what to use for boot / OS drive?

[mikek753]

hi all,

I'm looking for boot / OS drive around 40 GB - 80 GB for desktop.
Is SSD the way to go?
Or some other cost effective alternative is there?
I'll be using 2-3 1 TB drives for data anyway.

tnx

 

[ScorcherDarkly]

SSD and cost-effective don't belong in the same sentence, given the high $/GB ratio. They are, however, quite nice for an OS drive. If you're willing to pay the premium, a SSD is definitely the way to go.

 

[bryanW1995]

anand reviewed a nice new 40gb ssd from kingston the other day in his ssd article. it's around $130 at newegg right now. going up to 80gb intel has the x25m g2 for around $215 shipped at newegg. you can get a small 40-80gb spindle drive for ~ $40.

edit: both those hd's are oos, they are probably more expensive on other sites.

 

[mikek753]

thanks.
Looks like OOS for x25m g2 would remove it from my list :-(
How faster would be in real life to use for OS (Win) boot drive:
1. x25m g2
2. other SSD
3. WD 10k raptor
4. WD 7200 Black
5. etc

will x25m g2 be twice faster then WD Black (2 cpu)?

 

[mikek753]

hi,

is this any good http://www.frys.com/product/5947264?...age%20Podod4

Hitachi Deskstar 640GB Serial ATA/300
Retail Boxed Hard Drive
HD30640IDK/7K (0A38014)

3.5"
SATA-300
7200 rpm
buffer: 16 MB

 

[PUN]

thanks.
Looks like OOS for x25m g2 would remove it from my list :-(
How faster would be in real life to use for OS (Win) boot drive:
1. x25m g2
2. other SSD
3. WD 10k raptor
4. WD 7200 Black
5. etc

will x25m g2 be twice faster then WD Black (2 cpu)?

Read my thread on SSD performance.
Bottom line is, it depends on what you use it for.
Pure OS, no you won't see much difference other than your startup programs.

 

[SolMiester]

I have been told internet cache would be instant and therefore browsing would feel along quicker.
I am in the process of building a BE phenom with SSD, so hope to be able to confirm later...
What does appear to be an issue is a lack of firmware updates from m/f that are not top tier...corsair, a-data.......

 

[PUN]

Internet does not feel quicker with SSD. In fact, many recommends moving temp files to data drives.

 

[smackababy]

I use a Vertex 60GB for a boot drive and a 640GB Caviar black for programs. Got a 2TB drive for media.

 

[jimhsu]

Internet does not feel quicker with SSD. In fact, many recommends moving temp files to data drives.

Internet "speed" is dominated by latency between you and the CO of your ISP. So no, SSD does not make a difference there.

Also for all modern drives there is no need to relocate temp files, either for performance or write endurance reasons (provided you don't plan to be using the same drive 50 years from now). The one possible exception may be content creation (specifically video), which can easily create multi-GB sequential files and should therefore go on a RAID system.

 

[SolMiester]

I know about latency between the ISP and me, I was solely talking about the cached browser pages held in temp folders. Stands to reason that these randomly accessed files if on a SSD would load quicker, however, I can not yet confirm this.

 

[rivethead]

anand reviewed a nice new 40gb ssd from kingston the other day in his ssd article. it's around $130 at newegg right now. going up to 80gb intel has the x25m g2 for around $215 shipped at newegg. you can get a small 40-80gb spindle drive for ~ $40.

edit: both those hd's are oos, they are probably more expensive on other sites.

Newegg now has the X25M g2 for $289. It was $215 for several days, but always OOS. I waited paitently.

Now, it's OOS AND a higher price. Guess I'll keep waiting.

 

[ScorcherDarkly]

Newegg now has the X25M g2 for $289. It was $215 for several days, but always OOS. I waited paitently.

Now, it's OOS AND a higher price. Guess I'll keep waiting.

The $215 was a Black Friday deal (which actually started Wednesday afternoon) so they sold out in just a few hours. I wouldn't anticipate seeing a price like that any time soon.

 

[yh125d]

Either (a) get a quality SSD for OS, or (b) put OS on a partition on one of the 1TB drives

 

[jimhsu]

I know about latency between the ISP and me, I was solely talking about the cached browser pages held in temp folders. Stands to reason that these randomly accessed files if on a SSD would load quicker, however, I can not yet confirm this.

In any case, yes a SSD will improve that usage scenario. Whether you will see a real-world difference, I don't know.

 

[coopa]

Not to threadjack but I had a similar question. What is the best boot drive for under $100?

My in store fry's has the 64gb Kingston for $89.99 after the $30 mail in rebate.

My current system/situation:
I am installing win 7 on my desktop and I would like to buy a new HD because I am worried that my 500gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 is going to die on me. I have never had a HD die in almost 13 years of continuous use of desktop computers. All my HD's have been eventually replaced when upgrading in a new system and one was stolen.
I am getting into photography and am going to install the Adobe Web Developers Suite. I will process RAW images and occasionally play some games.

I have a second identical 7200.11 that I use in an external enclosure for a backup. I do not have a raid controller on my cheap fry's combo mATX motherboard. I use Mozy for online backup of all my docs, but only have a gig so I cannot backup my pictures.

Should I:

A) Buy a WD caviar black 640gb drive to be my main drive for $70. Use one Seagate HD as on-site backup and then take the second one off site and update it every other week or so.

B) Buy the kingston SSD 64GB drive for my OS and the adobe suite. Put media on the second seagate and backup both disks to the third external Seagate HD.

C) Stop being a pansy. Save my money, do nothing.

D) Buy a raid controller and a cheap hitatchi backup. Boot my OS from the two seagates in raid. Can I do this for under $100?


Just a few reviews on newegg say the kingston SSD still stutters even though it is a "new" toshiba controller. Others seem to imply the only advantage over a 7200 rpm HD is that it takes 10 seconds off my boot time.

What do you think.

Current System:
Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E5400 @ 2.70GHz
Mobo: Biostar G31-M7 TE
4.00 GB Ram
Radeon 4830 1gb
HD: 2 500gb Seagate 7200.11 (one eSata in Antec active case)

 

[smackababy]

I have a WD Caviar black for programs, and I can't really comment on performance of it. I haven't used anything else on this rig, except a few programs on me SSD. I know Photoshop opens and runs amazingly fast compared to what I've used before from the SSD.

I, personally, don't back up anything on my main rig. I really only use it for media storage and gaming. I've no important documents on it, so anything I lose can be easily reinstalled and gotten again.