Moving to an SSD.

ET2SN · 02-16-23, 02:45 AM

So, about one month ago I snagged a new 1TB hard drive, cloned it to my old HD, and then swapped drives. I do this about every two years so I can run a fresh drive and keep the old one as a ready back-up.

Its been bugging me for a couple of years why I don't install an SSD to replace the hard drive and after some deep thought

I have a WD 1TB SSD (PCI) on its way for delivery.

I was a bit torn over which type of SSD I wanted to install. I can run either a PCI-based unit or an M.2 "clip in" and by-pass the external drives entirely.

I'm kind of doing this upgrade in phases. The new SSD will be formatted and cloned just like the older HDs (for now, anyway). I'm not expecting miracles but it will be neat to check out the faster load times. A 1TB drive is more than enough for this rig and the way I run it.

With the M.2 SSD, I guess it will happen sometime over the next two years. I want to watch what happens with the M.2 prices and I'll probably buy a 500MB board and only install the operating system on it and use the PCI SSD for files and game storage. Or maybe not..

I still want to learn a bit more about how M.2's like a little more heat when they run and I'm still not 100% sold if I'll even install an M.2. This rig is based more on stability, simplicity, and low power usage (I only run CPU and P/S fans).

In terms of cloning the current drive to the SSD, I'll probably stick with Acronis unless one of you has a better suggestion.

Skybird · 02-16-23, 06:59 AM

You could check Macrium Reflect Free Edition. Its just been retired in January - the free edition only - and will get security updates until January next year, but if its still available in the Jaunary 23 version right now and you do not plan to clone your HD every couple of weeks or months, this might save you money.

I like an exchange frame in my rigs, where you just shove in a HD like a cassette into a player and then can access it without opening the PC and needing to do wiring magic.

Consider TWO SSD, one for Windows, one for other stuff. Over time, memory cells in SSD will go off duty, and the device autmatically detects that and then activates replacements from the free pool of memory cells. Now, if the pool of replacment cells is limited due to the SSD beign full, so is the time the system can work around damaged memory cells. So, its not bad to have a SSD for windows that is lets say twice as big as Windows and System folders need it. You buy time that way. On my rig, I only have an SSD for Windows and System, it is 256 GB and half of it is used. After five years , last time I checked last year around 5% of the memory cells were reported to be faulty. But - no problem the way I described!

USB sticks, SSDs, they all get faulty over time, they are not for eternity. For long time storage of precious data, a dual strategy of a stored-away HD and storage on - CDs

is what i recomemnd and use myself. I have self-burnt CD's twenty-plus years old, working perfect. However, every couple of years, both data formats get renewed, to be sure.

Nothing beats cave paintings and paper and ink when you need long durability.

ET2SN · 02-16-23, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skybird

USB sticks, SSDs, they all get faulty over time, they are not for eternity.

That's the part I'm still trying to wrap my head around.

SSds are supposed to fail and somehow, that's all right.

I mentioned on a recent FPS Chazly stream that my last hard drive failure was something like 35 years ago.

I do back-ups more to protect me from me.

I checked out Macrium last week and the download already looks squirrely.

I'm not in a hurry to get Norton Defender or MacAffe auto-installed on my system again.

Onkel Neal · 02-16-23, 02:24 PM

I got a 5TB USB portable hd a few months ago and just plugged it into my PC and I've been using it as a third drive.

Skybird · 02-16-23, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

I got a 5TB USB portable hd a few months ago and just plugged it into my PC and I've been using it as a third drive.

If that was me mentioning exchange frames, those are more for making old internal hard drives accessible again without much tinkering, the data on them, I mean. No screwing, no soldering, and no drilling.

Also much cheaper to use internal HDs in such frames for mas storage, then to use USB-connected HDs which by probability seem to tend to break easier.

ET2SN · 02-16-23, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skybird

I mean. No screwing, no soldering, and no drilling.

You're doing something wrong.

As far as external HDs failing, it shouldn't be an issue however its always possible to zap the drive with static electricity when you grab it.

The way I run my tower, I keep a spare/backup HD bolted into the tower and just swap the SATA and power leads if its needed. The tower stays grounded so no worries about zapping it.

ET2SN · 02-20-23, 01:23 PM

Well, the SSD and its cage mount showed up yesterday.

I spent several hours tinkering around just to get Windows to recognize it

but I couldn't get Acronis/WD to play ball. I even updated Acronis to the new version (and paid for a year subscription) and all that happened was I finally got the WD Dashboard for the SSD to install.

Yes, its going to be a pain in the @$$ and I'm still not sure I can clone the SSD and swap it in as the new boot/work drive.

More later.

ET2SN · 02-20-23, 03:45 PM

So,

I wound up going to the dodgy side of the WWW and found a download for the free trial version of Macrium Reflect 8 (thanks, Sky). Install was mostly painless and I got the SSD cloned. Swapping it with the HD will happen later today.

With Acronis, what the

happened with those folks?
I've used their software for years without any issues, which was why I wound up buying one year of support. The new software will do what it says, if you beat on it enough, but its painfully slow. For whatever reason, Cloning is now a four letter word and I never got it to work but their other support/clean-up programs are still good. Which is why I'll stick around, for now. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope they get their

back in one sock.

Long term, I want to try the SSD as a main/boot drive and keep an eye on its performance but WD didn't score a lot of points with me. These things are supposed to be easy. Just getting the damned thing mounted and initialized was a chore.

Skybird · 02-20-23, 04:17 PM

It all has become a PITA. Whatever I heard and red about cloning SSD and even just HDs, since years always was bad.

They are no longer in control of the stuff they invented.

ET2SN · 02-20-23, 04:36 PM

Well, first boot off the SSD and its OK.

I wasn't expecting a huge gain in speed but you can tell its faster than the mechanical HD. I want to try running some games for the rest of the night

to wind down after a longer-than-expected day of futzing with software and keep an eye on the temps.

So, was it worth it? Honestly, that's a push (so far).

I want to take some time and figure out the strong points.

ET2SN · 10-26-23, 11:06 AM

Just as a kind of update, the WD SSD has done great so far (still 100% healthy) but I wound up dropping 45 bucks on a Samsung (1TB) 870 Evo.

Cloning was fairly boring (I used Macrium to do the job) and had the SSDs swapped in about an hour. Samsung also has its own dasboard proggy called Magician and if you're on the fence between WD and Samsung, go with Samsung.

Magician has a lot more info it can display and some nifty performance options.

There's hardly any difference in operating temps (normal range between 28 to 32 C) between the two brands but Samsung has a bit of an edge on over-all performance. Magician also has a bundled cloning utility which I haven't tried yet, but it looks very similar to Macrium's utility.

So, SSDs over-all: Recommended.

There's that feeling that once you make the switch, there's no going back although I may re-purpose my newer old-school hard drives as long term (remote) secure storage.

As far as brands go, Samsung takes it. For casual gaming and "daily driver" use, Samsung has a "performance" mode that checks a lot of the boxes you want.

02-16-23, 02:45 AM	#1
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	Moving to an SSD. So, about one month ago I snagged a new 1TB hard drive, cloned it to my old HD, and then swapped drives. I do this about every two years so I can run a fresh drive and keep the old one as a ready back-up. Its been bugging me for a couple of years why I don't install an SSD to replace the hard drive and after some deep thought I have a WD 1TB SSD (PCI) on its way for delivery. I was a bit torn over which type of SSD I wanted to install. I can run either a PCI-based unit or an M.2 "clip in" and by-pass the external drives entirely. I'm kind of doing this upgrade in phases. The new SSD will be formatted and cloned just like the older HDs (for now, anyway). I'm not expecting miracles but it will be neat to check out the faster load times. A 1TB drive is more than enough for this rig and the way I run it. With the M.2 SSD, I guess it will happen sometime over the next two years. I want to watch what happens with the M.2 prices and I'll probably buy a 500MB board and only install the operating system on it and use the PCI SSD for files and game storage. Or maybe not.. I still want to learn a bit more about how M.2's like a little more heat when they run and I'm still not 100% sold if I'll even install an M.2. This rig is based more on stability, simplicity, and low power usage (I only run CPU and P/S fans). In terms of cloning the current drive to the SSD, I'll probably stick with Acronis unless one of you has a better suggestion.

02-16-23, 06:59 AM	#2
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 42,600 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	You could check Macrium Reflect Free Edition. Its just been retired in January - the free edition only - and will get security updates until January next year, but if its still available in the Jaunary 23 version right now and you do not plan to clone your HD every couple of weeks or months, this might save you money. I like an exchange frame in my rigs, where you just shove in a HD like a cassette into a player and then can access it without opening the PC and needing to do wiring magic. Consider TWO SSD, one for Windows, one for other stuff. Over time, memory cells in SSD will go off duty, and the device autmatically detects that and then activates replacements from the free pool of memory cells. Now, if the pool of replacment cells is limited due to the SSD beign full, so is the time the system can work around damaged memory cells. So, its not bad to have a SSD for windows that is lets say twice as big as Windows and System folders need it. You buy time that way. On my rig, I only have an SSD for Windows and System, it is 256 GB and half of it is used. After five years , last time I checked last year around 5% of the memory cells were reported to be faulty. But - no problem the way I described! USB sticks, SSDs, they all get faulty over time, they are not for eternity. For long time storage of precious data, a dual strategy of a stored-away HD and storage on - CDs is what i recomemnd and use myself. I have self-burnt CD's twenty-plus years old, working perfect. However, every couple of years, both data formats get renewed, to be sure. Nothing beats cave paintings and paper and ink when you need long durability. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

02-16-23, 02:24 PM	#4
Onkel Neal Born to Run Silent Join Date: Jan 1997 Location: Cougar Trap, Texas Posts: 21,383 Downloads: 541 Uploads: 224	I got a 5TB USB portable hd a few months ago and just plugged it into my PC and I've been using it as a third drive. __________________ SUBSIM - 26 Years on the Web

02-20-23, 04:17 PM	#9
Skybird Soaring Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: the mental asylum named Germany Posts: 42,600 Downloads: 10 Uploads: 0	It all has become a PITA. Whatever I heard and red about cloning SSD and even just HDs, since years always was bad. They are no longer in control of the stuff they invented. __________________ If you feel nuts, consult an expert.

02-20-23, 01:23 PM	#7
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	Well, the SSD and its cage mount showed up yesterday. I spent several hours tinkering around just to get Windows to recognize it but I couldn't get Acronis/WD to play ball. I even updated Acronis to the new version (and paid for a year subscription) and all that happened was I finally got the WD Dashboard for the SSD to install. Yes, its going to be a pain in the @$$ and I'm still not sure I can clone the SSD and swap it in as the new boot/work drive. More later.

02-20-23, 03:45 PM	#8
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	So, I wound up going to the dodgy side of the WWW and found a download for the free trial version of Macrium Reflect 8 (thanks, Sky). Install was mostly painless and I got the SSD cloned. Swapping it with the HD will happen later today. With Acronis, what the happened with those folks? I've used their software for years without any issues, which was why I wound up buying one year of support. The new software will do what it says, if you beat on it enough, but its painfully slow. For whatever reason, Cloning is now a four letter word and I never got it to work but their other support/clean-up programs are still good. Which is why I'll stick around, for now. I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope they get their back in one sock. Long term, I want to try the SSD as a main/boot drive and keep an eye on its performance but WD didn't score a lot of points with me. These things are supposed to be easy. Just getting the damned thing mounted and initialized was a chore.

02-20-23, 04:36 PM	#10
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	Well, first boot off the SSD and its OK. I wasn't expecting a huge gain in speed but you can tell its faster than the mechanical HD. I want to try running some games for the rest of the night to wind down after a longer-than-expected day of futzing with software and keep an eye on the temps. So, was it worth it? Honestly, that's a push (so far). I want to take some time and figure out the strong points.

10-26-23, 11:06 AM	#11
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	Just as a kind of update, the WD SSD has done great so far (still 100% healthy) but I wound up dropping 45 bucks on a Samsung (1TB) 870 Evo. Cloning was fairly boring (I used Macrium to do the job) and had the SSDs swapped in about an hour. Samsung also has its own dasboard proggy called Magician and if you're on the fence between WD and Samsung, go with Samsung. Magician has a lot more info it can display and some nifty performance options. There's hardly any difference in operating temps (normal range between 28 to 32 C) between the two brands but Samsung has a bit of an edge on over-all performance. Magician also has a bundled cloning utility which I haven't tried yet, but it looks very similar to Macrium's utility. So, SSDs over-all: Recommended. There's that feeling that once you make the switch, there's no going back although I may re-purpose my newer old-school hard drives as long term (remote) secure storage. As far as brands go, Samsung takes it. For casual gaming and "daily driver" use, Samsung has a "performance" mode that checks a lot of the boxes you want.