I currently have an 80 GB Intel that I bought about 2 years ago, and I need to upgrade to a larger one, but there are a lot more out there on the market now. Not looking to drop anymore than about 120-150. Any recommendations?

Running on a Lenovo W520,Windows 7, i7-2720QM

[Edited on August 10, 2014 at 6:48 PM. Reason : wrrert]

8/10/2014 6:46:04 PM

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407714226&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+840+evo

I have this Samsung EVO 840 in 250GB and it's great. Definitely recommend the 120GB and it's in your price range.

8/10/2014 7:46:23 PM

Thanks. I'll check it out.

8/10/2014 8:02:13 PM

Do you think there would be any issue with the cloning software included from going from one SSD to another? I know it's basically a 1 to 1 copy, but I've heard of other people having trouble.

8/10/2014 8:19:09 PM

^ nope. A hard drive is a hard drive in that respect.

And I'd stick with Samsung or Intel.

8/10/2014 10:45:28 PM

^^ We had issues with it recently at work. It would look like everything copied the way it's supposed to, but the drive wouldn't boot when we swapped them. Tried it a couple of times, and with another identical laptop, would not boot.

Ended up doing a fresh install and the thing's been great since.

8/11/2014 2:08:00 PM

Have the exact same SSD as above, and it works great. Also have an Intel 530.

8/11/2014 2:44:45 PM

DO NOT USE image cloning on SSD's, it will damn near guaranteed fuck up the drive in the long term.

SSD's rely on intelligently writing to each block of storage to maintain level usage. When you blast a cloned disk onto an SSD, it completely fucks up this behavior.

------------------

Samsung includes software specifically to do non-cloned data migration and avoid this problem. So, yes you should use the included software.

8/11/2014 4:08:05 PM

I've used Acronis to image at least 10 bootable drives onto a variety of SSDs over the last year or so with no issues...have I got lucky or something?

8/11/2014 4:15:46 PM

^^ that's what we used that didn't work. The Samsung utility that's precisely for this purpose.

8/11/2014 4:39:28 PM

^^No, you just reduce the lifespan and lower the performance of the drives.

8/11/2014 6:29:34 PM

Yeah I always do a fresh install when I switch to an SSD.

8/11/2014 7:37:21 PM

Quote :

"SSD's rely on intelligently writing to each block of storage to maintain level usage. When you blast a cloned disk onto an SSD, it completely fucks up this behavior."

A bit is a bit is a bit. Why should the controller on the SSD give nary a fuck whether your write operation contains a bit from an image you are cloning or your mothers nudes?

8/11/2014 7:46:10 PM

so is xxclone still a good idea

8/11/2014 10:35:33 PM

I think part of what people are talking about is SSD Alignment (ignore the numbers they are actually different)

SSD at least the ones I know write destructively to a sector.... Say 4k.. Even if they want to say write only the last 512bytes of a 4k sector, they have to read the entire sector, modify the 512 of data and then write the 4k back.

The problem happens when you have block or blocks of data of data (OS level), lets say less than the 4k sector size, spanned over two different 4k sectors..

so you have 2 4k blocks and a data block that is 2k in size, with 1k on each of the 4k sectors..

|---SECTOR1---|---SECTOR2---|
|----------|--data--|----------|


When you modify the data file, you end up having to read 2 4k sectors (1 and 2) and then write 2 4k sectors, even though the data block should fit in a single sector. (2 read and 2 write operations)

If the drive is properly aligned, each 4k sector should contain either a single 4k block or exactly 8 blocks. Meaning that a change only results in a a single 4k read and 4k write.


|---Sector1---|
|---BLOCK--- -|

or
|------Sector1-----|
|-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-|

8/12/2014 2:36:16 PM

also remember, certain os's or if your running encryption software will have a boot partition that loads first then launches the actual OS.

If you image a drive you may change the location of the pre-os Boot or the OS boot partition... meaning that one or the other may fail.

8/12/2014 2:38:23 PM

So still a bad idea to clone onto SSDs I guess huh? When will it be ok to do so?

This is really harshing my mellow right now...just got some new computers in and am wishing I could be lazy here.

1/23/2015 12:32:47 PM

i cloned a fresh windows install to my SSD. one issue im having is bsod everytime i wake it up from sleep.

1/23/2015 7:27:28 PM

I had a 128GB Samsung SSD OS drive from a couple years ago that I did a clean install, but it was already about full. So I got a new 256GB Samsung SSD this Christmas. I used the Samsung software that came with the drive to clone the smaller SSD. It did great and it ended up working with no issues whatsoever. Then I wiped the smaller drive and now use it as my photo scratch drive.

1/24/2015 1:03:04 PM

Its still a bad idea unless your clone tool handles alignment.

1/27/2015 10:23:21 AM

my HDD in my laptop seems to have died. I'm 90% sure it wasn't malware and my OS boot dvd and recovery partition have both failed using System Repair. That being said, should I go ahead and spring for a SSD? I really only use my laptop for internet browsing, download torrents, and streaming.

1/29/2015 2:42:39 PM

Oh yes, spring for the SSD

http://slickdeals.net/f/7628444-250gb-samsung-850-evo-series-2-5-sata-iii-internal-solid-state-drive-ssd-109-99-free-shipping-lower-than-fp-deal?src=pdw&v=1
http://slickdeals.net/f/7624318-512gb-crucial-mx100-2-5-sata-iii-mlc-internal-solid-state-drive-ssd-174-99-free-shipping-ebay-daily-deal

1/29/2015 3:26:20 PM

thanks! ordered the 250GB samsung.

1/30/2015 10:34:34 AM

holy crap this thing is fast. My computer (a 2009-10 model) boots up in seconds. and it's so much quieter, my fan didn't come on once during usage last night.

2/6/2015 8:33:40 AM

Yup! With an appropriate amount of RAM and an SSD pretty much any computer with 2+ cores will fly

2/6/2015 9:49:29 AM

I got this Optiplex 960 from a computer graveyard in Wendell for $80, it only had 2gb of ram, so I got 8gb off ebay for $54. Pulled the processor (core 2 quad) out of my old home-built PC that wont fucking start $free. It was faster but still not quite there as far as usability.

Got a Samsung 240gb SSD for $15 out of pocket due to having gift cards. HOLY SHIT does it fly now. It is also so quiet you can not even hear it running. Its a small form factor case and it already has variable speed fans that are silent under normal use. With the HDD out it is completely silent.

When I first got it home the windows update running made it unusable, now you can have like 20 tabs open and it hums along even if ram is full and it is in paging.

If you add $3 for the SSD bracket off ebay thats coming I only have $152 bucks in it.



I want to move the OS over to one of these on my main computer, but its saying on some websites to do a clean OS install instead of imaging the old drive over. I really do not want to do that.

3/16/2015 1:44:27 AM

^ Nice!

I did something similar, but a little more pricey:

Refurb Precision T3500 6GB RAM, Xeon Quad Core (W3520) 2.66 GHz - $225
Samsung 250GB SSD - was laying around...probably paid like $120 a while back
Used GTX 560TI Video card - $50

3/16/2015 12:14:48 PM

how's that 560 ti working out for you?

3/16/2015 2:13:58 PM

^ Wonderful, thanks!

Was a little worried about the power situation, but I've played Starcraft 2 (i know, probably not *that* demanding) at the highest settings and it's stable.

3/16/2015 2:44:42 PM

Now I want a new video card.

3/16/2015 2:48:53 PM

^^good to hear

i've got a samsung 850 evo 500gb waiting at my house right now

3/16/2015 3:27:01 PM

Awesome, I love Samsung's SSDs - def my go-to. Amazing how cheap they're getting too.

3/16/2015 3:30:32 PM

Been happy with mine so far.

3/17/2015 3:15:04 PM

Dropped a 250gb Samsung EVO PRO SSD into a 4 year old macbook last year and it was night and day. Went from usable but slow to blistering fast.

Also dropped a 128gb Samsung EVO into a cheap desktop build for my wife to use in the office. That thing is amazing.

3/18/2015 4:04:16 PM

Yeah dropped a 256GB ssd and upgraded the ram from 4 to 8 on my girlfriend's mid 2010 Macbook Pro. She said it's like an entirely new computer. All for under $150.

[Edited on March 18, 2015 at 4:23 PM. Reason : ssd not ssh]

3/18/2015 4:23:25 PM

How much battery life improvement will I get by taking the HDD out of my laptop and installing an SSD?

This is my laptop:
http://www.dell.com/us/dfh/p/inspiron-15r-5521/pd

3/19/2015 12:11:50 AM

I'm imagine not a whole lot, but that's the gravy on top of having what feels like a new laptop to use.

3/19/2015 12:13:09 AM

http://slickdeals.net/f/7736023-120gb-samsung-850-evo-series-2-5-solid-sate-drive-ssd-59-99-via-newegg-mobile-app-only

3/19/2015 12:48:49 AM

^^Sure he would. Swapping a HDD out with an SSD will vastly improve performance especially if it's a cheaper 5400rpm hdd even on a newer laptop. I finally swapped the 7200 RPM hdd out of my HTPC with an SSD and the difference was night and day in almost everything. It's running a pretty zippy Ivy Bridge i5 with 16GB of ram too.

3/19/2015 10:46:27 AM

^He was asking about battery life improvement. I cant say it's a very noticeable difference in any of the machines I've swapped them into (2010 Macbook, 2012 Macbook Pro)

3/19/2015 11:21:22 AM

Bleh it needs to be the weekend already. Yeah I haven't noticed any drastic battery life improvements. Maybe with those new ones that barely use any power?

3/19/2015 1:22:34 PM

Everyone at my work with a macbook air gets like two days of battery off 1 charge. I am jealous, but not enough to learn iOS.

4/1/2015 12:14:20 AM

what's iOS have to do with getting an Air?

4/1/2015 12:58:35 AM

iDont know how to werk it

4/1/2015 1:01:24 AM

Yep, I easily get 2 days with my Air. And iOS isnt all that different from Windows 7 in my opinion. Obviously they both have wildly different features, etc. But in everyday use, I have no issues going back and forth between the two on different machines

4/1/2015 11:21:04 AM

lol my laptop battery, even with an SSD, lasts like 40 minutes.

4/1/2015 1:17:14 PM

Samsung EVo...amazing.

4/2/2015 8:03:38 AM

Any thoughts about this puppy:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/pny-cs1100-480gb-internal-serial-ata-iii-solid-state-drive-black/3935037.p?id=1219609310365&skuId=3935037

$150 for 480 GB seems like a steal. Or have they really come down that much in price?

8/12/2015 2:35:15 PM

^ yeah they've been dropping nicely. Saw a 500GB Samsung on Amazon for that same price few days ago

[Edited on August 12, 2015 at 2:42 PM. Reason : ^ personally I try and stick with Samsung and Intel on SSDs]

[Edited on August 12, 2015 at 2:44 PM. Reason : Good reviews tho...]

8/12/2015 2:42:20 PM

Yea, I have a Samsung right now and I'm happy with it, but its much smaller than that 480 GB one on sale at Best Buy.

8/12/2015 8:02:50 PM