Dell Studio 1555 - SSD Upgrade

[peterpepo]

Hello,
I am thinking about upgrading my hard drive in my notebook.
My existing hard drive is working just perfectly, but on the other hand i am jealous about all that macbook users who can use their computers on lap (also on Linus, as he moves his laptop without worries ).

 

The laptop is somehow older, it was "born" in 2009 aproximately, and I can't find information about included sata controller.

Anyway, i am thinking of two main candidates for replacement:
1, Samsung SSD840 Pro - 256 GB - 182 €
2, Samsung SSD840 EVO - 500 GB - 245 €

Now, the question and problem is.
I store complete copy of my iPod music on my computer, what counts ~120 GB, some documents ~5GB, my currents OS install ~42GB, what gives us totally ~167GB used space totally.

I could go with 840 pro, make my current drive external and have music there, however i have to connect it whenever i need to sync my ipod / add new music.

OR

I could go with Evo, what gives me about 2x bigger storage for just 35% higher price in trade with some performance (according to Samsung).

 

Here comes the question (actually bunch of them).
Is my laptop even capable of using max speed provided by these drives (as i mentioned earlier, i don't know my sata version).

+If YES, is there big difference in performance of these two drives (that i will notice) ?

+If NO - are these SSDs just overkill for my laptop and should i go for something much cheaper / older ?

++If yes, can you recommend something to me ?

+EVO is TLC, whereas Pro is MLC, some big difference in durability and prolonged usage ?

Thanks

[WoodenMarker]

Your laptop is probably not capable of using the max speed provided. It will be limited to sata 3Gb/s. However, this only limits sequential transfers speeds and not the random read speed and random access times which are what actually makes the ssd feel fast and snappy.

840 Pros are a waste of money for anything but storage heavy usage and the warranty. Definitely get something cheaper if it's just for everyday usage--the difference between the Evo and Pro is unnoticeable. 

We could use your location, budget, and how much storage you're shooting for.

[brownninja97]

you will not notice the performance difference between the two go for the bigger ssd.

[peterpepo]

Your laptop is probably not capable of using the max speed provided. It will be limited to sata 3Gb/s. However, this only limits sequential transfers speeds and not the random read speed and random access times which are what actually makes the ssd feel fast and snappy.

840 Pros are a waste of money for anything but storage heavy usage and the warranty. Definitely get something cheaper if it's just for everyday usage--the difference between the Evo and Pro is unnoticeable. 

We could use your location, budget, and how much storage you're shooting for.

As for the storage. Right now i have 500GB mechanical hard drive with about ~250GB free 90% of the time. But i am satisfied, i don't need more, as I keep only data which I am using with me and other are archived on external hard drives. Less than 500GB, I would probably worry and have to constantly keep eye of remaining capacity.

Sometimes I load about 20 GB of data just for upcoming video editing, what brings us to my typical usage. Most of time, i browse internet, listen to music and watch movies. Sometimes I use my laptop to for programming and work and occasionaly i edit some holiday video / pictures. I think, nothing extraordinary.

The price for 256 GB -182 € was acceptable to me to invest in old notebook, which I am using right now, but I am thinking of building custom desktop for video editing and games, leaving notebook for trips and portable usage. But I am not sure about this one. Then i found that for couple euros more I can have double size storage.

As for the shop - i would probably buy here: http://www.alza.sk/ssd-disky-2-5/18852249.htm -> it's in Slovak language, but you can check what they have and what are prices in euro. Afaik it's most reliable source with wide range of products.

 

Btw, how did you found my Sata version ? Sata 3Gb/s = SATA II ( Sata revision 2.x) ?

[WoodenMarker]

I'd suggest getting the M500: http://www.alza.sk/crucial-m500-480gb-7mm-d404329.htm

[peterpepo]

So i have checked them at ssd benchmark ( http://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Crucial-M500-240GB-vs-Samsung-840-Evo-250GB/1551vs1594 )

Samsung seems to have much higher speeds, however Crucial is MLC and Samsung is TLC.

Should i go for increased speed or higher durability - MLC. Crucial also doesn't seem to have TRIM.

[WoodenMarker]

So i have checked them at ssd benchmark ( http://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Crucial-M500-240GB-vs-Samsung-840-Evo-250GB/1551vs1594 )

Samsung seems to have much higher speeds, however Crucial is MLC and Samsung is TLC.

Should i go for increased speed or higher durability - MLC. Crucial also doesn't seem to have TRIM.

The real life difference for everyday usage is unnoticeable. 

It does support TRIM: http://solid-state-drive-review.toptenreviews.com/crucial-m500-review.html

 

You need to quote a post or tag a member or else they won't get a notification you replied to them.

[peterpepo]

 

The real life difference for everyday usage is unnoticeable. 

It does support TRIM: http://solid-state-drive-review.toptenreviews.com/crucial-m500-review.html

 

You need to quote a post or tag a member or else they won't get a notification you replied to them.

 

Real Life difference in speed or durability ?

If durability, i would go with 840 EVO. And as long as 3Gbps=300 MBps in SSD world, i should still be able to see speed difference on my Sata2 controller.

PS: Sorry for not quoting. I am used not to quote from other forums, which rules forbid to quote the most recent post.

[WoodenMarker]

Real Life difference in speed or durability ?

If durability, i would go with 840 EVO. And as long as 3Gbps=300 MBps in SSD world, i should still be able to see speed difference on my Sata2 controller.

PS: Sorry for not quoting. I am used not to quote from other forums, which rules forbid to quote the most recent post.

In terms of speed.

Not sure about durability. I haven't seen a side by side comparison of the M500 and 840 Evo. However, I don't think it's relevant. They'll both likely last longer than you need them to. http://us.hardware.info/reviews/4178/10/hardwareinfo-tests-lifespan-of-samsung-ssd-840-250gb-tlc-ssd-updated-with-final-conclusion-final-update-20-6-2013

 

As I've already said above, the Sata 3Gb/s only limits sequential transfers speeds and not the random read speed and random access times which are what actually makes the ssd feel fast and snappy. Unless you spend all day moving large files back and forth, the sequential transfer speed bottleneck shouldn't really matter.

[peterpepo]

I am running 500GB 840 Evo at the moment.
Seems  great, now the notebook fan makes me angry. Before upgrade, HDD and CPU/GPU combofan were fighting who were louder.
Now, i would like to put nail in the fan to stop spinning and make PC completely silent

 

One question, is there any Samsung user ?
I have set my drive to MAXIMUM RELIABILITY (which turned off hibernation, set virtual memory to 200 MB (1GB max), turn off indexing, disable prefetch / superfetch, enable write cache buffer, deactiveted write-cache buffer flushing, created power profile to never sleep and disabled automatic backup).

Then i set on automatic provision (10%), but there is Note: Using a RAW partition may damage your data. Can I do something about it ?

Also i turned on RAPID MODE. Does asmsung magician have to be running ?
It asks for admin permission (UAC) every boot - it drives me mad, so i deleted it from startup.

Does magician have to run ?

 

Thanks

[peterpepo]

^^ BUMP ^^
Did someone else noticed this ?
I had activated RAPID mode. My total bytes written was increasing by 0.01 TB / day. It means ~10 GB / day, what seems insane - i have only 35,7 GB on my C drive. However my total bytes written is 0,16TB = 160 GB. What ?!

 

Couple days ago i disabled rapid mode, and TBW seems paused at 0,16 TB total.

 

Has somebody noticed this ? Or is something wrong with mine setup ?