisdom of the past and applies it to the problems of today.
    - new299 12y ago
      Wouldn't you say the same was true of hardware? What EE tools are available that help people avoid making stupid choices?
      - reportingsjr 12y ago
        I'm pretty new to actual engineering (I will be getting a BSEE in one year), but I've worked for a couple of years at a hardware company. From what I have seen I think EE and other types of engineering are quite a bit more rigorous than Software Engineering is currently. Also keep in mind that for firmware often times an EE will be the one doing the programming and much of the time they picked programming as another tool on the way rather than as another separate field of work.

kabdib 12y ago

Crucial, OCZ and Kingston were the favorite failure complaints on the email list I was on at Microsoft ("Hardware Junkies"). The wisdom a few years ago was to stick with Intel and Samsung. I see no reason to change that. I'd rather spend fifty or a hundred bucks more and get a drive that I'm pretty sure won't fall flat on its face.

btgeekboy 12y ago
OCZ is the worst - I avoid them like the plague now. I've had 2 of 3 of their SSDs fail on me.

yorick 12y ago

They actually found the bug and released a fimware update fixing it before anyone's SSD was 5000 hours old, and SSD owners (at least back in those days) are generally expected to install firmware updates. It was quite well-publicised, too; they handled it really well, except for the actual release.

grapeshot 12y ago
That wasn't even the only firmware problem with those drives. There was a later bug that would cause the drive to not be recognized after a hard power down, and it wouldn't show up again until you left the computer sitting at the BIOS screen for at least 20 minutes.

commandar 12y ago

It was fixed quickly and that's been the only major complaint I've seen. Further, the bug would cause reboots, but wasn't outright destructive. This is about the same time Sandforce based drives were failing left and right. tl;dr - Crucial is one of a handful of brands I do trust, and I've owned a number of the M4 series.

pling 12y ago

SSDs are complicated beasts. We don't use them on anything other than disposable workstations. Every problem with SSDs is down to software rather then hardware. Your M4s I wouldn't touch. There's nothing wrong with the hardware at all but the firmware sucks. As far as you can go with SSDs is buy the ones with the least shit firmware, which is Samsung 840 Pro. If your kit is mission critical, SAS is still the right choice. Crucial/Micron RAM has no firmware! As an ex EE this sort if crap is why I trust the hardware guys more than the software ones in life. We still haven't figured out software engineering yet.

dale-cooper 12y ago
I think the main issue is that hardware companies in general really suck at writing software.
- pling 12y ago
  ALL companies suck at writing software. Our tools are in the dark ages still. There is nothing that combines the wisdom of the past and applies it to the problems of today.
  - new299 12y ago
    Wouldn't you say the same was true of hardware? What EE tools are available that help people avoid making stupid choices?
    - reportingsjr 12y ago
      I'm pretty new to actual engineering (I will be getting a BSEE in one year), but I've worked for a couple of years at a hardware company. From what I have seen I think EE and other types of engineering are quite a bit more rigorous than Software Engineering is currently. Also keep in mind that for firmware often times an EE will be the one doing the programming and much of the time they picked programming as another tool on the way rather than as another separate field of work.