Solved What is the cheapest price on a 250gb SSD to install into laptop

[win7user2010]

Hello
My laptop has two regular harddrives, one of which I rarely use. So I am thinking to transfer the files and documents that I don't regularly access to the unused harddrive and transfer the OS and programs to a 250 gb SSD that can be installed internally.

I have been looking online, but it seems that the cost of a 250gb ssd may not be low enough for my tastes. I am wondering if anyone knows what brands or models I should be focusing on and whether anyone is aware of very good deals.

 

[kbrady1979]

Can you not use a 120/128GB SSD for your OS and Programs, and sit your User Data on the mechanical hard drive?

 

[win7user2010]

Thank you for your reply,

I'm not sure if that is possible, after moving my files I have on my primary hard disk 133GB being used. I'm not sure how much additional space I would need in the future to install new programs, or if it is recommend to have more free SSD space than what is being used.

 

[kbrady1979]

How big are your hard drives in your laptop? The idea is to install Windows 7 and your programs on the SSD, and move the Users folder, or just the data in it, to the mechanical hard drive. The data in there, pictures, music, video's, documents, etc don't need to be on the SSD. I have Windows 7 and all of my programs and games on my 128GB SSD and am only using about 55-60GB. I have almost 7TB of data on mechanical hard drives though.

 

[win7user2010]

Thank you,
The 2 harddrives I have now are both 500 GB. I would like to replace one of them with the SSD.

I got my primary drive down to about 130 GB of used space after moving the bulk of my files to the second harddrive.

I just took a look at my Users folder and found that it has almost 50GB of data in it. Is it possible for that entire folder to be moved safely to the other harddrive? If so how? I thought Windows needs that folder to be in that location. If I can get this folder move then I think I can make due with a 120 GB SSD.

Also the reason why I want to do all this is to make my system run significantly faster when running programs. Currently both harddrives are 7200 rpm. Will making these changes make a big difference?

Thank you

 

[jimbo45]

Thank you,
The 2 harddrives I have now are both 500 GB. I would like to replace one of them with the SSD.

I got my primary drive down to about 130 GB of used space after moving the bulk of my files to the second harddrive.

I just took a look at my Users folder and found that it has almost 50GB of data in it. Is it possible for that entire folder to be moved safely to the other harddrive? If so how? I thought Windows needs that folder to be in that location. If I can get this folder move then I think I can make due with a 120 GB SSD.

Also the reason why I want to do all this is to make my system run significantly faster when running programs. Currently both harddrives are 7200 rpm. Will making these changes make a big difference?

Thank you

Hi there
a 120GB SSD will be fine -- although the 250GB ones are cheap enough these days too -- I use half of my 250 GB SSD for storing VM's on it -- makes a VM run really fast but normally a 120 GB SSD will be more than adequate for the OS.

BTW don't junk any of your HDD's you can keep them as well as the SSD's -- and if you really haven't got space for the extra drive simply convert one of the drives into an EXTERNAL one -- either USB or SATA/IDE --plenty of cheap enclosures for this.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[richnrockville]

Cheap-Good-Fast only pick 2.....

Rich

 

[whs]

If you have 130GB on your C drive after you moved the user files, then there is something wrong. On my 6 SSD installations, the C drive never exeeds 30GB and I have a healthy amount of programs installed (but no games).

There are several ways to trim down your C drive but first it would be useful to understand how the 130GBs are used. I suggest you run this program to id the pieces that make up the 130GBs.

 

[win7user2010]

Hi, it took a lot of work and searching through this useful forum, but I was able to move the huge User folder to my other harddrive and everything in my system is working okay.

Now my primary harddrive is down to 73GB (after using windirstat to delete some large useless files). This is probably as low as I can go. So it looks like 120 GB ssd okay for me?

As for SSD, I am looking for something fast (much faster than my 7200 rpm hard drive), good (will not break unexpected after 5 years of regular daily use), and cheap (willing to buy used if it saves me considerably and the condition is good).

 

[kbrady1979]

Don't buy a used SSD. The difference between a fast hard drive and an SSD is like the difference between a station wagon and a Ferrari. Yes, it's that noticeable.

 

[win7user2010]

Hi,
Are there any thoughts on this ssd, my laptop is a custom made one but based on the MSI MS-16F2 (I think)

Samsung 840 Series 2.5 inch 120GB SATA III internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-7TD120BW
Amazon.com: Samsung 840 Series 2.5 inch 120GB SATA III internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-7TD120BW: Computers & Accessories

How can I tell if my laptop is compatible with this?

I am thinking to buy this and take it with my laptop to my local computer hardware/repair shop and have them install it for me and transfer the necessary data.

Also thank you all so much, your advices have been very beneficial.

 

[kbrady1979]

I'm pretty sure that will work. The drive is 7mm thick and that will work for 99% of laptops. You may need to find out how thick your laptop drive is though. Also, just a thought, you may want to do a reinstall of Windows on your new SSD. I'm sure there is a slew of stuff on there you don't want back on there.

 

[whs]

1. There are a few more opportunities to reduce the size of C. As first measure I would get rid of the hiberfile. The command is powercfg -h off. Next I would reduce the the pagefile to 1GB (assuming you have at least 4GB of RAM).

2. The Samsung 840 and 840 Pro are fine SSDs. But you will only get maximum speed out of them if your Sata port is a 6Gb port. With a 3Gb port it will measure less but that won't be very noticeable in real life.

The form factor of a Samsung should fit into your laptop. Usually all standard 2.5" SSDs fit into laptops.

3. Installing the SSD is a piece of cake and should take less than 10 minutes. But you should first transfer the OS to it - for that you need an external enclosure to attach the SSD (but you could also temporarily remove the other HDD from the laptop and house the SSD temporarily in that bay). The easiest is to use the Paragon Migration tool. That will do the migration with 3 clicks.

But you can also do it 'manually'. For that I have written this little tutorial. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/149969-ssd-install-transfer-operating-system.html

 

[win7user2010]

Thank you all

I am thinking to go for this one:

SAMSUNG 840 Series MZ-7TD120BW 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
SAMSUNG 840 Series MZ-7TD120BW 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - Newegg.com

My last question is that there is another package of this product that comes with a "kit" for a slightly higher price?

Both packages come with data migration software (according to the product description on the newegg page), but the more expensive "kit" package includes:

"** Installation Kit also includes 3.5" bracket with screws, SATA data and power cables, mounting spacer, and SATA to USB adapter cable"

I have no idea if I need those brackets and cables or not.

Also based on your advices I will try installing myself, but I hope I can avoid having to re-install the operating system. I am hoping the migration software will allow me to avoid that hassle (it is advertised to be able to migrate the OS).

And thank you all again for your help, I find this site so useful. Thank you for your time

 

[Bongo]

"** Installation Kit also includes 3.5" bracket with screws, SATA data and power cables, mounting spacer, and SATA to USB adapter cable"

You do not need them, that is for installing in a desktop.

Jerry

 

[win7user2010]

thank you for all your help, i went ahead with the purchase