SSHD for secondary storage. Worth it ?

[OCD-FREAK]

hello everyone,

 

i have a lenovo y500 and i have a 256gb samsung Msata ssd and i want to buy a hdd for secondary storage, is it worth it to buy an sshd if i already have a 1TB 7200rpm hdd laying around in great health ?

 

any and all opinions are more than appreciated,

 

thank you all   

[PineyCreek]

Honestly, probably not.  Also more often than not the SSHD will be paired with a 5400 or 5900 RPM drive.

[OCD-FREAK]

Just now, PineyCreek said:

Honestly, probably not.  Also more often than not the SSHD will be paired with a 5400 or 5900 RPM drive.

so its not worth all in all ? but why do i see alot of difference in boot time when i use it ? any detailed explanations?

 

thanks 

[homeap5]

SSHD "learns" what files you're using most. It's good for operating system loading time, but gives you nothing if we're talking about private files, games, videos etc.

[PineyCreek]

What @homeap5 said.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

PineyCreek and homeap5 pretty much summed it up.

 

You appear to have contradicted yourself. First, you appear to say you are already using an mSATA SSD in your computer and want to add an HDD for extra storage. Then you said you got better boot times when using it. Using what? The SSHD? Did you replace the mSATA with the SSHD or just add the SSHD? Something is not adding up. How full is the mSATA?

 

[Pickles von Brine]

I would advise against using an SSHD. Most of those drives are crap and built poorly. You are better off just getting a bigger mSATA SSD or 2.5" SSD. 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I agree with Lord Xeb. You would be wasting your money on an SSHD. I would suggest using the mSATA SSD for the OS and programs and the 1TB HDD you have already for your data (or even overflow for your games that won't fit on th mSATA). I also recommend getting a couple more HDDs to keep backups for your data drive on.

[OCD-FREAK]

19 hours ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

PineyCreek and homeap5 pretty much summed it up.

 

You appear to have contradicted yourself. First, you appear to say you are already using an mSATA SSD in your computer and want to add an HDD for extra storage. Then you said you got better boot times when using it. Using what? The SSHD? Did you replace the mSATA with the SSHD or just add the SSHD? Something is not adding up. How full is the mSATA?

 

What are you saying? I didn't mean that iam using the sshd, i just stated my experience using an sshd. My configuration is an msata 256gb and i want a 1tb secondary storage either a 7200rpm hdd that i already have laying around or a sshd that i need to buy. What do you think? 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

4 hours ago, OCD-FREAK said:

What are you saying? I didn't mean that iam using the sshd, i just stated my experience using an sshd. My configuration is an msata 256gb and i want a 1tb secondary storage either a 7200rpm hdd that i already have laying around or a sshd that i need to buy. What do you think? 

I misunderstood you. I thought you were currently using an SSHD. Sorry.

 

The only time one might gain an improvement is performance when using an SSHD is when the most frequently used software is the OS. That might decrease boot times. The NAND  (SSD chip) in an SSD is just too small to do anymore than that and, sometimes, doesn't even do that. When SSHDs were fairly new, I bought a 2.5" 500GB 5400 rpm Seagate SSHD and used it to replace the 2.5" 500GB 7200 rpm WD Black I had replaced the original 5400 RPM Seagate my notebook had originally came with. While the boot time of the SSHD was better than the original Seagate, it was slower than the WD. I eventually replaced the SSHD with an SSD and never used the SSHD again. I've read coutless accounts of people who encountered the same or similar problems with SSHDs.

 

You already have an SSD you can use for your OS and programs and you won't be able to do better unless you replace it with a better SSD (and, frankly, what gain you will get won't justify the cost of replacement unless the SSD you have dies) so I wouldn't replace it.  The 7200 rpm HDD you have now will out perform all SSHDs so, as long as you don't need more capacity, I suggest you use that one. Keep only your OS and programs on the mSATA SSD and your data on the HDD to simplify backups.

 

Also, since you seem bound and determined to spend money (not a criticism, btw), I would spend it on at least one  (preferably two) more 1TB HDDs to backup the 1TB HDD you already have.

[OCD-FREAK]

18 minutes ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

I misunderstood you. I thought you were currently using an SSHD. Sorry.

 

The only time one might gain an improvement is performance when using an SSHD is when the most frequently used software is the OS. That might decrease boot times. The NAND  (SSD chip) in an SSD is just too small to do anymore than that and, sometimes, doesn't even do that. When SSHDs were fairly new, I bought a 2.5" 500GB 5400 rpm Seagate SSHD and used it to replace the 2.5" 500GB 7200 rpm WD Black I had replaced the original 5400 RPM Seagate my notebook had originally came with. While the boot time of the SSHD was better than the original Seagate, it was slower than the WD. I eventually replaced the SSHD with an SSD and never used the SSHD again. I've read coutless accounts of people who encountered the same or similar problems with SSHDs.

 

You already have an SSD you can use for your OS and programs and you won't be able to do better unless you replace it with a better SSD (and, frankly, what gain you will get won't justify the cost of replacement unless the SSD you have dies) so I wouldn't replace it.  The 7200 rpm HDD you have now will out perform all SSHDs so, as long as you don't need more capacity, I suggest you use that one. Keep only your OS and programs on the mSATA SSD and your data on the HDD to simplify backups.

 

Also, since you seem bound and determined to spend money (not a criticism, btw), I would spend it on at least one  (preferably two) more 1TB HDDs to backup the 1TB HDD you already have.

thanks, very informative . do you think that the 256gb msata ssd is showing its full speed as an ssd? i mean i read somewhere that SSDs increase their speed as the capacity increase, so do you think that a 500gb msata ssd of the same brand will be faster than the 256gb msata i have ? 

 

thanks and appreciate your explanations iam learning  

[Lady Fitzgerald]

13 hours ago, OCD-FREAK said:

thanks, very informative . do you think that the 256gb msata ssd is showing its full speed as an ssd? i mean i read somewhere that SSDs increase their speed as the capacity increase, so do you think that a 500gb msata ssd of the same brand will be faster than the 256gb msata i have ? 

 

thanks and appreciate your explanations iam learning  

While it's true that larger SSDs tend to be faster than their smaller versions, the difference will be be barely, if at all, noticeable in real life performance. The only way I would reccommend replacing your mSATA drive is if you need the extra storage capacity that can't be handled by the HDD or the drive is throwing major errors suggesting failure is imminent.

 

Seriously, except for backup drives (of which I STRONGLY recommend you get at the very least one), you have everything you need already. What miniscule gain you would get from replacing the mSATA would be very disappointing, not to mention not cost effective.