All About SSD Hard Drives as Prices Drop
Posted by: Timothy Tibbetts on 03/25/2017 05:27 AM
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If you've ever read any stories me here, on the support forums or any of our YouTube videos, you know I am a fanboy of SSD hard drives. They are simply the BEST bang for your buck if you want to speed up your PC. Period.
Unlike the large old hard drives, SSD drives come traditionally in a package about the size of a credit card, only a little thicker. Many come with software to easily transfer your data to the new drive so that you can use your new SSD drive for Windows and your favorite apps and use your old hard drive for all it's good for; backup and storage.
Here are a couple of photos I took using a pen and thumb drive for comparison. Yes, I've been using SSD for so long I have spares already. Got geek?
So, how does it compare to the standard SATA drive? I'm glad you asked:
So, how will YOU benefit? With no moving parts, there's no worry of damage should you move your computer around a lot, or travel with a laptop, for example. You can have the fastest computer around with specs including the latest Intel i7 processor, Nvidia gaming video card, 16-32 GB RAM, and more, and all that horsepower gets bottlenecked at your hard drive anyway. There's no waiting for the drive to power up and virtually no noise. Imagine if every time you access your hard drive (and that's what your computer does), it's almost instant and fast. How fast? My boot time, once I pass my BIOS, is about 12 seconds. Yeah.
So, what's the downside? It's believed that SSD drives wear out over time. However, most drives now take advantage of TRIM (dynamically optimizes read/write cycles) technology on most new drives, so it's estimated that the life is around 6 years, depending on who you ask. Most of us don't have 6-year-old computers, and those of us who do can recall our traditional drives failing. You might want to buy an adapter so that you can properly mount your new SSD right next to your current hard drive but they only cost a few bucks.
Finally, they are expensive and small compared to traditional drives. This is why I suggest you install Windows, your favorite apps and games, and boot from the SSD and put everything else on your old drive.
But, here's the good news. At one time they were over a dollar a GB and the biggest drive was 120GB. Flash forward a few years, and they are now almost half of that price.
Update: 500GB drives are well under 150 bucks, while 1TB drives are under $275, approaching the 250 mark. When I wrote this originally just a couple months ago, that's a $200 and $25 price drop, respectively already. Also worth noting is these drives aren't all 3,4 or 5-year-old drives but many are the latest models. I've updated the Amazon ads below to show a few drive choices for you. If you're considering SSD, please use on of our ads to at least look. thanks!
I lean towards the 500 GB Samsung SSD for more drive space for games and because I like the proprietary drive cloning, or imaging software, that comes with it. It's easy to use, even for the first-timer. Be sure to read up before you but to make sure it comes with some sort of imaging software if you don't have any. Some drives come with a tweaked version of Acronis True Image, for example. Some drives are a little cheaper because they don't come with software. I also own a Crucial 500GB SSD that came with cloning software. That said, most of these companies now offer some sort of cloning software from their website as well. Samsung, for example, makes their Samsung Data Migration program available for free to download.
Unlike the large old hard drives, SSD drives come traditionally in a package about the size of a credit card, only a little thicker. Many come with software to easily transfer your data to the new drive so that you can use your new SSD drive for Windows and your favorite apps and use your old hard drive for all it's good for; backup and storage.
Here are a couple of photos I took using a pen and thumb drive for comparison. Yes, I've been using SSD for so long I have spares already. Got geek?
So, how does it compare to the standard SATA drive? I'm glad you asked:
So, how will YOU benefit? With no moving parts, there's no worry of damage should you move your computer around a lot, or travel with a laptop, for example. You can have the fastest computer around with specs including the latest Intel i7 processor, Nvidia gaming video card, 16-32 GB RAM, and more, and all that horsepower gets bottlenecked at your hard drive anyway. There's no waiting for the drive to power up and virtually no noise. Imagine if every time you access your hard drive (and that's what your computer does), it's almost instant and fast. How fast? My boot time, once I pass my BIOS, is about 12 seconds. Yeah.
So, what's the downside? It's believed that SSD drives wear out over time. However, most drives now take advantage of TRIM (dynamically optimizes read/write cycles) technology on most new drives, so it's estimated that the life is around 6 years, depending on who you ask. Most of us don't have 6-year-old computers, and those of us who do can recall our traditional drives failing. You might want to buy an adapter so that you can properly mount your new SSD right next to your current hard drive but they only cost a few bucks.
Finally, they are expensive and small compared to traditional drives. This is why I suggest you install Windows, your favorite apps and games, and boot from the SSD and put everything else on your old drive.
But, here's the good news. At one time they were over a dollar a GB and the biggest drive was 120GB. Flash forward a few years, and they are now almost half of that price.
Update: 500GB drives are well under 150 bucks, while 1TB drives are under $275, approaching the 250 mark. When I wrote this originally just a couple months ago, that's a $200 and $25 price drop, respectively already. Also worth noting is these drives aren't all 3,4 or 5-year-old drives but many are the latest models. I've updated the Amazon ads below to show a few drive choices for you. If you're considering SSD, please use on of our ads to at least look. thanks!
I lean towards the 500 GB Samsung SSD for more drive space for games and because I like the proprietary drive cloning, or imaging software, that comes with it. It's easy to use, even for the first-timer. Be sure to read up before you but to make sure it comes with some sort of imaging software if you don't have any. Some drives come with a tweaked version of Acronis True Image, for example. Some drives are a little cheaper because they don't come with software. I also own a Crucial 500GB SSD that came with cloning software. That said, most of these companies now offer some sort of cloning software from their website as well. Samsung, for example, makes their Samsung Data Migration program available for free to download.
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