Well, this is a new replacement Vertex 2 as the first one was defective (OS installation failed 4 times etc...).

OCZ recommends a new firmware update. But, I have read many people are having problems updating the firmware (OCZ firmware update application won't see a drive, BSOD etc...). So, I checked out the OCZ forum. They recommend the Intel RST 1014 drivers. So, I needed to roll back from 1046. I would say that's a picky application.

They also mention when you update the drive while it is running the OS, strange things happen, which is why there are the couple warnings there about BSOD, etc.

So, I decided to put the drive into the secondary bay and flashed it without any problems.

And then, I removed the drive and replaced my primary OS drive with it and installed Windows 7. BTW, It's a laptop.

Everything went smoothly this time. The CPU temp is slightly higher with a Vertex 2 compared to the Kingston I have been using for a while.

Anyway, so far so good. But, who knows....



CrystalDiskMark

OCZ Vertex 2




For comparison,

Kingston V series

WOW, what a difference in the times.

The thing is I don't really feel much difference based on real world experience.

I also tested on a WD Scorpio Black 320GB 7200RPM HDD. In the background, iTunes was playing, Windows Live mail was open, transferring a 45GB data to an external HDD.



I also tested on a Vertex 2 again. It doesn't seem like all the background activities didn't affect the result. Actually a bit better lol.

ATTO Disk Benchmark

Vertex 2




WD Scorpio Black

hiro, glad ya got everything sorted out and that there were no problems updating the new drives firmware.

That drive looks pretty fast to me! :)

Thanks Joel! So far so good. :

Once i get my OCZ 60 GB Vertex RMA'd I may buy another identicle and setup a raid 0 with the 3 of them? Maybe in January?

That would be really sweet Joel!