SSD I love you

[red-beard]

So, as most of you know, Mrs. Beard killed my laptop. I "fixed" it, but it still has problems. (And if I can't fix it, it's BROKE!)

Anyway, I'm using an older Dell Lattitude I picked up from WOOT ($299). Dual core, I5. It should be OK. But darn it seems slow.

Swapped in 16GB of RAM replacing the 4GB it came with. Some improvement, especially after re-configuring the disk cache.

Changed out the Hard disk for an SSD. Wow! Stupid fast now. These PCs are so dependent on the disk drives. SSD is the only way to go.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

It's too bad really - software development seems to have become so bloated and not terribly efficient in terms of memory usage (at least for PCs, a somewhat different dynamic for mobile devices although it looks like it's happening there too). An unintended consequence of cheap hardware I suppose.

I suppose some of the popularity of tablets / mobile devices is no HDDs but the downside is an (over)dependence on Internet connectivity.

[red-beard]

For tablets they also have hardware constraints. They have to design small and efficient

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by red-beard

Changed out the Hard disk for an SSD. Wow! Stupid fast now. These PCs are so dependent on the disk drives. SSD is the only way to go.

How many of your old drives/programs are you able to run on it?

Is there an interface or overlay you use?

[widebody911]

I've put SSD's in all of my laptops - they've breathed new life into older laptops I have that use IDE drives, and the next time I have to rebuild a desktop it will get one as well. I've considered using a hybrid drive, but these things are getting cheap enough that there might not be any cost advantage to doing so.

[techweenie]

Got an old iMac - 2009 - because it had i7 processor. Maxed the RAM and pulled the 1T HD in favor of a 256GB SSD. Major difference in responsiveness. It wakes up desktops, too.

[sc_rufctr]

SSD's are defiantly the way to go but as mentioned above make sure you do regular backups.

Recently a client lost a heap of data because the SSD in his tablet died. He had never backed up his data and there was nothing we could do for him.

[RF5BPilot]

I put SSD's in all my computers. What a great way to breathe new life into older computers and even make new ones more kicka$$.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by kach22i

How many of your old drives/programs are you able to run on it?

Is there an interface or overlay you use?

After cloning the disk, you just re-install it. Standard SATA6 interface.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by peteremsley

Indeed they are fast! Keep good backups though - when they die, they're really dead.

All of my PCs and laptops back up to local NAS on a daily or weekly basis.