My OCZ Vertex 2 Is Dead

[Hum]

Spinning?

Yes -- deep inside the drive, electrons are spinning.

[neo1911]

OCZ's Vertex 2 & 3 have high failure rate. OCZ has quietly swept the problem under the rug. Go for a different brand.

But first is the hard disk recognizable in bios? If yes, download some boot CD (Hiren's Boot CD) and perform a full slow format.

[f0rk_b0mb]

How long did the process take from shipping to receiving?

To ship it there was 2 days (I paid for 2 day shipping) and for them to verify it was 1 day. (They sent mine on overnight shipping). No problems thus far. I think we both got a dud drive because this new one is so much faster and stable. No freezes or BSODS thus far for me---I had the same problems as you.

[AimLXJ]

I just reconnected the SSD and same problem. GOD DAMIT OCZ. Sigh, gonna be a long day getting all my games and applications back to my customized settings once they send me one :(

[theyarecomingforyou]

I had a couple of Vertex LE drives die (the second was a replacement drive after I RMA'd the original) but my Vertex 3 has been rock solid.

[ZakO]

You had an OCZ Vertex 2 that nearly lasted two years :omg: ? We bought 10 at work and they all died in under a year, it's been just over 2 years now and most of them have been replaced 3 times (they're only used for temp storage, so it doesn't matter when they fail otherwise we would be using better drives).

[AimLXJ]

You had an OCZ Vertex 2 that nearly lasted two years :omg: ? We bought 10 at work and they all died in under a year, we've had them just over 2 years now and most of them have been replaced 3 times (they're only used for temp storage, so it doesn't matter when they fail otherwise we would be using better drives).

Probably because I took good care of it, as in I wasn't doing too many writing and most of the stuff goes on the hard disk drive along with the use of portable applications (smaller and less writing). OCZ you have disappointed me.

[+Neowin User 007 Subscriber²]

Experienced the same symptoms with my Vertex 3 a few months back. A secure wipe using the OCZ Bootable Linux Tools was enough to bring the drive back to full working order, but of course I lost everything. It took a few evenings to rebuild and re-install everything that I needed but eventually I was back up and running. In my case I didn't loose too much as the drive was solely hosting the OS and programs. Data is stored on a regular HDD.

I had to do this with my Corsair (except Hirens Linux) - it would hard lock during the OS install/use randomly.

[Denis W. Veteran]

I did this to my previous Crucial M4 SSD when it "died" (was a firmware problem).

Get an external enclosure - those toaster docks are ace - plug in your SSD into it and don't connect it to a computer. Leave it there turned on for a while, say 20 minutes. Then plug the dock's USB cable into another computer and cross your fingers for the drive to come back on - wait a bit, it can take a few more minutes before they'll show up.

If you don't have an enclosure, you could try disconnecting the SATA cable if this is a desktop. If this is a laptop, try booting the laptop to its BIOS screen while the drive is connected and leave it there.

[AimLXJ]

Okay guys what should I do, should I RMA or get a refund and buy one of Samsung's, Crucial's, or Intel's SSD? My desktop is running hard drive less ATM with the Live Xubuntu Disc (only distribution I have available) so I'm getting around okay with just browsing the web and watching videos.

[tytytucke]

Sorry for your loss. At least you still have your beautiful face.

[Hitman2000]

I too have had OCZ drives die on me twice, got a free replacement each time.

Third one is going strong hopefully this will last.

Im not too fussed tbh, I have nothing on the SSD except windows and a few programs, everything else have configured so it autosaves/backup eg like word documents, all autosave/recover to my 1tb hdd.

[AimLXJ]

I just found out about this: http://www.neowin.ne...han-34nm-units/

Mines has the 25nm :/

**EDIT**

Tech support said they will replace my Vertex 2 with a Vertex 3. Not bad but I hope the Vertex 3 won't die as easily like the Vertex 2 did.

[AimLXJ]

Its been over 1 week and still no word about my SSD :/ , so how long did it take for you guys?

[Brian M. Veteran]

I have an early Vertex 2 (as in launch week) that's been rock solid. I've also had 3 others (2 drives/replacements) die about 3-4 months into ownership. I had 2 later drives - both one died after roughly 3 months, second died after about 4, and the first replacement lasted about 2. At that point OCZ were good enough to replace them both with Vertex 3's.

[DAOWAce]

Tech support said they will replace my Vertex 2 with a Vertex 3. Not bad but I hope the Vertex 3 won't die as easily like the Vertex 2 did.

Well that's a deal and a half.

The Vertex 3+ lines are rock solid; I've been using one as my boot drive for a year. You shouldn't have any issues with them. Anyone still using an older generation SSD needs to look into replacing them.

Ignore OCZ's terrible reputation. They are a great company and were the focus of all the hate because they were always first to market with their SSDs. Other vendors using the same components had the EXACT SAME PROBLEMS, but they were nowhere near as popular as OCZ so they received received the massive amount of flak OCZ did. SandForce was the problem, not the SSD manufacturers.

As for the Vertex 3, make sure it's running firmware version 2.50 or later; that's when the problems with the SF controller got fixed.

[AimLXJ]

So it takes 1 week to replace the SSD and another week to ship it to my place (Taiwan -> California) so a total of 2 weeks :hmmm:

[tsupersonic]

Yep, my first (and only) OCZ SSD died within 4 months. I replaced it with a Intel X25 (now used for Steam games), and now my OS runs on a Samsung 830. My friends also have had terrible luck with OCZ. I've had great luck with Samsung, Intel, Crucial and also Corsair.

[f0rk_b0mb]

So it takes 1 week to replace the SSD and another week to ship it to my place (Taiwan -> California) so a total of 2 weeks :hmmm:

OCZ's headquarters are in California. I mailed mine there and got it back in 3 days (I live in Indiana). Why did they tell you to send it to Taiwan? If you do live in California like your profile says, it should have gotten to your place faster than mine..odd...

[AimLXJ]

OCZ's headquarters are in Californa. I mailed mine there and got it back in 3 days. Why did they tell you to send it to Taiwan?

I sent it to San Jose and they're shipping the Vertex 3 from Taiwan :|

[Inklin]

I had a vertex 2, it lasted for about 5 months before failing with the red light of death, RMA'd it and I had a replacement within a week (in the EU you have to send it to the Netherlands which is a bit of a pain). Right now I'm not using any SSD but I maybe in the market for one again soon as I do miss the speed. It most certainly will not be another OCZ, burned by their SSD's once, wont trust them again!

I sent it to San Jose and they're shipping the Vertex 3 from Taiwan :|

Sometimes they ship straight from their factory in Taiwan for replacements if their inventory is empty at the RMA center.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

So how is the Vertex 4 series? I asked for one for XMas based on Toms Hardware saying it was the best SSD in the price range. It comes with a 5 year warranty, so is everything sorted out with them?

This is honestly insane to me, to have a hard drive, SSD or not, die so fast, is just unacceptable in all regards.Sorry for the OP's loss.

[AimLXJ]

I had a vertex 2, it lasted for about 5 months before failing with the red light of death, RMA'd it and I had a replacement within a week (in the EU you have to send it to the Netherlands which is a bit of a pain). Right now I'm not using any SSD but I maybe in the market for one again soon as I do miss the speed. It most certainly will not be another OCZ, burned by their SSD's once, wont trust them again!

Sometimes they ship straight from their factory in Taiwan for replacements if their inventory is empty at the RMA center.

That makes sense and as for the Vertex 2, it seems like any SSD with SF-1xxx controller are known to go into panic mode :wacko:

So how is the Vertex 4 series? I asked for one for XMas based on Toms Hardware saying it was the best SSD in the price range. It comes with a 5 year warranty, so is everything sorted out with them?

This is honestly insane to me, to have a hard drive, SSD or not, die so fast, is just unacceptable in all regards.Sorry for the OP's loss.

I believe SF-2xxx are fixed (with the latest firmware)

**EDIT**

@DirtyLarry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SandForce#SSDs Try avoiding the SF-1xxx controllers

[f0rk_b0mb]

I sent it to San Jose and they're shipping the Vertex 3 from Taiwan :|

What? They sent me one straight from San Jose. They just released a new firmware recently so maybe that has something to do with it?

[AimLXJ]

What? They sent me one straight from San Jose. They just released a new firmware recently so maybe that has something to do with it?

Maybe because I requested them to update the firmware to the latest one so that way I don't have to bother with it