Need information on Solid-State Drives with Hard Drives

[venraw]

My Hard Drive is a piece of junk; it's a 250 gig 7200 RPM crapper. I recently found out about SSDs. They're small but extremely fast. What's the practical configuration for one? Would I have the SSD set as primary with the OS and then use a cheap 2 TB HD as a secondary to store games and software on? If so, then I guess a decently priced 16 gig SSD should do me well? Thanks for the answers!

 

[johnb35]

16 gb would be too small, look at like getting a 60 or 80 gb SSD and put the Operating System and your most used aps on it and then use a standard drive to store all your data and personal files, like music, office files, pictures, etc...

 

[venraw]

I do a lot of gaming. Along with online gaming, I always keep up with the latest single player games too. I guess the appropriate setup would be keeping the unused games on the secondary then moving them to the SSD when I'm ready to play them? Thanks for the response, btw. You've given me good insight.

 

[johnb35]

You can't move games around once you have installed them to a drive. Figure out how much space you need for your most used aps and games and put them on the ssd, put the balance on the regular drive.

 

[venraw]

My knowledge of pcs is amateur but can't I still move the games around drive to drive like I do on a network when I give one of my buddies a game? I saw a 1tb SSD but it was 3,500; maybe it'll come down in a couple of years, lol.

 

[tech savvy]

yes you can, just save the games on your secondary drive than when your ready to play just install it on the SSD.when you are finished playing your game uninstall it than just in a new game on.

 

[daisymtc]

It won't worth the money if you just use SSD as boot drive.
I suggest you get 60GB. You would talking about ~$130

 

[Geoff]

yes you can, just save the games on your secondary drive than when your ready to play just install it on the SSD.when you are finished playing your game uninstall it than just in a new game on.

Are you really recommending that he install a game when he wants to use it, then uninstall it when he's done to install something else? That is a pain if he plans to go back and forth.

Most games can't simply be copied from one location to another, as they are dependent on other files stored in other locations, and typically have shortcuts and paths that point to the original install directory. You can do this with older games, but new games are much more difficult. You mentioned you did this to give your friend a game, which makes me believe you play very old games. Try copying Call of Duty Black Ops and give to your friend, it won't work.

 

[Benny Boy]

The os and frequently used and start up programs to the ssd,,,everything else to the hdd(including mapping all the storage from the os and ssd prog's, to the hdd). Small apps can be on the hdd since they start fast from there anyways.

Remember, that install/uninstall is about the only place the hdd beats the ssd. So, to install/uninstall to your ssd will significantly lower its speedy performance in the short term. Erases and benching do that to ssd's.
The goal is to be sure of what will benifit, and what you need/want, from the ssd speed.
Just because you want it to be faster doesn't mean it will be, just because it's on an ssd.
Games will only load faster. So conserving the ssd space and having it on the hdd would be my preference.

16gb for c: is doable depending on the os, since the admin and other profiles/folders can be mapped to hdd during os installation,,but as stated 16gb not recommended since your other c: programs would have limited space. To maintain speed/health -> an ssd shouldn't be filled up close to capacity.

Investigate the storage options on the prog's going to the ssd.
Example - If your emails folders content are stored on you pc, you could have the prog on the ssd but change the folder storage location to the hdd.

I agree with the 60gb minimum and to not install/uninstall to the ssd.
I disagree that having an ssd isn't worth it.

 

[tech savvy]

The os and frequently used and start up programs to the ssd,,,everything else to the hdd(including mapping all the storage from the os and ssd prog's, to the hdd). Small apps can be on the hdd since they start fast from there anyways.

Remember, that install/uninstall is about the only place the hdd beats the ssd. So, to install/uninstall to your ssd will significantly lower its speedy performance in the short term. Erases and benching do that to ssd's.
The goal is to be sure of what will benifit, and what you need/want, from the ssd speed.
Just because you want it to be faster doesn't mean it will be, just because it's on an ssd.
Games will only load faster. So conserving the ssd space and having it on the hdd would be my preference.

16gb for c: is doable depending on the os, since the admin and other profiles/folders can be mapped to hdd during os installation,,but as stated 16gb not recommended since your other c: programs would have limited space. To maintain speed/health -> an ssd shouldn't be filled up close to capacity.

Investigate the storage options on the prog's going to the ssd.
Example - If your emails folders content are stored on you pc, you could have the prog on the ssd but change the folder storage location to the hdd.

I agree with the 60gb minimum and to not install/uninstall to the ssd.
I disagree that having an ssd isn't worth it.

you state the obvious,but thats ok.of course the actuall game play in a game will be the same as a SSD vs HDD.and yes, uninstalling just to reinstall will lower its life span but not like everyone including yourself thinks.there is nothing wrong with adding a game to your SSD for faster loads, than just uninstalling it when your done.yall think, oh no! you installed a game now your uninstalling it? you just lost half the live of your SSD,lol.

 

[Benny Boy]

you state the obvious

To who? The TS? I think if he knew...

I guess the appropriate setup would be keeping the unused games on the secondary then moving them to the SSD when I'm ready to play them?

...he wouldn't have asked. Which prompted...

Remember, that install/uninstall is about the only place the hdd beats the ssd. So, to install/uninstall to your ssd will significantly lower its speedy performance in the short term. Just because you want it to be faster doesn't mean it will be, just because it's on an ssd. Games will only load faster.

　

uninstalling just to reinstall will lower its life span but not like everyone including yourself thinks.

Thank goodness. Someone that knows what I think. My feeble brain was getting tired of thinking. Now I can just ask you!

there is nothing wrong with adding a game to your SSD for faster loads, than just uninstalling it when your done

It lowers it, but there's nothing wrong with it. Well dang, I guess I won't be asking you after all.

yall think, oh no! you installed a game now your uninstalling it? you just lost half the live of your SSD,lol.

No one said that. ^

 

[tech savvy]

^what?

 

[Dystopia]

you state the obvious,but thats ok.of course the actuall game play in a game will be the same as a SSD vs HDD.and yes, uninstalling just to reinstall will lower its life span but not like everyone including yourself thinks.there is nothing wrong with adding a game to your SSD for faster loads, than just uninstalling it when your done.yall think, oh no! you installed a game now your uninstalling it? you just lost half the live of your SSD,lol.

Installing a game, using it, then uninstalling it to make room for a new one defeats the purpose of a larger drive, now doesn't it?

To who? The TS? I think if he knew...

...he wouldn't have asked. Which prompted...

　

Thank goodness. Someone that knows what I think. My feeble brain was getting tired of thinking. Now I can just ask you!

It lowers it, but there's nothing wrong with it. Well dang, I guess I won't be asking you after all.

No one said that. ^

^what?

ROFL. All I have to say.

BACK ON TOPIC.

The size SSD you get is dependent on the amount of games you want to be able to play frequently. You can caluclate 5-10GB per game. Get a 120GB SSD, along with whatever else you need for storage, you should be good to go.