hard drive replacement

[billybellfoot]

thanks as the ram would cost me 30 - 40 and the ssd would cost the same so was just interested wich would give more bang for my buck.

thanks

 

[Cytherian]

The hybrid drives suck. Not worth having them. The SDD needs a lot less power than a HDD (appr. 0.12 Watts) - and it produces a lot less heat. That's how I fixed a heat problem with one of my laptops.

They suck and are not worth having? Rather harsh opinion there.

Well, I have to disagree. I'm using one and it's terrific. I get much better performance than I did with my original hard drive. It does generate a little more heat, but not enough to cause me problems. Battery life is a little less, but I don't travel much. And I paid $60 after mail-in rebate. A traditional HD of the same size would be just about $10 cheaper and not perform as well.

Yes, compared to an SSD, there's a significant difference. But right now I'm out of work and on a budget, so... when I'm flush with cash again I'll get an SSD, but for now I'm feeling pretty good about my SSD+HD upgrade.

 

[whs]

I am glad you are happy with the hybrid - you are the first guy I met who likes it. Maybe I am spoiled because all my systems run on SSDs.

Try the little restart time app and then we'll compare nums: Restart Time - Windows 7 Forums

This was my restart tims on this system here.

 

[townsbg]

I've never tried a hybrid or a SSD. How would a hybrid work?

 

[whs]

I've never tried a hybrid or a SSD. How would a hybrid work?

Essentially the hybrid uses the SSD as a buffer. It is a bit faster than a plain HDD, but far from the performance of a SSD.

 

[townsbg]

So essentially it has a larger cache?

 

[whs]

Right.

 

[Cytherian]

The Momentus XT 500Gb SSD+HD has a 4Gb SSD cache (the 750Gb version has 8Gb), which the firmware automatically loads in the most frequently accessed files. I don't know how the algorithm works, how it decides this, but all I can say is that my cold boot time on my previous hard drive (5400rpm) averaged around 4-5 minutes until all boot/start-up services/programs finished loading (and my desktop would become usable). On this drive, I've timed it to about a minute. Restart took 75 seconds, which is about right as my shut down usually takes about 15-20 seconds (I ran the VBS script--see attached). Granted, if I had an SSD in place it would be significantly shorter relative to my SSD+HD. But frankly I'm fine waiting 75 seconds to reboot, compared to the 5-6 minutes it previously took me to reboot!

Browsing response times are faster too, especially video streaming. I think much of that is at least due to the 1800rpm speed increase. The faster spinning platter is also what uses more battery power. But again, for $60? 500Gb? Much faster response times? I'm very happy.

 

[whs]

Gary, I am sure this drive is a big progress over a 5400RPM spinner. And as long as you are happy with it, that is all what counts. I have not had an OS on a spinner since a few years (bought my first SSD 4 years ago). I don't really remember how slow that can be.

 

[Cytherian]

^ Yeah, I definitely wasn't an early adopter of consumer SSD's... because of the entry fee. I would have done it sooner if the performance had a noticeable impact on my work efficiency (I can see how in some kinds of work activity, the SSD speed advantage is worth it). So, with your using SSD's for that long it's understandable how you'd forget about the performance of traditional HD's. Those of us who haven't made the move aren't yet spoiled by SSD superiority.

What's your take on the volatility of consumer SSD memory? Is it well shielded from environmental interference? I'm sure enterprise quality SSD memory is robust, due to the demands. I've never had a traditional hard drive lose integrity from environmental damage, although I know you can easily do it by waving a magnet in close proximity. I just wonder if it has any edge over SSD in this regard. Of course, sufficient shock to a laptop while the HD is spinning can incur damage, while the SSD wouldn't skip a beat.

 

[whs]

Envirnmental damage - I guess with a good magnet you can ruin any electronic device. But who does that. On the other hand, many tablets (which use SSD technology) have a magnetometer which allows to shut down the tablet with a magnet (typically one that is built into a sleeve). So they must stand up to some magnetism.

The best SSD advantage is for laptops because they are shock resistant. And I can't think of anything else, unless you pour a gallon of acid over the SSD, LOL.

In any case, none of my SSDs has ever shown a sign of damage - knock on wood. But it is always prudent to make periodic backups.