SSDs - State of the Product?

LunarMist

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The WD Blacks operate up to 85°C IIRC. I have two that are cool (Under 50°C) and one that is warmer due to the mainbod having only a one-sided heatsink for the 3rd and 4th M.2 slots. I would accept 8TB as I have two PCIe 5.0 M.2 from the CPU with the dual-sided heatsinks.
 

LunarMist

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The 4TB 990 Pro was finally released.
Interestingly it is single sided, so cooling in most systems should be easier than the two-sided designs. I'm really hoping for 8TB in mainstream M.2 SSDs soon, but everyone is focused on PCIe 5.
 

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One of the things I appreciate about the u.2 / u.3 form factor is that the drives are basically made out of finned aluminum heat sink instead of just being a bare PCB. It's also easier to get high capacity drives with better options for endurance among the u.2s than the m.2s.
 

LunarMist

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I'm sure it's great in a server. Unfortunately neither Intel nor the AMD have implemented it in the enthusiast motherboards. :(
 

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I'm sure it's great in a server. Unfortunately neither Intel nor the AMD have implemented it in the enthusiast motherboards. :(

You don't need a server. You just need an HBA. In the 90s, we'd run SCSI controllers so we could use Cheetahs and X15s. This is basically the same thing.
 

LunarMist

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I would need a server type of motherboard to have enough PCIe slots and lanes for other devices. In the 90s we had 6 PCI slots and the enthusiast boards had 40+ lanes in the Hasbro E era. I would buy a server board if the processors were not so costly and slow per core. I'm hoping to have 1-2 30.72GB PCIe 5 U.3 drive(s) if I ever do a new build post 2025. Maybe Intel or AMD will give us more lanes and slots, but I'm not optimistic. They just add more M.2 sockets in between the PCIe slots.
 

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I agree that it would be really nice if Intel gave us a new high end enthusiast platform. There ARE weird adapters to run PCIe devices via m.2 slots, but that doesn't really solve the problem of not having enough PCIe lanes overall.
 

LunarMist

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My expensive 3.84TB U.2 SSD died in a few days on one of those BS adapters. That was before there were any useful 4TB M.2 drives. I was not amused.
 

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Fatwah on Western Digital
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I wouldn't be either, but I have a couple 2TB U.2 drives on adapters like that.

I haven't had an Intel P4510 die yet but my experience with older Intel drives has been that they flip in to read-only mode rather than crap out entirely.
 

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Given how frequently I was the wad of USB drives I keep in my right front pocket, it's actually possible that it's fine if the drive is commercially produced as an external drive in the first place.

I keep them all on lanyards but there's a good reason to have each of them and I had enough of a problem forgetting them in systems that it's the same key ring as my car key and fob. I wash them because I'm in the habit of just throwing the pants I'm wearing in the machine at the same time as everything else.
 

LunarMist

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This is an 860 EVO 2TB M.2 drive in a USB-C enclosure that is no longer available. 😡
I put the SSD and circuit board into the desiccator with Co indicating silica gel. I don't have molecular sieves or P2O5 handy.
 

jtr1962

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This is an 860 EVO 2TB M.2 drive in a USB-C enclosure that is no longer available. 😡
I put the SSD and circuit board into the desiccator with Co indicating silica gel. I don't have molecular sieves or P2O5 handy.
It's highly likely it'll still work. Just take the board out of the enclosure and let it dry thoroughly for a few days. Electronics and water are mainly a problem if they sit in water for more than a few days. A wash/rinse cycle doesn't qualify. That's not long enough for the water to start to corrode things. If you're lucky the drive may even have a conformal coating to protect it from humidity. That in theory should mean no issues being in water for a short time.
 

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As an aside, I also wash the lock fob for my car with regularity and it ALSO seems to hold up to that level of contact with water without issue.
 

LunarMist

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Why would you wash it with regularity, some kind of superstition? I would be concerned about how the proximity is affected if it is wet. Does the door unlock and lights come on at the normal distance?

I mostly only have an SSD in my pants south of the equator. After 28 hours and masking I was totality exhausted even with the flattened beds on the longer segements.
 

LunarMist

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The key fob set is a lot more expensive than a 2TB SSD, so I would be avoiding any regular washing. 😂
 

LunarMist

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The 2TB M.2 is working, but the heatpad thing disintegrated. I tried one of those blue pads, but it is not the right size. Can I put compound on it to fill the gap or is that not stable?
 

jtr1962

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Can I put compound on it to fill the gap or is that not stable?
How much of a gap? Heat sink compound is generally designed to be used only to fill very thin gaps on the order of a few thousandths of an inch. If used in thicker layers, there might be too much thermal impedance.
 

LunarMist

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The pads are like 1mm or so. If there is <1mm of goop is that better or worse than 1mm of pad?
I know that anything will be better than AIR that is there now. :LOL:
 

jtr1962

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The pads are like 1mm or so. If there is <1mm of goop is that better or worse than 1mm of pad?
I know that anything will be better than AIR that is there now. :LOL:
I guess it'll be OK. We're not talking about high power level per square mm like a microprocessor. Like you said, anything is better than air.

The thermal paste probably isn't that much worse than many thermal pads anyway.
 

LunarMist

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The shipment is missing in the Amazons, so it may be a while before I can test it. :(
 

LunarMist

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Depending on your age, maybe the children or nieces and nephiwes
 

LunarMist

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Some hijinks with the forum as usual.

I was able to get good contact with an intermediate pad and some Thermaltaco compound. I filled about half if the ssd and it is warmly cementing the heat. The crystal indicated 47C at peak.
 

LunarMist

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It may sound strange but that ssd was over $600 in 2018. According to the a crystal's dicmark it is still worth 98%.
 

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Yeah. I'll probably wash an NVMe drive sooner or later regardless.

I'm going to start pulling my oldest 4TB S4510s. I remember paying $1200 apiece for those guys and I'm just replacing them with new (unused) ones. The new ones are under $300 apiece. I'm thankful for how much prices have come down, even if 4TB doesn't seem that big to me any more.
 

LunarMist

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My P4510 died in a few weeks after first use. It's in the pile of stuff to be destroyed. IIRC the price was about $900 back in the day.
 

LunarMist

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Are any of the M.2 2242 SSDs good? I'm looking for one with TLC and DRAm. Perhaps there is not enough space for DRAM on the surface.
 

CougTek

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I only see the Micron 2450 that seems from a reputable manufacturer in that form factor. It is a budget drive.

Smaller than that, there's the Kioxia BG6, which is a PCIe Gen4 drive that feature significantly higher advertized transfer rates and iops. It isn't a particularly fast drive, but all the smaller form factor drives compromise performance for size.
 

LunarMist

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It looks that the 2242 FF is being replaced with 2230 to fit the new mini gaming gadgets. There are several mainstream 2230 SSDs now such as WD SN770M and the Firing Cuda 520n, but both are without the DRAM. My only use would be the 2nd drive in one of the new NUC 14s that have one 2280 and (stupidly) one 2242 slot.
 
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