Switching to SSD - Starting over?I

[MPX309]

Ok what's the deal with using an SSD for boot, does it mean I will have to loose everything on my HDD which is currently my OS and everything else and 'aquire' back the programs I currently use? . . . If it's the case it's the only thing putting me off buying one atm.

[SuperOwnJK]

Some SSDs like Corsair series come with software and USB cable so you can copy everything from your existing hard drive to your new SSD. 

However if you can't fit everything onto an SSD and want to just load Windows and a few programs onto an SSD and use a hard drive for your documents and music and other programs, then I believe a fresh install would be in order. 

 

I currently have Windows, Chrome, iTunes and some other programs I constantly use on my SSD. Everything else like games, MS Office and User Documents are on a 3TB Hard Drive. 

[MPX309]

the only things I wanna put on it are OS, anything Adobe and Ableton . . . Everything else can run off HDD, so how would I delete the OS off my HDD but still keep all the other programs and games? . . . Oh god this is getting complicated.

[Thunderjolt]

I'm not sure if it would work so someone should confirm this for me but why don't you see if you can copy the things you want onto an external HDD. Then format the HDD in your computer and create a partition in it so you can store the files back. Throw in your SSD into your computer and install your OS. Once it is done plug your external HDD back in and copy those files back into the HDD in your computer.

[MPX309]

I'm not sure if it would work so someone should confirm this for me but why don't you see if you can copy the things you want onto an external HDD. Then format the HDD in your computer and create a partition in it so you can store the files back. Throw in your SSD into your computer and install your OS. Once it is done plug your external HDD back in and copy those files back into the HDD in your computer.

 

 

Sounds a like a good idea. . . but would mean splashing out on an external storage, arghh lol..., think I'm just gonna leave it and get an extra HDD and offload anything that isn't installed onto that. lol (ie. movies, music. photoshop files)

[MdX MaxX]

An external HDD isn't necessary.  Just install the OS on the SSD, then once you're booted into the new install, go into your hard drive and delete everything that isn't your music, movies, documents, games, etc.

 

Just reinstall your programs; if you try to move them from your HDD to the SSD the proper registry values won't exist in the new OS and it'll just be a hassle.

[Glenwing]

How full is your HDD?  If it's not halfway full you can partition the drive, move all your data over to one partition to make the OS portion as small as possible, and then just clone the OS partition.

[ScionRay]

I'm new to the whole SSD thing and wonder how well are they? I read some where they will die out eventually? How true is that?  I would like to have my OS and a photoshop  on an SSD, people tell me it would run faster, also what about the newer ssd's that are in express slot?  or is that just over kill for and average user?  Trying to get all the information I can before I start the new build. Thanks for any help 

[MdX MaxX]

I'm new to the whole SSD thing and wonder how well are they? I read some where they will die out eventually? How true is that?  I would like to have my OS and a photoshop  on an SSD, people tell me it would run faster, also what about the newer ssd's that are in express slot?  or is that just over kill for and average user?  Trying to get all the information I can before I start the new build. Thanks for any help 

SSDs are wonderful.  Their main advantage is that they have WAY more IOPS (input/output operations per second) than hard drives, which means much, much greater overall system snappiness.  They have excellent read and write speeds as well, so loading Photoshop, for example, would be much quicker.

 

Yes, PCI-E SSDs are way overkill for most people.  Their only advantage is sequential reads and writes, so they would only be useful for someone who writes gigs upon gigs of video or other files to a drive daily.

 

They will die out eventually, but that applies to all flash memory.  As long as you're not writing 100GB to the drive every day it'll easily last over 10 years.

[Glenwing]

I'm new to the whole SSD thing and wonder how well are they? I read some where they will die out eventually? How true is that?  I would like to have my OS and a photoshop  on an SSD, people tell me it would run faster, also what about the newer ssd's that are in express slot?  or is that just over kill for and average user?  Trying to get all the information I can before I start the new build. Thanks for any help 

 

All SSDs will wear out and die eventually, this is just theoretical though.  For most modern drives it's really not possible to hit the limit unless you're using in a server with massive throughput at all hours a day or something.  I believe most can withstand several hundred terabytes of data written.  Reading data does not wear out the drive.

[ScionRay]

Thanks guys for the information  I'm just now getting into video editing or trying to.  My current rig allows me to play blu-rays and some computer games on max levels like gears of war pc and Crisis 2  at 35 fps under heavy game play and 60fps normally on my Sony hd 42" 1080p so I've been happy with my computer but now that I'm getting into computers I guess I'm becoming an enthusiast there is a lot I'm learning about all the new computer tech and what I want to do with my next build.