Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW160G3K5 2.5" 160GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Pros: Like the title says, I'm spoiled rotten. The 10,000 rpm HDD in my other computer seems to crawl along after experiencing this thing. Installation into the case and as a Windows boot device was a breeze. I use it as a boot drive but have a few programs like my internet security suite and Firefox on it. My games, pictures, music etc. are on magnetic platter hard disks. Windows loads obscenely fast. I wanted a SATA 2 SSD and couldn't be happier with this.

Cons: I haven't had any issues or problems with this drive.

Other Thoughts: I found a Windows SSD tweak guide on an SSD forum and used a number of those tips to optimize the drive for performance and longevity. I know it's not the fastest SSD out there even for SATA 2 but the performance difference between this and my aforementioned 10,000 rpm HDD is night and day.

My system's other hardware:

Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Antec 900
650w PSU
P5N32-E (LGA 775)
Core 2 Quad Q6600
8GB DDR2 800
2x 250GB HDD's in RAID 0
X-fi Fatal1ty Gamer
GTX 560Ti 448 Cores

Pros: Drive made my wife's laptop much faster. The OS loaded in the blink of an eye, and Photoshop and other apps were equally quick.

Cons: Drive was purchased on 11/25/11. That drive failed with the 8MB bug in the middle of March, and a replacement was issued (with a $25 cross-ship fee). That drive then failed due to a different issue on 8/29/12.

Other Thoughts: Intel has provided exemplary customer support throughout both failures. Fortunately we have a 2TB NAS that we back everything up on, but drive failure is still a disappointment. The first drive was replaced overnight, and Intel is providing a full refund since I had two failures within a year. Won't be buying another SSD from them anytime soon, but they will continue to get my business for processors due to their courtesy and consideration.

Pros: Quiet and fast when it works as expected please read my cons below.

Cons: Freezes often, with a regular HDD I could tell when the drive was doing a lot of things by hearing the loud spinning. However with this one is very quiet which is great but it seems to have spells at which it freezes when doing ANYTHING even things as simple as sending email in my email client. Yesterday, I was just copying and pasting text and it was hanging up constantly.

Other Thoughts: This is my setup, not sure if it can't support the drive or what.

EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

Thermaltake W0131RU 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor BX80562Q6600

Pros: Excellent warrenty period.
Nice accessories kit that comes with the drive
Speedy performance

Cons: Failed after half a year due to the 8MB brick bug that the Series 320 drives exhibit.

Other Thoughts: This 8MB bug is a killer since you lose all your data on the drive. Will probably look towards a Samsung drive next time.

Pros: Solid as a rock. Removable spacer for thinner laptops.

Cons: Not the fastest drive out there, but still way faster than an HD for 95% of tasks. Kind of expensive.

Pros: Very fast and silent!

Cons: A bit pricey but you get what you pay for.

Other Thoughts: It works as it should, what more do you want from a hard drive (SSD).

Pros: It's an ssd and it performs extremely favorably to platter drives in everyday use. No need to elaborate here. I have not owned any other ssds so no comment on performance in its own sector.

Cons: I have had two drives fail:
Failure 1 @ 6 months; ssd not recognized
Failure 2 @ +2 months; ssd bricked @ 8.4 MB unformatted

I was about to start the RMA process with Intel once again but decided to search for other reports of 320 failures; turns out the original firmware has a known issue and the latest firmware still allows failure of the same nature. Failure is related to power failure to the drive. On a comsumer PC that's an inevitable situation. Between tearing my Mac down and restoring everything / working off my platter backup until I get the new drive in hand I say forget it. I am requesting a refund from Intel. I'll give the Cruical M4 512GB a shot; it seems to be well received by Mac and PC people alike.

Other Thoughts: I'm sure other intel drives are favorable to this. Otherwise they might as well exit the ssd business :)

Pros: Quite. Never need to hear my laptop spool up the hard drive.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: I accidentally ordered the desktop transfer kit instead of the laptop kit. Make sure you pay attention when you order

Pros: Its not the fastest thing on the market, having that said its still super fast. I bought 3 of these, boots windows 7 in 20 sec. Also the warranty is something that keeps me coming back. I love the warranty.

Cons: none

Pros: Very fast drive. Makes my wife's 4 year old laptop run circles around newer machines that use mechanical drives.

Cons: I got the drive, installed it in her laptop and updated the firmware. Performed some OS tweaks intended to extend the life and performance of the drive, and she was off and running.

Less than 4 months later, she was browsing the internet and editing photos when her computer got a BSOD and rebooted. It would no longer boot into the Windows installation on the SSD. When booting into her mechanical drive, the SSD was not seen. Looking in Disk Management, I found an 8MB uninitialized partition. Intel's SSD Toolbox identified it as an 8MB 320 series SSD. I was unable to perform a Secure Erase because it was in a security lockdown. They recommend disconnecting the drive and reconnecting it to reset the security lockdown, but that did not work and I now have a $300 8MB brick.

The Intel SSD forums are buzzing with reports of this problem, with slight variations on the same 8MB brick story. No word from Intel on the forums. Some have had luck on the phone.

Other Thoughts: Even if I could Secure Erase the drive, I would be losing any of the pictures of my 10 month old daughter that have been taken in the last 4 months that were not immediately backed up. Intel's response has been dismissive of the impact that data loss can have on their customers, and there is a woeful lack of communication on their part in regard to this issue. I know SSDs are new technology, and 'buyer beware' but I've been running a competitor's drive on my PC with no problems whatsoever, and I got that drive for $1.17/GB, while the 'more reliable' Intel drive was $1.88/GB. Guess you don't always get what you pay for.

The specific error I am now getting is BAD_CTX 00000166. Just Google "Intel SSD BAD_CTX" and read about all of the problems.

I understand that mass production produces faulty units. Assuming that the response from Intel is what I am expecting, I will upgrade this review from 1 Egg to 3 or 4, because the drive, when it's working, works as advertised.