News of SSD firmware upgrades may not be the usual fodder for the PC Gamer, but OCZ Technology is hoping that a firmware patch released yesterday will finally end a quiet controversy that's been going on for over a month regarding it's latest superfast SSDs. The ones based on the SandForce SF2281 controller.
These drives include the Vertex 3, Agility 3 and Solid 3 ranges. Early reviews noted that they were so fast, they're capable of hitting the bandwidth limits of many SATA III controllers. As far as storage tech goes, they're currently the ones to beat – especially as prices are looking reasonable too.
Unfortunately, shortly after launch, it was discovered that they also had the ability to BSOD your PC during certain operations. OCZ maintain that less than 1% of drives shipped are affected, but the company's forums have been alive with discussion of the issue.
Other manufacturers due to release drives based on the SF2200-series controller are Kingston, Corsair and A-Data. They've all confirmed to me that they've halted shipping while similar firmware issues are investigated.
OCZ says that its problems are not the same as the ones being faced by other manufacturers. So it's obviously just a coincidence that less than 24 hours after a fix went up on that company's forums, another one got in touch to tell me I could finally have a review sample for next issue...
Fingers crossed that the new patch does draw a line under the problem. Personally, I'm really looking forward to watching all these drives face off against each other in a group test soon.
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