SSD & Hard Drive Problems

[Scornduffer]

I just installed a new computer and cannot access some of my hard drives.

I am booting from a OCZ 60 GIG SSD and its almost full. I wanted to use the other OCZ ssd 180 gig for games, docs, etc. It shows up in the device manager and on devices but I cannot access it!

I also installed a WD 640 gig on SATA and it doesn't show up at all. It has all my other files from the other computer and I can't restore them.

Please advise.

[profJim]

Is your 60GB ssd boot drive from a different system that you've installed on this system?
If yes, what was the previous motherboard model and cpu model?
Is the 180GB ssd a brand new, un-formatted drive?
What are the sata port names used for each of your drives?
What are the full model names for each of your drives?

Run Disk Management and post a cropped screen-shot of the window that shoes all of the partitions and information summary for each drive.
In Device Manager, are there any yellow warning icons for any of your drives?

[Scornduffer]

I was able to run disk management and the OCZ drive showed up and I formatted it.

Is your 60GB ssd boot drive is a new drive for this system that I've on this system?

The 640 GIG WD is from a quad core 8400 and NEO GEO 2 MB.

The 640 drive has all my other info on it and it isn't showing when i boot up.

[profJim]

Your 640GB data drive problem might be due to:
1) bad data or power cable going to the drive
2) you are using a sata port with a higher port number than your optical drives

With your ssd boot drive nearly full, you are probably getting significantly lower performance.
I'm not going to waste my time asking additional questions when you don't provide answers.
When you don't provide detailed hardware information in your PC Specs, it's much harder for us to help you.

[Scornduffer]

Sorry, but here are my specs and you were right the cable was bad as I took out the WD640 drive and put it into another system and the drive booted up fine.

I will change the cable and try that and here are my specs. The smaller OCZ brive that I boot from has about 10 gigs free. Is that enough or will that hurt performance?

Motherboard	Asrock Z77 Extreme 4
Processor	Itel i5-3570
Memory	G Skill
Video Card #1	Saphire 6850 1 Gig DDR 5
Hard Drive #1	OCZ 60 GIG SSD
Hard Drive #2	OCZ 180 GIG SSD
Hard Drive #3	Western Digital 640 GIG
Optical Drive #1	Asus DVD
Optical Drive #2	Asus DVD
Case	Coolermaster 690
Cooler	Coolermaster
Operating System	Windows 7 64 Bit

[profJim]

After almost two years, my 60GB sata2 OCZ Agility2 ssd has about 10GB of free space remaining and my dual core P35 system is lagging at times. In the beginning, I moved some data folders and win7 folders to the first partition of my 4K-aligned hard drive. All of the details are in the new SSD: OCZ Agility2 60GB (Extended Capacity) thread link in my signature.

I'm going to buy a 128 or 256GB sata3 ssd for my boot drive, even though my current system only supports sata2 speeds.
I will not under any circumstances buy a sata3 ssd that uses asynchronous NAND. Check out my Asynchronous vs. Synchronous NAND Flash SSD Performance thread for links that explain why synchronous or toggle NAND is far superior to the somewhat less expensive asynchronous NAND drives. The better ssd review sites now perform "steady state" or data fill testing that shows how well the different ssd NAND types work when the drive is 25 to 50 to 75% full with "real world" test results.

Using an ssd with asynchronous NAND is OK for a budget system where maximum performance isn't important because someone is only doing light duty tasks such as web surfing, watching videos or listening to music. Knowing what I know now I would not let an asynchronous ssd get more than 50% full. You'll get a major headache if you try to compare posted ssd specs with real world performance. It is often hard to determine what type of NAND is used in specific ssd models. Some manufacturers have very similar model names where some models have the good NAND and others have the cheaper, lower performance NAND memory.

I'll be paying a bit more when I buy a Samsung 830 ssd that uses toggle NAND. Newegg recently had a short term sale price of about $160 for the 256GB Samsung 830 ssd. Right now they are selling the 128GB 830 model for $90 to $110. The holiday sales will be starting up near the middle or end of November and I'll buy my replacement ssd at that time. Some of the newer Samsung 840 models might be somewhat less expensive, but the performance won't be quite as good.

You did a nice job with your hardware list table, but....
....you didn't include model names or numbers for most of the hardware.

[parsec]

Why some SSD manufactures are still using asynchronous NAND is beyond me, and on some of their latest models. Then they put virtually identical specs on their synchronous and asynchronous models, which are never reached with the asynchronous models when the owners test them. Intel and Samsung don't use asynchronous NAND in any of their products, and I believe they never have.

I hope for your sake that Samsung doesn't do what Intel has done in the past, completely stop supplying their older models to retailers. Samsung may be clearing out the 830's now, and smart people are buying them now. A month or so doesn't seem very long, and you'll probably be fine, but who knows?

Actually the TLC version of the 840 has performed very well in reviews, I was surprised. The Samsung SSDs I use have been perfect, on any SATA interface (Marvell, ASMedia), but then I've never had issues with any SSDs in my collection.

[profJim]

Why some SSD manufactures are still using asynchronous NAND is beyond me, and on some of their latest models.

Because they can make money selling ssd's to value buyers who don't know any better, after all, many of their published specs (with an empty drive) are virtually the same as the high performance models. I fault most of the manufacturers who seemed to hide which type of NAND has been used in many or most of their models. I think that the TweakTown ssd reviewer was the first one to report on the consistently inferior asynchronous performance. Quite a few forum members got suckered into buying these lower performing drives.

AnandTech - Samsung Releases TLC NAND Based 840 SSD is a quick read that covers the new Samsung 840 Pro and TLC model introduction. The bottom line is that the Pro models have higher real world performance, a longer warranty and cost about 30% more than the TLC models. I'm impressed with the fact that Samsung ssd's have significantly fewer reported problems with firmware stability and don't have anywhere near the number of reported problems with stuttering or ssd's suddenly not being recognized by the motherboard.

Ssd prices are quite low right now, and there is currently a surplus of NAND memory, so much so that several major NAND manufactures have significantly reduced NAND production to better balance supply with demand.

For today only, Newegg has a "deal" that ends at midnight tonight for a

Kingston SSDNow V+200 KR-S3040-3H 2.5 Inch 240GB SATA III Internal 7mm Solid State Drive (SSD) (Stand-alone Drive)
$129.99 after a $30 MIR (with a promo code and with free shipping)

I checked out several reviews and it uses asynchronous NAND and it's real world performance is at the bottom of the ssd barrel. It's performance is far better than hard drives and it will probably be fine for someone who doesn't need top tier performance for their lower end, middle of the road system.

It would probably be fine for my current dual core systems as long as I only used no more than 40 - 50% of it's capacity. I've never had any problems with any of my Kingston hardware and this ssd should be as reliable as other similar lower end ssd's. With luck I might be able to find an inexpensive sata3 controller that will let me get half-fast sata3 speeds with my new drives.

I hate to say it, but I think that I just talked myself into buying 240GB asynchronous sata3 ssd's for both of my five year old systems.
I'm planning on building an overclocked Haswell system next summer so I'll buy a higher end ssd at that time when I'm ready to build my new system.

just my 2 cents.....
Never mind, I'll save some money and buy two Samsung 830 128GB ssd's for about $90 each and not even bother with a mail in rebate.

[parsec]

You should enjoy the 830's, I have several in three PCs, and they work great, not the slightest glitch. Even on third party SATA controllers, they are fine, and the Samsung Magician software works on those chipsets too.

[profJim]

@parsec, thanks for the information.

I ordered two Samsung 830 ssd's, one for each of my systems.
These will replace my OCZ Agility2 boot drives.
Newegg had a $10 off promo code and each drive cost $80.

The Samsung 840 ssd's are listed on Newegg with availability on October 23.
Here is a link to all of the Samsung ssd's on Newegg:
Newegg.com - SAMSUNG ssd models including 840 ssd model pre-order pricing

You can "compare" up to five items at a time.
This is a sample comparison:
Newegg.com - SAMSUNG ssd - 5 model comparison

**edit**
The new 840 Pro models have a 5 year warranty, all other models have the standard 3 year warranty.