OCZ Vertex Plus SSD Fixed
I posted problems with my OCZ SSD a few months ago here. I have gotten my drive back and it’s fixed. It didn’t take long for the RMA process, I just took a long time posting about the results. The whole RMA process took about a week. First I submitted a support ticket. I communicated with OCZ for a few days. Then they granted me an RMA number. I did have to pay for the shipping to send the drive back to them but it was only a few $. Here’s what they told me they did…
We have received the drive from you. It has been extensively tested for data integrity in our equipment. We were unable to find any problems with the drive. It was tested on an Asus P8P67 motherboard using Windows 7 64 bit with an i7 2600. The way we test the drive is by filling up the entire drive with data. The data is then read back to ensure that we get the same thing we wrote to the drive. This process is repeated multiple times with the drive being entirely filled up and read back many times. This testing ensures that the drive is storing data accurately and that the drive can withstand sustained maximum IOPS over a long period of time. During testing a very large amount of data is written to the drive. Any failing or marginal drives are quickly made apparent during this testing process. After this has been done many times the drive is then reflashed to ensure it has the latest firmware, and it is also reset to wipe all of the “dirty” NAND to restore full performance back to the drive. All testing is done prior to updating the firmware. The firmware has since been updated to the current version and the drive has been reset. The drive will be prepared to be shipped back to you. If we have not heard from you within a week from today the drive will be shipped back to you.
I asked…
did you use it as a storage drive or did you install windows on it? i'm able to use it as a storage drive but not install any OS on it.
Their response…
The way a storage device, such as an SSD works is that at the simplest level it just stores data, and then reads the data back when accessed. It doesn't matter if it is being used as a boot drive or as a storage device, its still doing the same fundamental process. In the case of a boot drive that errors out the operating system will crash. If it is being tested as a secondary drive and it errors out, the process will fail though the entire computer will not crash. Some of the drives we test do indeed fail this testing and they are marked as bad. Your drive didn't encounter any issues during the testing. Nearly 1tb of data was written to and then read from the drive as part of the testing.
So it looks like it was just a “dirty” drive. I know I’ve formatted it plenty of times but I guess not good enough? But it never worked even when I first got it and tried it. Anyways, it’s fixed now and I’m happy.
The process was painless with them. I now have it running on my HTPC with an MSI E350 motherboard. It works great and fast for its capabilities. Fortunately, this SSD drive was not meant for my more important machines so I had time to spare with troubleshooting and RMA. I wouldn’t buy an OCZ drive if it was going on an important machine. So far I’ve had good luck and experience with Kingston and Samsung SSD drives. If I come across another good deal on an OCZ SSD drive I wouldn’t hesitate to get it. I just won’t use it on my main machines.
Here’s a pic I took when I opened up their package. It was neatly packed and they even gave me a 3.5” adapter. Thanks OCZ.
