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General discussion

What's the best SSD brand you think?

May 20, 2016 3:13AM PDT
Grin
Hi, I just got too much SSD reviews, they all look good but expensive. I'd like one cheaper but in good performance.
Any recommendations?

Discussion is locked

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Best SSD
May 20, 2016 6:45PM PDT

The best is the Samsung EVO 850 series. You can get a 250 gig right now for as low as $85 and 120 gig would be cheaper yet. You can go bigger if you need. There are others that are excellent such as Crucial. You can find cheap ones on sale for less but for the small difference why not go with the best.

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Samsung is expensive.
May 22, 2016 11:25PM PDT
Sad Sad
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I believed Samsung is the one...
May 23, 2016 9:34AM PDT

with the technology to make HIGH capacity SSD in a small package. Any under 500GB, the other companies should do.

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Have to disagree.
May 23, 2016 10:56AM PDT

MLC then TLC technology is now found in all the brands. Even ones you haven't heard of.

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I generally just go for the well known name like...
May 20, 2016 9:23PM PDT

Intel, Toshiba, Sand Disk, but only when they are on sales.

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I thought 3D is the latest.
May 23, 2016 5:53PM PDT

I guess I haven't heard of the latest. So why is Samsung cost more then?

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Any other websites for SSD reviews?
May 22, 2016 11:36PM PDT

Except tom's hardware.

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Website for SSD Reviews
May 23, 2016 11:20AM PDT

Tweaktown.com does very good, in-depth SSD reviews. One thing worth remembering when reading the Conclusion or Final Words on all SSD reviews is that they base their rating, at least in part, on the current price at the time they wrote the review. So, for example, a good performing SSD might get get only a lukewarm recommendation if it was considered expensive at the time. But, if the price has come down since then it could be a very good buy assuming it was a good performer anyway. One example would be review of the Mushkin Enhanced Reactor 1TB SSD review. Due to it's high-ish suggested retail price of $350 at the time of the review Tweaktown.com did not enthusiastically recommend it. However, that exact SSD is now $219, making it an outstanding choice for good mainstream performance at a low price. The only other 1TB SSDs near or below that price are simply not as good as the Mushkin Reactor.

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Economy class
May 21, 2016 4:25AM PDT

Adata.

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There is definitely a less costly option...
May 21, 2016 6:53AM PDT

There is definitely a less costly option to the the Samsung EVO 850, the current SOHO darling, and that is the Crucial MX200 500GB SATA - CT500MX200SSD1, $149 (with free shipping) from Amazon. I have no idea why neither this article nor the Tom's article mentioned this drive... a puzzling omission, considering its wide availability and low price. I have 6 working laptops in my home office and installed one of these in each over the last several months. The performance boost is nothing short of astonishing, and the price can't be beat. They come with a stripped-down version of Acronis, so you can easily copy your existing drive, as long as it's a simple cloning job. For some unknown reason, Acronis was unable to clone one of my drives so I used my Aluratek disk copying device. Also, since one of my existing drives was only 128GB, the resulting active partition on the clone was consequently the same size. After cloning it, I used AOMEI Partition Assistant Home Edition (free download) to enlarge the partition to access the remainder of the 500GB drive.

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Great replies here.
May 21, 2016 8:21AM PDT

Since I can take a littler risk I've been using the other brands like Silicon Power, Adata and a few others. They are not that much cheaper and work fine so far. The only thing I haven't seen yet are the fakes you might find on Ebay.

Just like PCs, the days of best brand may be waning.

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Easy recommendations
May 21, 2016 10:20AM PDT

Right now these SSDs are among the best. Warranty is standard 3-years. Do a Google search for the models shown below to compare prices, or check Newegg.com (especially for the Mushkin models) and Amazon.com. Also, Jet.com offers up to $30 max. discount for first-time buyers. Note that free delivery from Jet may take up to 10 days.

Best entry-level / low price: Mushkin ECO 2, or PNY CS 1211, or Sandisk Plus.
For just a few dollars more there's the excellent bang-for-buck Mushkin Enhanced Reactor.

Mainstream / mid-price. Typically, with standard 3-year warranty: Samsung 850 EVO, Mushkin Enhanced Reactor. Crucial MX200 (if on sale).

High performance / high-price with 10-year warranty: Sandisk Extreme Pro, Samsung 850 Pro. For video/photo editing, frequent copying of very large files or large database work the Sandisk has the fastest sustained Write speeds and lowest latency. Otherwise, the Samsung 850 Pro is a little faster for everything else. But, both models are heavy-duty performers.

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I'm entry level.
May 22, 2016 11:19PM PDT

Thanks! Sandisk Extreme Pro Looks good.

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SSD Brand
Jun 21, 2016 2:52AM PDT

The best SSD brand are as follows:
1.) OCZ Trion 150
2.) Transcend SSD370
3.) Samsung 850 EVO
4.) Samsung 850 Pro