SSDs for everyone? Not so fast

All this SSD talk makes me want to get one. ARGG

 

If building or upgrading a computer today, I see no reason not to go SSD, unless the budget is just way too tight.

But even then, if time permits, I would hold off on purchasing until an SSD would fit in the budget.

When you factor in the extra cost of an SSD vs HD over the life of the computer, not forgetting that SSDs consume 1/2 or less the power of HDs and generate much less heat, it is easy to justify going SSDs.

And if you go Windows 8, which was redesign to greatly reduce boot times, and SSDs, the performance gains over even the fastest HDs is amazing - if not addicting.

Sure, 3Tb hard drives sound great - but the reality is, it is very hard to fill up 256Gb of SSD space with operating system and program files, and their data files, and still have lots of room for 1000s of music files. Yeah, videos can take up significant space - so get a cheap HD for them.

The fact of the matter is, modern motherboards and current operating systems are ideally suited to be used with current SSDs.

 

^ agree. If on tight budget you can find very good deals on sale, especially when older SSD models getting replaced by newer models.

 

ive been using a crucial m4 128gb in my main desktop system (os drive) for over a year and its amazing! I could never go back.

I have just picked up a samsung 840 256gb for my laptop (e5420) and is a bargain at only £120, windows 8 booting in about 6 seconds!

 

kC,

That's fast. What is your zero point? When do you start counting the seconds?

 

Of course, that will vary from computer to computer, user to user, depending on what programs the user has loading at boot.

It also depends on how Windows 8 was shutdown. It is not the same as with Windows 7. And it also depends on if the motherboard uses UEFI or standard BIOS.

In W8 with a UEFI motherboard, Windows does not fully exit during "normal" shutdowns but instead uses a hybrid shutdown to boot faster by by-passing many steps taken by W7. This is why you have to do a full power-off shutdown in W8 if you want the prompt to access the BIOS Setup Menu.

In any event - regardless the OS, BIOS, or startup programs, with all else equal, boot times with an SSD are much much faster than traditional HDs.

However, depending on how much RAM you have, after the system has booted, SSD performance advantages diminish as more and more data the OS and CPU need has already been preloaded (with fetch routines) in fast RAM.

 

Xubuntu boots in 8 sec on a laptop that is 5 years old ...
Mrk

 

I wonder what the boot time would be on a new high performance laptop with SSD, 2 seconds?

 

Boot time is NOT a true indication of over all system performance. As noted above, times will vary from computer to computer and user to user - much depending on what programs the user has loading at boot.

There are just too many user variables. The choice of anti-malware, connected devices, and start up programs like hardware monitors, Word, networking, email programs, etc. all affect boot times. Many scanners perform initial scans during boot.

BIOS Setup Menu options affect boot times. For example, users can set the BIOS to display all sorts of information during boot, in text, or with fancy graphics. Or users can set the BIOS to boot more quickly by skipping some tasks. And none of those actions affect performance once fully booted.

CCleaner, Windows own Disk Cleanup, and Windows itself, unable to perform some delete actions while Windows is running will "schedule" tasks to happen during boot.

In other words, boot times are dependent on what the user, and the OS, has loading during boot, and not just hardware capability.

For another, much depends on how much system RAM is installed. We must remember, once the data is loaded in to RAM, it does not matter if you are loaded Windows off a SSD, USB flash drive, or a floppy disk.

 

Yes I know, my reply wasn't meant to be serious. Regardless of how the system performs, it would be nice if you could say "My notebooks fully boots in under 3 seconds"

 

And it depends on when you start the clock. I recall one member who reported a boot time of a few seconds but it transpired he started the timing after the "second login screen". Whatever that is.

 

Hi,

Can someone perhaps explain how a combo between a HDD and SSD works?

Is the OS installed on the SSD? And what if you replace the SSD? Do you have to install the OS again, I don´t get it.

For example: HP ENVY 700-020ed Desktop PC

 

There are lots of ways to do this. OS on SSD and data on HDD is the easiest way to set this up and if you already had your OS on a HDD and wanted to switch it to a SSD there are ways to clone the HDD to SSD allowing you to avoid a reinstall. You can also use Intel's SRT tech to add a SSD to an existing system and SRT will use the SSD as cache. This also gets you around an OS reinstall.

The one thing to remember is that for the most part a SSD is just a really fast HDD minus the moving parts. From the OS a SSD function like any other hard drive and the hardware connects exactly the same way a HDD does.