SSD (Page 3): It will definitely result in a speed and reliability increase. But it still begs he question are yu just putting lipstick on a pig. Might it be better to get a higher...

photogeneralist Loc: Lopez Island Washington State

It will definitely result in a speed and reliability increase. But it still begs he question are yu just putting lipstick on a pig. Might it be better to get a higher native speed replacement computer now.rather than wait for the impending failure of our old machine? It's a value judgment that only you can make.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

Picture Taker wrote:

When a solid state driver fails you have 0% chance of recovery.

That's why an SSD is best used for the OS and program installs only. If the SSD dies, you just replace it and reinstall OS and programs anew. Which, of course, you should be able to do since you are a legit user of all of it and you have installation media.

pendennis

I own a Dell laptop, that had a 1TB spinner. On separate occasions two weeks apart, I got an error message on the drive, that there had been a write error. No data was lost, but the second time, I went to Best Buy, bought a Samsung SSD 850. It came with the necessary bracket and software to do a straight conversion to the SSD.

Performance was immediately improved, and there hasn't been a hiccup yet. Just waiting now, to convert my Dell desktop to SSD. Will get that done shortly. Normally, it would take the spinner a half-minute to boot up. The SSD does it in around 6 seconds.

I did keep the drive, and it serves as a plug-in drive encased for utility work. Would never trust it for critical saving of data.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

nadelewitz wrote:

That's why an SSD is best used for the OS and program installs only. If the SSD dies, you just replace it and reinstall OS and programs anew. Which, of course, you should be able to do since you are a legit user of all of it and you have installation media.

No. SSDs are at LEAST as reliable as a spinning disk and likely more so. The ONLY reason not to use them is cost, and if you think that you can purchase a high quality 8-12 TB spinning disk for $100, then you better have an excellent back up strategy, because you’re going to need it.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

I know of a high tech company will use SSDs for working as they are supper fast but will not use them for storage because if the fail you can't retrieve anything.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Anyone who does not use a backup strategy is asking for failure & doom!!
Backup, backup, backup!!!
Mark

Picture Taker wrote:

I know of a high tech company will use SSDs for working as they are supper fast but will not use them for storage because if the fail you can't retrieve anything.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Picture Taker wrote:

I know of a high tech company will use SSDs for working as they are supper fast but will not use them for storage because if the fail you can't retrieve anything.

Then that unnamed “high tech company” needs better informed admins.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

TriX wrote:

No. SSDs are at LEAST as reliable as a spinning disk and likely more so. The ONLY reason not to use them is cost, and if you think that you can purchase a high quality 8-12 TB spinning disk for $100, then you better have an excellent back up strategy, because you’re going to need it.

Well yeah, cost is an issue. If you want very large data storage, using a SSD will cost far more than a hard drive. If YOU have the money, more power to you.

I just read a survey report on SSD versus hard drive usage for enterprise servers, server farms (you know, like Google, Facebook). It concluded, from the users' point of view, hard drives would be the storage medium of choice for a long time. SSDs just do not approach hard drive capacities, and cost vs capacity mandates hard drives.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Q

nadelewitz wrote:

Well yeah, cost is an issue. If you want very large data storage, using a SSD will cost far more than a hard drive. If YOU have the money, more power to you.

I just read a survey report on SSD versus hard drive usage for enterprise servers, server farms (you know, like Google, Facebook). It concluded, from the users' point of view, hard drives would be the storage medium of choice for a long time. SSDs just do not approach hard drive capacities, and cost vs capacity mandates hard drives.

That reality is changing...

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

TriX wrote:

Q

That reality is changing...

Today? Next week? Technology is always changing. Some changes take longer than others. The people, corporations, the world, need to do things NOW and for the reasonable future, and AFFORD the latest technology.

Kuzano

b roll wanabee wrote:

Put your operating system on a ssd. You can use another larger drive to store media or whatever if you need it. Without an ssd your computer is limited.

It's the easiest way to increase performance. You can even take your drive with you to the next computer.

No brainer. The main thing is to have your operating system installed on the ssd.

My third SSD took a little longer to fail than the first two. You would think as a 25 year veteran of the PC wars, teching and consulting I would learn sooner. I have never installed an SSD in any client computer.

Kuzano

TriX wrote:

Q

That reality is changing...

Hmmph! Not so's you'd notice.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Kuzano wrote:

My third SSD took a little longer to fail than the first two. You would think as a 25 year veteran of the PC wars, teching and consulting I would learn sooner. I have never installed an SSD in any client computer.

Whose SSDs?

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

nadelewitz wrote:

Today? Next week? Technology is always changing. Some changes take longer than others. The people, corporations, the world, need to do things NOW and for the reasonable future, and AFFORD the latest technology.

A year ago, it was 1TB SSDs, a year later, we're at 2TB. BUT, as faster networks are being built out, performance is going to be more and more important. Spinning disks have the same access time (6-7 msec for the fastest) as 20 years ago, and max BW is less than 200 MB/sec and less than 200 IOPs (don't forget that most user accesses are small files). A PCIe SSD will do >2000 MB/sec, 75,000 IOPs and an access time in microseconds, not Msec. And power consumption/heat isn't even close (a major cost of data centers is power and cooling). As the cost/GB continues to drop and sizes increase, the equation is going to change. The spinning disk has had a great run, but a disruptive paradigm change is occurring, and if you don't see it coming, just wait - you will.

Of course, you can do the “Kodak thing” and ignore the paradigm shift... Digital killed film, solid state killed tubes, digital storage killed CRT storage in instruments and graphics, LCDs killed CRTs, fuel injection killed carburetors, digital TV killed NTSC video, CDs and MP3s killed vinyl, digital projection killed movie film, online news is killing print, FibreChannel killed HIPPI, steam killed sail...I could go on and on, but you get the idea.