SSD purchase

[Obsoleet]

Did you catch that the samsung is more expensive and extremely limited at only 64gb vs 80gb for the intel drive? And also that the OP is only using sata II, so the intel will be nearly as fast as any of the sata 6gb/s ssd's available, anyway?

I did a search on the 80GB Intel and didn't see it being cheaper. I don't see a reason to not pickup a SATA6gb drive at this point. The Intel 320s arent exactly priced cheap. Maybe if you get one on sale I'd do it.

I only have SATA3gb and I'd have to spring for a SATA6gb drive, I'm not going to be on 3gb forever and I migrate my SSDs between laptops and desktops throughout their lifespan anyway.

Either choice looks good to me, but I'd want a good price on the 320.

 

[razel]

Well the Intel 320 80GB is now $70 at newegg. I gotta stop buying.

 

[slightlyhuman]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7&cm_sp=DailyDeal-_-20-167-047-_-Homepage2011

 

[bryanW1995]

That's a serious no-brainer at $73 for the intel.

@ groberts: I have about 57 gb available on the data portion of my ssd, about the same as you would see from a 64 gb ssd, and I disagree with you. I am constantly moving data/programs to my storage drive, but at least I have a 2tb hdd to move it to. The OP has only one drive slot, then perhaps some sort of external solution for data. He's probably going to put as much stuff as he can on the ssd, and an 80 gab solution is going to make a big difference to him over the long haul IMHO.

 

[groberts101]

That's a serious no-brainer at $73 for the intel.

@ groberts: I have about 57 gb available on the data portion of my ssd, about the same as you would see from a 64 gb ssd, and I disagree with you. I am constantly moving data/programs to my storage drive, but at least I have a 2tb hdd to move it to. The OP has only one drive slot, then perhaps some sort of external solution for data. He's probably going to put as much stuff as he can on the ssd, and an 80 gab solution is going to make a big difference to him over the long haul IMHO.

I wasn't speculating or making assumption based on "your" usage requirement but simply responding to his initial post and the questions asked.

Fact is that many initially started out with smaller drives when migrating from HDD and 64 gigs is enough space if you don't need to use the SSD for storage requirements. OS, apps, and a few larger games will fit and many thousands have and still make do with it.

Personally, I would never buy a sata2 SSD myself(even for a sata2 device) unless the price was spectacular. But yeah.. 69.99 after rebate is a pretty decent deal on that drive regardless of whether or not it's becoming EOL or not. And after coming from using a 5400rpm HDD?.. any SSD will seem fast to the OP. At least until you write sequential data to it. lol Wasn't fast enough for my taste and I've even tried them in raid.. but to each his own in that regard.

 

[bryanW1995]

He's using it on a laptop, and iirc that model doesn't have room for a 2nd drive.

Edit: nvm, doesn't say what model he has so we need more info. Btw, why don't you think a sataII ssd is good, especially in a rig with no Sata 6 gb/s connections? Even assuming only 2-3 years before his next upgrade, is he just supposed to ferret away that 500 gb hdd instead of selling it for cash now? Or just take the ssd out in the future, by which time a 64 gb ssd would be even less useful? He should buy the best drive for the best deal for his rig right now, and I think any of us would say that $73 for that intel 320 series smokes anything else that has been discussed in this thread.

 

[groberts101]

I rarely buy tech specifically dedicated to being tossed aside for "larger, faster models" later on. If some foresight is introduced than he'll be much happier to take a faster SSD out of such an old laptop later on(it and the 500 gig drive won't be worth squat anyways) and use it as a scratch/cache drive.

Or do as some others(including myself) do and use it for a glorified USB stick in an external enclosure(ever seem W7 install from an external 3.0 SSD?). That's when you appreciate the extra speeds(particularly the write speeds) down the road, especially when USB 3 and eSATA 6.0 are becoming more mainstream by the month.

Anywho.. not worth debating when the OP seems to be on his way to SSD goodness no matter which way he goes. Nuff said

 

[bryanW1995]

Those are some pretty cool ideas, but I think of myself as a "power user" and I've never even thought to try any of them. Ditto for probably everybody else participating in this thread. And even as a future scratch drive, 80 gb would still trump 64gb, right?

 

[LokutusofBorg]

I would never recommend anyone buying a 64GB drive for a single-drive computer (99% of all laptops). 80GB minimum, 120GB if possible.

The prices on the Intel 320 series have been incredible deals lately. The 80GB Intel 320 is definitely the best option mentioned in this thread. Lack of space doesn't matter until it does, and then you're screwed.

 

[slightlyhuman]

I am moving the 500GB HD to the secondary slot. Thanks for the posts guys!

:beer;

 

[Blintok]

This is as low as I'd go, and it's $5 over your budget. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441

However, I wouldn't buy anything at all right now. SSD prices currently suck, especially on the smaller drives. the 256gb m4 is only $345 right now, while 64-96gb drives are trending $1.50-$1.80 per GB right now. MADNESS!

No - this! is! SPARTA!!!

 

[slightlyhuman]

Also, this trim stuff, etc. Is there anything special I need to do with an SSD prior to throwing it in and installing winblows on it? I just built a rig for a buddy with an SSD, just treated it like a normal sata HD and installed fine.

Just saw people mention trim, etc when dealing with SSDs.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

If you're using Windows 7 you don't have to worry about anything. TRIM is built in. If you're using Windows XP I pity you.

 

[Ilias]

I would never recommend anyone buying a 64GB drive for a single-drive computer (99% of all laptops). 80GB minimum, 120GB if possible.

I have to agree with our friend here as well. 64GB (even if it is basically for an OS installation/management alone), seems like the kind of space that would fill up way too quickly. Go for a 120GB drive.

 

[groberts101]

While I would obviously have to agree that W7 can be rather boated in size due to sys restore, hiberfile, and swap being based on the amount of installed ram.. many first time SSD users get by without issue on these entry level 60-64GB drives. Just because you can't load every game you could ever want to ever use all at the same time does not mean that the SSD is any less functional for day to day usage. The usage and storage requirements of the INDIVIDUAL are what should really be relied on... not based on someone else's usage requirement.

I ran one for W7 pro without issue having only a 30GB parititon and my kids still run an old 30 giger on their gaming rig. So, it can be done without issue. Just buy what you can afford and mainly based on the need and you'll be fairly content in your SSD purchase. Especially when you have another HDD for storage as you currently do.

 

[Coup27]

While I would obviously have to agree that W7 can be rather boated in size due to sys restore, hiberfile, and swap being based on the amount of installed ram.. many first time SSD users get by without issue on these entry level 60-64GB drives. Just because you can't load every game you could ever want to ever use all at the same time does not mean that the SSD is any less functional for day to day usage. The usage and storage requirements of the INDIVIDUAL are what should really be relied on... not based on someone else's usage requirement.

I ran one for W7 pro without issue having only a 30GB parititon and my kids still run an old 30 giger on their gaming rig. So, it can be done without issue. Just buy what you can afford and mainly based on the need and you'll be fairly content in your SSD purchase. Especially when you have another HDD for storage as you currently do.

+1 for this. The other thread similar to this the user said he only wanted Windows, office and basic apps on it. 64GB is plenty for that.

I have 40GB 320's in works demonstration rooms because all they run is Windows and Powerpoint. Just outlining really that if the users requirements are light, small capacity is doable.

 

[kbp]

The plus side of a 60-64gb is you can always buy another and RAID them doubling your capacity.

 

[grimpr]

Hi groberts101, got any recommendation for a drive that will cope well with incompressible data and under an old AMD sb750 raid0 hdd array, which means zero trim support, all the drives i've checked need TRIM to maintain performance over time, any help will be appreciated, thanks.

 

[groberts101]

If it were my system and I just wanted to "writ'er hard and put'er away wet?.. I'd probably go Indilinx Everest at this point in time if the usage(writeloads) were more cosistent/extreme with limited idle time GC allowed.

Mainly due to the Everest controllers VERY agressive on-the-fly recovery regardless of TRIM or NO-TRIM environments. Only time I ever got my 128GB Octane to slow down was after the drive reached 90+% of capacity and I kept hitting it with MASSIVE 9 x 4000MB back to back runs of Crystal Disk Mark 3. And that was after over 1TB of consistent writes with TRIM disabled completely. And regardless of brand preference's?.. without TRIM pass-through, that is one amazing feat from any drive in production right now.

Although, having trim capable Intel raid drivers would open the door to any other "favorites" as well since most leverage TRIM pass-through for optimum speed maintenance. But even in raids.. all SSD's these days will do pretty decent GC if allowed enough idle time to recover blocks.

Aside from that one?.. it'd probably be Marvell/toggle based even with idle recovery being required to keep a larger clean reserve. But haven't tested the newest Sammies trimmless reovery yet though so could be something there too.

And FYI.. you can actually run force trims on a broken array/individual drives when operating from another OS volume running off another sata chip(most boards have another 3rd party chip with individually set sata modes onboard). This can be just as effective as running force trims on single/AHCI SSD.. but there is somewhat higher chances for data loss/corruption if the controller's mapping/metadata get screwed up. But that's what backups are for anyways, right?