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Location: God's Gift to Mankind for flying anything
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If one would like to replace a *standard* Laptop drive with a *Solid State Drive* ...
What are the limitations or *rules* so that it will work when it is done.
Are there certain specs that need to be fulfilled ?
What does the word *vertical*, included in the specs, mean ?
For the OP. Keep in mind that depending on the age of your laptop you may not get the advertised read/write speeds of the SSD, you also need to make sure AHCI is enabled in BIOS. Also, it's always better to do a clean install to the new SSD, but if that's not an option make sure you use SSD aware cloning software to get the correct partition alignment. Many SSD's come with this software.
After the install, disable Windows scheduled disk defrag, and remove any third party defrag tools you may (or may not) have.
Actually, in searching for a link, it seems the thought has changed for some on this since the last time I looked into it. Some still say don't defrag (due to excess writes), some say do, so make your own choice I guess.
Location: God's Gift to Mankind for flying anything
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NHDave
the thought has changed for some on this since the last time I looked into it. Some still say don't defrag (due to excess writes), some say do[/url]
Thank you. I understand.
In essence: For those interested ... (the short version, gleaned from the reference noted by NHDave)
If ...
SSDs can only handle a finite number of writes before things start going bad.
This is of course true of regular spinning rust hard drives,
but the conventional wisdom around SSDs is to avoid writes that are perceived as unnecessary.
then ...
"What is the deal with SSDS, Windows and Defrag,
and more important, is Windows doing the right thing?"
thus ...
No, Windows is not foolishly or blindly running a defrag on your SSD every night,
and no, Windows defrag isn't shortening the life of your SSD unnecessarily.
Modern SSDs don't work the same way that we are used to with traditional hard drives.
Yes, your SSD's file system sometimes needs a kind of defragmentation and
that's handled by Windows, monthly by default, when appropriate.
The intent is to maximize performance and a long life.
If you disable defragmentation completely,
you are taking a risk that your filesystem metadata could
reach maximum fragmentation and get you potentially in trouble.
therefore ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by NHDave
so make your own choice I guess.
Me ... ?
I have a habit of storing all my private data on an external storage system,
whether it is a large TB drive, or a thumb-drive.
So I am going to add the SSD drive, just for speed,
(my internal drive is an old, large, slow, RPM one ...)
and only *defrag* when I might notice a slow down in the operation of the system.
First thing you will want to do is determine which interface you laptops hard drive uses. PATA or SATA. If PATA your choices in SSDs are severely limited, expensive, and will take a performance hit because of the interface. Anything newer then about 2006 should be SATA, but best to check.
Second you will want to determine the size of the hard drive bay. 2.5" is the standard drive bay size but the thing you will want to pay extra careful attention to is the depth. Most 2.5" SATA Hard Drives are 9.5mm thick. But some may be 7mm thick (think slim laptops). A 9.5mm thick drive will not fit in a 7mm drive bay. This is only a concern if the SSD you are looking at is 9.5mm thick. The good news is that most SSDs are 7mm thick and will fit in either 9.5mm or 7mm deep bay. There will be shim included with 7mm SSDs to keep the drive from rattling around in a 9.5mm bay.
Third thing you will want is an OS with the Trim command for SSDs. This means Windows 7, 8 or 10. Or whichever flavor of Linux you like that has Trim. Performance of an SSD without trim will be severely degraded.
Fourth you will want to make sure that the hard disk controller is set to AHCI in the BIOS. You could possibly set the disk controller to RAID, but I don't think that is a choice on many laptops. I wouldn't set it to RAID anyway, unless you have a particular reason to do so. You want to avoid IDE, IDE Legacy or whatever your BIOS calls it.
Five you should get an external enclosure for your old hard drive (if the hard drive is still in working order). This will make transferring files (or cloning the disk) easy. And after you are done you can use your old drive for external storage or backups. You will want to look for an external enclosure for 2.5" SATA. And USB 2.0 interface is fine for a Hard Drive as I don't believe a Hard Drive will saturate the USB 2.0 interface. There is no need to get an enclosure with USB 3.0 unless price is similar. Down the road USB 3.0 would benefit an SSD in the external enclosure.
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Your laptop may have a mSATA or M2 bay. These became available after 2011. These bays will allow you to add an SDD without removing your Hard Drive. You will want to check and see if your laptop has one of these as it gives you a different path to add an SSD while allowing you to keep the Hard Drive in the laptop. If you do have one of these bays check and make sure they aren't occupied by a WiFi card, bluetooth card or WiMAX card as is common. An mSATA or M2 SSD looks like a tall and narrow RAM module.
As for "vertical", I think you are referring to Samsung SSD which use 3D flash memory. That is just referring to to way the flash memory is manufactured. But in theory, 3D flash memory can be packed tighter together on the silicon which should result in reduced manufacturing cost. But as a consumer I just don't see any of that savings passed on to me as Samsung's drive prices are similar to all the rest.
Last edited by Gorath; 04-19-2015 at 12:48 PM..
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