What is your favorite boot SSD now?

[MiniKnight]

I'm looking for a SSD as a boot drive. Must be 80GB or larger for a boot drive. It doesn't need to be fast. Reliable and cheap are good. Under $80 is also a must for me. Cheaper and I'd get pairs.

I'm thinking a hyper-v server 2012 r2 boot drive but when Microsoft updates the OS, I'd want to update the hypervisor and have room to do that in-place (if that is possible)

What are people using these days? I know Hyper-V isn't like ESXi so I'd want something non-USB. Must be SSD for power consumption.

 

[TuxDude]

I'll add to this since I'm in a similar situation, though my requirements are slightly different probably mostly the same products would fit both uses. Cheap is more important than reliable for me - I will be mirroring and will get my reliability that way. And with Gentoo Linux as the host OS I can get away with lower capacity, even 20GB would be enough though having a bit more space would be nice for some things. Only reason to switch to SSD's from the 7200-rpm SATA drives I'm using now is performance (more to help emerge performance than boot times) so I'm also looking for SATA and not USB.

I think a pair of cheap used 60GB drives would probably be perfect if I could find them cheap enough. But I've already spent too much on this project, so super-extra-cheap is really a requirement for me to swap to SSD for boot.

 

[andrewbedia]

I'd tell you, but then you'd freak out and shoot ink at me like Dr. Zoidberg to make your getaway.

OCZ Deneva 2 R Series

Don't really have a favorite. That's just what I'm using because I got it for like $0.40 a gigabyte.

 

[andrewbedia]

As for used 60GB drives... Unless they are something special, the price difference is so small compared to a 120/128GB drive that I wouldn't bother with 60GB.

 

[pyro_]

Any of the Intel drives. Have also started to consider the crucial mx100 drives since I can pick them up localy for 60$ Canadian for the 120gb version

 

[Patrick]

Being fair, I will tell my secret: the Intel 710 - 100GB

The drives are higher write endurance variants, precursors to the S3700. For a boot drive, the endurance is plenty. They are 3.0gbps drives so I have no qualms about putting them on a 3.0gbps port. They are like the Intel 320's only better. Not fast, but reliable boot drives.

The best part is that they can be had for $40-75 on a regular basis. Here is an example:
Intel 100 GB Internal 2 5" SSDSA2BZ100G301 SSD Solid State Drive | eBay

And another: Intel 710 Series Solid State Drive 100 GB SATA 3 GB s 2 5 inch SSDSA2BZ100G301 | eBay

The 320's are in the $50 range also, but the extra endurance of the 710's makes them more attractive for me.

I would also look at the 240gb Intel 730 at $110. Space is good but they are 2x expensive. Once you hit $80 price range, buying a slow, old 100-128GB drive versus $109 for a new 2x capacity fast drive is a hard trade-off to make.

And yes - I did snag one for $38 last week

 

[DolphinsDan]

And yes - I did snag one for $38 last week

It's going to be at the end of its life by then. Caution.

 

[Patrick]

8 days power on and under 4GB written when I received it. Currently has had over 20 hours under Iometer without issue.

 

[HellDiverUK]

I'm getting used Intel drives off eBay - lots of them available from system pulls. I have a 180GB Intel 520 in my gaming PC, which had 272 hours on the clock when I got it. I was a pull from a HP machine. I'm using a Intel Pro SSD 1500 180GB as the OS drive in my server, again a system pull off eBay (Lenovo laptop as it still had the stick-on plastic pull tabs on it), it had 60 hours on the clock. Both were less than £50.

Looking to pick up another to replace a very ancient Kingston V+200 120GB in my HTPC.

 

[andrewbedia]

I was a pull from a HP machine.

Today I learned that HellDiverUK was pulled from a HP machine.

 

[HellDiverUK]

Today I learned that HellDiverUK was pulled from a HP machine.

Today I learnt my "T" key is being intermittent. That's three times it's caught me out. Damned cheap-ass Dell keyboards.

 

[F1ydave]

Ahh I gave in a bought a 710 for a boot on my server, based on your recommendation! How do you guys look up the hours and data usage of the driver? IOmeter?

 

[HellDiverUK]

Any SMART program will do it.

 

[TangoWhiskey9]

Ahh I gave in a bought a 710 for a boot on my server, based on your recommendation!

100GB and how much?

 

[F1ydave]

100GB and how much?

Yes, 100gb. I think it was $69 or $70 off ebay. I forget who I bought from, but one seller sold LOTS of hardware and the other sold random stuff, so I may have paid $70 for the guy who was at least familiar with computer parts.