SSD Hard drives - worth a punt?
 

My PC is around 5 years old and the 3 hard drives inside are definitely showing their age.

Are the latest SSD's backward compatible with SATA 1?
What sort of increases in bootup speed / access times would I achieve after fitting? :wonder:

SATA has always been backwards compatible. You will see a HUGE increase in speed.

SATA 1 has a max bandwidth throughput of 150MB/s and modern SSD drives can reach upwards of 500 MB/s, so to get the most from the SSD a SATA 3 interface is recommended.

However, HDDs struggle to reach 100MB/s so you'll notice an increase in both boot up and access times. Capacity is the limiting factor with SSDs and a 500Gb SSD is approx. 5 x the price of a 500 Gb HDD (£150 vs £30)

I refreshed an old laptop in such a manner, think it was SATA II though. Added an SSD, some more RAM, and a fresh install of Windows 7 (was running the dreaded Vista before). It's like a new computer so well worth it.

Here is the thread: https://www.scoobynet.com/computer-a...p-refresh.html

You only need ssd as the start up drive as there can not be that much benefit of using one for a secondary drive?

When I re-built my machine towards the end of last year I got a Samsung SSD..... it's fast.

My PC now takes about 6-7 seconds to boot to the desktop (from the point of powering it on) :D so worth the upgrade.

Then have a larger SATA drive for all your data and just install your OS and applications on the SSD ;)

Samsung 840PRO FTW. The cloning software hasn't failed me yet on 3 separate boxes either, very good :thumb:

850 Pro out very soon. With a ten year warranty IIRC :)

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-...1255900/review

Yup the performance difference will be minimal compared to the 840 though in real life terms, as the 840 already maxxes out the SATA bus. Great for new buyers :thumb:

Just bought one of these and fitted today.

http://uk.crucial.com/Product2_10153_10153_12950_-1____

Very impressed, like a brand new computer. :luxhello:

Same like me,840PRO 256GB fitted few month ago and its worth it,although I'm still on SATA II and there is limitation on write and read speeds

If I would go again with SSD,then I would go with 960GB now and deffo with SATA III MB

And which is best SSD,then I would probably recommend SanDisk Extreme Pro,but still Samsung are good too performers,Crucial MX100 are good from price point of view

Thanks,Jura

Not sure,if I would choose him,price will be probably high and if perform as above SanDisk,then I would consider one for myself

Thanks,Jura

MX100 are great SSD from price and performance point of view,cost less than concurrency and they're worth it:thumb:

Thanks,Jura

i will 2nd and 3rd n 4th the ssd drives, worth there weight in gold :)

I just built a new PC with 2 samsung SSD drives in a raid 0 holding the OS, office, Photoshop and Lightroom. I have a 3rd SSD drive holding the lightroom database and a 3TB SATA HDD for photos and stuff. The performance is blistering with the 32gb DDR3 ram and the graphics card with 2gb GDDR5 ram. I didn't know a PC could boot up so quick :D

After my hard drive failed, I installed a small capacity SSD to put the PCs operating system on and the programmes I use most often and then got another regular drive for storage.

Makes a significant difference, especially in boot up times and access times for the progammes and material stored on the drive; it's reflected in the windows experience score.

Prior to the SSD I was capped at 5 due to the access speed of the HD, despite all of the other scores being maxed out. After the SSD, I got the maximum score.

No brainer in my view!

There is no comparison between SSD and HDD, it is well worth the cash no matter which version SATA port you have..there is NO seak time with an SSD.

I have a pair of 120gb Vertex 4's in raid 0, on SATA 3 I have very close to 1gbit read speeds! I even have a 60gb ssd v2 in my playstation 3! also worth it! :)

Install your OS and all programs to SSD.. use Large capacity HD for file storage (Pictures/movies etc etc)

Very nice. I'd like similar at some point but for VMware as opposed to Photoshop/Lightroom etc. How much did that little lot set you back? Did you build from scratch or get a pre built base unit and then modify?

The new hybrid drives are worth considering as well and can be a good compromise.

I see very little, if any, difference in boot time between my old 240Gb OCZ Agility3 SSD and it's replacement Seagate 1TB SSHD with 8Gb SSD cache.

I've used on previous PC builds standard HDD which has been very reliable for me,but switching to SSD I wouldn't go back to normal HDD as boot disk or where are programs installed

My PC is mostly for 3D rendering,3D modelling and making music,just start up of 3DS MAX with several plugins on SSD take around 15 sec,on previous WD Black this took close to 1min and most o any SW boots just quick too

And Don as per yours SSD OCZ Agility 3,they're not most reliable SSD and they're in my view slow,my friend have installed this SSD and he bring me to have look and we are tried just write and read speeds I've been shocked by speeds: Write: 190mbps,Read: 120mbps,I've tried both SATA II and III ports,but still speed has been same and slow,this SSD hasn't been faster than my 3TB Toshiba which has have read write speeds around 190mbps on SATA II

Thanks,Jura

Jura - had your friend done the necessary firmware updates - just became too small for current OS and program needs. the SSHD is a good compromise.

The Agility 3 was purchased new in June 2012 and was considered good in those days (500Mb/s);)

What are the hybrid drives like? Got a new laptop coming with 1tb hybrid drive with 8gb cache but never used anything other than conventional hdds until now.

My XPS 18 has a 500/32GB hybrid, the HDD is only 5400 RPM. Might be due to Win 8 but it seems much snappier than a laptop of similar CPU performance with 7200RPM 500 GB HDD on Win 7.

Been running an XPS 17 for a couple of years with 128GB Samsung SSD plus 500GB storage drive. Still boots within 20 seconds and shuts down within 10. Used for 40-60 hours a week, been dropped, stood on, flown around the world still going strong.

Today I did a periodic back up which I do once a month or so of the SSD (just in case) but so far (touch wood) so good.

Have 30+ programs - god knows how many processes at boot up. Not slowed down at all, quite often have 10 of them running at once.

I also have 32GB RAM though :D

Sorry only just seen this.

Yes I built it from scratch and bought every bit seperately, even the case and power supply came seperately.

Not sure how much it cost but TBH it wasn't that bad. I have the various receipts kicking around at home if you really want me to work it out.

Thanks Wurzel, nah was only if you knew off the top of your head don't bother adding it all up.

If I ever get round to affording one i'll end up with an imac to do my stuff, stick Windows on it with 3tb hdd and 32gb ram and with the huge screen will be ideal for running my vmware farm. Just the slight issue with cost of one though!