SSD 128-160GB or SSD 64GB and HD

[Zenara25]

My parents have had their Sata hard drive for a few years. I do make an image of the drive (in an internal mobile rack using Acronis) and in addition also backup their data for them on another external drive.

I'm trying to convince them to buy an SSD and use their old drive as a backup. Currently their 160GB HD is partitioned into 2 partitions. 1 for Windows 7 and 1 for Data. The Windows partition uses only 25GB. And the Data partition uses only 20GB. So they don't use much data. Pictures, Thunderbird email, web browsing, Quicken, documents etc.

Should they get a 128-160GB SSD only and use the old drive as a backup? Will this wear and tear the drive much faster or because they don't have as much data will this not affect the SSD as much?

Or should they buy a 64GB SSD for the windows partition and a 2nd sata HD drive for the Data partition? And the old drive as a backup.

 

[Coup27]

Single 128-160GB SSD and wearing it out is a non-issue unless you stick it in a heavy duty server.

See http://www.anandtech.com/show/5518/a-look-at-enterprise-performance-of-intel-ssds

 

[beginner99]

I would go with the 64 Gb SSD and a hdd unless you are 100% sure your parents won't suddenly develop new habits that require a lot of space, eg. HD video stuff.

 

[icanhascpu2]

64 and a large hard drive.

Windows 7 install will only take up 10GB when done correctly, it leaves a good deal of room for the applications/games you will be using 95% of the time (around 45GB). Also I find a smaller SSD like the 64 as a sweetspot for keeping things easier to organize and backup for me, it makes me think about what i really use often and what i dont. My setup is a 64GB m4 and a iTB drive. I have Acronis do a daily incremental on the SSD to the 1TB so I know all my important stuff is easy and quick to restore.

Here is a great resource I found on the proper process of installing w7 to a new SSD http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds

 

[Coup27]

Please, share with us how to install Windows 7 correctly. I must have been doing it wrong all these years. And your link is a case on newegg..

 

[icanhascpu2]

Please, share with us how to install Windows 7 correctly. I must have been doing it wrong all these years. And your link is a case on newegg..

Thanks for the tip, fixed the link. However, if you like wasting 16+GB on a 64GB SSD, then by all means go for it. However, I'm trying to supply the OP some pretty detailed info I found on how to open up as much space as possible on smaller SSDs when doing a Win7 install where its going to matter most, what is with your attitude, seeing how I was not even talking to you in the first place?

By the way Zenara25, you can skip to this section: http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/...ptimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds#post_15523325 Under 'System Setup after Installation' is where I found the info on getting space back. On my own 64GB m4 with 8GB RAM it saved me 15GB, so that was pretty huge to me.

 

[Zenara25]

Thanks everyone. They're not planning to upgrade til summer but it's good to be able to give them options.

One more question. They have a ASRock H61M/U3S3 board that has 3rd party 6gb/s sata (Asmedia ASM1061 chip). Can an SSD be plugged into the 3rd party sata? The onboard sata are only 3gb/s sata.

 

[Charlie98]

A 60GB would work (given their current data size) but I'd probably go for the 128GB SSD and use the old HDD as a backup, just get a reliable SSD.

I have a 60GB in my new build and it's already too small. Slowly the added files are taking away space...

 

[Coup27]

Thanks for the tip, fixed the link. However, if you like wasting 16+GB on a 64GB SSD, then by all means go for it. However, I'm trying to supply the OP some pretty detailed info I found on how to open up as much space as possible on smaller SSDs when doing a Win7 install where its going to matter most, what is with your attitude, seeing how I was not even talking to you in the first place?

By the way Zenara25, you can skip to this section: http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/...ptimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds#post_15523325 Under 'System Setup after Installation' is where I found the info on getting space back. On my own 64GB m4 with 8GB RAM it saved me 15GB, so that was pretty huge to me.

I had no attitude. I just found it slightly amusing the way you said "if you install Windows properly", implying that most people probably do not install it properly. A more polite way of putting it would have been "ensure that you follows the tweaks in this guide to make your OS footprint install as small as possible".

Even after a fresh install with a reduced page file and hibernation and system restore turned off, once you've done all your drivers and all Windows update I still recon it would be more than 10GB.

 

[kbp]

Thanks everyone. They're not planning to upgrade til summer but it's good to be able to give them options.

One more question. They have a ASRock H61M/U3S3 board that has 3rd party 6gb/s sata (Asmedia ASM1061 chip). Can an SSD be plugged into the 3rd party sata? The onboard sata are only 3gb/s sata.

Yes.....But, it may run better in the sata 3gb port.

 

[truckerCLOCK]

I had no attitude. I just found it slightly amusing the way you said "if you install Windows properly", implying that most people probably do not install it properly. A more polite way of putting it would have been "ensure that you follows the tweaks in this guide to make your OS footprint install as small as possible".

Even after a fresh install with a reduced page file and hibernation and system restore turned off, once you've done all your drivers and all Windows update I still recon it would be more than 10GB.

Agree 100%.....tried to get a "minimal" install of Win 7 on my 64GB SSD and after all updates and drivers it was just shy of 19 GB