Questioning a 1TB to 2TB HDD upgrade

[Winderptv]

I'm looking for some advice on my HDD upgrade. I was running out of space on my old drive and decided to upgrade...I was wondering what was the best way to get the best performance out of the new space. Should I merge the new unallocated  space into the C:/ partition/volume or should I make the unallocated space it's own partition/volume and move a lot of my junk over to that? The results I am looking for are to speed up Windows. This machine use to be fast before it's Hard Drive was almost filled xD

 

Thank you!

[BondiBlue]

Is this the drive where you have Windows installed? If it is then I'd strongly recommend getting an SSD instead to put Windows on. The difference between running Windows on a mechanical hard drive vs. running Windows on any half decent SATA SSD is night and day, and it won't slow down nearly as much over time. 

[KhakiHat]

I mean, if you want fast. Buy an SSD instead.

 

You could set them up in RAID to be connected drives. You'd avoid data loss, should one of them fail.

[Winderptv]

21 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

Is this the drive where you have Windows installed? If it is then I'd strongly recommend getting an SSD instead to put Windows on. The difference between running Windows on a mechanical hard drive vs. running Windows on any half decent SATA SSD is night and day, and it won't slow down nearly as much over time. 

Yes Windows is installed on this drive. I was considering getting an SSD but at the moment I don’t have enough money for a 2TB SSD and I’ll also need to buy something to make it fit in a 3.5 bay otherwise I have no where to put it.

 

With my current situation what would you suggest? Make a new volume on the unallocated space or just merge it with the C:/ drive?

[BondiBlue]

1 minute ago, Winderptv said:

Yes Windows is installed on this drive. I was considering getting an SSD but at the moment I don’t have enough money for a 2TB SSD and I’ll also need to buy something to make it fit in a 3.5 bay otherwise I have no where to put it.

 

With my current situation what would you like suggest? Make a new volume on the unallocated space or just merge it with the C:/ drive?

What I meant was more along the lines of getting a smaller SSD (maybe 256GB-512GB depending on your budget) to put Windows on and keep your existing drive for storage. I know you wouldn't get as much additional storage that way, but if your goal is to speed up the computer then that's your best choice. Windows hasn't run well on mechanical drives for many years now. SSDs have dropped in price quite a lot in recent years as well, so they might not be as expensive as you think. 

[Winderptv]

13 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

What I meant was more along the lines of getting a smaller SSD (maybe 256GB-512GB depending on your budget) to put Windows on and keep your existing drive for storage. I know you wouldn't get as much additional storage that way, but if your goal is to speed up the computer then that's your best choice. Windows hasn't run well on mechanical drives for many years now. SSDs have dropped in price quite a lot in recent years as well, so they might not be as expensive as you think. 

I wanted to do this too but again I have no where to put a second drive SSD or not. I could theoretically take out my CD drive but I use that quite often. I’d probably still take only one drive with Windows and my junk on it.

 

The machine is a Windows 8.1 in an HP slimline, pretty old with not much physical space in the chassis.

 

Do you have any suggestions for the current HDD I just bought?

 

 

[BondiBlue]

Just now, Winderptv said:

I wanted to do this too but again I have no where to put a second drive SSD or not. I could theoretically take out my CD drive but I use that quite often. I’d probably still take only one drive with Windows and my junk on it.

An SSD doesn't need to be mounted anywhere, so as long as there's somewhere for it to squeeze into the case without hitting a fan or something and as long as you can plug it in then it'll work fine. They're very lightweight, and they have no moving parts. 

1 minute ago, Winderptv said:

Do you have any speed suggestions for the current HDD I just bought?

There's nothing you can really do for speeding up Windows on a mechanical hard drive. It's mostly a physical limitation - mechanical drives have very poor random I/O performance since they have to move the head across the platter to access data in various locations. Your operating system is made up of a bunch of tiny files stored on the drive, so your drive will have to move the head more when finding files. SSDs are instant access, so there's no waiting around for the read head to move. That's why Windows is much snappier when running from a solid state drive. 

 

You could try to just keep it free of programs running in the background, junk files, etc. That's about it for the most part. 

[Winderptv]

15 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

An SSD doesn't need to be mounted anywhere, so as long as there's somewhere for it to squeeze into the case without hitting a fan or something and as long as you can plug it in then it'll work fine. 

Well then technically I do have a place for it but like I said the only other SATA connector I have in the machine is occupied by a CD drive that I use quite often. If I were to buy an SSD (at least 1TB) that had to boot Windows and hold my files as well as being fast what would you suggest? Also let me throw this question..can one SATA power and Data handle an SSD and my CD Drive? If so that solves my issue on having windows on a separate SSD.

 

15 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

There's nothing you can really do for speeding up Windows on a mechanical hard drive. It's mostly a physical limitation - mechanical drives have very poor random I/O performance since they have to move the head across the platter to access data in various locations. Your operating system is made up of a bunch of tiny files stored on the drive, so your drive will have to move the head more when finding files. SSDs are instant access, so there's no waiting around for the read head to move. That's why Windows is much snappier when running from a solid state drive. 

 

So in theory turning this unallocated space into a new volume to move my files to or even merging it into the current Windows volume may make booting and using Windows slower? Btw I don't plan on adding anything more to my internal Drive I just added more space because I thought a filled drive was bad for the computer and made it run slower.

 

18 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

You could try to just keep it free of programs running in the background, junk files, etc. That's about it for the most part. 

Freeing up background programs I have done already, junk files I've had trouble removing them due to trying to find what was and what wasn't (because of how much is on the drive). I have moved a lot of my big files, I know of, to external drives but it didn't free up much space.

[BondiBlue]

1 minute ago, Winderptv said:

Well then technically I do have a place for it but like I said the only other SATA connector I have in the machine is occupied by a CD drive that I use quite often. If I were to buy an SSD (at least 1TB) that had to boot Windows and hold my files as well as being fast what would you suggest? Also let me throw this question..can one SATA power and Data handle an SSD and my CD Drive? If so that solves my issue on having windows on a separate SSD.

You can split a SATA power connector, but you can't split a data connector. 

 

As for a specific recommendation - the Crucial MX500 is always a good choice. They're very reliable, and they're fast as well. I have several in various computers. The 1TB model is usually under $100. You could save a bit of money by going with the BX500 though, but it won't be quite as fast overall as the MX500. 

4 minutes ago, Winderptv said:

So in theory turning this unallocated space into a new volume to move my files to or even merging it into the current Windows volume may make booting and using Windows slower? Btw I don't plan on adding anything more to my internal Drive I just added more space because I thought a filled drive was bad for the computer and made it run slower.

I wouldn't try to combine the new storage with your current drive. Use the new drive as additional storage for holding your files, but don't try to use it as one volume. 

5 minutes ago, Winderptv said:

Freeing up background programs I have done already, junk files I've had trouble removing them due to trying to find what was and what wasn't (because of how much is on the drive). I have moved a lot of my big files, I know of, to external drives but it didn't free up much space.

I know it can be a chore to do, but have you considered doing a clean installation of Windows? That would speed it up a little bit and clear out any unnecessary junk at the same time. 

[Winderptv]

10 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

You can split a SATA power connector, but you can't split a data connector.

Shame, so no CD Drive and Hard Drive on the same SATA connectors then.

 

11 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

As for a specific recommendation - the Crucial MX500 is always a good choice. They're very reliable, and they're fast as well. I have several in various computers. The 1TB model is usually under $100

Thank you, I was suggested the MX500 from others as well. Now my current Hard Drive has only 106GB space left, would you suggest I go up to 2TB? And adding on to this (which you had already answered for the mechanical drive) with the new unallocated space of the SSD would you suggest I still use it a new volume instead of merging?

 

Adding another question on top of this, do you have a suggestion for 2.5" SSD to 3.5" Adapter? Something that wont bottle neck the speeds.

 

18 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

I know it can be a chore to do, but have you considered doing a clean installation of Windows? That would speed it up a little bit and clear out any unnecessary junk at the same time. 

Yeah I have considered a clean installation of Windows, just haven't had the time to do it sadly. I actually wanted to do a clean install of Windows 10 for it but this machine is a potato which is why I keep it on Windows 8.1

[BondiBlue]

1 minute ago, Winderptv said:

Thank you, I was suggested the MX500 from others as well. Now my current Hard Drive has only 106GB space left, would you suggest I go up to 2TB? And adding on to this (which you had already answered for the mechanical drive) with the new unallocated space of the SSD would you suggest I still use it a new volume instead of merging?

I'm a bit confused by what you're asking. In order to take advantage of the speed improvement you'll want Windows to be installed on the SSD, either by doing a clean installation (highly recommended if you get the time) or cloning your current drive (it can work, but isn't recommended). There shouldn't be unallocated space left on the drive once it's formatted. 

 

As for the space - that's really up to you. I personally still go with lower capacity SSDs and large hard drives for mass storage. I don't own any SSDs larger than 1TB, and they're fine for me. If I need more storage I just use a second mechanical drive or an external drive. You'd have to weigh the cost difference to see if it's worth it to you. 

4 minutes ago, Winderptv said:

Adding another question on top of this, do you have a suggestion for 2.5" SSD to 3.5" Adapter? Something that wont bottle neck the speeds.

That would just be a physical bracket, so there's nothing that would bottleneck the speed. A lot of 2.5" to 3.5" adapters don't even touch the SATA connectors at all, and even those that do just pass the signals through, so there's no difference either way. Personally I use some of these and these in my computers, and they both work fine.   

[Winderptv]

12 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

I'm a bit confused by what you're asking. In order to take advantage of the speed improvement you'll want Windows to be installed on the SSD, either by doing a clean installation (highly recommended if you get the time) or cloning your current drive (it can work, but isn't recommended). There shouldn't be unallocated space left on the drive once it's formatted. 

I'd do a clone of the Drive to the new SSD. Can I ask why it's not recommended? 

 

Let me try to clarify the unallocated space thing, I bought a 2TB HDD and cloned my 1TB HDD to it, I now have 931.51GB of unallocated space (picture attached). I'm not sure what to do with that extra space. Like I mentioned before I thought having Windows boot from a drive that's almost full slows things down. This is why I now have unallocated space and keep asking about it xD

 

12 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

Personally I use some of these and these in my computers, and they both work fine.

Thanks for these!!!

[BondiBlue]

1 minute ago, Winderptv said:

I'd do a clone of the Drive to the new SSD. Can I ask why it's not recommended? 

 

Let me try to clarify unallocated space, I bought a 2TB HDD and cloned my 1TB HDD to it, I now have 931.51GB of unallocated space (picture attached). I'm not sure what to do with that extra space. Like I mentioned before I thought having Windows boot from a drive that's almost full slows things down. This is why I now have unallocated space and keep asking about it xD

Yeah, that picture is one of the reasons that cloning isn't recommended. If your partitions aren't already arranged properly (you can't extend a volume with unallocated space if they aren't right next to each other) then you can end up with unallocated space or other oddities. 

 

I've also seen issues with drivers and some programs before when running from a cloned copy of Windows, but it doesn't always happen. 

3 minutes ago, Winderptv said:

Thanks for these!!!

Sure, not a problem. I use those in my computers when I feel like doing the right thing and mounting a drive properly lol. 

[Winderptv]

8 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

Yeah, that picture is one of the reasons that cloning isn't recommended. If your partitions aren't already arranged properly (you can't extend a volume with unallocated space if they aren't right next to each other) then you can end up with unallocated space or other oddities.  

So I know about not being able to extend a volume with unallocated space if they aren't right next to each other and was going to use a third party tool that claims it can merge the two if they aren't next to each other. OR use the extra space to store the big files. I'm assuming the latter would be better but won't this still affect the Windows boot times since the files are still on the same drive just a different volume? Or is an SSD fast enough that it won't matter?

 

8 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

I've also seen issues with drivers and some programs before when running from a cloned copy of Windows, but it doesn't always happen. 

I've heard about this. I've cloned a few HDD before and luckily never ran into it (and am on the cloned to 2TB HDD rn), but not yet an HDD to an SSD. If I do encounter this couldn't just reinstalling the problematic drivers solve the issues? 

[BondiBlue]

5 minutes ago, Winderptv said:

So I know about not being able to extend a volume with unallocated space if they aren't right next to each other and was going to use a third party tool that claims it can merge the two if they aren't next to each other. OR use the extra space to store the big files. I'm assuming the latter would be better but won't this still affect the Windows boot times since the files are still on the same drive just a different volume? Or is an SSD fast enough that it won't matter?

If you get a 2TB SSD and clone your current drive over to it you shouldn't have any issues just formatting the unallocated space as a new volume and using it for extra storage. It won't make a difference to the speed. 

6 minutes ago, Winderptv said:

I've heard about this. I've cloned a few HDD before and luckily never ran into it (and am on the cloned to 2TB HDD rn), but not yet an HDD to an SSD. If I do encounter this couldn't just reinstalling the problematic drivers solve the issues? 

It could, but it just depends on the type of issue and the severity. 

[Winderptv]

14 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

If you get a 2TB SSD and clone your current drive over to it you shouldn't have any issues just formatting the unallocated space as a new volume and using it for extra storage. It won't make a difference to the speed. 

Alright, using it as a new volume is what I'll do then. There's certain programs and games I'd rather just run off the internal drive. Let me throw another question if I may, once I move those files over to the new volume would it be wise to shrink the Windows volume or no? Or should I just really not worry about moving those files to the new volume and if I need extra space I have it there?

[BondiBlue]

2 minutes ago, Winderptv said:

Alright, using it as a new volume is what I'll do then. There's certain programs and games I'd rather just run off the internal drive. Let me throw another question if I may, once I move those files over to the new volume would it be wise to shrink the Windows volume or no? Or should I just really not worry about moving those files to the new volume and if I need extra space I have it there?

If you're going to clone Windows I'd just leave the destination volume the same size as the source volume. It'll keep things less complicated. 

[Winderptv]

1 minute ago, BondiBlue said:

If you're going to clone Windows I'd just leave the destination volume the same size as the source volume. It'll keep things less complicated. 

Alright that's what I'll do then. 

 

Do you recommend I move the known big files over to the new volume and off the Windows volume? You said it wouldn't affect speeds, I was just throwing the the question out again because of something I heard about if there is not enough space on the drive Windows will slow down and start using RAM for temporary things.

 

[BondiBlue]

1 minute ago, Winderptv said:

Alright that's what I'll do then. 

 

Do you recommend I move the known big files over to the new volume and off the Windows volume? You said it wouldn't affect speeds, I was just throwing the the question out again because of something I heard about if there is not enough space on the drive Windows will slow down and start using RAM for temporary things.

It won't affect speeds until the volume is close to completely full, and even then it still wouldn't be too bad with an SSD. I wouldn't bother with it unless you just want to have more free space on the Windows volume. 

[Winderptv]

17 minutes ago, BondiBlue said:

It won't affect speeds until the volume is close to completely full, and even then it still wouldn't be too bad with an SSD. I wouldn't bother with it unless you just want to have more free space on the Windows volume. 

Gotcha! Well thank you a ton for all the help!!

[BondiBlue]

18 minutes ago, Winderptv said:

Gotcha! Well thank you a ton for all the help!!

Not a problem! Let me know if you need any more help with anything. 

[cmndr]

I'd want to check on the specifics of your PC but you might be able to add an m.2 drive directly to the motherboard. This doesn't really take up any space.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c06506015

 

One thing to be aware, m.2 drives come in TWO flavors, SATA and nvme, you'd need to ensure you buy the correct kind.

[Winderptv]

10 hours ago, cmndr said:

I'd want to check on the specifics of your PC but you might be able to add an m.2 drive directly to the motherboard. This doesn't really take up any space.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c06506015

 

One thing to be aware, m.2 drives come in TWO flavors, SATA and nvme, you'd need to ensure you buy the correct kind.

No m.2 nvme on this potato xD Here is the HP link: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04078971 (HP Pavilion Slimline 400-224 Desktop PC)

 

It does have two SATA connecters so technically I could have a separate SSD for Windows to boot from but I use the internal CD Drive A LOT! I was thinking about using a portable external but their just annoying imo.

[Needfuldoer]

13 hours ago, Winderptv said:

Let me try to clarify the unallocated space thing, I bought a 2TB HDD and cloned my 1TB HDD to it, I now have 931.51GB of unallocated space (picture attached). I'm not sure what to do with that extra space. Like I mentioned before I thought having Windows boot from a drive that's almost full slows things down. This is why I now have unallocated space and keep asking about it xD

In order to expand your C: partition to include that empty space, you would have to use a tool like GParted to move your recovery D: partition to the end of the drive. Then the free space would be contiguous with your C: partition and you could expand it. (You can try this with minimal risk if you still have your 1 TB drive and haven't created anything you care about on the 2 TB one. If it gets goofed up, you just have to clone it back again.)

 

The easier solution would be to just create a new partition inside the empty space. You could set this new partition's mount point to a folder inside your C: drive, but that could make space management confusing. I'd just give it its own drive letter and use it for bulk storage in this case.

[cmndr]

49 minutes ago, Winderptv said:

No m.2 nvme on this potato xD Here is the HP link: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c04078971 (HP Pavilion Slimline 400-224 Desktop PC)

 

It does have two SATA connecters so technically I could have a separate SSD for Windows to boot from but I use the internal CD Drive A LOT! I was thinking about using a portable external but their just annoying imo.

ooh potato is right.

My father had a 2 core version of that CPU... and his girlfriend does too. That's painful.

I don't know how much you have in terms of funding but
https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Optiplex-9010-SFF-Desktop/dp/B078WGWZ1X/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1LGRFY89Z5ABZ&keywords=refurbished+i5&qid=1650649436&sprefix=refurbished+i5%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-3

Something like THAT would be a huge upgrade. basically plop your harddrive over to it and enjoy being able to open web pages without terrible lag.