Which size SSD should I get?

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HardyOne

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 17, 2004
Messages
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I want to use my first SSD for OS and programs. The current size of that partition is 84 GB. I was looking at 100 and 128 GB drives. Is 100GB large enough for my needs?
 
I went with a 120 and I think that's pretty adequate for my needs.
games + photoshop installs
 
Get the 128. Leave headroom for stuff that you'll find too need in the coming time.
 
Thanks for the reply guys. I guess what I was really asking was - with 84GB of stuff, will 100GB be enough SSD?
 
Keep in mind, some SSDs, actually all that I know of, can benefit from under-provisioning NAND. (Leaving a little extry unpartitioned). I'm only going to format my 2 Vertex 3 120's to 200GB, leaving 40GB extra for the controllers to do their wear-leveling and GC work. Certainly not an efficient use of space, but if you can spare some, do it.
And as far as performance goes, bigger is better with almost all SSDs. Typically, the samller the SSD, the slower it is.

In your case I would absolutely go no smaller than 120GB. Some SSDs also slow down when they get full.
 
A lot of the ssd optimization guides, recommend ciertan things like droping the sistem restore and hybernation, if you are confortable doing this tweaks, this would free you above 10gb, so something to consider when buying in case you are in a budget. Regardless, i would go with at least 120gb, new stuff might come, and some ssd drop performance once they are reaching near full (not as bad as hdd), also as with hdd the real size usable is always lower than the advertise, this are aprox numbers, but 80gb should be around 75GB, a 120GB should be around 112GB, so for 84GB worth of stuff you are left with 28GB on a 120GB ssd.

For the desktop you have on your sig, i would suggest the new Intel 320 Series 120 GB or maybe if you catch in sale as they should be clearing them, Intel X25M 120 GB.
 
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I updated my sig and made it visible. Since I do video editing, I thought maybe I would try the Revodrive X2 and it sounds like the 100-128 may be on the low side, so might consider the 160 to 180 size.
 
HardyOne said:
I updated my sig and made it visible. Since I do video editing, I thought maybe I would try the Revodrive X2 and it sounds like the 100-128 may be on the low side, so might consider the 160 to 180 size.
Click to expand...

Video editing.... could take a lot of space, but you probably will write a lot more than the average user can, so try to check if the drives will stand to your average writing day. I probably wouldnt go with the Revo (a friend have only issues from not able to power down to low performance and having to do multiple restores). Also when you go with a Revo you going with Raid 0, and trim is not supported, so in time and heavy usage the drives will not perform as they used to be (but OCZ has GC so might be fine).

Since you still with Sata II, my recommendation still goes to Intel X25M 160 GB (with MIR atm $315), or the upcoming Intel 320 Series 160 GB, both should support Trim, and the X25m 160 has been a really stable drive, still has 34nm nad that suppose to endure more write cycles (although intel is claiming their 25nm should last a long time also), i expect the X25m G2 to drop in price next week once the 320s start appearing in all retail stores, so might be worth to track it and see if you can get a good sale.
 
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Sounds like you are leaning toward the older tech - the X25M, as am I. It doesn't make sense to get the new tech, the 320, if it doesn't give much increase in performance. Add to that, I believe I read that a few people think the 320 will not have the long life that the X25M has. Of course this has been discussed in several places already. Sounds like I will wait a week or two to see how the prices end up.
 
Buy as big as you can afford!!!

I got into SSD's a couple of years ago when I came into a little money and time to play. I now have 4 X 30 gig OCZ Solids, 3 Dane Elec 80 Gig (Intel X18's), several 60 gig models of various makes, looking for a purpose in life. I just replaced the 2 X 60 gig SSD's in my main rig with a 240 gig Vertex 2 and love it. Most of my spare drives are 1st gen drives so they aren't the best choice to run alone, but really the biggest problem is that they just aren't big enough, and I just don't have the time to mess with maintaining Raided systems right now..

Hmm, maybe that's why I am running a 3 TB Raid 6 NAS?

Anyway, watch for a sale and go at least 160 gig if at all possible. You will thank me in a couple of years.

Don

Oh, yea, my sig is a bit out of date.
 
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