Solid State Harddrive
 

Hi I have a Dell E6510 windows system I 5 processor...is it worth it to upgrade to a SSD? Thanks I am not really a computer savvy person

Instantly better performance. Yes.

Yes, it's worth it. You can buy one, use an external USB -> SATA connector, and use something like Macrium to clone your existing drive to the new one. Install the new one and you should be good. Make sure you look at the read/write performance. They are not all equal.

Yes!

I upgraded my older Dell M6300 with an SSD and it's like having a new machine. Do it - just be diligent with back-ups.

Keep in mind that you will be having to choose what goes where if you get a normal sized drive. I got a 60 GB about three years ago and ran out of manageable room. Then went to a 120 GB which has about 65 GB free. I put Windows and most programs on it. I use "junctions" to put most of the user files on a 1.5 TB drive - Windows thinks they are where it expects them to be. All music, pictures , videos, files get placed on the 1.5 TB drive. Windows should really make this easier since it is such a common performance move.

Am I doing this all wrong?!

Hi thanks for the great advice..I am considering a crucial or a samsung....any additional advice?? Thanks

I updated my older Dell Laptop with a Samsung. Great performance. I was also surprised at how much faster it booted up. Was so impressed, went out and bought a full set of SSD drives for my other computers.

- Vibration resistance is a good thing.
- But when they fail, there is rarely a warning (e.g., no noise, etc.). Places a bigger emphasis on good backups (which you probably do anyway).

I did Samsung 840s in all my laptops and they have been fine, about 1 year so far.

I doubt there's an appreciable difference between major brands.

Samsung 840s are a really nice drive. The 250GB one is on sale until 10:00 pst today

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I put SSDs in all of my builds, they are lightyears faster than mechanical platters. Usually price/performance wise a small/medium ssd and a large hdd for storage is the way to go. Although that's not feasible with all laptops.

This is true. Usually you have to sacrifice your DVD drive for the extra bay and get a replacement caddy. IMHO still worth it - I haven't had to burn a DVD in almost 3 years.

I just put an OWC SSD in my 2012 MacBook Pro. The computer is lightning fast now where before it took almost a minute to startu it does it now on just a few seconds. Everything runs much better now.

That is exactly what I did; I sold my internal DVD/R for $30; a brand new LG USB2 DVD burner was $25.

Now I have a 256 for my system and a 1.5TB in the old DVD bay for my crap.

Buy two USB external HDDs of size equal to or larger than the HDD. Plug both into the computer. Move all files, photos, music, etc to one of the external HDDs. Set up a weekly backup to the other external HDD.
Replace internal HDD w/ SSD. Use Crucial or some other vendor who supplies the cable and software to clone your HDD to the SSD, then it is a simple remove and replace operation (no reinstalling software etc).
While you're at it, max out the RAM.

To paraphrase the Governator: "Welcome to the party, Richter!" I bought a new laptop last week and they had two model options: a $350 version with a 1TB 5400 rpm drive., and a $600 version with a 256GB SSD. I bought the cheap model and spent $80 on a 256GB SSD from Crucial, figuring I'd save a few bucks and have both storage options. Windows 10 went from booting in over 90 seconds to booting in 15 seconds once moved to the SSD and programs load pretty much instantly. Heck, installs are darned quick as well, and my laptop uses the old SATA drives, not the new, superfast PCIe drives!

Samsung will give you software to clone your existing HDD onto the new SSD. This can save hours, if not days of hassle.

You may need a cable.

Absolutely - and less likelihood of failure too.

That machine is quite old. While the SSD will breathe life into it, you might be better off getting a new machine. I'm helping my sister get a couple of laptops. Dell Depot has some decent deals.

My criteria:

i3 or i5-7xxx or i5-6xxx processor (no more than 2 generations old)
256MB SSD drive
14" screen
1920x1280 screen

Dell Latitudes for the above specs are around $700-800