Do OCZ Solid State Drives Contain Tier 2 Flash Memory?

2011-03-18 • SEND FEEDBACK |
Related: memory, Other World Computing, SSD

OWC is an advertiser on this site, and my recommended vendor, because I trust them— I work only with companies with integrity.

Don’t confuse OWC (my recommended Mac vendor) with a company I do not and have never recommended— OCZ.

OWC has posted an article with evidence that SSD vendor OCZ is using Tier 2 flash memory chips in their premium solid state drives. In short, Tier 2 is toy-grade, and you want to avoid Tier 2 flash like poison oak leafing out in spring. Except that poison oak is less unpleasant.

Read the OWC article Not All SSDs Are Created Equal: The Story Continues, and watch the disassembly video. The 120GB OCZ drive is also advertised as having 120GB capacity, when in fact the latest versions have only 115GB usable space. Apple has a similar ethical lapse on capacity designations.

By comparison, OWC SSDs have the as-advertised capacity, and OWC states that OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSDs use only Tier 1/Grade A flash memory.

The OWC article states the following:

An inquiry was made with a Micron product representative on their thoughts on the use of off-spec flash memory in a Solid State Drive application.

"It is a very brave action to take, using these chips in a data storage device," was the reply given.

OWC also states:

Stay tuned to this saga, as we have a dozen more drives on order, all of which will be received with a videotaped unboxing so you have reliable source in which to base your important data storage purchasing decisions upon.

Internal of OCZ Vertex 2 — Tier 2 flash memory?
(Image from OWC article, not independently verified)