HDD or SSD for Desktop PC

[Toothless]

Hey guys, just a quick question.

For my desktop, I plan to add one SSD drive, but also two 3/4TB HDDs. The PC will run about 20 hours a day for work purposes, and then probably a bit of gaming too.

My question is, in terms of my operating system, should I work from the SSD and use the HDDs for storage? Or, the other way around, load my OS on a HDD and use the SSD for storage?

Also, will my OS performance be faster on an SSD?

 

[rodga]

Os on ssd

 

[Segg]

OS on SSD, rest of the stuff on HDD

 

[CamiKaze]

What @rodga said.

 

[netcruiser]

OS and Program files on SSD.

Do yourself a favour and get Enterprise HDDs for reliability and performance.

 

[Grouter]

Hey guys, just a quick question.

For my desktop, I plan to add one SSD drive, but also two 3/4TB HDDs. The PC will run about 20 hours a day for work purposes, and then probably a bit of gaming too.

My question is, in terms of my operating system, should I work from the SSD and use the HDDs for storage? Or, the other way around, load my OS on a HDD and use the SSD for storage?

Also, will my OS performance be faster on an SSD?

Is that a joke, a typo, or are you serious?

 

[Gezza]

Is that a joke, a typo, or are you serious?

Not all people are IT professionals. I know of a lot of people that don't even know what a SSD is. And did you see the 4 comments before you? They answered instead of trying to be smart.

 

[Toothless]

Os on ssd

OS on SSD, rest of the stuff on HDD

What @rodga said.

OS and Program files on SSD.

Do yourself a favour and get Enterprise HDDs for reliability and performance.

Thanks guys, will definitely do so.

Is that a joke, a typo, or are you serious?

No jokes

The reason I am asking this, someone told me that SSD lifetimes are determined by the number of times you write to the drive. This just made me wonder, with an OS writing all the time to a drive, would that not shorten the life of the SSD? - Considering I am about to fork out R7-10k for the SSD.

 

[Gezza]

I have a 160gb SSD and a Seagate 4tb Hybrid drive for storage and games. Works really well. I've never installed a game on the SSD so can't comment on performance. It's a bit of a waste to put games on an SSD in my opinion. Unless you can afford the space.

 

[CamiKaze]

I have a 160gb SSD and a Seagate 4tb Hybrid drive for storage and games. Works really well. I've never installed a game on the SSD so can't comment on performance. It's a bit of a waste to put games on an SSD in my opinion. Unless you can afford the space.

Depends on which type of game you plan on loading on an SSD.

 

[Toothless]

Not all people are IT professionals. I know of a lot of people that don't even know what a SSD is. And did you see the 4 comments before you? They answered instead of trying to be smart.

Thank you Gezza, you are right. Hence the reason I asked about this. Just wanted to get some advice from people who are dealing with these type of things much more than I do.

 

[Gezza]

Depends on which type of game you plan on loading on an SSD.

But what real difference would it make in game (after everything has been loaded)?

Sure, faster map/level loads but once its loaded, that's it. I just want windows to start up quick. I don't mind waiting for games to load.

Thank you Gezza, you are right. Hence the reason I asked about this. Just wanted to get some advice from people who are dealing with these type of things much more than I do.

I was mostly referring to Grouter's smarty pants comment.

Get an SSD for your OS first. You'll love it. They just cost way too much to be turned in to a game drive.

 

[mintydroid]

Thanks guys, will definitely do so.



No jokes

The reason I am asking this, someone told me that SSD lifetimes are determined by the number of times you write to the drive. This just made me wonder, with an OS writing all the time to a drive, would that not shorten the life of the SSD? - Considering I am about to fork out R7-10k for the SSD.

Why such an expensive SSD? Linux uses about 10gb with a few programs and windows 7 OS only is 30gb maybe with programs 45gb. Most guys settle on 256gb versions for about R1.5k. By default the SSD would be used if the OS is installed on it.

Edit: My SSD was about R600 for a 60gb Corsair.

 

[Grouter]

I honestly wasn't trying to be a smarta$$, I really thought OP was taking the pi$$. I figure someone who goes shopping for an SSD to upgrade their pc does so knowing why they're doing so. After all, it's not a cheap item and you'd want to be sure what you're getting and why you're getting it.

At the age of 53 I've left my smarty pants somewhere I can't remember. Besides, they probably don't fit me any more anyway.

 

[Electric]

SSD everyday.

 

[Chevron]

The reason I am asking this, someone told me that SSD lifetimes are determined by the number of times you write to the drive. This just made me wonder, with an OS writing all the time to a drive, would that not shorten the life of the SSD? - Considering I am about to fork out R7-10k for the SSD.

Which SSD are you looking at? For something that expensive it sounds like you're looking at an enterprise class SLC SSD. Those you wouldn't be able to wear out even if you tried.

Realistically though, with the wear levelling algorithms we have now it's not really something you need to worry about, even on consumer class hardware.

 

[Toothless]

Which SSD are you looking at? For something that expensive it sounds like you're looking at an enterprise class SLC SSD. Those you wouldn't be able to wear out even if you tried.

Realistically though, with the wear levelling algorithms we have now it's not really something you need to worry about, even on consumer class hardware.

Thanks Chev

I am currently looking at these:

OCZ Trion 100 Series 960GB SSD
SanDisk SDSSDXPS-960G-G25 Extreme PRO 960 GB
Kingston 960GB HyperX Savage SSD
Samsung 850 Evo Series 2.5" SSD - 1TB

Don't know if you have any other or better suggestions I can look at.

 

[ponder]

But what real difference would it make in game (after everything has been loaded)?

Sure, faster map/level loads but once its loaded, that's it. I just want windows to start up quick. I don't mind waiting for games to load.

Nothing, not gonna get more FPS or anything to boost actual performance. The only game I've found to take a really long time to load is GTA V but once it's done it's fine.

 

[Toothless]

Why such an expensive SSD? Linux uses about 10gb with a few programs and windows 7 OS only is 30gb maybe with programs 45gb. Most guys settle on 256gb versions for about R1.5k. By default the SSD would be used if the OS is installed on it.

Edit: My SSD was about R600 for a 60gb Corsair.

Minty, I just need some space on the SSD for a few programs I will be running along with the OS. So, I am looking at the best storage I can get for now.

I honestly wasn't trying to be a smarta$$, I really thought OP was taking the pi$$. I figure someone who goes shopping for an SSD to upgrade their pc does so knowing why they're doing so. After all, it's not a cheap item and you'd want to be sure what you're getting and why you're getting it.

At the age of 53 I've left my smarty pants somewhere I can't remember. Besides, they probably don't fit me any more anyway.

No problems I am actually building a brand new PC from scratch. I need something big for my requirements, so I am investing quite a bit in the PC for my needs. That being said, I just want to make sure I do it right this time around. Never even thought about working with SSD drives in a desktop, therefore the question. I can understand it in smaller notebooks, but Desktops...

 

[Grouter]

No problems I am actually building a brand new PC from scratch. I need something big for my requirements, so I am investing quite a bit in the PC for my needs. That being said, I just want to make sure I do it right this time around.

Sounds like it's going to be an awesome pc. Wish I had that kind of budget to spend.

Edit: With a 1 Tb SSD you'll be able to load windows and all your programs on it. And still have tons of space to spare. And if you've never experienced windows on an ssd you're going to be mightily impressed with the performance.