OCZ Vector 256gb SSD...catastrophic failures


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I'm on my third unit(under warranty) ... it is my Win 7 drive. The first failure occurred during a desktop personalization change; kablooey! the computer rebooted and told me I needed to insert bootable media. So I checked all the cables and got the same message and returned it.

The second one I was surfing the web(IE 10 and was reading a Neowin article at the time) and the computer rebooted and again I was greeted with blah blah blah please insert bootable media.

Each time the computer would not recognize the SSD, but when I installed the replacement,reinstalled windows it worked fine. This one is my last chance, so I was wondering if anyone had any ideas/suggestions as to what might be the problem and how to prevent it.(Current build is in my sig)

TIA

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I know you said that you tried the cables but Im wondering if you checked to see if they were snug or tried using new ones? Also try a different port on your motherboard.

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Yes I did try both those things, still wouldn't recognize the drive. I had an older Intel SSD from my old rig which I tried and it was fine. But I did spend about $250 on the sucker and bought it cuz of the rave reviews........

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When it happened, did you try plugging into a different computer? (just out of curiosity)

Three times same issue does sound like a lot. Maybe there's an off-chance that the power supply is giving it too much voltage? You'd need to get a power supply tester to be sure.

Or you're just that unlucky? ;) I haven't had any issues w/ my own OCZ SSDs, but I only have Vertex drives.

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I had the same issues with a new build recently. It had to do with the UEFI BIOS on my mobo flaking out. I flashed my mobo to the latest BIOS, went through the steps of setting it back up, and haven't had any problems since. It seems that for some reason, I HAD to leave the "boot order" setting as UEFI first. The second I changed it to the SSD first and restarted, I would get the "insert bootable media" message again. Change it back to UEFI first, and the problem went away. Hope this info helps!

Tim

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At my last place of work, we ordered OCZ drivers to replace drives in New dell laptops.. we would have about two drives fail a week.

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With OCZ drives, the only thing you can do is to keep the firmware up to date, this is the only thing that keeps the drives from panic locking. There are various reasons as to why they happen, but as soon as you get the replacement drive, update firmware straight away, and also keep on top of any new updates they release for the drive.

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The Vector is a fine drive... I have one right now. :p

Is anything else in your comp frying?

OCZ don't have a great track record, which I can vouch for myself.

I had 4 machines which had vertex drives, one of which had 2 (so 5 drives in total).

Of those initial drives, one failed in a month, and another failed 6 months later. OCZ replaced them both with refurbs. The first refurb drive failed after 3 months and was replaced again, the second was DOA and replaced straight away.

So original purchase: 5 drives.

Originals failed: 2 (40%)

Total drives owned: 9

Total drives failed: 4 (~44.5%)

Needless to say I no longer own any OCZ products.

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Yeah, OCZ flat out sucks for SSD's, I can't recommend it. My Vertex died in 4 months of use, and I've since not recommended it to friends - 2 of my friend's didn't take my advice, and their OCZ SSD's died as well. I can't see why anyone would cheap out and get an OCZ drive when you get a far more reliable drive for a few bucks more (or the same price). They should go back to making other computer accessories - their PSU is pretty decent (been running it for almost 4 years).

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hmm... i've always stayed away from OCZ drives because of all the reviews of high failure rates.

In general OCZ is ok. But when the Vector was first released with firmware that after a power failure would render the drive unreadable and unflashable, I went with the Samsung Pro series :D

Samsung is the only SSD vendor that doesn't just order and assemble, they make all the components including the NAND and controller themselves.

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Odd.... I have an OCZ Agility 2 and I have had it for about two years now. No issues at all. And the funny thing is that I have not changed the firmware either.

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hmm... i've always stayed away from OCZ drives because of all the reviews of high failure rates.

^^^^ This x infinity. So many reviews and I have even seen it happen with a customer as well.
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OCZ don't have a great track record, which I can vouch for myself.

I had 4 machines which had vertex drives, one of which had 2 (so 5 drives in total).

Of those initial drives, one failed in a month, and another failed 6 months later. OCZ replaced them both with refurbs. The first refurb drive failed after 3 months and was replaced again, the second was DOA and replaced straight away.

So original purchase: 5 drives.

Originals failed: 2 (40%)

Total drives owned: 9

Total drives failed: 4 (~44.5%)

Needless to say I no longer own any OCZ products.

I can counter with this...

OCZ drives owned:

- Vertex 2 60GB

- Vertex 2 120GB

- Vertex 2 160GB

- Vertex 3 MI 240GB

- Agility 3 240GB

- Octane 512GB

- Vertex 4 256GB

- Agility 4 256GB

- Vector 256GB

My Octane was DOA but other than that, 0% failure rate.

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I can counter with this...

OCZ drives owned:

- Vertex 2 60GB

- Vertex 2 120GB

- Vertex 2 160GB

- Vertex 3 MI 240GB

- Agility 3 240GB

- Octane 512GB

- Vertex 4 256GB

- Agility 4 256GB

- Vector 256GB

My Octane was DOA but other than that, 0% failure rate.

You have just been lucky. I really think you should play the lottery.

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I can counter with this...

OCZ drives owned:

- Vertex 2 60GB

- Vertex 2 120GB

- Vertex 2 160GB

- Vertex 3 MI 240GB

- Agility 3 240GB

- Octane 512GB

- Vertex 4 256GB

- Agility 4 256GB

- Vector 256GB

My Octane was DOA but other than that, 0% failure rate.

I would consider yourself lucky.. Like I said, I ordered 200 SSDs over a years period and had half of them die.

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I'm on my third unit(under warranty) ... it is my Win 7 drive. The first failure occurred during a desktop personalization change; kablooey! the computer rebooted and told me I needed to insert bootable media. So I checked all the cables and got the same message and returned it.

The second one I was surfing the web(IE 10 and was reading a Neowin article at the time) and the computer rebooted and again I was greeted with blah blah blah please insert bootable media.

Each time the computer would not recognize the SSD, but when I installed the replacement,reinstalled windows it worked fine. This one is my last chance, so I was wondering if anyone had any ideas/suggestions as to what might be the problem and how to prevent it.(Current build is in my sig)

TIA

Well this is a new line which i would be careful of. I haven't opened my 3rd RMA which happened to be a vertex 4. I put it up for sale and not one reply.

OCZ is good for speed, but reliability is not great. Just because some say they haven't had any problems so it's fine doesn't justify anything.

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