Worth it to add a second SSD ?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
B

BaldrGeek

Distinguished
Mar 24, 2013
17
0
18,520
When I built my system, I spent somewhere in the $1000 range. It is the first system I've put together myself, and I'm pretty happy with it. I'll post the build below, in case it helps.

I have a 120 gig SSD boot drive, and a 1TB hard drive. I try to load as little as possible on the SSD, so it's mostly used for bootups. My HD has 149 gig in use currently, and quite a bit of that space is games.

Most of the games are fine. But a few (Starcraft II, in particular) have fairly slow load times when loading a new level/scenario.

I'm considering adding a second SSD. Probably a 256gb SSD, but maybe 512gb. Ideally, I'd set it up as a D: drive (my true HD is currently the D: drive), set my current hard drive to the E: drive, and copy everything from the HD to the new SSD. The hard drive would pretty much go unused, or would be used for backup purposes.

It's possible that I would end up with the new SSD only for games that seem to take awhile to load, and do everything else on the hard drive like I have been.

Good idea? Bad idea? Problems with this that I haven't thought of?

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 120M 86.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LE PLUS ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: XFX Double D Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter
Case: Cooler Master Storm Scout 2 (Gunmetal Gray) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)

 
Solution
geofelt
You want to clone your "C" drive to the larger SSD.
That will create a bit for bit copy.
Samsung and Intel offer free clone utilities to do the job on their SSD devices. They are modified versions of acronis true image clone utility.
When you are done, you boot from the new drive and can erase or whatever you want with the old drive.
It is a painless process, in my experience, at least with these two brands.
Sort by date Sort by votes
geofelt

geofelt

Titan
Oct 9, 2006
54,291
4,145
174,240
Worth is something only YOU can determine.
I think you are on to a good idea.
Larger SSD drives tend to perform faster.
I think I would clone the 120gb ssd to a larger 240gb or 500gb ssd and go from there.
The "C" drive does tend to fill up quickly.
If 500gb does not bother you use that for everything and use the hard drive for backups and bulk storage.
If you have a laptop, use the 120gb ssd in that; it will transform the performance.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

BaldrGeek

Distinguished
Mar 24, 2013
17
0
18,520
If I buy a large SSD, what is involved in moving the OS to it? Can I hook it up as a D: drive, copy everything from C: to D:, then replug everything so that the new SSD is now the boot drive? Is it that easy, or am I going to run into some kind of problem if I try that?



 
Upvote 0 Downvote
geofelt

geofelt

Titan
Oct 9, 2006
54,291
4,145
174,240
You want to clone your "C" drive to the larger SSD.
That will create a bit for bit copy.
Samsung and Intel offer free clone utilities to do the job on their SSD devices. They are modified versions of acronis true image clone utility.
When you are done, you boot from the new drive and can erase or whatever you want with the old drive.
It is a painless process, in my experience, at least with these two brands.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom