Upgrade SSD or New HDD

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weelzSA

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So I currently have a 256GB Samsung SSD (model: PM841 - I think it is OEM) in my PC. Last week my internal HDD 1TB died while copying files across and the power went out. I managed to get most of my files back but the drive is now dead - my PC doesn't recognize it and the whole PC runs super slow when connected via SATA. I also have a 1TB HDD connected via USB 3 for all my music and larger files.

So this is where my prediciment comes in:

Do I either buy another 1 or 2TB HDD (2.5" if possible as I have removed the 3.5" drive caddy from my case; looks alot better without it in; but if price is right will go 3.5" again) or do I buy another SSD? I just need storage for games and the odd download - all other content is sorted on external HDD and Plex Server.

I saw this: Crucial BX200 - my concerns are if they are any good? I would probably go for the 480GB version and clone my current SSD over to it and use the current Samsung OEM one as secondary drive? Or does that not make any sense? Not sure which is the better SSD out of the two for day to day performance?

Please let me know what you suggest? Is there a better SSD to rather go for? Obviously not looking to spend many thousands and only looking at larger SSD because of the price.
 
As data storage for movies, pics etc HDD is fine, SSD in large sizes are just too expensive.
Any programs should be run off an SSD for best performance.
 
Running two Crucial SSD's and they are absolutely great, no issues. MX100 256gb and BX100 256gb - one for OS and one for heavy loading games. Keep everything else on 1.5tb of hard disks, including downloads.

You can only clone the same size disks as far as I know? never tried to do different size disks unless the clone software partitions accordingly.

If you need storage, then HDD, if you dont need the storage but need faster loading times for games, then SSD.

Oh and 2.5" drivers are just painful to use, go for a 7400rpm 3.5" disk if you going to go the HDD route.
 
ScottulusMaximus said:
As data storage for movies, pics etc HDD is fine, SSD in large sizes are just too expensive.
Any programs should be run off an SSD for best performance.
Click to expand...

Yeah agreed. I currently have a server with all my movies etc and a 1TB external drive with my music so at the moment don't really need storage for those sort of things. My main problem is storage for games - the 1TB internal HDD that crashed last week was used only for game installs (and some music). So I am now at the situation where I can install a couple games onto my 256GB SSD but then the storage will be full. This is why I am asking, does it make sense to get another internal HDD or spend more and get a larger SSD and then move the Samsung 256GB (model: PM841) to my secondary drive?

Is the drive I linked to any good? Some reviews online say it is good and others say it is slow.

Honestly not sure what to do here...
 
Your SSD doesn't need to be larger than 250GB. So by using 50GB for over provisioning you have 200GB left which is more than enough for your apps. The rest is just data which should go to a normal HDD.
 
You can indeed clone drives of different sizes, just have to make sure the new drive has enough space including contingency space for an SSD to do TRIM or whatever the latest technology involved these days is
 
2.5"SSDs should come down in price as soon as PCI Express SSD replace them.

I'm personally going to delay my purchase until I update my laptop to a PCI Express version
 
Is there a noticeable difference between using a 2.5" HDD and a 3.5" HDD? The drive will only be used for games and some storage (99% of my media etc is either on external HDD or Server).

I REALLY need to get a new HDD for my games so need to decide quickly. I'd much prefer to keep using a 2.5" HDD as my case hides these in the back and just makes the PC look a lot more cleaner but if there is going to be a big difference between using 2.5" over 3.5" then I would rather go 3.5" route.

Anyone got any tips?
 
What about these drives:

Model: WDC WD7500BPKT

They apparently 7200rpm - would that be good enough for my games and a few other files?
 
weelzSA said:
Is there a noticeable difference between using a 2.5" HDD and a 3.5" HDD? The drive will only be used for games and some storage (99% of my media etc is either on external HDD or Server).
Click to expand...

Oh yes the 3.5" drives perform much better than a 2.5" mobile drives. I was quite impressed with the WD Blue drive performance to be honest, the Black edition would yield even better performance for a few ronds more. I would never use a 2.5" mechanical drive in a desktop.
 
weelzSA said:
Is there a noticeable difference between using a 2.5" HDD and a 3.5" HDD? The drive will only be used for games and some storage (99% of my media etc is either on external HDD or Server).

I REALLY need to get a new HDD for my games so need to decide quickly. I'd much prefer to keep using a 2.5" HDD as my case hides these in the back and just makes the PC look a lot more cleaner but if there is going to be a big difference between using 2.5" over 3.5" then I would rather go 3.5" route.

Anyone got any tips?
Click to expand...

weelzSA said:
What about these drives:

Model: WDC WD7500BPKT

They apparently 7200rpm - would that be good enough for my games and a few other files?
Click to expand...

Yes. RPM is the speed, size is size, no one cares about that except for form factor ;)

ponder said:
Oh yes the 3.5" drives perform much better than a 2.5" mobile drives. I was quite impressed with the WD Blue drive performance to be honest, the Black edition would yield even better performance for a few ronds more. I would never use a 2.5" mechanical drive in a desktop.
Click to expand...

Is this not due to the slower RPM speeds? My WD Black for a laptop performed on-par with a 7200RPM 3.5" in a PC at ~140MB/s. The 5400RPM 2.5" WD Blue though was not great, around 80MB/s max.
 
Last edited:
ponder said:
Oh yes the 3.5" drives perform much better than a 2.5" mobile drives. I was quite impressed with the WD Blue drive performance to be honest, the Black edition would yield even better performance for a few ronds more. I would never use a 2.5" mechanical drive in a desktop.
Click to expand...

Great thanks for the reply.

Suppose I need to stick the 3.5" drive caddy back in my case then.

So if I could get a WD Black edition 3.5" drive I should go for that or would a WD Blue also be fine? Also what about Seagate?
Do you know of any great deals going on at the moment I should look for?
 
weelzSA said:
Great thanks for the reply.

Suppose I need to stick the 3.5" drive caddy back in my case then.

So if I could get a WD Black edition 3.5" drive I should go for that or would a WD Blue also be fine? Also what about Seagate?
Do you know of any great deals going on at the moment I should look for?
Click to expand...

There's a HDD benchmark site out there but the name of it is lost on me right now.

The Black edititions drives perform better than the Blue ones.

I've had some bad experiences with Seagates not so long ago, think it was the 7200.11 series and I lost quite a few drives. Every manufacturer (there are like 3 left I think) has their demons but I got burned badly by seagate and to be fair I have not heard of any issues on their later models but I buy WD for now. I also have some really old WD 7200rpm 160GB in my drawer still working. Either way moral of the story is back up your data as any drive could fail.

Sorry can't comment on deals, you'll have to look around. Oh and there is also the hybrid drives offering a ssd like cache to improve performance on regularly accessed data.
 
ponder said:
There's a HDD benchmark site out there but the name of it is lost on me right now.

The Black edititions drives perform better than the Blue ones.

I've had some bad experiences with Seagates not so long ago, think it was the 7200.11 series and I lost quite a few drives. Every manufacturer (there are like 3 left I think) has their demons but I got burned badly by seagate and to be fair I have not heard of any issues on their later models but I buy WD for now. I also have some really old WD 7200rpm 160GB in my drawer still working. Either way moral of the story is back up your data as any drive could fail.

Sorry can't comment on deals, you'll have to look around. Oh and there is also the hybrid drives offering a ssd like cache to improve performance on regularly accessed data.
Click to expand...

Yeah my last few drives have also been WD Blue (mostly for laptops tho).

I see Takealot have the WD Blue 1TB for R899 so will probably go for that. Unless I find a better deal or a higher capacity drive for not too much more.
 
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