Time for a SSD (Toshiba Tecra R840 laptop)...

paulobao · 07 Sep 2012

Hi all,

Yestarday my 6 month old Tecra R840 (win 7 pro, 64 bit, I7, 8GB Ram and 500 GB HDD) crashed for the first time with a BSOD!!! Nothing solve the problem so I restore it to factory state (toshiba have a special partition in disc C for that).
So I loose all my software and all the settings (and I had lot of sw installed for my hobbie...astyrophotography. I will need days to get everything working again...). I was really #$%& with that. Today I'm more calm

So my question now is: since I've nothing installed in the computer other that the OS and drivers should I buy an SSD?

I allways have the idea of buying one, but I start installation of sw and then I quit!

Are SSD more reliable that HDD?
Even if I like speed, reliability is paramount for me!
Could you give advice in this respect?
Any model of SSD with good reliability tracking record?

I thought in a Kingston HyperX 3k 240B or 480GB but are they really good?

Regards,
paulo

richnrockville · 07 Sep 2012

Paulo, to give you one answer to your question.
Are SSD more reliable that HDD?
Even if I like speed, reliability is paramount for me!
Could you give advice in this respect?
Any model of SSD with good reliability tracking record?

Yes, I believe that SSD's are more reliable than physical hard disks, due to less moving parts.
Speed is the really bit improvement.
I have been buying the Intel OEM versions of their 520 series SSD's
I also have a crutial that is just a workhorse.

Don't fall for the cheapest as it could be not as good.
I know that windows 8 really screams when booted on an SSD.

Rich

whs · 07 Sep 2012

I think there is little known about the Kingston SSDs. I would go with Intel or Crucial.

In 4 years I never had any of my 6 SSDs fail (knock on wood). They are Intel, OCZ and Crucial. With OCZ you have to know what you are buying. They have a couple of flaky models.

tom982 · 07 Sep 2012

Hello Paulo and welcome to the forums

SSDs aren't any more reliable than HDDs, it's just different technology. They are less prone to being broken though as they don't have any moving parts - should you drop your laptop, there isn't anything to break like the arm on a HDD. Buying an SSD is mainly for performance :)

There was a great review of SSDs in PC Format a few months ago, and the Samsung 830 series won with flying colours :) The review was for lower capacity SSDs (120/128GB), but it should apply to larger capacities as well.

256GB: SAMSUNG 256GB 830 Series SSD - 2.5" SATA-III.. | Ebuyer.com
512GB: SAMSUNG 512GB 830 Series SSD - SATA-III 2.5&quot.. | Ebuyer.com

Here's a MaximumPC review for the Samsung 830: Maximum PC | Samsung 830 Series SSD Review

If you want any more information on the other SSDs in the review, feel free to ask!

Here's a comparison chart for the SSDs:

AnandTech - Kingston HyperX 3K (240GB) SSD Review

There's not much in it between the 830 and the HyperX 3K, they're both really good SSDs.

I'd go for the 830, but at the end of the day it's your choice.

Tom

DavidE · 07 Sep 2012

paulobao said:

So I loose all my software and all the settings (and I had lot of sw installed for my hobbie...astyrophotography. I will need days to get everything working again...). I was really #$%& with that. Today I'm more calm

To me the ability to recover is much more important than the hardware, manufacturer, or technology used.

No matter which approach you choose, you should learn and use a Backup and Restore Strategy.
For the OS partition use an Imaging program such as Acronis, Macrium, the Win 7 built in utility, etc.
If your system crashes you have a much better chance of restoring it without re-installing Windows and all installed Programs.

For Data backups, imaging is not the best choice.
There are alternatives suggested on this site for Data backups.

Having the OS and all programs on a different partition than User Data is preferred by most tech's.
It makes restoring the OS or Data much simpler and safer.

Some tutorials you should read:
Backup Complete Computer - Create an Image Backup
System Image Recovery
Imaging with free Macrium

hth,
David

paulobao · 07 Sep 2012

Thanks a lot for all the advice

David, you are absolutely right! I should have a recovery plan! Could I ask you advice again? Your advice is to have one partition for OS+ SW and another for data! How do I create those partitions (newbie question)? Can I create those now or at the moment I reformat the disk? Tnanks, paulo

whs · 07 Sep 2012

You can create a data partition any time and move the data to it. Just make sure that you have less than 4 primary partitions before you create a new partition (check in Disk Management). See this tutorial for details: Data Partition

paulobao · 07 Sep 2012

Thanks a lot for the tuto

.
I saw you have an SSD in your system! Any advice? Should I replace my HDD for a SSD?

Regards,
paulo

whs · 07 Sep 2012

That is a cost question. I have all my systems with SSDs - also the laptops. I use the HDDs in the desktops only for mass storage and backup. I would never again put an OS on a HDD - far too slow for my taste.

paulobao · 07 Sep 2012

But if cost is not a problem...do you recommend? Tis laptop is to use basically for 2 thinks: control all my astronomy gear via software (cameras, mount, etc, etc...it is really an intensive job because the laptop is working from sunset to sunrise plus soome more hours) and for processim my data (via PS CS5 and some more specific astronomy processing sw). Of course it will run Office...

. So I need reliability because a crash at the mid of an astrophotography session it is a very bad thing!
Until now (and for years) I used a Toshiba MX30 with XP and only 80GB HDD (4800rpm..!) and 2 GB RAM and almost without any fault! Now with this much more powerfull laptop I want it even better !
I saw many articles about SSD in the web but sometimes it seems that someone want to sell you something!
I really appreciate a SSD user opinion more!
So, since my laptop is at factory state now (all those GB of sw and settings are gone) it is a good time to take or not the big decision: stay with the HDD or move to a 240-480 GB SSD.

Cheers,
paulo