Matters needing attention on the purchase of SSD

To all GPD user:

Please take notice:

While the GPD Win 2 crowd funding campaign has yet to be initiated, many GPD user has already planning to purchase additional 2242 form factors SSD for the purpose storage upgrade on the GPD WIN 2. However, at GPD, we advise our user to not trying to save money by purchasing lower quality 2242 SSD.

SSD consist of memory controller chip and NAND-based flash memory.

For memory controller found in SSD, there are lower end OEM manufacturer such as Phison or SMI, and also higher end controller such as those from Marvell and Samsung. However, some SSD manufacturer produces their own memory controller chip such Transcend.

There are even more NAND based flash storage found on the market, such as TLC, SLC, and MLC and other less known types of based flash storage chips, the endurance and the amount of heat produced by these SSD chips differs by the type of memory chip used. However, it can be differentiated by the types of memory controllers or the price of the SSD.

Majority of the lower end memory controller produced by Taiwan’s manufacturer has good capability with different types of NAND chips. As such, man lower end SSD found on the market will use memory controllers from Taiwan’s based manufacturer and low end TLC based NAND chips. As the result, often these SSD will cause problems such as:

1. Drive suddenly disappear under Windows. Yet, appears again after reboot;
   
2. Sudden decrease in storage capacity;
   
3. Bad sectors;
   
4. Overheating;
   
5. Unable to write in data into the SSD; or
   
6. Loss of data.
   

As a guideline, if GPD users are looking to purchase these lower end SSD’s, If there are problem that occurred in GPD WIN 2, that are not the hardware of the Win 2 itself, GPD will not take any responsibility nor will do any repair for these problems caused by the SSD itself.

Currently on the market, there are not many choices of 2242 form factor SSD. GPD recommends brands such as Transcend, Lenovo, and ADATA. While Lenovo and ADATA uses Taiwan based memory controller, but they will not use NAND chips from unknown sources. Plextor is a Japanese brand, while they had been purchased by LiteON, their primary focus is on high end markets. Thus, Plextor’s SSD is recommended. SSD from other larger manufacturers can be used as well.

However, GPD do not recommend 2242 form factor’s SSD from these manufacturers:

1. LiteOn;
   
2. KingSpec;
   
3. Teclast;
   
4. Intel; and
   
5. Other SSD from unknown brands.
   

For Intel’s SSD, if there are problem occurred, they issues refunds. However, the refunds are only available in USD, thus not recommended for people outside of USA. For other brands listed above, warranty claim is almost impossible.