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For a newbie like myself, is it acceptable/viable to have a 240GB SSD as the only form of storage in my new computer? I don't have big files (except installed games) and I think I can keep to the 240MB limit over the next three years. I imagine it would make things easier by having only one drive instead of a separate HDD? I can always buy more storage later, but currently I want to keep my costs down. Sensible or not?
I don't see that as a good idea. There is no advantage in having a single drive at all. I really can't imagine that you won't have other large files, at least temporarily, like large installers, videos, etc.
SSDs work best when they have some spare space, so the more files you can keep on a separate HDD the better. Plus you might want to keep certain temporary files off the SSD to save on wear.
Acceptable it is, I was running on 1 SSD for 18 months before i saw the need to install a mechanical drive.
Make sure you enable ahci mode in the bios, disable your hibernation setting to save space, and turn off indexing on your SSD in properties no indexing required and it can affect the life/performance.
Thanks for your replies, I didn't realise the SSD would be less efficient if close to maximum capacity. I think for the sake of an extra £50, I'll stop being a cheapskate and buy a 1TB HDD for the system from the start :)
I run pretty much everything from my SSD, but I still like having the hard disk there. I use it for music, large game installers, anything that's excessively large and doesn't need to be fast.
Apart from the music, I could definitely live without it though.
Thing is, I don't store any music or films or many photos (yes I am that boring)... so wouldn't really fill up two hard drives. So I'm swinging back to SSD only :D
If you don't need it then you don't need it; You certainly know better than us in this regard.
Not sure where thought processes of 'you MUST have an HDD for storage' comes from. Many people have a single SSD in their laptops without a problem. Loads of people run 320GB HDDs just fine.
Me personally, I have a 2TB drive in both my machines, but that's because I store all my video/music files on them. Take those away and I'm probably using up just 25% of the available space - and a lot of what's left is archive files, ISOs, photos and things. I also like having a second drive available to store an image of the SSD in case anything goes wrong.
So, if you want to save cash, and you don't think a HDD is necessary, then you are under no obligation to get one. You can always add one later, if needs be. :)
The problem with using an SSD exclusively, is that if it fails, its wiped and gone permanently.
There is no recovery option.
Even if you buy yourself a very cheap HDD, you have some sort of hedge against catastrophe! That being said, if you choose carefully, basing your choice on reliability reports, you can reduce the risk of this happening to the point its no longer a major issue.
The only guarantee though, is a separate store.
Really?Quote:
Originally Posted by Pablo1870
I think that's a bit pre-emptive at best, and how can you say "it's wiped and gone permanently". If the interface fails, your data will be just fine, exactly as it would be on a hard drive.
If anything, it's spindle based disks that are incredibly unreliable.
Besides, is any consumer really likely to use a professional data recovery service?
Like every other kind of storage, use backup!
You don't need a HDD. It's cheap slow storage, and if you have a need for that, then buy one.
Bearing in mind that 240Gb isn't much space...
I actually use a 240GB SSD for my sole drive as I don't have many games on my PC; I only buy individual songs off iTunes nowadays and I don't really have any videos on my PC either so I don't use up much space. My reasons for using a SSD as my only drive aren't mainly to do with costs though, it was more to do with physical space in a small system - having another drive would mean the need for another SATA cable, SATA power connector and more space to mount the drive itself, this is going off topic though as it doesn't apply to you.
Just FYI:
16GB is taken up by Windows 8
21GB is taken up by Program Files & Games
75GB is taken up by Media & Documents (Documents, Photos, Videos, Music) with roughly 20GB of music, 45GB of photos,
Roughly a total of 112 GB used.