Ok, so, since my Vertex 3 is my system drive and I don't feel like reverting back to standard HDD and proceed with the drive RMA, I decided to try a firmware update first, even though it does not seem to be particularly useful based on what people are saying.
I could not use the standard OCZ tool for windows as it won't work on the system drive your OS is currenrly running from. I assumed the fastest way for me was to run it from a Windows PE boot, but decided to follow the recommended OCZ procedure, which was anyway quite simple and clear.
I downloaded the Linux ISO they prepared, burned it, booted from it, updated the firmware from 2.06 to 2.13, and rebooted the system.
All seems to be ok now, but we'll see what happens by leaving the system up and running for a while, as I would notmally do anyway. Unfortunately the drive failures seem to be totally random, so all I can do is wait.
I'll let you know what happens.
It is really annoying having to go through the all RMA process, even though that is possibly the wisest thing to do now.


Edit: interestingly, the OS detected something "new" upon boot after the firmware update, and asked me to reboot once more, which usually is required only when you update some system driver. In any case, rebooted and here I am.

Edit 2: This is a fairly powerful and new machine, loaded with RAM, and I am still amazed at how all these reboots and updated where performed so quickly I can't still realize they're actually completed. I feel as I'd been browsing the net and downloading tools and info all the time, when in fact I also spent 5 minutes (literally) burining an ISO, rebooting in Linux, updating the firmware, rebooting Windows twice. How can't you love technology? I mean, apart from ending up with a semi-faulty SSD Drive, of course .