lschiz Loc: Elgin, IL

Yes sir! Hands-down the far better option. I have an old PC laptop six years old got it brand new with a 256 gig SSD. Never a glitch a problem at all. All my images are stored in a RAID1 configuration w/ two SSDs (I use https://www.cru-inc.com/products/RTX/?product_line=RTX&bay_count=2 )
I stair all images off the computer on my RAID box as a working drive and then I back up that raid up twice again to two other mechanical disk drives.
My Lightroom catalog I store on the computer and back it up to a dropbox account and a folder on my RAID1. The best combination I’ve ever had when I get the money and a brand new computer it’ll be a much larger SSD. Lots of other good information and advice here as well.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

I probably would too, if it were my only computer. In my case, it was an old laptop in the closet, unusable for over a year. To take it from a 15 minute boot time to a few seconds boot time, from a useless piece of extra closet junk to a snappy, responsive photo processing machine running the latest OS and Adobe suite, with an investment of $0 was worth a few hours fiddling and felt rather miraculous.

charlienow Loc: Hershey, PA

You will think you have a brand new computer. Everything is faster...photo and video editing will take much less time. But that price seems high. If you can do it yourself or have a friend or relative do it for you the savings will be well worth it.

However if you feel there could be malware or viruses or something else wrong and the computer store is going to clean up your computer it might be worth it.

Good luck

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

True!


Not true.

A friend of mine is a manufacturing engineer and designer at one of the largest manufacturers of SSDs. He knows I'm a photographer and tells me to not trust SSD to archive my images. An "enterprise class" HD is the safest storage... but backups are still very important. SSD data reliability has improved, but it's still not as secure as an HD can be.

OTOH, SSD are GREAT for programs that can be reinstalled easily, if needed.

$350 for 1TB seems really expensive to me....

Crucial.com has some of the best quality available and their 1TB MX500 sells for $110. That comes with the necessary software, but an installation kit costing a little less than $18 may be needed if installing in a desktop computer. That kit includes a bracket and screws enabling the 2.5" format SSD to be fitted to a standard 3.5" drive bay that's pretty much the standard in most desktops. It also includes the cables needed to install the drive in the computer as well as cables used to copy the old drive to the new one. It also has another copy of the software. If installing in a laptop, this kit may not be needed. Most laptops use a 2.5" drive bay, so the SSDs that size can be directly fitted.

I don't know what brand or quality of memory your local techie is installing... or your own technical skills... but it's not a difficult job (and Crucial provides extensive instructions). If you know how to open the computer, are able to follow instructions, can manipulate a screwdriver and are able to plug some cables into existing sockets, you can probably install it yourself. Based upon the pricing for 1TB Crucial SSD w/kit (which is some of the best), I'd estimate that tech is charging about $200 for maybe a half hour of actual work. (There will be additional time waiting while your data is copied from one drive to another... but that's not "labor", IMO... they can go out to dinner, take a nap or play some video games while waiting).

The only "tricky" thing about an installation like this is that it's important to ground yourself before touching stuff inside a computer, so there's no static electricity "shocking" any of the delicate circuitry. There are special grounding straps that "real" techies use.... but all you actually need to do is touch the metal chassis of the computer with your other hand first, on the exterior and/or well away from the circuitry... to drain off any static build-up in your body. This works fine to prevent any problems.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

Quoted price is waaaaay to high. B&H has a Samsung 860 1TB SSD on dale for $100.00. Installation & data transfer should not be $ 250. Yes, an SSD is one thing that will make your system boot/run faster. About a bazillion times faster than a spinning HDD! best of luck.

Ted de Castro

Just remember - any cell/sector in an SSD is only good for about 100 write cycles - then it dies. The drive software shifts things around to even out the usage but doing things like defraging and or optimizing can be detrimental. I have LOTS of normal harddrives - about 29T on my system and have been using HDs for decades with out many problems. I don't notice any real speed issues - but I'm not gamer - although I do lots of work with very large files. So personally - I'm not about to switch. --- but that's just my opinion.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

Just curious -- where did you get that information? If that were actually true, most SSDs would be dead days after installation! Best of luck.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

SSD will (probably) speed up boot times and program opening times. But you pay a real big premium using a very large SSD for big storage. And you shouldn't rely on an SSD being a safe place to keep your data long-term by itself anyway. An SSD can fail just like hard drives can, and with absolutely no warning.
Suggestion....get a 256 GB SSD. Much cheaper than a 1TB. Use it for the operating system and program installations. Move data you want to store to an external hard drive, and back IT up.

Ted de Castro

That's been the way they have been since they first came out. I've seen many articles about it - especially on CNET. I've seen SSD manufacturer literature detailing how the operating system spreads data around the sectors to even out the use. I've seen many SSD ads referencing this issue. There are utilities about to help with this shortcoming as well.

If it were not for measures to cover for this - you are correct - they would have died long ago.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

According to the specs of the mobo, it has 7 sata ports and will easily take an ssd drive or two.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Yes, they are really "better" but the price you mentioned is outrageous!

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

It might be a bit over the top, but I do not think it is "outrageous". It also depends on the quality/brand of the SSD.
Perhaps $300 for the SSD, transferring the OS and installation? I suspect if he offered the shop $250 for the job, "Mom & Pop" might accept.
Mark

Ted de Castro

Like I said - I've seen it many places since they first came on the scene - but since I never expected to get challenged - I didn't note the source.

Anyhow - it bears revisiting - the problem STILL exists but has gotten better since the early days - by a factor of 20 or 30 and with fancy math and assumptions, defenders can make them sound like long lived. SSDs even come with a lifetime data spec now!

Google : ssd write limit and you'll see lots of information.

The following article is pretty good:

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-ssds-solid-state-drives-work-increase-lifespan/

Personally I've only had 1 harddrive fail on me and that was back in the '80's. The article above calculates the data limit spec equivalent to a 12 year life - I've had harddrives do that without a problem.

The reason I most usually replaced a hardrive was because newer technology made them larger and cheaper - I mean we USED to pay for a 10 MB drive what we can get an 8T for now!!! So I seldom used one up - they just got too small.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

When you reply, please use "Quote Reply" so everyone knows who/what you are replying to. Respectfully, your are incorrect. Please point us to something that specifically points to this. While there may be a theoretical limit, it is much larger than 100 writes. If that were actually true, I have some miraculous SSDs that are way beyond their life cycle, including the one in this very machine! Best of luck.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

According to the specs of your motherboard, it has 7 sata ports, good enough for multiple ssds.