Going small(er): Trading spinning disks for SSDs

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	TOP STORY Going small(er): Trading spinning disks for SSDs
	By Lincoln Spector Solid-state drives can give a significant boost to system performance, but at the cost of storage space. Here’s how to sort out the data on a big spinning-platter drive and fit what you can onto a smaller SSD.

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The full text of this column is posted at windowssecrets.com/top-story/going-smaller-trading-spinning-disks-for-SSDs/ (opens in a new window/tab).

Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.[/td]

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My desktop is a Medion with a UEFI BIOS.
You can change the BIOS boot order in theory but what is set by the manufacturer stays that way.
When you reboot the original settings simply get restored.
Their Helpdesk cannot help me.
Is there any independent source of help on this?

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My desktop is a Medion with a UEFI BIOS.
You can change the BIOS boot order in theory but what is set by the manufacturer stays that way.
When you reboot the original settings simply get restored.
Their Helpdesk cannot help me.
Is there any independent source of help on this?

What is your exact problem?

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In the scenario that the article purposes is valid but also flawed. For the average user that scenario holds fast, but, for the advanced user, which is the demographic that the SSD manufactures are after…the hobbyist and enthusiast. For us, installing an SSD is an automatic clean install for just the OS, an office suite and a few other needed applications and software. Then the standard HDD will be used for every thing else…downloads, storage and so on. This setup being the preferred setup until such time SSD prices fall to an acceptable level as well as storage size comparable to the standard HDD’s.

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Why not just install a hybrid disk for a modest premium versus a “platter spinner”?

E.g.ex Amazon UK

Seagate ST2000DX001 3.5 inch 2TB Hybrid Internal Solid State Drive £91.70 or

WD – 2TB Desktop SATA Hard Drive – OEM – Green £64.33

Cordially – Paul Rutherford

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That’s the route I took ~3 years ago on my laptop & I love it. The hybrid drive is faster than a simple platter but only slightly more expensive.

I highly recommend it!

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Since my laptop does not have USB 3, I use an eSATA interface which supports port multiplier features. This connects to a cheap just bunch of disks (JBOD) 4 bay enclosure where my old hard drives now serve as extra storage. I configured MS Storage Spaces in Windows 8.1 to mirror two of the drives for extra protection. I then used the Properties menus to relocate my large Pictures, Videos, Music and Downloads folders from their default locations to the external array since I don’t typically need them when traveling with my laptop. Then, like you I set up archive folders for inactive documents and other files. I also backup critical laptop files to the external storage. This freed up much needed space to my 160GB laptop SSD. I still plan to upgrade my SSD but can wait while prices continue to drop.

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I have a Lenovo T61 laptop which has a built-in, removable DVD drive. I purchased a “smart-drive” adapter and fitted a 1GB HDD in this enclosure; pulled the removable DVD and replaced it with the 1GB HDD. Then I replaced the built-in HDD C: Drive with an SSD – which gave me all the speed and storage that I needed. I completed this setup by adding an external USB DVD drive for those occasions when I need to access CD / DVDs!

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I have a Lenovo T61 laptop which has a built-in, removable DVD drive. I purchased a “smart-drive” adapter and fitted a 1GB HDD in this enclosure; pulled the removable DVD and replaced it with the 1GB HDD. Then I replaced the built-in HDD C: Drive with an SSD – which gave me all the speed and storage that I needed. I completed this setup by adding an external USB DVD drive for those occasions when I need to access CD / DVDs!

Very cool…I just might do that with my laptop! :clapping:

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Great article! I’ve been enjoying SSDs for a while now, and like the author says, you never want to go back. I thought I’d add some additional thoughts for the laptop user, since options are a little more limited.

If you don’t have multiple drive bays, you *may* still have an unused mSATA port and can buy an mSATA SSD. This is a bit more technical of a route and can be a bit pricey, but it is a solution that worked really well for me.

When purchasing an SSD specifically for running Windows 7 or 8, 64GB won’t be enough room because while you *can* move some things to another drive (like programs, document libraries, etc.), you will lose some space to paging, the hibernation file, and your user profile(s); the latter two cannot be moved and with profiles, the more programs you install on your laptop the larger the profile gets. You might also find yourself having to aggressively clean up old files, such as error dump files or Windows Update installation files, and that can get tedious.

Some of the people I’ve worked with have to do presentations running one or more virtual machines from a laptop, and their products have to run well or else the people watching will get the impression that slow performance is their product’s fault–so another solution that can give you space, performance, and a bit of a price break against SSDs is the purchase of a ‘hybrid’ drive. Hybrid drives contain a small SSD component and then large storage for speeds faster than a normal disk, just slower than an SSD. They tend to work pretty well.

Right now I’ve got a 128GB AData SC300 mSATA SSD running Windows and in the two drive bays my laptop has I’ve placed a pair of 500GB Seagate hybrid drives in a RAID 0 Array, giving me close to a Terabyte of room. Not everyone will want a solution like that, but for what I’m doing it works very well.

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I agree with bassfisher6522. I moved to a SDD several months ago on my personal PC and it was easy. ‘My Documents’ and all other data files are kept on a network drive (Samba) that is mirrored to an unmapped drive twice a day to protect against possible ‘ransomware’. Only the OS and program files totaling less than 20 GB are on C: and I use Deep Freeze to protect those files. I only “unfreeze” it momentarily every couple of weeks to install updates.

By the way I am still on XP so I can use the non subscription version of ‘Deep Freeze’ I purchased several years ago. Since they have gone to the subscription model I have switched to ‘Shadow Defender’ for the newer public PCs I maintain.

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What are the minimum requirements to install SSD ?

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An SSD connects to a SATA port. An older computer with only PATA ports won’t work with an SSD except if it is on a USB connection or possibly with a plug-in SATA card, but there isn’t much of a point to this and as I said in an earlier message, there are configuration issues too.

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>”Assuming you can’t fit all your data on the new SSD, what should you transfer and what should you leave behind on the old drive?”

Some software demands faster file acces. You could check disk read-write rates in Task Manager’s Performance applet. Surprisingly video editing software doesn’t require fast access, because the processing is intense and the data streams. This is good, because video files are huge. (However, I use different drives for video input files and render files, to avoid lots of head motion and file fragmentation).

>On laptops, you’ll need a SATA-to-USB enclosure (or docking station or connector kit) to set up the new SSD as a temporary external drive.

An enclosure with a fan is preferable, to keep the drive cool — mostly an issue though with a 3.5″ drive. Also, an eSATA connection is fast. With a desktop that doesn’t already have eSATA, you only have toan internal SATA port to a bracket on the rear panel. I have had no luck adding eSATA using a plug-in card: to of them froze my computer on startup. I don’t know how many laptops support eSATA without an adapter or docking station. And USB cables are more flexible. eSATA is more suitable for an office setting.

>On a desktop, launch BIOS setup and change the boot order so that the SSD is higher on the list than the old HDD. I won’t tell you explicitly how to make the change because it varies with the brand and version of BIOS. If you need a refresher, the PC’s manual should have instructions.

Check motherboard specs. SATA ports on a desktop motherboard may not all run at the same speed. You want the SSD on one of the faster ports.

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Last year I had a hard drive failure in my Panasonic Toughbook laptop. My 150gb hard drive was divided in two partition. My data was on my D: drive, not in My Documents which I left in C:. Ex: Thunderbird storage was on D:. So, non-standard file locations.

I replaced the old drive with a new 500gb drive, so size was no issue. Then I booted from a Norton Ghost cdrom, did a full restore from my last backup, and Bob’s your uncle. My laptop booted up to the new drive. All I had to do after that, and only to take advantage of the extra space, was expand my partitions to fill the new drive.

Assuming you had an SSD at least as large as your old hard drive, is there any reason why this wouldn’t work?

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You talked about how Cloning software that comes with SSD’s is not very good. I beg to differ. I had a 850 gb drive (nearly empty) and purchased a 256 gb Plextor M5 Extreme and the cloning software that came with the drive was excellent. I had 3 partitions on the old drive, a recovery partition, a C drive and a Data drive. The clone software shrank the partitions to comparable sizes and all data including Win 7 x 64 with zero problems or mistakes. I had a HD dock enclosure USB 3.0 and when I installed the new cloned HD my laptop booted in 30 sec normally. Plextor makes a great cloning software program.

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I like the idea, but I’ve seen some real horror stories about SSD performance declining over time, and a high failure rate. I hate to play Russian roulette with my business. I presume the newest models are more robust than earlier drives, but how safe are SSD’s, anyway?

Along those lines, it sounds like the smart approach is to set up apps to store data on a traditional hard drive, and only install Windows and program files on the SSD.

What should I expect?

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Bobdog, lifespan is a valid concern, but these days the reliability of SSDs has dramatically improved. For example, I believe the Samsung EVO 840 series the author mentions notes an average of one and a half million hours Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF). I do know they offer a three-year warranty.

Specs here:
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/download/Samsung_SSD_840_EVO_Data_Sheet_rev_1_1.pdf

As far as performance degrading, it depends on how much you use it, but a degraded SSD will most likely still perform better than spinning platters.

Personally I use PerfectDisk to manage my SSDs and thus far (knock on wood) have had no failures. But either way it’s still a dice roll: I’ve had some (physical) hard drives last longer than I would ever need them to, while others fail within 2 or 3 years.

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Well, back up everything, no matter what drive you are using. … I’ve been running a 480 GB SSD as the boot drive in my desktop for several months now and I’m happy with it. All in all, it saves me a lot of time. I did crash it once, with a loose cable connection. I also had an HD crash in the past year, YMMV. The rub is that I’m not sure what the recovery process would be for data on a crashed SSD. I found that my video editor was storing all its voiceovers there…though that was changeable, as I learned after losing some, etc. I don’t know whether data recovery services are up to speed on SSDs. I reformatted and reloaded the SSD but I lost some program data.

Program data is an issue in either case. You can reload the OS and apps from distribution disks and files (I keep downloaded apps on a separate HD just in case), but many apps store working data (configuration files, browser bookmarks and history etc.) in the ProgramData folder which at least by default is on the boot drive. So, you want to keep this backed up. or possibly put that folder on a different drive — though I’m not sure how to do that. Maybe someone here can give advice.

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Not sure why you did all that so HARD!

In transferring to a smaller SSD you should, first, take off everything that doesnt NEED to be there on the SSD from your existing normal HD. Store pictures on an external drive NOW and delete them from your HD. Uninstall unneeded programs. Clear up rubbish that has accumulated and get the space taken up as low as possible. Now image what is left. In my case I use Acronis True Image. Now restore that image to the SSD and put it in the laptop and turn it on. Go to BIOS first, set the new SSD up as the boot device if it needs to be told that then allow the computer to boot and see what happens. It *SHOULD* just be normal and fine but faster.

Things to note – if you have an old laptop like I have (made in 2007), things will be faster but basically moving to the SSD really wont be worth the cost as the speed increase isnt that great. Also, with a spinning HD that appears to have gone bad, you can normally do something at home to fix it but even if you cant, there are labs here and there that will pull them apart and have a reasonable chance of getting your data back. If your SSD dies, there is no-one in the entire world who can get it back. SSDs, when they die, take everything with it. So get used to REGULARLY imaging the drive or, when you put a new drive in, you have to remember each key for the software you paid for, each password on every site you go to and even remember those sites, set up every single thing. I work in the field and I hate to think of doing that so I do regularly image the drive even on a spinning HD anyway. Do NOT trust the SSD to definitely hold your data. ALWAYS have at least 2 backups and on separate backup media (eg, 2 x normal HDs).

Having said all that, my elderly father in law who I was telling HAD to move off his 2002 built Win XP machine finally decided to do so and bought an ASUS Taichi (sight with mother in law is a real problem and the pad side helps there) with a 128gig SSD in it. He presses the button to turn it on and we wait mere seconds and his Win 8 with no password to get into it is just THERE, ready to use. In his case, a fast SSD that is in use with an I5 using machine and 8 gigs of ram mean he has a really fast machine. He DOES have a 1Tb spinning HD to keep all pictures on though. Do yourselves a favour and get yourself imaging software if you choose the SSD option!

Greg.

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Mr. Spector’s article offers great advice. But if I were to change out the HDD on my laptop (a Dell Latitude E6420, which is my only PC,) I’d go about it differently. Here’s why:

1. I do full system image backups regularly – as in, every couple of weeks or so – on multiple external drives. I have duplicate copies of 32- and 64-bit system images, as well as 32-bit/64-bit dual-boot images, so I can reinstall any of them at any time.

2. With this whole Cryptolocker thing going on, I never keep anything saved on my laptop – nothing! Pictures, movies, music, work documents… everything goes on at least one external drive. You just can’t be too careful. So, running a complete Disk Cleanup right before every system image I create, I get system images no larger than 38-43 gigabutes or so.

3. If I recall correctly (and please correct me if I’m wrong), Windows won’t let you restore a system image onto a smaller drive, even if the system image is far smaller than the size of the new disk.

So, for me at least, the simplest way to migrate is to just swap out the old HHD for the new SSD and just reinstall Windows on that.

I should add that, in light of #2 above, I probably won’t need an SSD larger than 64Gb, so I could get one and install Windows on it, and wait for the prices of larger SSDs to come down before I swap it out again. That said, if I keep doing what I’m doing, I probably won’t see a need to upgrade again in a while; and it’s doubtful if I even would be using the same laptop for that long anyway.

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I have an ASUS notebook with an extra drive slot. If I install an SSD do I need to swap the two drive locations or can I just change the boot order in UEFI?

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You should be able to change the boot order in BIOS.

Jerry

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I recently changed the HD in my desktop and the HD in my netbook for Samsung 840 EVO SSDs. They both run Windows XP.

I used Acronis True Image Home 11 (not 2011) to make the images and restored them to the SSDs.

For the desktop, the 500 GB hard disk was replaced with a 250 GB SSD. After performing the image restore, all three partitions on the SSD were exactly half the size on the HD. Fortunately none of the partitions was anywhere near 50% full on the HD, so there were no problems after restoring to the SSD.

On the netbook, the 160 GB HD was replaced by a 120 GB SSD. I restored only the C: drive, so again no problems.

I then used Partition Wizard v4.2 (bootable ISO on a USB) to resize and move the partitions on the desktop.

Nil illigitimi carborundum

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