Horrible Computer

originally posted by: Moresby
There is that. SSDs ain't cheap.

True. But they are cheap if you only need one for a boot drive, or a smaller one just for browsing, emails, etc.

a reply to: neomaximus10

Agreed. I even put an older SSD into my Playstation 3 and what a noticeable difference that made! I have only two mechanical hard drives in my gaming rig: one for my massive library of games, and another for my videos and other files. And a USB mechanical hard drive for backups.

Soon, my mechanical hard drive with games will be replaced with a 2 TB SSD. That will be something to experience.

SSd's have dropped in price quite a bit. I see 120-128 Gb SSD's pretty regularly in the $37-38 range and the cheaper brands and older models are getting cheaper all of the time since V-Nand and similar techs are now on the market.

Slightly off topic, but how good are SSDs in the long run? Do they last as long as a common hard disk? I ask because I have disks with more than 10 or 12 years that are still working as new.

a reply to: ArMaP

From what I've read there are mixed opinions... but Google ( I believe ) issued a report a month ( or so ) suggesting that the reports of high failure rates apply more to server side uses and not basic computing.

I'm running three SSD's on this computer ( one internal, two external ) and have never had a single hiccup over 13 months of pretty heavy use.

originally posted by: ArMaP
Slightly off topic, but how good are SSDs in the long run? Do they last as long as a common hard disk? I ask because I have disks with more than 10 or 12 years that are still working as new.

It's too early to tell at this point. The memory cells in SSD's eventually wear out. They have a limited lifespan of so many switches between on and off before they stop completely. But, memory cells are getting better ever year or so, so that could be eliminated in the future.

SSD's are great for game storage, operating system storage, app storage. But for long-term storage of pictures, videos, etc., mechanical hard drives (and DVD's) are the proven technology at this point in time.

However, if you use an SSD as a backup drive for long-term storage (and not actually use it for anything other than storage so as not to wear out the memory cells), SSD's could outlast mechanical hard drives since SSD's are not susceptible to magnetic fields, or loss of magnetic data like mechanical hard drives are.

originally posted by: Hefficide
From what I've read there are mixed opinions... but Google ( I believe ) issued a report a month ( or so ) suggesting that the reports of high failure rates apply more to server side uses and not basic computing.

That falls in line with what I was saying above about memory cells wearing out. They'll wear out much faster in a server environment than a home computer.

originally posted by: Hefficide
I'm running three SSD's on this computer ( one internal, two external ) and have never had a single hiccup over 13 months of pretty heavy use.

Yeah, I've got some older SSD's that are 7+ years old that are still going strong.