SSD or SSHD?

[chriscshunter]

So I'm intrested in upgrading away from HDD. This is what I have right now:
Western Digital Scorpio Blue (500GB | 5400 RPM)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136314

So anyways I want some noticeable speed difference with my storage and am not so worried about space since I have an external. Money in my pocket is also a plus, but that's where I'm a bit confused, but I will get to that... here are the 2 options I've dropped it down to, unless someone talks me out of it and into something else.

Seagate Momentus XT (750GB | 7200 RPM) - $129.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148837

SAMSUNG 840 Pro (256GB) - $249.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147193&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-Internal+SSD-_-N82E16820147193&gclid=CNm8wpKF4rQCFQhyQgodGnEApg

So back to the confusion... I love a deal, but there is a difference between a deal and junk sometimes (I'm using the term 'junk' loosely here, so pardon). My wallet likes the 50% less Seagate, but my brain is wondering is the difference from what I have different enough from the Seagate or will it otherwise defeat the purpose of upgrading. In which case I'd rather throw another hundo down to never look back and question the purchase.

As it stands now I want the Samsung or if someone could point me to a better alternative with similar/better pricing... but the Seagate's size and value is very catchy and if the difference between SSD and SSHD is barely noticable (less than twice a efficient) then I'm down for the Seagate.

The problem is I find tons of reviews about SSD vs HDD and I know I want to upgrade, but I cant find SSD vs SSHD so could someone please lay it out for me.


Now my next big question is, once I get whatever I get, how difficult is it to clone and migrate my os to my new drive to get it to completely replace my old HDD on a current running laptop? Where can I find a reliable patch on doing this myself, since this is my first time. I've placed 2nd drives and backup drive, but that's just putting them in the slots and turning it on.

 

[blazorthon]

The SSD would still have much better overall performance than the hybrid drive. The hybrid drive would only have SSD-like performance with caches data, not everything. It'd be better on average than a regular hard drive for that cached data, but otherwise, it's just a hard drive.

Basically, the hybrid drive is a decent compromise between the two in terms of performance for some commonly accessed data and capacity for the money, but it's not really comparable to an SSD. IE program load time for most programs would probably be normal for an HDD, stuff such as virus scans and such would be normal for an HDD, etc while boot time and some other commonly accessed files would perform more like an SSD.

 

[chriscshunter]

Roger, gotcha... So if I want to see all around performance gain SSD is the way to go. Alright so is the Samsung a good choice or what are better choices? I want to have atleast 256GB and not spend more than 300$.

Also my 2nd question, how easy is it to setup an SSD to replace an HDD? And where would I go for specific instructions? Or will a SSD come with software to guide me through that process?

 

[blazorthon]

Roger, gotcha... So if I want to see all around performance gain SSD is the way to go. Alright so is the Samsung a good choice or what are better choices? I want to have atleast 256GB and not spend more than 300$.

Also my 2nd question, how easy is it to setup an SSD to replace an HDD?And where would I go for specific instructions? Or will a SSD come with software to guide me through that process?

The Samsung 840 Pro is very expensive for an SSD. There are much cheaper options (although still not nearly as cheap per GB as that hybrid drive and other hard drives) such as the regular Samsung 840 (a 256GB model is going for around $170 last I checked).

There are more options too, but none can currently match the pricing on the Samsung 840 (non pro) at the 256GB capacity.

EDIT: If the SSD you buy doesn't come with information for migrating the data over, then going to the support site of that SSD should have answers or at least have contact information to get answers. In my experience, it's best to do a complete re-install of Windows, but I understand if that's not an option for you.

 

[chriscshunter]

I can't seem to find the 'non pro' that has 256 GB. Every time I look for it it only finds the pro. I found the 120gb non pro, but that's it. Link please. So whats the difference between the pro and non pro?

Edit: If I did a fresh install of windows, how would I do that without having to purchase the OS again?

 

[blazorthon]

I can't seem to find the 'non pro' that has 256 GB. Every time I look for it it only finds the pro. I found the 120gb non pro, but that's it. Link please. So whats the difference between the pro and non pro?

Sorry, it's a 250GB, not 256GB my bad.

The difference is in the controller and the type of NAND flash memory used. The Pro has higher durability and performance at a higher price. However, both of those generally aren't important for consumers, hence they are professional drives.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7td250bw

250GB $164.99

 

[chriscshunter]

Ok so your saying the pro isnt worth an extra 90$? Wish there was a site where I could stack these two's specs side by side... IE Pro is 50% faster... To pro or not to pro?

 

[blazorthon]

Ok so your saying the pro isnt worth an extra 90$? Wish there was a site where I could stack these two's specs side by side... IE Pro is 50% faster...

It is probably something like 50% faster in specs, but that speed simply wouldn't be seen in consumer workloads like it could be in very storage intensive workloads. IE it wouldn't make the system boot much faster at all and it wouldn't improve loading time of programs and such by much at all. It might improve performance of doing something such as running a virus scan, copy/pasting multiple several gigabyte files,and more all simultaneously while running several other storage intensive applications, but unless you're doing something extreme like that, then it's unlikely to help noticeably compared to the non-pro version.

That's kinda the issue with SSD companies, they can't really differentiate themselves based on performance because even slower mid-ranged SSDs are already far faster than they usually need to be for storage to not be a bottle-neck.

 

[chriscshunter]

Roger... So I'm almost settled on the non pro... Now it comes down to the setup. To fresh start or clone... If I clone I'm going to have to remove/transfer 200gb before doing so which is a pain. I like the idea of a clean slate though.

How do I go about getting a fresh install? Do I install the SSD, boot up and format? or do I need to purchase a new OS since I don't have my cd anymore?

Edit: I've reformatted before, but I'm very unfamiliar with this scenario.

 

[blazorthon]

Roger... So I'm almost settled on the non pro... Now it comes down to the setup. To fresh start or clone... If I clone I'm going to have to remove/transfer 200gb before doing so which is a pain. I like the idea of a clean slate though.

How do I go about getting a fresh install? Do I install the SSD, boot up and format? or do I need to purchase a new OS since I don't have my cd anymore?

You can use a key extracting program if necessary to get your Windows key form your current system. Downloading a new install CD's ISO is legally free and you can reuse the key legally with that downloaded ISO. Buyign a new copy would simplify this, but is not necessary.

Once you've either burned the ISO to a DVD or used a USB program to put it in a USB stick, you'd remove your hard drive, pop the SSD in, and format and install Windows on it; it's not really any more complex than installing Windows on a hard drive. After Windows is installed, you can pop the old hard drive in (if you have two hard drive slots) or put both the SSD and the hard drive in another computer (if you don't have two hard drive slots) and copy the data over. Once it's all copied over, you'd simply pop the SSD back into your computer and you should be done after you re-install any programs that need to be re-installed.

 

[chriscshunter]

Awesome... make it sound easy... so I guess I've got to start digging for this key extracting program and to place install on a usb... you have been entirely helpful so I hate to ask for any more help, but do you have a link a trusted software to do this?

 

[blazorthon]

Honestly, I've never tried it, I've only read a little about it. I keep the keys of all of my OS purchases written down and stored in a file on each of my computers for safe keeping :/

I could try some Google searching, but it's unlikely that I'd be able to find something much faster than you would. Sorry that I couldn't be of more help there.

 

[chriscshunter]

No you have done me very well... I'm on the right track now thanks to you. I'm pretty sure its on the bottom of my laptop anyway but I don't want to move and wake my wife lol. Thanks again for everything, I'll start a new topic if I have any further issues. Take care bud, and God Bless.

 

[chriscshunter]

Best answer selected by chriscshunter.

 

[blazorthon]

Glad to help

 

[kumarsaurabhraj]

Hey, I know i am posting on a thread that is already marked solved but i have a great thing to tell for the users who might come to this thread for solutions to similar problem. While buying ssds from samsung earlier you had two options either go for a 840 pro 120 GB or a 840 250 GB at the same price but now with new samsung 840 evo ssds you can get both 250 GB capacity and even better performance than 840 pro at the same price!

 

[snakebitten]

Roger, gotcha... So if I want to see all around performance gain SSD is the way to go. Alright so is the Samsung a good choice or what are better choices? I want to have atleast 256GB and not spend more than 300$.

Also my 2nd question, how easy is it to setup an SSD to replace an HDD? And where would I go for specific instructions? Or will a SSD come with software to guide me through that process?

samsung is a decent brand. crucial is also another one i use frequently.

depending on your operation system will depend on how easy it is. i know kingston (albeit i'm in canada so i dont know about world wide availability) they have an SSD package that comes with an external enclosure for the new drive to connect to you computer via usb and also comes with software that works on MAC and PC. i am currently running ubuntu linux. and like most forms of linux it has hard drive cloning abilities right in the operating system

 

[kyndjiall]

I highly suggest a second drive (HDD) for mass storage of things like movies music less played games and pictures. I have a 256gb ssd and 2tb hdd setup and im constantly deleting and moving things from the ssd to hdd because 256gb is simply not enough storage