solid state disks..any one upgrade to one?

LithiumKid1976

hi
just wondering if any one replaced thier normal HD for a solid state HD.
if so, did you find it much of an overall improvement, regarding boot times, read times etc, or was it not that much of an improvement...

was thinking of getting one as the prices arent too bad, but woould like to hear peoples experiences with them 1st.

thanks.

Fluffy88

They are amazing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt6VbOY3xE0

That's just one of many many videos on SSD vs HDD on youtube, have a look through a few different one's if you want. SSD's atm are one of the best upgrade options to add some speed to a system.

Another good video with some commentary,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lR0XoHFU6Y

Outkast_IRE

yes i upgraded i went with the intel 320 series , for sheer reliablility and solid performance intel is top dog in my opinion.
Yes other makes are faster and cheaper but i have seen way to many issues with the other ones for my liking.

Boot times are much faster, if you keep programs such as office etc on it you go to open a document or presentation and boom a split second and its fully open ready to rock.
I dont keep my games on it as its not meant to improve performance much and i have too many games anyway to keep them all on it.

I would reccomend one as long as you have the money , they are still quite expensive bit of kit and the price is only going to come down .

Kepti

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

yes i upgraded i went with the intel 320 series , for sheer reliablility and solid performance intel is top dog in my opinion.
Yes other makes are faster and cheaper but i have seen way to many issues with the other ones for my liking.

Boot times are much faster, if you keep programs such as office etc on it you go to open a document or presentation and boom a split second and its fully open ready to rock.
I dont keep my games on it as its not meant to improve performance much and i have too many games anyway to keep them all on it.

I would reccomend one as long as you have the money , they are still quite expensive bit of kit and the price is only going to come down .

Just a word about Intel's reliability. The 320 series actually has a serious flaw. If the power is cut, in some cases the drive will drop capacity to 8MB. They've issued a fix, but it's something to be aware of.

http://www.techspot.com/news/44694-intel-confirms-8mb-bug-in-320-series-ssds-fix-available.html

I read an Anandtech article which went into some detail as to why SSD's aren't as reliable as they should be. The profit margins on them are quite small, so corners are being cut.

Aside from that bug, Intel do have a reputation for reliability, so don't let that put you off. Just make sure to backup your important documents. Personally, I think I'm going to wait for the Samsung 830 to be released, and for the price to drop a little more.

Serephucus

I upgraded from a 74GB WD Raptor to a 32GB OCZ Onyx. Even with this very value-orientated SSD (135/70 read/write), my bootup feels a lot snappier than before. Loading times on the few applications I have on it are excellent.

Skerries

I have a 120gb and it is simply marvellous
mate in work bought a 300gb the flashy git

LithiumKid1976

thanks for all the help guys..

ive ordered a 64gb one, so that should be enough for the OS, etc.
the music, pics, movies can stay on the older disks.

the youtube clips looked really good, cant wait to try it out now...

thanks all again...

BaconZombie

LithiumKid1976

ha ha...we must all be loaded on this thread so.... recession, how are ya!

Monotype

For an general use/office computer, I would consider an SSD over faster processors and other components now. Integrated graphics have come a long way and RAM/CPU are way ahead of current needs and an SSD will save a lot of your life.

If it was something like a gaming machine, graphics cards will be more important or CPU/RAM in a heavy workstation environment.

Outkast_IRE

Kepti wrote: »

Just a word about Intel's reliability. The 320 series actually has a serious flaw. If the power is cut, in some cases the drive will drop capacity to 8MB. They've issued a fix, but it's something to be aware of.

http://www.techspot.com/news/44694-intel-confirms-8mb-bug-in-320-series-ssds-fix-available.html

I read an Anandtech article which went into some detail as to why SSD's aren't as reliable as they should be. The profit margins on them are quite small, so corners are being cut.

Aside from that bug, Intel do have a reputation for reliability, so don't let that put you off. Just make sure to backup your important documents. Personally, I think I'm going to wait for the Samsung 830 to be released, and for the price to drop a little more.

Ah come on now , its a firmware update and if you were affected all you need to do is contact a rep and they will replace your drive , show me one other ssd manufacturer that is so on the ball with willingness to admit problem and replace product with minimal hassle.

B0X

Got a Crucial M4 today as part of a whole bunch of other upgrades I was getting... Oh my god it's class. Photoshop loads in 1 second, Word in less, Firefox almost instantly. GET ONE.

Kepti

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

Ah come on now , its a firmware update and if you were affected all you need to do is contact a rep and they will replace your drive , show me one other ssd manufacturer that is so on the ball with willingness to admit problem and replace product with minimal hassle.

Up until recently there wasn't a fix for that bug, so if it happened to you, you were screwed. A replacement drive? That's great, unless, you know, you had data you wanted on the original.

Did you have an actual point to make or did you just want to jump to the defence of Intel? The second half of your run-on sentence sounds like it was lifted from a sales pitch.

Outkast_IRE

Kepti wrote: »

Up until recently there wasn't a fix for that bug, so if it happened to you, you were screwed. A replacement drive? That's great, unless, you know, you had data you wanted on the original.

Did you have an actual point to make or did you just want to jump to the defence of Intel? The second half of your run-on sentence sounds like it was lifted from a sales pitch.

No just my experience in dealing with them , im always buying mobos ,hard drives etc and have had plenty of bad experiences with companies such as OCZ for RAM , Sapphire for mobos most made me jump through hoops for months before offering replacements for problems which were seemingly inherent in certain products .

I also find MSI a good company to deal with so far.
With Intel the issue was reported for the very first time in june, it wasnt until july they could isolate the problem and fix in august along with replacements for anyone affected issued much earlier im just saying thats the right way to treat customers.

The point i make is take ssds made by OCZ or other companies and the problems would potentially read like a list.

Unregistered.

What's a Solid State Disk?

Outkast_IRE

Unregistered. wrote: »

What's a Solid State Disk?

well solid state drive is the proper name i suppose , its a hard drive based on flash memory , which is way faster than a standard mechanical hard drive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive

LithiumKid1976

meant to say, got it, installed it, and love it.

thanks for all your help ...