some bad intel series 320 reports.

[philipma1957]

I found a thread on the intel 320 series ssds. seems like some sleep issues and dead drives.


http://communities.intel.com/thread/22227?start=0&tstart=0


I have been reading it makes me a bit nervous as I have a 600gb unit costing over 1k. well 725 after discount. Since I purchased it on ebay I do have a warranty on it via square trade. So as a heads up intel is joining the club of DOA.

Although most users have a problem with it in pc's not macs at least on the intel forum thread.

 

[nanofrog]

Interesting.....

Not sure how often this is actually happening out in the field (seems to pop up under torture testing), but at least it appears to be fixable via a firmware update.

And one of those posts indicates that Intel expects the fix to be ready in July. So if this happens as scheduled/expected, at least it shouldn't be like the issue with the SF-1281 based SSD's.

But if you're not turning the system on and off rapidly (power cycle testing), I wouldn't break out into a panic, assuming the posts are correct.

 

[philipma1957]

24/7 WITH a ups so I figure i am okay

 

[MacinJosh]

Crap... Here I was, sitting with a smug smile on my face, congratulating myself for not getting a Sandforce drive, feeling so secure in the knowledge that I had a dependable Intel 320. Crap...

EDIT: Can Macs update Intel SSD Firmware or do we need Winblows? If Winblows, would VMWare work? CCC, here I come... I have hourly backups with TM but who knows...

 

[philipma1957]

Crap... Here I was, sitting with a smug smile on my face, congratulating myself for not getting a Sandforce drive, feeling so secure in the knowledge that I had a dependable Intel 320. Crap...

EDIT: Can Macs update Intel SSD Firmware or do we need Winblows? If Winblows, would VMWare work? CCC, here I come... I have hourly backups with TM but who knows...

it may f up more running windows from what I have read on the thread. one large company purchased 600 and had 7 go bad if true that is about 1.1 percent. double the older intel rate of .59 percent. I now clone the ssd every other day with superduper I may do it daily.

 

[Pressure]

No reason to cause a stir over something that affects much less than 1% of the buyers.

Still with this unfortunate bug, Intel is still ahead when it comes to reliability.

 

[flatfoot]

Crap... Here I was, sitting with a smug smile on my face, congratulating myself for not getting a Sandforce drive, feeling so secure in the knowledge that I had a dependable Intel 320. Crap...

EDIT: Can Macs update Intel SSD Firmware or do we need Winblows? If Winblows, would VMWare work? CCC, here I come... I have hourly backups with TM but who knows...

Intel provide a bootable ISO image for the firmware updater on their website.

 

[eC1990ho]

Intel provide a bootable ISO image for the firmware updater on their website.

could you explain me how this works?
I'm a mac newbie

 

[flatfoot]

could you explain me how this works?
I'm a mac newbie

It's an image you can burn onto a CD. This image contains an operating system (presumably DOS) and the flashing utility.
Then all you have to do is boot from that CD and start the flashing utility. I'm pretty sure they have a manual online for that, too.

 

[derbothaus]

No reason to cause a stir over something that affects much less than 1% of the buyers.

Still with this unfortunate bug, Intel is still ahead when it comes to reliability.

This is what I've been saying about the OWC's. No problems for me but everyone sheepled off against them thanks to OCZ. Too much performance, I guess

 

[ActionableMango]

I still say that OCZ, OWC, Intel, Sandforce, Samsung, or even hard drives you need a backup solution for your important data.

To buy one over the other and pretend it's all going to be fine is stupid.

 

[nanofrog]

No reason to cause a stir over something that affects much less than 1% of the buyers.

Still with this unfortunate bug, Intel is still ahead when it comes to reliability.

This is how I look at it as well.

Affects few users from available data, Intel is aware of the issue, and has already issued a tentative date for a fix in the near future.

Thus it's nothing to panic over.

I still say that OCZ, OWC, Intel, Sandforce, Samsung, or even hard drives you need a backup solution for your important data.

To buy one over the other and pretend it's all going to be fine is stupid.

I agree.

Unfortunately, some never listen to this advice and have to learn the hard way.