Maximum PC

I bought (2) Intel X25-M SSDSA2MH160G2R5, 160gb SSD’s from Newegg and two weeks later started having disk paging errors and system lockups. I downloaded Intel’s new SSD Tools; firmware update & new “trimâ€

why'd you buy an X25M in the first place might I ask? Therein lies the first problem, have you been reading any of MaxPC's SSD reviews by any chance?

Yes I've stayed fairly current on the Intel reviews....have you? You might note the last two reviews at Maximum PC are favorable. Also note the drives in question are the newest G2 versions....

yes but they also note that the Corsair P128 and Patriot Torqx are far superior, even vs. the G2's. Don't get me wrong, the X-25M isn't a bad drive, but there are definitely better options out there nowadays.

This is why I keep all packaging for every electronic device I own until I get rid of it, sell it, or trash it. I've got 30 year old stereo equipment boxes, even. Defective returns, warranty claims, even for storage when not using the item. Without the original packaging, Newegg or any other vendor has no way of proving they sold you a dud item.

Honestly unless your inot benching i would just get a mid priced ssd since RL performance wont be any different from a uber high end ssd(this comes from first hand experience)

Heh, no matter why the "OEM" X-25Ms are so cheap for their capacity (80GB for them vs. 64GB for other brands). They are secretly selling refurbs, aren't they? I mean, everyone else seems to be sold out here, like Amazon and Buy.com, which seem to be only selling third-party with gouging prices and high shipping charges. Did Intel discontinue any new 80GB MLC production? Seems like they are favoring that much more expensive 64GB SLC, which doesn't sound as worth the while. Perhaps I may go with a Corsair or Patriot 128GB at this point...might be our only chance of having anything really reliable.

EDIT: These Corsair P128s seem to be the ones that seem to have good recommendation over the X-25M. However, I dunno how long that $370 price tag'll hold up, tho. Knowning Newegg, when they bring 'em back in stock, they'll most likely be more than $450, don't be surprised. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820233087 I may get one of these from Amazon, tho, at least they seem a little more reliable when it comes to not gouging the price too much, or wind up selling a refurb secretly.

This thread should have been updated. It was a batch of the initial drives at release that were crummy and Intel agreed to replace each and any of these models with "fixed" run. These then had firmware issue that locked them up when you enabled security, and was cured in about a week. Intel ALSO fully supported replacements if needed as well.

It's teething issues ALL SSD manufactures have gone through, not just Intel.MPC is not infallible. Their review of the P128 and Torqx doesn't remotely correspond to what I seen in-house, or what any other website at the time were reporting. There's specific ways of testing SSD's and can't be reviewed like you do spindle drives. They just should be taken with a grain of salt.

If reviewed again today, I bet ya the Intel M's would get a different verdict. A follow up, kinda like Anand continues to do as SSD's progress would be nice now and then. One 500-word article isn't always a rue look at a piece of hardware. Especially if it was just 2M writes that brought the entire X-25M down...

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdo ... i=3667&p=6

I have 4 Intel m's and I love them