Spirited debate about drives

[ComputerDave]

I'm having a spirited debate with myself about drives. Typically, we pull these no-name brand drives (pictured) out of new machines we offer and replace them with a brand we trust, such as Samsung or Crucial. Is in vain? Are they all made by the same parent company?

 

[Markverhyden]

There's really only a handful of companies making each type of hardware. So I wouldn't be surprised if all those brand X's were from the same plant if they are the same size.

 

[britechguy]

@Markverhyden

The same is true for computer service items as is true for automotive service items, and that's that there are very few actual manufacturers for these, and multiple brands use the same manufacturers.

The items are made to spec, and so long as they meet the buyer's specified spec, everything's fine. And this often means that a massive run is made for SSDs or oil filters that meet the most stringent spec from one of the buyers, and exceeds the spec for many others. These all end up with the various brands and on shelves with the labels of those brands.

It's way cheaper for a mass manufacturer to follow this practice and sell the item to "all comers" than it is to set up separate production runs that remove things not specified for each respective buyer. Meets or exceeds is what the law requires (as well as convention, you don't stay in business long if you're selling things "on spec" where said spec is not even fully met).

 

[britechguy]

BTW, I wouldn't call "Lexar" a no-name brand. The others, sure, but not Lexar.

 

[GTP]

It's way cheaper for a mass manufacturer to follow this practice and sell the item to "all comers"

This ^^
90% of PC hardware comes out of Foxconn and has for several years now. Don't be surprised to know they probably made all these NVMe's!

BTW, I wouldn't call "Lexar" a no-name brand. The others, sure, but not Lexar.

Agreed!
"Lexar" a no-name? I don't think so.

Also, TWSC is "Taiwan Semiconductor Corporation," and they are also a well known company in the semiconductor space.

Personally, I would have no reservations in using any of these drives.

 

[britechguy]

Also, TWSC is "Taiwan Semiconductor Corporation," and they are also a well known company in the semiconductor space.

Personally, I would have no reservations in using any of these drives.

I am so not brand loyal for RAM or SSDs because I know that, by and large, it's literally all the same. Brand stickers and specific boxes are used to market precisely the same item in many, many cases.

I am more than willing to "roll the dice" as a result, and I have yet to be burned, even slightly, by having elected to take this approach.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

We stick with Crucial when we can.
They make their own memory in the USA....many models of their SSDs are also made in USA, and others in Mexico.
They've been very reliable for us/our clients.

Since I'm a gear head and my father started teaching me to wrench on cars when I was around 10...and always wrenched all my cars since then, and boats, and restored Harley motorcycles....there are differences in car parts also. Oil filters for example.....I could type pages about the differences in them, quality, durability, where made (not all made in the same overseas factories), same with many car parts. While yes...cheap chain stores like auto zone, pep junk boys, etc...sell cheap china made stuff, for those who prefer quality...plenty of domestic, or at least made in Mexico or Canada parts. For example, my preferred oil filter is WIX. Better quality components, steel mesh backed scaffolding to support the filter element, steel spring instead of plastic for the bypass, special type of rubber for the sealing gasket...to name a few things. But they were recently bought up by Mann & Hummel....as well as Pulolator filters...which is another quality brand that stood above most other "cheap" brands (including some that many people think are good...but aren't).

 

[GTP]

I am so not brand loyal for RAM or SSDs because I know that, by and large, it's literally all the same. Brand stickers and specific boxes are used to market precisely the same item in many, many cases.

I am more than willing to "roll the dice" as a result, and I have yet to be burned, even slightly, by having elected to take this approach.

As am I not "brand loyal."
The only SSD/NVMe I ever had fail was an OCZ Toshiba SSD 240GB. I bought a batch of 10 at the time and
It was replaced by the supplier with and identical drive that I deployed without issue.
AFAIA they are all still working.

I've deployed many different brands including SUNtek, WD/Sandisk, PNY, HP, (FX 2TB, which I used in my new PC build a couple of weeks ago), Intel, Samsung, Adata, MSI, Gigabyte, Crucial, Corsair, Patriot, DGS, Team Group, Macron, Startek, and many others brands without any issues.

If one could follow their lineages I'm sure they would all come from the same factory - Foxconn!

 

[fincoder]

Typically, we pull these no-name brand drives (pictured) out of new machines

None of those look like OEM drives I see in new machines from HP, Dell, Lenovo. What kinds of new machines are you pulling them from?
I regard Lexar as a respected brand. I hope that's the case because I've been installing some Lexar drives lately.

One thing about lower cost Crucial drives I've noticed is their TBW is very low. This is part of SSD vendor's warranty, the maximum terabytes written before voiding warranty. Unfortunately the TBW is rarely mentioned when 3/5 year warranty is mentioned.

I understand that in theory a lower TBW shouldn't be a problem for 99% of users, but it makes me wonder about the general quality of those drives in the medium/long term.

 

[Metanis]

Half of those drives have their stickers on backwards. I wouldn't ever buy a drive from a company that can't even get the sticker correct!

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I've deployed many different brands including SUNtek, WD/Sandisk, PNY, HP, (FX 2TB, which I used in my new PC build a couple of weeks ago), Intel, Samsung, Adata, MSI, Gigabyte, Crucial, Corsair, Patriot, DGS, Team Group, Macron, Startek, and many others brands without any issues.

If one could follow their lineages I'm sure they would all come from the same factory - Foxconn!

I talked about Crucial above....they are most certainly not made by Foxconn..they are made domestically in the US with some models assembled in Mexico.

There are basically 3x actual factory brands that produce memory chips...that all other brands use...
*Crucial (in the US)
*Samsung (factories in both Korea and the US, they did have some in china but have mostly pulled those out and will continue pulling out)
*Hynix Korea and china..but also pulling out of china

Intel...used to make their SSDs but they sold that division to SK Hynix...which is in South Korea
AData...made in Taiwan
WD..some higher up models made in Malaysia

 

[britechguy]

Perplexity.ai: Who actually manufactures Solid State Drives?

My central point still stands. Whether the country of origin is China or not (and it appears these days in most cases its not) the manufacturing base for all of the brands is quite limited.

Some are "end to end" while others buy most or all of their base components from the major manufacturers and assemble them elsewhere. If ever there were "an incestuous business" SSD manufacture is one.

This is why I remain someone who refuses to be brand loyal.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Your link there kinda reenforced my point...more than your original point.

Your quotes...
"Brand stickers and specific boxes are used to market precisely the same item in many, many cases."
"because I know that, by and large, it's literally all the same. Brand stickers and specific boxes are used to market precisely the same item in many, many cases"
"there are very few actual manufacturers for these, and multiple brands use the same manufacturers."

...so the link you provided...shows a bit more than just a factory or three....with all brands simply slapping their own labels on the box and reselling under their logo.

BUT...that link you provided, is also missing many other manufacturers....it is not very accurate.
There is a linked article from that same page that I followed, which listed a lot of brands made in china itself...

9 Solid State Drive (SSD) Manufacturers in 2025 | Metoree

This section provides an overview for solid state drives (ssd) as well as their applications and principles. Also, please take a look at the list of 9 solid state drive (ssd) manufacturers and their company rankings.

us.metoree.com

I'll offer a much longer list, from Wikipedia...

List of solid-state drive manufacturers - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Now...some here (including myself)...will agree that the actual memory chips that are clustered on RAM and solid state drives....may be made by literally a small handful of factories (that I noted above..."mostly" Crucial, Samsung, and Hynix).

...however...solid state drive manufacturers....are rather flexible in their design, and quality...

I'm not about to spend a penny testing the quality of a "Fikwot" brand SSD, or "Ramsta" brand....hard pass here!

 

[britechguy]

I'm not about to spend a penny testing the quality of a "Fikwot" brand SSD, or "Ramsta" brand....hard pass here!

Nor am I. But I'm also not about to pull out what "comes with" from any major computer OEM.

I stick with "the majors" when purchasing, but that's a pretty long list on which I'd include Crucial/Micron, Kingston, WD/SanDisk, PNY, Adata, Samsung, Kioxia, Corsair, and Silicon Power.

We're simply going to have to agree to disagree somewhat here.

 

[timeshifter]

I’m confused. You’re buying brand new machines factory sealed from the manufacturer, opening them up and swapping out the SSDs with a different model?

 

[ComputerDave]

@britechguy @YeOldeStonecat @fincoder @GTP and everyone else. I want to thank you for your in-depth analysis on the subject. The community here never ceases to amaze me.

 

[ComputerDave]

I’m confused. You’re buying brand new machines factory sealed from the manufacturer, opening them up and swapping out the SSDs with a different model?

Yes. For example, there's an off-brand that ironically is called "Solid-State Storage Technology Corporation" that we have noticed has an unusually high rate of failure. I've worked really hard to gain trust in my community and didn't want to take a chance. Perhaps this is messed up.