Realistically is a 64gb SSD a bad choice?

[zanemoseley]

So I had the thread yesterday where I was debating between the Crucial M4 or Samsung 830 128gb drives. I'd like to wait for a sale but don't know if I can hold off much longer.

I currently have a 160gb Seagate Barracuda 7200 in my old XP machine. Here is my current usage.

(4) Games 11gb
Mp3's 60gb
File Backup (pics ect.) 18gb
OS & Programs 33gb

I'm kicking around the idea of buying the Samsung 830 64gb to use as OS drive as well as the small programs. I would use the 160gb drive for the MP3's and other files. It would buy me some time that I could use to hunt for deals on a larger secondary SSD (120-160gb) that I could use for the new larger games.

You guys think this is decent plan or do I just need to bite the bullet and drop $200 on a full price drive.

Is the 64gb large enough for Windows 7, Firefox, temp files and a couple general programs like Acrobat Reader, Flash and stuff like that.

 

[stahlhart]

I think you'd be okay. I've got Office 2010 Professional on mine, along with x64 Pro, and I'm still only at about 35Gb or so. I think that it would only be an issue if you started installing too many games on it.

 

[chin311]

I wouldn't be good with a 64gb, would be cutting it a little to close IMO. Id just go with around a 120, will hold you over much longer, might not be happy with such a small one.

 

[Nothinman]

For Windows, yes. Windows is huge so you'll likely end up running out of space and having to move things to a secondary drive.

For other OSes, it's fine. I have a Debian install with everything I need and a ton of apps I'll probably never touch at home on an 86G SSD that's taking <10G right now.

 

[stahlhart]

For Windows, yes. Windows is huge so you'll likely end up running out of space and having to move things to a secondary drive.

For other OSes, it's fine. I have a Debian install with everything I need and a ton of apps I'll probably never touch at home on an 86G SSD that's taking <10G right now.

I'm clearly missing something here -- what is it exactly?

 

[Coup27]

It is possible to do it on 64GB but some information that may help.

A 64GB SSD will work out to 60GB in Windows. Samsung say in their user manual for best performance, to write off another 6GB and leave it unallocated (RAW). This is optional though as the drive already has some essential spare area which you cannot see.

I have just setup my new rig. Windows 7 Home premium 64bit, all updates, Office 2010 home & student, all updates, the rest is just drivers and small applications. This clocks in at 19.8GB. This doesn't include my page file however. Again that is flexible as you could move it, reduce it, or even disable it.

Also, a 128GB is a fair bit faster than its 64GB counterpart. Check the data sheet: http://www.dabs.com/content/uni2/documentation/7s2j/samsung_ssd_830_series_data_sheet_rev_1_0.pdf

 

[razel]

The 64GB size, most people can deal with. Usually people keep their old HDD in your desktop or use an external portable USB powered HDD for laptops. It's usually the sequential write performance of smaller SSDs especially with the <=64GB size where write performance can be close to half of it's larger siblings. However, it isn't much of a concern since the absolute most important aspect of SSDs, access times (latency) and effortless massize parallel reads are still stellar.

 

[Smartazz]

I've been using a 64GB Corsair SSD for a while and as long as you keep things like My Documents on a HDD you should be fine. Also, don't expect to put a lot of games on it. The only game I keep on it is Battlefield 3.

 

[exar333]

80GB is OK with me, but I wish I had the cash to get the 160GB G2 instead. I would say 100GB or larger is ideal. Less micro-managing your documents and stuff, but really anything 60GB or bigger is fine. With prices now, 120GB is really the sweet spot for cheap drives and lots of options. I would suggest that IMHO.

 

[hal2kilo]

80GB is OK with me, but I wish I had the cash to get the 160GB instead. I would say 100GB or larger is ideal. Less micro-managing your documents and stuff, but really anything 60GB or ah heck is fine. With prices now, 120GB is really the sweet spot for cheap drives and lots of options. I would suggest that IMHO.

I agree on the 120GB being the sweet spot. Ive been runninng Win 7 Professional, and have Office 2007 installed for at least 6 months. I'm still only using a little over 25 GB's. Of course I have my swap file and Libraries on my HDD.

 

[Nothinman]

I'm clearly missing something here -- what is it exactly?

I'm not saying it's impossible, just that 64G is tight for Windows if you actually use the system. I just looked and my work Win7 VM is right at 64G now with the Windows directory counting for 24G of that. I don't even have any games on there, just work stuff like Office 2010, SSMS 2005, VS 2005, etc.

 

[LokutusofBorg]

64GB should be just fine for you as long as you don't install a lot of programs, and keep your data and games on another drive.

 

[Charlie98]

I have just setup my new rig. Windows 7 Home premium 64bit, all updates, Office 2010 home & student, all updates, the rest is just drivers and small applications. This clocks in at 19.8GB. This doesn't include my page file however. Again that is flexible as you could move it, reduce it, or even disable it

That's almost exactly what I'll be doing with mine...

The only other 'large' program I have would be QuickBooks, but there should be plenty of room for that, too.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Something to think about, larger drives have better speeds.

 

[jiffylube1024]

I would say no, 64GB is just too tight for your C: drive longterm - especially if you have any games on there. I'd even say 80GB is really pushing it; you'll be much more comfortable with 90-120GB of storage.
---

I've got an 80GB Intel X25-M on my laptop and a 160GB X25-M on my desktop (both are G2 drives). On my laptop, Windows alone takes up 18.2GB.

With 2.7GB of games on my laptop, about 4GB of apps to sync on my iPod Touch, and some random programs (ie. MS Office), I've currently got 25.7GB free of the 74.3GB that is available on an 80GB X25-M.

I'm lucky my laptop has two drive bays so that I also have a 320GB SATA2 drive in there.

 

[RavenSEAL]

80-120GB is the sweep spot IMO.

 

[zanemoseley]

Screw it I just ordered a 128gb Samsung 830 @ B&H photo for $210. Now I need to find out when they'll be getting it in stock. Just about everyone is out of stock on these right now. Just need to drink a few beers to forget about the big chunk of change that just flew outta my pocket.

 

[fffblackmage]

I'm totally happy with my 60/64GB SSD. I just have Windows and most of my programs on it, excluding almost all my games (shorter loading times just isn't worth it for me, they all play just the same once loaded, or sometimes I have to wait for other people to load anyways).

I also have a 64GB SSD in my laptop, but I don't store much of anything on it, so 64GB has been plenty.

 

[beginner99]

64 GB is fine for OS and typical Apps like browser, email or office, the stuff you use most often (besides games).

Games are just to big to warrant putting on an ssd if you are on a budget. i can recommend 64 GB m4. recently put that in the new build for my parents and it flies. There actually is a noticeable difference compared to m 80 gb intel G2. (M4=faster)

 

[BrightCandle]

I started with an Intel 80GB and it wasn't quite big enough. So I moved up to a Vertex 2E 120GB and now its not quite big enough. I'd like to go all the way to 500GB+ as I can see the trend for me to progressively want more and more stuff on my SSD. But the price per GB gets silly on the big drives.

 

[Smartazz]

I started with an Intel 80GB and it wasn't quite big enough. So I moved up to a Vertex 2E 120GB and now its not quite big enough. I'd like to go all the way to 500GB+ as I can see the trend for me to progressively want more and more stuff on my SSD. But the price per GB gets silly on the big drives.

If you can hold off between SSD upgrades long enough, maybe 512GB SSDs will be reasonably priced by the time you want one. I spent my SSD money upgrading my Q6600 and I'm glad I did. I'm blown away by how fast it is.

 

[RaistlinZ]

Screw it I just ordered a 128gb Samsung 830 @ B&H photo for $210. Now I need to find out when they'll be getting it in stock. Just about everyone is out of stock on these right now. Just need to drink a few beers to forget about the big chunk of change that just flew outta my pocket.

Nice.

120GB is the sweet spot I think.