To SSD or not to SSD

[steezemageeze]

I've been thinking about this for a while, and wanted some second opinions. My old laptop has a 160GB Hitatchi HDD in it that is overheating (At the moment, it is sitting at 47C while my CPU is 28C), slow, and at times, sounds terrible. I really want to just stick a 120GB SSD in it, but a few things are holding me back. I'm pretty sure my laptop is outfitted with a SATA II port, so I worry that the speed increase would be negligible, in which case I should probably just go for mass storage and grab a new HDD. Also, I'll be getting a new laptop when I go to college in two years, so I feel that upgrading this POS is a dumb idea. The last thing is that I just got Manjaro to the point where I'm satisfied with it, but I figure I can just clone the old drive and be fine, so that's not really important. What are your thoughts?

 

EDIT: this probably should've gone in storage solutions, but I wasn't paying attention. I'll let the mods decide

[FloRolf]

 

 

[Murasaki]

Once you go SSD, you can NEVER go back.

[VinsinityKT]

The sata 2 port will limit the SSD speeds to about under 300 mbps however, think about this. You can later use the SSD on your new laptop in a couple years. If you really want to improve performance and you use your laptop often enough, then I would do it. The SSD will still boost boot time and programs while running cooler i believe.

[Matt100HP]

I put a SanDisk Extreme SSD in a SATA II laptop, and then transferred it to a SATA III laptop a few years later. I noticed no difference in speed, in all honesty. Reads and writes were still always limited by some other factor; USB drive speeds, HDD speeds, download speeds etc. 

 

Just go for it, though beware that in future ever using a computer with a HDD as the OS drive will irritate the hell out of you. 

[Aereldor]

7 minutes ago, steezemageeze said:

I've been thinking about this for a while, and wanted some second opinions. My old laptop has a 160GB Hitatchi HDD in it that is overheating (At the moment, it is sitting at 47C while my CPU is 28C), slow, and at times, sounds terrible. I really want to just stick a 120GB SSD in it, but a few things are holding me back. I'm pretty sure my laptop is outfitted with a SATA II port, so I worry that the speed increase would be negligible, in which case I should probably just go for mass storage and grab a new HDD. Also, I'll be getting a new laptop when I go to college in two years, so I feel that upgrading this POS is a dumb idea. The last thing is that I just got Manjaro to the point where I'm satisfied with it, but I figure I can just clone the old drive and be fine, so that's not really important. What are your thoughts?

 

EDIT: this probably should've gone in storage solutions, but I wasn't paying attention. I'll let the mods decide

The speed increase is still going to be enormous, even held back by SATA II limits. Also, access time is still going to be just as fast as it is on a SATA III interface, so you'll definitely see an enormous improvement there.

PNY just launched their new value-oriented CS1311 SSD- you can snag a 120GB variant for $39 and a 240GB variant for $59. I hear they perform incredibly well for the price, share specs with much higher-end SSDs, and they've got PNY's manufacturer reputation behind them.

EDIT: the price for the 240GB SSD went up to $79- they seem to be selling out fast. Here's a Best Buy link instead.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/pny-cs1311-240gb-internal-sata-iii-solid-state-drive/4825701.p?id=bb4825701&ref=199&loc=8BacdVP0GFs&acampID=1&siteID=8BacdVP0GFs-f2TOaivQe_UTYIK74M5fXw

[Dabombinable]

7 minutes ago, Matt100HP said:

I put a SanDisk Extreme SSD in a SATA II laptop, and then transferred it to a SATA III laptop a few years later. I noticed no difference in speed, in all honesty. Reads and writes were still always limited by some other factor; USB drive speeds, HDD speeds, download speeds etc. 

 

Just go for it, though beware that in future ever using a computer with a HDD as the OS drive will irritate the hell out of you. 

Same with my laptop's 240GB OCZ ARC 100, although its bottlenecked by its CPU more than anything.

[Donut417]

14 minutes ago, steezemageeze said:

I've been thinking about this for a while, and wanted some second opinions. My old laptop has a 160GB Hitatchi HDD in it that is overheating (At the moment, it is sitting at 47C while my CPU is 28C), slow, and at times, sounds terrible. I really want to just stick a 120GB SSD in it, but a few things are holding me back. I'm pretty sure my laptop is outfitted with a SATA II port, so I worry that the speed increase would be negligible, in which case I should probably just go for mass storage and grab a new HDD. Also, I'll be getting a new laptop when I go to college in two years, so I feel that upgrading this POS is a dumb idea. The last thing is that I just got Manjaro to the point where I'm satisfied with it, but I figure I can just clone the old drive and be fine, so that's not really important. What are your thoughts?

 

EDIT: this probably should've gone in storage solutions, but I wasn't paying attention. I'll let the mods decide

Keep in mind too. SSD's dont have moving parts. Thats why they are great for any mobile computer. You dont have to worry about read/write heads grinding on your platter. Plus like stated above, you can use this in your next laptop when you decided to upgrade. 

[steezemageeze]

Alright, I guess I'm sold. I have two questions though. One, would I have any trouble cloning my 160GB drive to a 120GB drive? Two, would the SSD save power or use more? I feel like it'd save power because nothing is moving, but I don't know. This thing gets two hours max with TLP enabled and 50% brightness. I'd really hate to lose battery life.