SSD Benifits

What are the benefits of putting your OS on a
SSD and everything else on a second regular
HD? Also what size SSD would be optimal?
Thanks

SSDs generally: improved overall snappiness, faster boot times, faster disc or anti-virus scans, faster application opening---they improve anything that accesses the hard drive.

The standard advice here is to put OS AND programs on SSD, with data going on HDD. Not just OS on SSD. If you limit the SSD to just OS, you aren't taking advantage of SSD speed when opening apps.

Putting data on HDD, with OS and apps on SSD means C can be smaller, which leads to faster imaging, smaller images, a less complicated backup strategy, and more simplified restorations via images.

Ideal size probably 80 to 128 GB, assuming that will easily contain your OS and applications. I'd go higher ONLY if your apps wouldn't fit OR if you have a relatively small amount of data and might be able to fit OS, apps, and all data on a 256 or 512 GB SSD.

There isn't much point to putting some data on SSD and some data on HDD. It just complicates your backups.

Put large games on HDD if necessary. Games on SSD reportedly doesn't improve the gaming experience other than faster loading time.

Best regarded brands currently: Intel, Crucial, Samsung, in no particular order.

I personally think that 128GB is the entry size these days. Prices have dropped substantially, and also, 120/128GB drives are faster than lower capacity drives. As far as what to put on your SSD, the OS of course, all programs and if you just play a couple of games, you can put them on it too. EVERYTHING else needs to go on a mechanical HD or whatever you are using as bulk storage. Most people redirect their User folder(folder that holds pictures, music, documents, downloads, etc) to their HDD as well, because none of that stuff needs the speed of an SSD.

Samsung 830(840Pro is coming out in 2 weeks), Corsair Neutron GTX, Plextor M5 Pro, OCZ Vertex 4.......all those are top performers and will be exponentially faster than your mechanical HDD.

Another aspect that may or may not interest you.......you can drop an SSD and it will still work because it has no moving parts. It doesn't require as much power as a HDD, and runs cooler. Not much in terms of using it in a desktop, but in a laptop it can reduce vibration and noise considerably and extend battery life by 30m-1hour easily.

I have the OS on one SSD and another that I use for storage. Both of them are 128 Gbs. The reason I have an SSD for storage is that I love the file transfer speed increase it gives over a HDD, especially when doing things like system images. Of course the the smaller size does limit storage capacity, so the data I don't access on a daily basis is stored on a HDD.

Great responses Thanks for your input.

I currently do not have very much on my "C" drive, Because I
download and upload alot I use external drives(4) as storage.

Just checked how much space I am using on my "C" drive and
I have used just 32GB. Considering I have a 600GB hard drive
sounds like 80GB would do just fine. However as kbrady1979
stated the 120/128 drives are faster.

Also are there any reliability issues with SSD's ?

I have an 80 GB SSD and use 31. I paid 160 dollars 18 months ago. I've never wished I had bought a larger one since I had a good idea I'd never have a C partition that used 60 or 70 GB.

Prices have dropped a lot in the last 18 months and that might influence your decision.

Larger drives are a bit faster, but the chances of you noticing the difference are very small. The fact is, small and large SSDs are all much faster than an HDD.

There are reliability issues with all electronics, but I don't see SSDs as less reliable than mechanical drives.

This might be useful--it's the return rates for SSDs sold by a large dealer:

Components returns rates (6) (page 7: SSDs) - BeHardware

Thanks for the reply. I agree, I would likely not notice any
speed difference.