Upgrading to SSD: There's been considerable discussion in the forum about the advantages of SSDs. I have a reasonably new Dell Win 10 laptop with a 2TB SATA drive that is rapidly...

Cheese

There's been considerable discussion in the forum about the advantages of SSDs. I have a reasonably new Dell Win 10 laptop with a 2TB SATA drive that is rapidly filling up. I had planned to swap it out for a 4TB drive, and wondered if I should also switch to SSD. I'm not willing to spend $750, which appears to be the going rate for a 4TB SSD. The laptop will not accommodate two internal drives, and does not have an optical drive that can be swapped out for a SSD. My only option is for a small SSD to run the OS, and a larger EXTERNAL drive. This is not really practical, since I travel quite a bit, and take the laptop back and forth to work every day, so would need to take both laptop and external drive everywhere I go.

How have those of you in a similar situation handled the problem? Thanks.

Ourspolair

I have frequently swapped out hard drives for SSDs in my laptops (first 500GB then 1TB versions).
To keep the cost down, replace your onboard HDD with a 1TB SSD. It is unlikely that your 2TB HDD has more than 100G of programs on it, the rest is data which you should back up to an external drive anyway. When travelling, I always carry a 1 or 2TB external drive which I use to back up my images on a daily basis.
Small external HDDs are really cheap these days and some (like the WD Passport series) are quite light and small. They only use one USB cable and I do not find them a bother to throw into the laptop bag (even for my 13" laptop.
You won't have to use the weights at the gym to carry this extra gear. When you get home, backup everything to another external drive, and purge the laptop once you have finshed and saved your edits. You will always have an archive on the small external HDD and will likely never run out of space on your 1TB internal SSD.
Hope this works for you. Stay well and keep on posting.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Granted, SSDs are not susceptible to abrupt movement or G-force,
but my experience based on how many HDs I've had go bad in the past 25 years (2:1 internal and 1 external),
Not worth the price difference to me.
SSDs can die too.

Cheese

Ourspolair wrote:

I have frequently swapped out hard drives for SSDs... (show quote)

Looks like you are using your external drive as temporary storage until you get home. That doesn't quite work for me. I spend an hour each way on a commuter train going to and from work. Having an external drive dangling at the end of a USB cord isn't very practical. The same when I'm on an airplane, or waiting for a flight.

Do most folks who use the small SSD and large HDD configuration primarily use it in desktops?

Cheese

Longshadow wrote:

Granted, SSDs are not susceptible to abrupt movement or G-force,
but my experience based on how many HDs I've had go bad in the past 25 years (2:1 internal and 1 external),
Not worth the price difference to me.
SSDs can die too.

I too have a collection of dead external HDDs in my bottom desk drawer.

So is your recommendation to forget about the SSD and replace the 2TB SATA HDD with a larger capacity SATA HDD?

Thanks.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Cheese wrote:

I too have a collection of dead external HDDs in my bottom desk drawer.

So is your recommendation to forget about the SSD and replace the 2TB SATA with a larger capacity SATA?

Thanks.

That's what I would do personally, but that's just me.
(I used to work in Quality Assurance (electronics) in a previous life.)
I'm not worried about access speed either.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I have probably 20 external HDDs in my disk pile, collected over the last couple decades. I have lost three of them. One of them had a proprietary power connector and the power supply got lost in a move. Two others were lost to shock, being dropped when running.

I agree that trying to use a laptop on your lap with an external HDD attached is a potential problem unless you have a 6-8 ft long cable and can put the HDD in a pocket or on the floor. Those little 10" long cables just won't hack it.

therwol Loc: USA

Cheese wrote:

There's been considerable discussion in the forum ... (show quote)

I put one of these into a laptop. It tests slightly slower than the EVO models, but you most lilkely won't notice any difference, and the improvement over the HDD that came with the machine is very significant.

https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-Internal-Version-MZ-77Q4T0B-AM/dp/B089C5P5SX/ref=sr_1_2?crid=4BYYLUWRQFI1&dchild=1&keywords=samsung+4tb+ssd&qid=1602290368&sprefix=samsung+4t%2Caps%2C269&sr=8-2

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That's the one big problem with SSDs - the cost. On the plus side, the Samsung 500GB SSD has come waaay down in price since I bought my first one four years ago for $162. Now it is selling for about $75 on Amazon.

I use desktops for serious computing, and I have the 500GB in them. I just ordered a laptop with a 512 SSD. If I needed serious storage, I would use an external drive. That seems to be what Apple users do. If you go that route, look for a "tough" external drive.

Cheese

therwol wrote:

I put one of these into a laptop. It tests slightly slower than the EVO models, but you most lilkely won't notice any difference, and the improvement over the HDD that came with the machine is very significant.

https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-Internal-Version-MZ-77Q4T0B-AM/dp/B089C5P5SX/ref=sr_1_2?crid=4BYYLUWRQFI1&dchild=1&keywords=samsung+4tb+ssd&qid=1602290368&sprefix=samsung+4t%2Caps%2C269&sr=8-2

Still a bit pricey, but definitely worth considering. Thanks.

Cheese

jerryc41 wrote:

That's the one big problem with SSDs - the cost. On the plus side, the Samsung 500GB SSD has come waaay down in price since I bought my first one four years ago for $162. Now it is selling for about $75 on Amazon.

I use desktops for serious computing, and I have the 500GB in them. I just ordered a laptop with a 512 SSD. If I needed serious storage, I would use an external drive. That seems to be what Apple users do. If you go that route, look for a "tough" external drive.

Most offices these days seem to have done away with desktops, because they expect employees to work from home and on the road (even pre-pandemic). It seems the focus of the manufacturers has been on increasing capacity, rather than lowering prices.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Cheese wrote:

... It seems the focus of the manufacturers has been on increasing capacity, rather than lowering prices.

Maybe because so many people are price driven instead of quality driven?
Cost-To-Benefit ratio may be better?
(Why I won't get SSDs yet, CBR too high still for me.)

Providing a reliable, quality product DOES cost more.
My burned in and tested 2Tb drives (with a 2 million hour MTBF) were $125 each, yea, I could have bought a $50 drive right off the assembly line...

By the way, as drive capacity increases, the price of the lower capacity drives does go down.
Bigger is better.

Ourspolair

Cheese wrote:

I too have a collection of dead external HDDs in my bottom desk drawer.

So is your recommendation to forget about the SSD and replace the 2TB SATA HDD with a larger capacity SATA HDD?

Thanks.

Yes

Ourspolair

Ourspolair wrote:

Yes

Hang on - I replied too quickly - I would recommend that you replace your existing HDD with a 1TB SATA SSD and buy a physically small 2TB external drive to deal with your data backups while you are travelling. By running all of your software on the SSD you will get improved performance (speed) in your processing, and you are very unlikely to run out of space on the internal SSD if you manage your data appropriately. It is a low-cost solution which should meet your needs. If you go to a 2TB SSD, the price goes up considerably.

Cheese

Ourspolair wrote:

Hang on - I replied too quickly - I would recommen... (show quote)

The external drive would not be for backups. It would be for live data that I need while using the laptop during travel or while commuting. This is more of a business computer than a hobby computer.