I too have a Crucial M4 256G and it was under $200 from Amazon. Certainly speeded up the boot and loading of programs. But also just max out the laptop with RAM. They are not connected, but each helps in its own way.
SSD or keep the mechanical drive?
- Thread starter sciphi
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JHZR2
Staff member
Knock on wood but the Samsung 830 SSD I retrofitted into my 2008 macbook pro (which Im using to type this now) and the OE SSD in my Macbook Air, have never had issues.
Must be an issue with the Crucial drive/firmware, or the computer. Perhaps the OS cannot deal with it properly? Does it trim?
Must be an issue with the Crucial drive/firmware, or the computer. Perhaps the OS cannot deal with it properly? Does it trim?
Updating this. I pulled the trigger on a Samsung 840 Pro Series 256 GB SSD.
Next question: Clean install of Windows, or clone my existing HDD?
Next question: Clean install of Windows, or clone my existing HDD?
Good choice on SSD drives. It's fast.
Do a Fresh install.
Then turn off disk fragmentation routine, which is on by default.
Do a Fresh install.
Then turn off disk fragmentation routine, which is on by default.
JHZR2
Staff member
Glad you went for the SSD. Great choice. Clean install.
Originally Posted By: sciphi
Updating this. I pulled the trigger on a Samsung 840 Pro Series 256 GB SSD.
Next question: Clean install of Windows, or clone my existing HDD?
Clean install is best no doubt, but you will still 100% notice a huge speed increase even if you clone.
SSD for the win. My Sandisk Extreme still rocks, fast and no issues at all. Would never go back.
Updating this. I pulled the trigger on a Samsung 840 Pro Series 256 GB SSD.
Next question: Clean install of Windows, or clone my existing HDD?
Clean install is best no doubt, but you will still 100% notice a huge speed increase even if you clone.
SSD for the win. My Sandisk Extreme still rocks, fast and no issues at all. Would never go back.
I'll do a clean install of Windows 7 Ultimate this weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing how much faster it is than the mechanical drive.
Make sure you do all of the Windows updates and update your drivers .
Originally Posted By: Doog
Make sure you do all of the Windows updates and update your drivers .
Doing that right now. I had to use the system restore disks since my copy of Win7 Ultimate is upgrade-only. Luckily there was a "minimal install" mode that installed Win7 and HP-specific drivers only without the bloatware.
The nice thing is how easily it multitasks. It's installing Windows updates in the background, and there's no difference in response time. My old HDD was noticeably laggy when updating Windows. I cant' wait to see how it handles some major multitasking!
Make sure you do all of the Windows updates and update your drivers .
Doing that right now. I had to use the system restore disks since my copy of Win7 Ultimate is upgrade-only. Luckily there was a "minimal install" mode that installed Win7 and HP-specific drivers only without the bloatware.
The nice thing is how easily it multitasks. It's installing Windows updates in the background, and there's no difference in response time. My old HDD was noticeably laggy when updating Windows. I cant' wait to see how it handles some major multitasking!
Originally Posted By: dparm
SSD. Better battery life, faster, lighter, far more resilient to abuse. They're cheap these days so there's no reason not to.
If your machine is constantly writing (i.e. a heavy duty file server), you can in theory wear out an SSD quickly, especially a poorly designed SSD that has weak wear leveling algorithm.
Also in theory the firmware on SSD is a lot less stable than mechanical hard drive, so they tends to have problem more often due to design error early on.
I'd stick to a reputable brand if going for SSD for this reason.
SSD. Better battery life, faster, lighter, far more resilient to abuse. They're cheap these days so there's no reason not to.
If your machine is constantly writing (i.e. a heavy duty file server), you can in theory wear out an SSD quickly, especially a poorly designed SSD that has weak wear leveling algorithm.
Also in theory the firmware on SSD is a lot less stable than mechanical hard drive, so they tends to have problem more often due to design error early on.
I'd stick to a reputable brand if going for SSD for this reason.
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