Question about SSDs.

Katie_Jennings · 25 May 2013

I am planning to replace a failed/failing HDD in a XPS laptop. Other than size is there much difference in noticeable performance between the prevailing specs on the market? Probably looking for 128GB or maybe a 256gb.

Thanks for any help.

empip · 27 May 2013

Transformed my near 6 y/o Dell Inspiron desktop.
Replaced Samsung 320 GB 7,000 rpm (one of pair) hdd with Samsung 840 series 250GB SSD (not the top of the range 840 pro btw).
Boxed item included some decent software tools, an adapter cable sata-usb, actual sata cable plus a tray like holder and screws.
25 sec bootup. Very 'snappy'.

M/c is :-sata2, dual core, 4GB, Win7 Ultimate 64bit.

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Katie_Jennings · 27 May 2013

Having a peruse at the Samsung SSDs it looks like only the 840 pro is available for laptops, ie 2½inch. I was told that the Crucial M4/M500 are worth considering and are around £140-150 with a 3 year warranty, whereas the 840 Pro is around £180 with a 5 year warranty so I think I will go for the latter. Was Acronis one of the tools your refer to?

Just out of curiosity do you have your 840 connected with the HDD in a RAID 0 configuration?

Thanks very much for your help, empip.

Monkeh · 27 May 2013

Katie_Jennings said:
Having a peruse at the Samsung SSDs it looks like only the 840 pro is available for laptops, ie 2½inch.

All Samsung 840 SSDs are 2.5".

Just out of curiosity do you have your 840 connected with the HDD in a RAID 0 configuration?

Why on earth would you want to ruin performance and reliability both in one fell swoop like that? There are precisely 0 advantages to such a setup.

Spark123 · 27 May 2013

My desktop runs one SSD (OCZ agility 120GB) as it's C drive and has a normal 1tb (pair of 500gb raid 0) hard disk for storage D, as windows is using the SSD it boots up from POST to the windows logon screen in around 10 seconds.
My motherboard has SATA 3 which takes advantage of the high speed SSD hard disk, I'm unsure as to wether your XPS will have SATA 3. Even if it doesn't you'll still probably see an improvement in hard disk access times but not to it's full potential.

Katie_Jennings · 27 May 2013

Monkeh said:
All Samsung 840 SSDs are 2.5".

When empip said that his 840 was for a desktop I looked to see if any 840s (not the pro version) were available for a laptop. That there were only the pro models led me to believe that empip’s 840 was specifically for a desktop ie 3½". Otherwise it is an older model no longer available and is fitted with a 3½" adapter. My mistake.

Monkeh said:
Why on earth would you want to ruin performance and reliability both in one fell swoop like that? There are precisely 0 advantages to such a setup.

I never said anything about ‘performance’ or ‘reliability’, I merely asked empip whether his was configured in a particular way. Just to explain, my own item was shipped by Dell with the RAID 0 which is a PITA when one of the drive fails, as has happened. I intend to replace both drives with the new SSD and continue to use the working HDD as an external drive. Sound reasonable?

Spark123 said:
My desktop runs one SSD (OCZ agility 120GB) as it's C drive and has a normal 1tb (pair of 500gb raid 0) hard disk for storage D, as windows is using the SSD it boots up from POST to the windows logon screen in around 10 seconds.

With that arrangement if one of your HDDs goes tìts-up is any lost data saved to the SSD?

Spark123 said:
My motherboard has SATA 3 which takes advantage of the high speed SSD hard disk, I'm unsure as to wether your XPS will have SATA 3. Even if it doesn't you'll still probably see an improvement in hard disk access times but not to it's full potential.

No this laptop pre-dates SATA3 by a few months so I guess you are correct about not getting the full benefit of the SSD.

empip · 28 May 2013

Ok, if anyone has some inkling please explain.

My Inspiron 530 desktop Dell BIOS has two settings, ATA or RAID No AHCI mode.
Searched high and low for info' re: Do I require AHCI to enable TRIM for SSD?

Much differing opinion on this, so I followed a line whereby I set bios for RAID, but actually use SSD as single drive, the story being that setting RAID mode actually enables TRIM ??? Or was that 'hot swapability' Or both ? Or more likely neither !! A raid set up screen appears on boot for several seconds (Ctrl I to enter setup) this I ignore.
Everything runs seemingly very well - BUT the Samsung software tools note that ACHI mode is not turned ON and I would benefit from it... ??

Noting no obvious downside or may I say upside to the setting, I left it on Raid - SSD running single.

Given the fog in this post, and my almost total lack of knowledge - I chose the Samsung 840 with fitting kit - cables etc - as mentioned previously due mainly to reading up user remarks.

I do have a SanDisk SDSSDX240GG25 240 GB running in a hybrid homebuild desktop Sata3 - no probs - software for updates is good, no real numpty tools for me tho. - no 'kit' in the box either.

Both the above mc's retain a 'data' HDD 320 GB and 1TB respectively.

Also we have a Netbook running a Vertex Plus R2 120 GB SSD - Pretty cheapo thing. No useful software (that I have found) no extra kit in bubble pack - It has proved thus far a good addition to the netbook...

I would go for the Samsung 840, all you may need is in the package. http://tinyurl.com/qc57lts

Untitled

empip
28 May 2013
1

I know this SSD addition ranks with the 4GB of ram as the best thing I have added in a long time... For now !

Having the time and inclination I used both the Samsung Magician software, and for other reasons Macrium Reflect freeby disk imaging software to clone the previous hdd to the SSD ('Clone this Disk') - Flawless, it would appear thus far.
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx.

A little aside - I now have the HDDs from Dell desktops (3 off) ranging from 1995 !! None have ever faulted, just been superceded. In fact thus far non of the Dell machines actually faulted. Perhaps I missed a bad period or two in Dell manufacture ?

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Spark123 · 28 May 2013

Katie_Jennings said:
Spark123 said:

My desktop runs one SSD (OCZ agility 120GB) as it's C drive and has a normal 1tb (pair of 500gb raid 0) hard disk for storage D, as windows is using the SSD it boots up from POST to the windows logon screen in around 10 seconds.

Click to expand...

With that arrangement if one of your HDDs goes tìts-up is any lost data saved to the SSD?

No, if one disk goes then I will lose the whole of the info on the D drive (but I backup any important stuff onto an external network attached storage drive anyway)

Katie_Jennings · 29 May 2013

empip said:
Ok, if anyone has some inkling please explain.

My Inspiron 530 desktop Dell BIOS has two settings, ATA or RAID No AHCI mode.
Searched high and low for info' re: Do I require AHCI to enable TRIM for SSD?

Not very up on this stuff, empip, so cannot offer anything of use. You might care to have a browse of this, though.

empip said:
Much differing opinion on this, so I followed a line whereby I set bios for RAID, but actually use SSD as single drive, the story being that setting RAID mode actually enables TRIM ??? Or was that 'hot swapability' Or both ? Or more likely neither !! A raid set up screen appears on boot for several seconds (Ctrl I to enter setup) this I ignore.
Everything runs seemingly very well - BUT the Samsung software tools note that ACHI mode is not turned ON and I would benefit from it... ??

But I thought that RAID is only used where there is more than one drive so I am confused as to how you have been able to ‘set’ RAID for a single drive. Have a look here. I have the RAID 0 (striped) level (which is actually not RAID, as there is no redundancy

) which I think is a preference for gamers who want the fastest access. This is a nuisance, though, as if you lose a drive you lose the data.

empip said:
Noting no obvious downside or may I say upside to the setting, I left it on Raid - SSD running single.

Given the fog in this post, and my almost total lack of knowledge - I chose the Samsung 840 with fitting kit - cables etc - as mentioned previously due mainly to reading up user remarks.

As you can see I share the fog. But you have sold it; it’s on order. Thanks for the link.

empip said:
I know this SSD addition ranks with the 4GB of ram as the best thing I have added in a long time... For now !

Having the time and inclination I used both the Samsung Magician software, and for other reasons Macrium Reflect freeby disk imaging software to clone the previous hdd to the SSD ('Clone this Disk') - Flawless, it would appear thus far.
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx.

Yes, I too downloaded this somewhile ago. It’s fine, but is unable to create an image from a crashed drive (obvious, I know) which is where I am at.

empip said:
A little aside - I now have the HDDs from Dell desktops (3 off) ranging from 1995 !! None have ever faulted, just been superceded. In fact thus far non of the Dell machines actually faulted. Perhaps I missed a bad period or two in Dell manufacture ?

Maybe it is just potluck, though that is a pretty good record. Dell use a variety of manufacturers for their drives. The one that has failed in the XPS is a Western Digital, the one that continues to function is a Fujitsu – no, I have no idea as to why they are different. I have also a Hitachi drive in a caddy previously used in another Dell laptop.

Spark123 said:
No, if one disk goes then I will lose the whole of the info on the D drive (but I backup any important stuff onto an external network attached storage drive anyway)

The backup is essential with this sort of setup. Now if only I had considered this earlier.

empip · 29 May 2013

My Dell has option for ATA / Raid 1 only, no ACHI, a much talked about issue with the old Inspiron.

I have read reams trying to hunt down the info on 'how to' with no ACHI mode option in the bios... As I said I set Raid 1 in the bios, but ignore the boot option to run the set up.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r27149957-ATA-ACHI-RAID-confusion
'koitsu' amongst much stuff - said...
...RAID mode = enables use of AHCI option ROM and AHCI features, but also makes use of RAID functionality if you want it. Most controllers will let you enable RAID mode and then choose to leave a disk attached as JBOD or "single", meaning not part of an actual RAID array. However, you still need to make sure your driver set for your OS supports this mode... I have no idea if SSD 'Trim' function is working, but the Samsung software tool allows one to maintain the drive... Seems to be working ok.

I hope you are not disappointed because you may feel the ££extra for the install kit wasn't really necessary given your busted drive.
The extre bits will be useful at some stage I am sure.

I know it is not a well thought of measure but my Win7 experience factor for the Samsung drive data transfer alone is 7.6 / 7.9.

NB. The 'Pro' version is expected to have greater longevity etc.

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Question about SSDs.

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