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Question

Is good idea changing my PC Hard Drive to Solid State Drive?

Jul 21, 2015 9:50AM PDT

I am having problems with my PC driver. It's making to much noise at  the start, few minutes later the noise is lower, almost normal. I suspect the
driver is going worst, since it is more than two years old. To solve this
problem I am thinking to change the old driver for a SSD (Solid State Driver),
which I learned must work better, and the duration is much longer than Hard
drivers. What the experts thinks about it?

Discussion is locked

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Clarification Request
You say driver but do you mean hard drive?
Jul 21, 2015 10:04AM PDT

Frankly, I've not heard of a hard drive that starts out noisy but quiets down later. That is, however, not uncommon with fans. I would do some troubleshooting to isolate the cause of the noise before thinking a solid state drive would resolve this.

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Is good idea changing my PC Hard Drive to Solid State Drive?
Jul 21, 2015 11:50AM PDT

Thanks very much for your answer. Yes I mean drive instead of "driver".

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About changing from a mechanical to a solid state HD
Jul 21, 2015 2:10PM PDT

I'd say the choice is yours but you've indicated a noise problem. If you're wanting to increase performance by decreasing disk access times, an SSD might be a good idea. If you're wanting to eliminate the noise, you need to find out definitely where it's coming from first. If you can positively determine it's coming from the HD, you're choice of an SSD to replace it sounds solid. But if the noise is just a cranky old fan, you'll need to fix it or live with it.

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I have heard of it.
Jul 25, 2015 7:12AM PDT

Indeed, I had a machine with a hard drive that started out noisy, almost like a jet engine, and then quieted down, but it was reliable and lasted me for the whole useful life of the computer, which was about six years.

But usually when you get an initial noise out of a computer it is because one of the cooling fans is hitting some wire or something inside the case.

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Clarification Request
Depends
Jul 26, 2015 1:00PM PDT

1. What do you mean by "PC"? The term has different meanings to different people. Since it has an HD, I would venture to guess it is either a desktop/tower or laptop. If you have a laptop, then weight could be something to consider.
2. Have you opened to case to verify the cause of the noise? As others mentioned, it may be a fan instead of the HD.
3. What is your computer usage? Do you play a lot of intense video games, just use it to surf the Web & e-mail, general purposes, or some special activity?
4. How much space do you need? Check how much of your current drive is actually used and how much is free.
5. Do NOT answer this, but consider your budget.


Which would work best depends on these items (and maybe a few other items).

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Answer
I would wait a while on that one.
Jul 24, 2015 11:35PM PDT

Yes, SSD’s are the bright and shiny new toy for the computer market, and everyone seems to be gushing over them. However, I have to look at it as a technical issue, as that’s what I am. SSD’s are only now getting to the 1 TB size, and the price per MB, compared with a mechanical drive is just too high.

I can pick up a 2 TB drive from my supplier for $95.99, and I’m in Canada. They are probably a lot cheaper in the US. While a 1 TB SSD is $464.00 for a Samsung 850 EVO 1TB 2.5" 6Gb/s Solid State Drive (MZ-75E1T0B/AM).

Also, with a SSD you have to have a really solid backup schedule. You need a very recent backup, because if the drive goes bad, all your data is permanently lost. There is no way of recovering it. With a mechanical drive, if it goes bad, there are places you can send it to have your data recovered. It’s expensive, but they can do it.

There is an old saying, “Never buy the first year of anything”, and I think that’s appropriate here. SSD’s are way faster than our old mechanical drives, but they’re just not ready for prime time yet. If you think your hard drive is going south (and it shouldn’t at only two years old), then take the opportunity to buy a brand new bigger hard drive to replace it.

Just one thing, I think the other commenters are correct. From what you have described in your post, it really does sound like a fan issue. I would take it in to a repair facility, and have them look at it, before you go spending your hard earned money on anything. And don’t tell them when you bring it in that you think it’s the hard drive, if you do they may just sell you an expensive hard drive, and quietly fix what is really making the noise. Just tell them about the noise, and let them look for the problem.

Regards,
Mr. Windows

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Some Problems Here
Jul 25, 2015 7:32AM PDT

This post is about as FOS as something gets.

New SSDs have an MTBF as long or longer than HDDs. The new Samsung 850 EVO series should on average last significantly longer.

The performance increase, however, makes the SSD's price per GB disadvantage meaningless. You'll save more in the first WEEK of productivity to pay the difference. Furthermore, the price is falling almost rapidly as it does for new smartphone releases when you re-up your contract.

And because of the way SSDs fail, they are MUCH more reliable than HDDs for data storage. Where HDDs tend to fail catastrophically -- one second they seem to work fine, and the next second they and the data on them iare landfill fodder -- SSDs suffer very slow and very easily noticeable deterioration, as the write cycles on individual sectors become exhausted. They are equipped with excess capacity that comes into play automatically only as sectors fail. Most monitor their own health and report it out as data that can be read by such applications as Open Hardware Monitor. You KNOW when an SSD is nearing the end of its life.

And, by the way, SSDs have been available in 1 TB size for quite a while now. 2 TB SSDs are now hitting the market. And as to that "first year" thing, I have been running with an SSD as my system drive for nearly four years now without incident.

SSDs are not only ready for prime time, they are now the primary choice. The correct way to configure a computer these days is to have an SSD for the system and applications and an HDD for data.

But one word of advice: When you are pristinely ignorant about a topic, you might like to refrain from advising others about it. It is unwise to advertise your shortcomings.

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A Small Rebuttal If I May.
Jul 25, 2015 3:58PM PDT

Flatworm, your obviously a big fan of SSD’s, and that’s OK. However, I work on my clients computers constantly, and I have a different view. That’s OK too, we are all entitled to our own opinions.

For my clients, the MTBF is immaterial, what they want is the best price. I know this first hand. One of my clients called me to ask about the SSD in a laptop he was looking at. I checked it out, and it was a good drive. Lots of four, and five star reviews, but it was a 500 MB drive.

When I told him I thought that the drive looked good for a 500 MB drive, his first question was “What’s the price difference to a standard (mechanical) drive?” I had anticipated this question, and gave him the price of the laptop with a 1TB mechanical drive. No surprise to me, he opted for the mechanical drive.

In the early days of the SSD’s some of my clients did go for them, despite the price difference. Of the three that did, one had his drive suddenly go south, and lost everything on his laptop. Despite my nagging, he didn’t have a good back up routine. He opted to replace it with a 1TB mechanical drive, rather than a new SSD.

My other two clients bought tablets with SSD’s, and still bemoan the lack of storage compared with their laptops. Though I told them that a tablet was a far different beast than a laptop, or convertible, they wanted to be on the cutting edge of technology, and got cut.

As to your statement that “You save more in the first WEEK of productivity to pay the difference.” Well, most of my clients use good old mouse & keyboard PC’s, and over the last couple of years I have upgraded, and optimised most of their hard drives, to 2 to 4TB models, depending on what they are using them for. I have yet had a complaint that the computer was too slow, that I couldn’t fix with a tune up.

That’s what I do. I no longer build, or sell computers, I just service them. Admittedly, mostly to the clients that I originally sold some computers too, but as I said I’m out of that end of the business now. I do upgrades, repairs, and consult on policy’s, like what server would best suit them, and if they should go with a NAS, or external hard drive.

One client was all Gung Ho about getting a 10TB NAS (because he had been reading an online article about them) when all he needed was a 4TB external hard drive with a good backup program that would run scheduled backups every night. I think I saved him around $800.00.

But back to your complaints about my post. Perhaps I’m just old, and set in my ways, but I just don’t see the need for a SSD in a non-tablet, when mechanical drives are getting so big, and so inexpensive. I made that clear when I compared the 2TB WD Green mechanical drive ($95.99), to the 1TB Samsung SSD ($464.00).

Admittedly that was for the WD 3.5” desktop drive, as opposed to the Samsung 2.5” drive, but you get my point. You are right about the 2TB SSD’s coming on line, but at $799.99 for the Samsung 850 EVO 2TB MZ75E2T0, compared to $139.99 for the Samsung Seagate Spinpoint M9T (ST2000LM003) 2TB 2.5" Hard drive (OEM), it makes a lot of difference to the average computer buyer.

My first year comment was not to say that this is the first year that SSD’s have been around. It was referring to the fact that this is the first year that they, and the mechanical drives can be compared on an equal footing in terms of size. I’m glad you’re getting four years out of your SSD system drive. I have an old laptop that I use for testing purposes, it has had the same 500MB mechanical drive in it for fifteen years now. When I bought it, it came with Window ME on it. It now runs with Windows XP Pro on it. It never gets connected to the internet.

I will disagree with you about the correct way to configure a computer these days. A tablet, or convertible sure, but unless you are a hard core gamer, there is no immediate need to install a SSD in your laptop, or desk top. And this includes the Seagate Solid State Hybrid Drive.

As to your last paragraph, regarding my ignorance about a topic, well perhaps now you know me a little better, and where I’m coming from (the business world). Just because we differ in our opinions does not make either of us “pristinely ignorant”. It just means we have different opinions. As for advertising ones shortcomings, I think attacking someone, and calling them names just because they disagree with your cherished beliefs, says much more about you, than it does me.

Regards,
Mr. Windows

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Well SSD's are much faster
Jul 28, 2015 7:18AM PDT

then HD's and the biggest use for them is for the OS and not for data storage. Even alot of todays's hard drive are hybrid that have a small SSD built in for caching with the HD. My Acer 8950G i bought in early 2011 and purchased a 140 gb SSD and moved the 750 GB HD to the second bay. The again I cloned it to a 240 SSD and in fact I'm using the old SSD 140 GB for the Windows 10 Technical preview which I did a clean install. I bought an Alienware 18 a year ago and with a 256 GB MSATA SSD and I replaced it with a 1 TB Samsung EVO 840 Msata. I've never had an issue with SSD's while my HD are3 much slower all 5400 RPM's.

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Answer
An unequivocal "YES!"
Jul 25, 2015 7:09AM PDT

Yes, yes, a THOUSAND times YES!

Because your HDD seems to be failing (at two year? THAT was quick!) you may have some difficulty with the data transfer. The program I have used that seems to overcome most difficulties is Paragon's Migrate OS to SSD. It is NOT freeware, but it does the whole job of trimming and whatnot very automatically and straightforwardly and in a most user-friendly manner.

But once you get all the data transferred, you will be flat-out amazed at how much quicker everything is. My Win 8.1 machine fully boots from dead cold in about seven seconds now.

Although some drives may be a little quicker, I personally like the new Samsung 850 EVO series, because their "vertical architecture" seems to promise a significantly longer life. But even the most rip-snortin' OCZ ought to last longer than that hard drive of yours.

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Answer
Probably a fan
Jul 27, 2015 11:08PM PDT

I agree with the other answers. The vast majority of the time, a noisy computer is a failing fan. You can probably pick up a name brand low-db fan at Fry's for $20.

As for the value of an SSD, you don't tell us what you use your computer for, nor how much you use it.

If it's mainly for an hour or so a day doing lightweight tasks like email, Facebook, surfing news sites, watching the occasional video, then there's little advantage to an SSD. In your everyday use of the computer, you won't see any noticeable speed difference. It'll just cost a lot more.

On the other hand, if you're on the machine more than half the day, most days, jumping between programs, maybe routinely editing pictures, audio or video files, then having your swap file on an SSD would make a noticeable difference in everyday tasks.

As others have pointed out, you also didn't tell us what kind of machine this is. If it's a desktop, and there's room for two hard drives, and you work with large data files, like audio or video, then an SSD system drive and a mechanical data drive would be appropriate. That's what I have.

OTOH, if it's a laptop or tablet, then you're stuck with only a single drive. In that case, you need to decide how much space you need, and whether an SSD will provide that much space at a price you're willing to spend. If it's a tablet, then an SSD can more easily withstand repeatedly plopping the device on a table.

As for reliability, an article I read about 18 months ago reported that SSDs actually have worse longevity statistics than mechanical hard drives. And, when they failed, they tended to fail without warning. Mechanical hard drives are a little more likely to start giving you errors, as a warning that it's time to swap it out. Albeit, the SSD technology is moving fast, and their reliability stats are constantly improving. 18 months is a long time in the technology industry.

But, whether using an SSD or a mechanical drive, you must have a good backup system in place, that you actually use. Either type of hard drive can fail without warning. You have to decide how important your data is to you. Even if you're not using it for business, most people I know would hate to lose all of their old photos, etc. So, a backup system that runs for the most part without needing intervention is the best one to have.

Personally, I back up all my machines locally to a NAS, plus I use a cloud backup service that lets me back up all my machines. The backups are running continuously, so I don't have to make myself remember to update the backup. It Just Works.

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Answer
Definitely!
Aug 1, 2015 5:19PM PDT

SSD will give incredible speed as compared to HDD. It has two advantages, battery life will be good and anything stored on the SSD will open up blazing fast. If you install Windows on SSD, startup time will increase incredibly.