On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:28:45 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 14:55:48 -0000, "Tough Guy no. 1265" wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 14:36:40 -0000, Stormin' Norman wrote:

On Fri, 13 Mar 2015 14:22:17 -0000, "Tough Guy no. 1265" wrote:


I don't understand. Most manufacturers of storage do not release their RMA
data.

They probably got it from retailers. For example, I had a quick search and found a French retailer had released these figures: http://www.hardware.fr/articles/893-7/ssd.html

- Samsung 0,05% (contre 0,48%)
- Plextor 0,16% (N/A)
- Intel 0,37% (contre 0,45%)
- Crucial 1,12% (contre 1,11%)
- Corsair 1,61% (contre 1,05%)
- OCZ 6,64% (contre 5,02%) / 2,92% sans les Petrol/Octane SATA 2 (contre 3,05%)

No idea what the contre means (against?!?), but it's clear that they think Samsung are very good. I guess it varies from year to year. Both the graph I showed you and the above French link are out of date. I guess you can never get up to date failure rates, as the current model hasn't been out long enough to find out if it breaks!

What is the source of this data and why would you consider it reliable?

I can't remember what website I got it from, it was a couple of years ago. I just saved the graph for later use. I consider it reliable because I can't see them just making up RMA data.

Also, based upon the graph, Samsung has the lowest percentage of drives which
have "died".

Less died, but more RMAd. Presumably not dead but intermittent.

There must be a narrative which goes along with this graph?

There is just too much information missing to place any credibility in the data
presented.

The numbers of RMAs aren't enough?

I expect to order another 1/2 dozen Samsung drives within the next sixty days. I
would enjoy perusing some reliable data which might sway my purchasing decision.

Looking up the French link, I've now decided Samsung are probably best.

The trouble is, a lot of these companies change the memory type they use, or use each other's innards, etc.

I have seen so many manufacturers and retailers lie through their teeth about
anything and everything. Like they say, don't believe everything you read on
the Internet. Mark Twain, one of my favorite philosophers / satirists once
said:

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics"

I have lived by those words ever since he said this to me personally...... ;-)
OK, I stole flavor of the line from Reagan.

I like and use that quotation often aswell. But we have to pick the make of SSD somehow.

When I have absolutely no basis for make a comparative choice of products, I
will frequently turn to customer reviews on Amazon. I have posted numerous
reviews of products I have purchased and they have never been adulterated by
Amazon.

I usually skip directly to the 1 star reviews. I try to determine if the person
who wrote the review has the IQ of a pet rock, if they have written the review
in such a way as to indicate they have a vested interest or is they are a sock /
shill.

If I have absolutely no basis for comparison, the reviews can be very
enlightening. It is certainly better to consider thousands of reviews from
verified purchasers than it is to accept a review published on an obscure
website and written by a 28 year old who is writing articles for the web because
he couldn't handle the math to become an engineer.

Good idea. Although I'd never actually buy from Amazon, I prefer Ebay. Amazon's website looks like a 2 year old designed it, and the amount of companies on there with more than 50% of the reviews bad, yet they're still trading? And the fees they charge sellers are twice as high as Ebay. I don't know why Amazon is still in business.

--
How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?