cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Would you trust 'Recertified as New?

Mav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22,369
Thanks: 4,725
Fixes: 514
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Would you trust 'Recertified as New?

OCZ Recertified as New Vertex 2 SATA II 2.5" 100GB Solid State Hard Drive
I already have a 60GB SSD which holds the OS and several programs.
At a tad under £40 I am considering the above for installing some other programs to as well as temporary storage when rendering videos.
Edited title spelling

Forum Moderator and Customer
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark Twain
He who feared he would not succeed sat still

15 REPLIES 15
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Would you trust 'Recertified as New?

I probably would, and I suspect that recertified items probably get more thoroughly tested than new devices.
At that price could you afford to RAID more than one SSD, to either double the SATA2 speed, or double the reliability.
7up
Community Veteran
Posts: 15,824
Thanks: 1,579
Fixes: 17
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Would you trust 'Recertified as New?

Actually I wouldn't. Not for a solid state drive, you don't know what might have led to it being recertified in the first place. It could have been anything from a data loss to a fluid spill. The last thing you want to do is put loads of data on it and then loose it and lets face it, solid state drives do have a limited lifespan.
I need a new signature... i'm bored of the old one!
rongtw
Seasoned Hero
Posts: 6,973
Thanks: 1,541
Fixes: 12
Registered: ‎01-12-2010

Re: Would you trust 'Recertified as New?

on a average lifetime a SSD should last approximately   5 years constant use.
so not so much a limited lifespan , as most people would change the drive for a newer model  Cool before any chance of the SSD dieing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AiK98Rt7LAo
Asus ROG Hero Vii Z97 , Intel i5 4690k ,ROG Asus Strix 1070,
samsung 850evo 250gig , WD black 2 TB . Asus Phoebus sound ,
16 gig Avexir ram 2400 , water cooling Corsair H100i gtx ,
Corsair 750HXI Psu , Phanteks Enthoo pro case .
Mav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22,369
Thanks: 4,725
Fixes: 514
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Would you trust 'Recertified as New?

I wouldn't be using it for important data.
It would get quite a battering when rendering video but it would help speed up rendering times especially when doing intensive HD.
Even if it only last 3 years I think at just over £40 inc p&p may be worth a shot.

Forum Moderator and Customer
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark Twain
He who feared he would not succeed sat still

7up
Community Veteran
Posts: 15,824
Thanks: 1,579
Fixes: 17
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Would you trust 'Recertified as New?

I used to swap drives years ago but only when I was struggling with 20GB drives and running out of space. I now have a 320GB HDD and struggle to use 80GB.
I don't think I'll be upgrading every 5 years now and its already 2 years old meaning that there is just 3 years left for me to upgrade..
I need a new signature... i'm bored of the old one!
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Would you trust 'Recertified as New?

@'Mav' - What SATA speed does your motherboard or interface card support ?
Have you considered 10000rpm hard drives for your video processing, such as WD VelociRaptor
Mav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22,369
Thanks: 4,725
Fixes: 514
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Would you trust 'Recertified as New?

My MB supports SATA 3.
Further research seems to indicate that It's doubtful I'd get any speed increase when rendering HD footage as my current drives are not really maxed out.
Probably I'd get a much better speed increase by ditching my current love of AMD CPUs for an i7 even then it'd only be in the low percentages and probably not worth the outlay.
I may still get one of the SSDs to install other programs on and for general temporary files.

Forum Moderator and Customer
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark Twain
He who feared he would not succeed sat still

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Would you trust 'Recertified as New?

When you do your video processing, do you read your source file, and write your destination file, to the same physical drive ?
I'm wondering whether you would get the most benefit when processing two large sequential files, by simply add two SATA3 drives (one for source, and another for destination), to keep the SATA channels loaded with data in one direction AND the respective hard drives doing the minimum of head movements while accessing their large sequential files.
Where SSDs really shine, is reading large numbers of small files, as the latency to access the files is nearly zero, whereas large files (such as video) are probably limited by the SATA speed (or as you say CPU loading).
Mav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22,369
Thanks: 4,725
Fixes: 514
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Would you trust 'Recertified as New?

I utilise three drives; one for source, one for destination and a third for temporary files.
All these drives are internal and the files are moved externally once a project is completed.
Done some testing and there is no great difference between SATA 2 and SATA 3 drives when rendering.

Forum Moderator and Customer
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark Twain
He who feared he would not succeed sat still

Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Would you trust 'Recertified as New?

It sounds like you have talked yourself out of buying the SSD, as you have said the drives are not your limiting factor.
I'm quite tempted by those SSDs for several future Linux projects, especially as the Linux software RAID driver makes old SATA2 motherboards really fly when using multiple drives in RAID-0 configuration.
Mav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22,369
Thanks: 4,725
Fixes: 514
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Would you trust 'Recertified as New?

Quote from: purleigh
It sounds like you have talked yourself out of buying the SSD,

I think I'll still get one either to add to my system for future use or in preparation for SWMBO who's PC hit the dust earlier this year and is saving up to buy the parts she wants.

Forum Moderator and Customer
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark Twain
He who feared he would not succeed sat still

VileReynard
Hero
Posts: 12,616
Thanks: 582
Fixes: 20
Registered: ‎01-09-2007

Re: Would you trust 'Recertified as New?

SSD write performance isn't anything special.
Video processing is overwhelmingly a sequential process, so 7200 rpm disks will work fine.
SATA3 is also "over-specified".
Just spend all the money on big SATA 2 disks and a superfast CPU.
If you are going to watch the end result get a big screen and a decent graphics card. Cheesy

"In The Beginning Was The Word, And The Word Was Aardvark."

7up
Community Veteran
Posts: 15,824
Thanks: 1,579
Fixes: 17
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: Would you trust 'Recertified as New?

Quote from: Sprite
Actually I wouldn't. Not for a solid state drive, you don't know what might have led to it being recertified in the first place. It could have been anything from a data loss to a fluid spill. The last thing you want to do is put loads of data on it and then loose it and lets face it, solid state drives do have a limited lifespan.

I take all of that back. My opinions are worthless anyway so please ignore me.
I need a new signature... i'm bored of the old one!
Mav
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 22,369
Thanks: 4,725
Fixes: 514
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Would you trust 'Recertified as New?

I have installed the SSD without any problems and did a full clean of the system while I was at it.
I was amazed, though, how little dust had collected in the 18 months since I last had the covers off. Even so, things are running a few degrees cooler than they were Smiley
Next step is to re-install Windows (7 Pro) - something I tend to do every 18 to 24 months. I will then set all temporary files to point to the new SSD. I won't be trusting it with important data.

Forum Moderator and Customer
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear - Mark Twain
He who feared he would not succeed sat still