SSD (Page 2): You must get up pretty early in the morning on UHH to sleuth out those of us who are "LIARS" from those of us who have inaccurate memories. In retrospect, the drive I...

Dziadzi Loc: Wilkes-Barre, PA

kd7eir wrote:

WHY do people feel such a burning need to LIE?

You must get up pretty early in the morning on UHH to sleuth out those of us who are "LIARS" from those of us who have inaccurate memories. In retrospect, the drive I installed was 256GB, not 500GB. Also it was an OCZ SSD, not a Samsung. I put the Samsung 500GB SSD in an older laptop. God forbid that I should give you an exact date and give you more fodder to tear apart.

The OP wanted to know if we recommend upgrading their computer with an SSD. Your response was to accuse another poster of lying as opposed to absent mindedness. You must be so proud of yourself.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I now run everything on SSD and have been using Intels for almost 6 years with zero issues

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I put my OS and apps on a SSD about 6 years ago (two 120GB in a raid, they were on sale and cheap) then 3 years ago one went bad and I took them out and replaced then with a 240 GB drive and just a couple of weeks ago swapped it for a 500 GB and it is a newer slightly faster design.
I also have a 1 TB "D" drive for general data and files. After 6 years it is less than 1/2 full. Then there is a 6 TB "P" drive for just photos and videos. My backups are to a 4 TB external that I am about to replace with an 8 TB so I can store extra photo backups and the backups for the two laptops.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Go for it. I have them in three desktops (Samsung 500GB and 250GB) and a 500GB in a MacbookPro. It's perfect for the C drive - OS and programs. The desktops have a second HDD for data. Excellent combination. The C drive on this, my main computer, has 355GB of 475GB free, and that's with Win10, LR, PS, Dreamweaver, and lots of other programs installed. My son's desktop has a 250GB SSD, and that's plenty.

I built two desktops, and I used an M.2 drive in mine, with regular a SSD in my son's. I replaced the HDD in an old Dell with a Samsung SSD.

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

I upgraded to a Crucial MX100 750 gig SSD as my main drive, yes they are worth it, really sped up my computer a lot.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

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

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Picture Taker wrote:

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

1) not necessarily true - depends on the nature of the failure (whether HW failure or data/file system corruption)
2) not impossible, but less likely than rotating media
3) recovery of data from a failed HD is extremely expensive, if possible
4) but most importantly, all storage eventually fails - that is what backups of your data are for.

John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN

As an external or a an inside? Apple say may MacBookPro will not support an internal, because of size and placement of connectors. So I got an external and am thinking about making it 'bootable.'

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

I have used an SSD for my OS drive since 2012. I had a 240 GB Intel SSD in my desktop. I upgraded to a Samsung 850 EVO 1 TB SSD in 2016.
Mark

bobforman wrote:

Have any of you switched from a hard drive to a solid state drive? If so, was it worthwhile? What brand did you use? And would you recommend the rest of us consider it as we evaluate upgrading our computers?

OlinBost Loc: Marietta, Ga.

I have replaced all of the main hard drives in my desktop PC with SSDs. Big difference in performance. I did have to also by adapters to go from 3.5" to 2.5". No big deal.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

bobforman wrote:

Have any of you switched from a hard drive to a solid state drive? If so, was it worthwhile? What brand did you use? And would you recommend the rest of us consider it as we evaluate upgrading our computers?

TOTALLY worth it.

I use a Late 2013 21.5" Core i5 iMac. I replaced the stock 5400 RPM 1 TB hard drive with a 2 TB SSD from Other World Computing (http://www.macsales.com). At the same time, I doubled RAM from 8 to 16 GB. Apple said that model can't be upgraded by users, but OWC has free videos that show you how, and parts/tools kits to make it relatively smooth. You DO need manual dexterity, excellent close vision, patience, detail orientation, and the tractability needed to follow instructions to the letter.

The result is a computer that, for its age, hauls a$$. Rendering stills from Lightroom, exporting multi-track audio from Garage Band, and rendering video from Final Cut Pro X, are all an order of magnitude faster. Everything I/O intensive just *snaps*.

Just be sure you work on a static free surface, ground yourself with a special wrist strap, and proceed gently... Mac or PC, upgrades are relatively straightforward to install, especially if your parts supplier has a video for your model or can at least say with certainly that the upgrade can be done on your model.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

bobforman wrote:

Have any of you switched from a hard drive to a solid state drive? If so, was it worthwhile? What brand did you use? And would you recommend the rest of us consider it as we evaluate upgrading our computers?

All my portables have SSDs and I have also replaced all my travel HDs with SSDs as they weigh a fraction of the spinning disks and take up very little space in the bag.

By all means upgrade to SSDs. The speed improvement may have you holding off on the computer upgrade.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Picture Taker wrote:

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

Ever hear of BACKUP? I use Acronis and do one full system backup then 6 incrementals each day at 10AM, repeat weekly, I keep one old set plus the current set. I have used it three times when I put in new drives.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

Yup!! I've used Acronis since 2008. I've recovered entire drives after system failures as well as upgrades to new drives. It's fabulous software and offers superb support.
Mark

robertjerl wrote:

Ever hear of BACKUP? I use Acronis and do one full system backup then 6 incrementals each day at 10AM, repeat weekly, I keep one old set plus the current set. I have used it three times when I put in new drives.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

The first "performance" benefit you will see with an SSD containing the operating system and programs is faster boot times and quicker program opening. This is why lots of computers now can be bought with an SSD for OS and apps AND a hard drive for data storage. The SSD does not have to be huge. 256GB will hold Windows 10 or MacOS and more apps than you'd likely ever use.

File storage is the other side. Hard drives give vastly more space at a lower price. Caution: nowadays you can have a multiple-terabyte hard drive that lets you store every file/photo/document you'll ever create. But if you entrust all of your current and future data to one hard drive, you are ASKING for trouble if it should fail. I'm a long-time computer user and professional technician, and I think the movement to have really huge-capacity drives in the computer is foolhardy. That's why there are external hard drives for storage and backup.