Can someone explain a little about SSDs for me? I used to know lots about computers back in the day but alas no longer! As I understand it, they're superior to HDDs because they are faster and more reliable. My questions are:
Can you install multiple SSDs on one machine?
Can you mix and match SSDs and HDDs on one machine? For example on one machine, can I install Windows on the SSD and play videos from the HDD?
Do they slot into motherboards like graphic cards or do they sit on a shelf like HDDs? If so, do you need towers that have special compartments for SSDs?
Do most new motherboards come with connections for SSDs?
Has anyone here converted to from HDDs to SSDs and seen a noticeable difference?
Solid State Drives (SSDs)
Started by
DukeDan
, Aug 22 2012 08:13 PM
6 replies to this topic
#2
X-Adz-X
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Posted 22 August 2012 - 08:30 PM
They connect like most others. They just have a much higher read and write speed. You can install your OS on it and have a secondary for additional. Usually SSD is used for gamers as we need higher read speeds for loading etc.
#3
AK47
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Posted 22 August 2012 - 09:14 PM
I have a 60GB SSD. I use it to hold my OS and have a second HDD which has all my programs on. One interesting point to note is the SSD prices are still quite high in £\MB which is restrictive when buying a big one. I found that with Windows7 and probably higher versions of Windows your operating system will continue to grow in size due to the way Windows & Windows update works. If you also have a lot of RAM your HD it will be used to store your RAM state in case of crash and also space will be used to restore your hibernation state. I got to the point after a year that I had run out of space on my SSD! I had to do some tweaking to reduce the size such as moving the paging file, stop using hibernate and deleting some weird large files.... It's definitely quicker though and don't regret buying it. Just be prepared to tweak after a while.
#4
Posted 22 August 2012 - 09:14 PM
Can someone explain a little about SSDs for me? I used to know lots about computers back in the day but alas no longer! As I understand it, they're superior to HDDs because they are faster and more reliable. My questions are:
Can you install multiple SSDs on one machine? YES
Can you mix and match SSDs and HDDs on one machine? For example on one machine, can I install Windows on the SSD and play videos from the HDD? This is the usual configuration due to the higher cost and smaller capacity of SSDs. Alot of people will have the OS and key applications on the SSD and gain the extra speed where it's needed.
Do they slot into motherboards like graphic cards or do they sit on a shelf like HDDs? If so, do you need towers that have special compartments for SSDs? They're usually internal, I guess there could be a use to put them in a caddy and use them externally
Do most new motherboards come with connections for SSDs? It's the same connection (usually) as a normal HD although the new retina Macbook Pros have a different connection
Has anyone here converted to from HDDs to SSDs and seen a noticeable difference? I haven't yet, but would like to. I think the general reports are EVERYBODY sees a noticable difference. I don't remember seeing any reports of no improvement.
#5
Posted 22 August 2012 - 09:23 PM
Can you install multiple SSDs on one machine?
I have heard a rumour that is it possible
#6
Posted 22 August 2012 - 09:43 PM
So if you have your OS on an SSD and your applications on a HDD, won't they only run as fast as the HDD allows, rather than the SSD?
#7
Posted 22 August 2012 - 11:03 PM
So if you have your OS on an SSD and your applications on a HDD, won't they only run as fast as the HDD allows, rather than the SSD?
Well yes - when you go to load that application then you will be limited by the speed of the HDD that it's stored on. But a HDD isn't necessarily super slow, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you could afford a large enough SSd then you could install the application on there and avoid the issue, but people choose to use both a small SSD and a HDD to get the benefit of speed for their OS and capacity to store everything else without breaking the bank.
To answer your initial question, you can use, install, connect, etc an SSD in exactly the same way as a HDD. They just work differently on the inside.
I'd just like to pick up on one thing - you mentioned that they are more reliable, which depending on your meaning of 'reliable', I wouldn't necessarily agree with. They are more reliable in the sense of being resilient to things like shock damage (e.g. if you drop your laptop on the floor). But if you're talking about the long term integrity of your data then I would trust a server-grade HDD over an SSD. I'm not saying that all data on SSDs will expire in a puff of smoke after a year, but the technology is relatively new and I wouldn't trust the safe-keeping of my family photo collection to one.
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