OCZ Vertex 2 2.5" 55GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G

Pros: Very fast boot times, windows install time, and access times. The read/writes are great, but these are really about access times. I run one of these as a boot drive with a couple of games, and I am always into game much faster than the rest of the games that I run on a 300GB Velociraptor RAID 0 stripe. Firmware update was easy. Been running it for about 3 months - no issues at all so far.

Cons: The little 5.25" metal tray that came along with it, does not line up properly with the removable HD trays that come with the Corsair 700D. Tried lining up the screw holes with a regular 5.25" bay slot, and that doesn't work either. Since that kind of spacing is a regular case standard, I think it's safe to say that my unit was just a manufacturing defect. Not a big deal, as I was able to just wedge the tray into one of the removable trays (placed a couple drops of epoxy on the back of the tray to make sure it didn't move. Easy fix.

Overall Review: For those that want to use these for running games, realize that the drive fills up fast. I run a copy of Win7 64 Ultimate, AV/MW protection, MS Office, Steam, a few other smaller utility type programs, and a single game, MW2 (with all DLC). This leaves me about 18GBs of room. For those that have a ton of Steam games, and want to have them all installed and ready to play, I suggest you pick up a free program called steam mover. This basically has you install a Steam game on your SSD, and then move the game files to another form of storage (I use a RAID 0 Velociraptor stripe), while leaving a shortcut behind that links the original Steam install to the content you moved to the other drive. Granted, your game will only run as fast as the speed on the drive you moved it to, but where the program is really useful, is that it allows you to move them back and forth. I just keep the game I'm currently playing installed on the SSD, then swap it with another game when I'm ready to switch.

Pros: When it works it's fast, really fast.

Cons: I purchased this SSD on 5/11/11 and it died today (1/9/13). It just disappeared from the BIOS for no reason at all. This is actually my second SSD from OCZ that has died in the last 3 weeks in two different computers.

Overall Review: Based on my recent 100% failure rate with OCZ drives I will never purchase another one of their products. Unfortunately when I initially purchased the drive it hadn't been show that the OCZ drives have the highest failure rate in the industry. Do not buy this drive. Select another manufacturer for your SSD purchase. I'll be RMAing the drive but probably won't use the replacements. I've replaced the first one with a Mushkin and I'm thinking Intel to replace this drive.

Pros: Was fast while it worked.

Cons: Unreliable. First one died after about a month of use. No longer recognized by BIOS. Sent back to OCZ for replacement. Took 3 weeks to send and get replacement. After about a month, it died again with same exact issue. This time I requested refund from OCZ. After sending E-mail back and forth for few days, they agreed to refund once they receive replacement and test it. Took a month to get refund check.

Overall Review: I had older Vertex 2 60GB that I used over 2 years with no problem. I see lots of bad reviews recently. Something changed in design or firmware? At least they gave me a refund. I still lost return shipping fees and valuable time.

Pros: Relativity inexpensive. Overall responsiveness that you come to expect from an SSD. Got it for a little under $100.

Cons: Overall SSD price I guess.

Overall Review: Put this in my A6 HTPC build. Didn't need storage because I pull everything from a home server. Just could not think of going back to an HDD after having my other 3 PCs with SSD drives. Don't think I will ever build another PC with an HDD again.

Pros: This thing is even faster booting up Windows than my Agility.

Cons: Uses 24nm chips. The smaller the manufacturing process, the lower the lifespan of SSDs. Or so I've been told. We won't know for several years so hold on to your hats SSD owners!

Overall Review: The controversy with the 24nms were originally that OCZ was using 8GB chips, rather than 4GB that they used in their 34nm. It resulted in less capacity than 60GB. The problem ended in January (or Feb?) and these E revision SSDs use 4GB chips and you get a few more GBs back. So yes, the problem is over. I was honestly skeptical at first because I have an Agility 1. Fast is fast, as long as its faster than a hard drive you'll notice it I thought. Apparently there's a HUGE performance gap between an Indilinx and a Sandforce. And I notice it. A lot.

Pros: As this was my first contact with SSD's, I was skeptical about the praise they have gotten about their speed. After several hours of research and tweaking, I will admit I am very impressed with how how they work. The drop in load times in both Win 7 and programs installed to the drive are very noticeable. Using OCZ's recommended HD benchmark program, ATTO, my SSD performed at 265mb/s Write and 285mb/s Read average at peak performance. My WD Scorpio Black, which I consdered one of the fastest single drives I've owned, registered as 60mb/s write and read. The difference it makes is as clear as night and day. Also, if you're curious about gaming performance, I've noticed decreased load times in both World of Warcraft and DDO. I have yet to try them with a FPS, but I expect similiar results.

Cons: Words of advice: To everyone considering this (or any OCZ) drive, do you know what AHCI mode is? If you do not, be ready for several hours of frustration, research, and tweaking of your OS. If you do not configure the computer to AHCI mode before installing Windows, you will see decreased performance (which will be less than half the max performace speed listed on the box). Also, you won't be able to upgrade the Firmware of the drive. Look in your BIOS for the AHCI configuration choice. If you happen to have a latop, like myself, where there IS no setting like that, check and see if there's a RAID enable/disable choice. I could start in AHCI mode if I had the RAID entry enabled.

Overall Review: If you had no previous knowledge of SSD's and you bought one, the drive would still work, but you would not get the performance listed by the manufactorer. You would need to go to the company's website, check for any updates to the drives, and read they're forums for other peoples advice and support. That said, the "manual" that comes with the drive has no mention that the drive performs best in AHCI mode or that Firmware drivers are available on the company website. Even a small paragraph listed somewhere in/on the box with that information would have saved me (and countless others) several hours of grief.

Pros: Not Neweggs fault

Cons: Not the Vertex 2 that got all the good reviews. OCZ changed the manufacturing process of this drive to make it less expensive to make. This was however not stated in the description of the product. The changes they made to the drive make it slower than what is stated. Why would they not have changed the drive's name??? This is false advertising... Now I have to see if they will replace my drive with the original 34nm drive that I thought I was buying. However I heard that they are running out of these drives because of all the angry people returning theirs.

Overall Review: OCZ needs to change the name of this drive to signify that it is a different product. If they run out of the 34nm drives, what will they do for me? I feel cheated, scammed, robbed...

Pros: Original Vertex2 60gb is a great drive, FAST, RELIABLE, Has all current technologies for extended life expectancy and Garbage Collection, TRIM.

Cons: I Did NOT recieve an Original Vertex2, of the two drives I just purchased I recieved drives that OCZ Misrepresents as Vertex2 SSD's, the specs listed at site of purchase are those of Original Vertex2 although the 2 drive I recieved are 25 - 33% slower than the drives I ordered. I DON'T THINK THIS IS NEWEGGS FAULT, I think OCZ is the responsible party. OCZ replaced NAND in drive, went from 32NM NAND to less expensive 25NM NAND, which changed performance dramatically but did not bother to inform the consumer nor didthey bother to update sales specifications the retailers have to trust as being accurate and ultimately HONEST. That was not the case.

Overall Review: I bought two 60gb drives for RAID0. I went and cut the UPC off one of the boxes and I now think I will not be able to return to Newegg for a different brand of SSD. So for a $15 rebate months from now I am stuck with inferior SSD's My opinion of OCZ has changed drastically to say the least. I also found out that OCZ has implemented a trade-in program for these SSD's.....Here's the kicker, for me to get what I paid for I will have to send in these drives AND PAY ANOTHER $10 EACH, SO OCZ SCREWS US AND TO FIX IT WE HAVE TO PAY FOR IT. I will NEVER BUY AN OCZ or OCZ owned company product again, such as PC POWER AND COOLING, What a shame this is.