HDD to SSD - any suggestions?

Discussion in 'hardware' started by Scott W, Dec 27, 2016.

  1. Scott W

    Scott W Registered Member

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    The HDD in my 2013 Samsung laptop is dying. I've been experiencing CRC errors for a while so I just ran a few HDD diagnostic utilities, all of which indicated a number of bad sectors!

    So I've decided to replace the HDD with a Samsung 500GB (EVO) SSD. I've backed-up to my external HDD, but since I've never dealt with an SSD I'm asking those of you who are SSD-experienced for any advice/precautions/tips.
     
    Last edited: Dec 27, 2016
  2. SSD drives are pretty much plug n play. Not much you can do.

    Download and install Samsung Magician v4.97 since v5.00 is very buggy and does not activate rapid mode on some Samsung SSD drives.

    That's basically all you have to do.
     
  3. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    And never defrag any SSD. My W7 has a default defrag setting which I turned off. Did I say never defrag a SSD?
     
  4. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    Windows is smart enough not to defrag SSDs anyway. It's pointless defragging an SSD, but it won't cause any harm.
     
  5. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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  6. kaljukass

    kaljukass Registered Member

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    1. Windows does not know anything about SSD, each SSD have its own controllers.
    2. Even if you really want, it is not possible to defragment an SSD. Simply not possible. SSD is electronic memory which bases on atoms energetic level and on possibility to change levels..
    It is time to know, what is HDD and what is SSD. There is nothing similar, they are absolutely different things, but have only same function - it is store information.
    It is really fantastic that SSD has been in use for several years, but people still do not know what it is. Completely absurd. But everyone teaches how to defrag and how to wipe. Completely non understandable, why is so difficult to know, what is what.
     
    Last edited: Dec 28, 2016
  7. Krusty

    Krusty Registered Member

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    Window certainly does know the difference between a SSD and a HDD and treats them differently. If you don't believe so, you need to do some research.
     
  8. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    As Krusty said, Windows does know if you're running a hard drive or SSD.

    You can defrag a SSD with some defrag software. Most current defrag software, will recognise if you using a SSD and won't let you defrag it. Older defrag software, does not know the difference between a hard drive and SSD, and will let you defrag SSDs. Due to the way that SSDs work, defragging them will not increase performance much, and as such is fairly pointless. Some defrag software has an SSD optimize function that performs a very quick defrag on SSDs to improve performance. You've lost me with the talk about atoms. I'm not even sure if you know what you are talking about.

    I know quite a bit about SSDs. I replaced the hard drive in my main laptop with a SSD nearly 18 months ago.
     
  9. guest

    guest Guest

    Windows can detect SSDs and is modifying some system settings accordingly:
     
  10. blacknight

    blacknight Registered Member

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    There are some things that you must know, see here for example: http://lifehacker.com/5802838/how-to-maximize-the-life-of-your-ssd
     
  11. Rasheed187

    Rasheed187 Registered Member

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    I currently have a SSD + HDD combo, but I want to replace the HDD. If I plugin a new SSD, what will I have to do, to make it work? So basically the plan is to have one SSD for Windows and apps, and the second (new) one for data storage.
     
  12. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    All you need to do to get it working is to format it, and then copy anything you need from the hard drive.
     
  13. kaljukass

    kaljukass Registered Member

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    Please tell, how? How can be defragment atoms exegetical levels? For example Fermi levels.
     
  14. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    @kaljukass Atoms and fermi levels have nothing to do with defragmenting SSDs.

    In the screenshot below, you can see I am running a defrag on my SSD. Smart Defrag normally won't defrag SSDs, but there is the option to force it to recognise a drive as a SSD or a hard drive, which I used to make it think I actually have a hard drive.

    SSD.png

    As you can see from the following screenshot, it really is a SSD I was defragging.

    SSD 2.PNG

    Also, you should have a look at this thread from someone who increased the performance of thier SSD by defragging it.
     
  15. kaljukass

    kaljukass Registered Member

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    If You have SSD you even do not have defrag option in menu, there is only
    1. Trim
    2. Trim & Inteligent Optimize
    But I guess you can live on with the knowledge that You can defragment, if it helps.
    Good night and good luck.
     
  16. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    As I said in my post, I made Smart Defrag recognise my SSD as a hard drive.

    SSD 3.png

    I do not usually defrag my drive, I was just proving my point, that SSDs are not some complicated technology that needs to be described with scientific terms. They do get fragmented just like a regular mechanical hard drives. I suggest you do some searching on Google about SSDs, so you can do some reading and have at least a basic understanding of them, before continuing to post posting ridiculous terms such as fermi levels when talking about them.
     
  17. Scott W

    Scott W Registered Member

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    Interesting feedback and (mostly) quite informative. I presume no changes in BIOS/UEFI (on my part) are necessary when switching over to an SSD? :doubt:

    Thanks & happy new year!
     
  18. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    Nothing has to be changed.
     
  19. Scott W

    Scott W Registered Member

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    Great; seems like replacing my HDD with an SSD is going to be pretty easy (at least from a hardware standpoint)!
     
  20. NGRhodes

    NGRhodes Registered Member

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    SSD do get fragmented, but not like mechanical drives. There is no performance hit from the SSD, random access, there is no seek hit. The performance hit is from the fragmented filesystem itself

    There is a processing hit to filesystem fragmentation just like there is for having large amount of files in a single folder with NTFS. Each extent location is stored in the MFT, so the more extents that need reading (small files or file fragments) the more I/O is needed to read a given amount of data from the filesystem (more metadata needs to be read to read a given set of data). This is a particular issue with SSDs that need to erase before write, causing I/O amplification.

    For further details take a look at http://www.rtcmagazine.com/articles/view/101053

    Its also worth noting that Windows does defrag SSDs sometimes http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheRealAndCompleteStoryDoesWindowsDefragmentYourSSD.aspx

    Cheers, Nick
     
  21. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    I do understand that (but your post was very informative nonetheless), and I was just pointing out that they do get fragmented. Another poster in this thread seems to think that because "SSD is electronic memory which bases on atoms energetic level", SSDs can't be defragmented.
     
  22. zapjb

    zapjb Registered Member

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    I now have W7P64 scheduled to defrag my SSD 1x a month. I learned I was wrong about NEVER defragging an SSD.

    Now if my laptop was running only Linux would it be the same? Because the Linux file system doesn't fragment afaik. But I was wrong before.
     
  23. Triple Helix

    Triple Helix Specialist

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  24. NGRhodes

    NGRhodes Registered Member

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    You can defrag the filesystem, consolidating extents and free space, but with SSD the physical storage locations are abstracted through logical block addressing, there is no direct mapping like you generally (ignoring RAID and multiple striped drives) get with spinning rust. You can request an extent is written contiguously from the OS , but the internal hardware can (and often does) in the SSD map the logical block address to physical locations that are not continuous, (to aid wear levelling, keeping away from locations marked by trim for wiping). There simply is no concept of fragmentation of data on an SSD.
    For clarity, there is less processing and I/O overhead from a logically defragmented filesystem, but there will be no difference to physical performance of the SSD, as I mentioned before any performance gains will be from reduced I/O calls (less extents to keep track of, less MFT lookups) - there is potentially benefit to defragmenting a file system on a SSD to reduce the number of fragments and areas of free space (to reduce I/O calls and processing as above).
     
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2016
  25. NGRhodes

    NGRhodes Registered Member

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    Linux file systems are far more resistant to to fragmentation and the performance impacts of fragmentation; defragmentation should only be done on occasions where needed, not as routine maintenance.
     
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2016
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