Every day in the morning, when you turn on your computer, it takes up to several minutes until you can start working. We all know the annoying sound of the hard drive reading all data at startup. So what about installing a Solid State Drive (SSD) and get rid of this whole process?
The most known fact about SSDs is that they are much faster than regular hard drives. But this isn't true in all situations. SSDs are faster while reading data, but they are slower while writing. This means that the boot process, which means reading all data for the operating system into RAM becomes a charm and your computer will be ready shortly after you've pressed the power on button. But when you're doing write intensive tasks, like video editing work won't become a pleasure with a SSD. Ok, you've thought about it and want a SSD - what should you do now?
First take a look on your hard drive interface. Older computers use IDE or parallel interfaces. When your computer has this type of interface a change is not worth to switch, as this will still be your system's bottleneck. When you have a Serial ATA interface you're fine.
Which size do you need? This is easy. Plug off your computer and open it carefully. When you own a desktop computer you should have a 3.5" hard drive. Laptops have a 2.5" or 1.8" drive build in. Remove the existing drive and connect your new SSD. Then open your BIOS settings (take a look on your computer manual on how to access your BIOS) and start the hardware identification, so that the system will recognize the new hardware.
SSDs are still much more expensive than regular hard drives, but prices are falling every day. So before switching to a SSD take a minute and think if the pros, like faster booting and lower battery consumption, especially on laptops, are worth to spend money for this type of storage.
The most known fact about SSDs is that they are much faster than regular hard drives. But this isn't true in all situations. SSDs are faster while reading data, but they are slower while writing. This means that the boot process, which means reading all data for the operating system into RAM becomes a charm and your computer will be ready shortly after you've pressed the power on button. But when you're doing write intensive tasks, like video editing work won't become a pleasure with a SSD. Ok, you've thought about it and want a SSD - what should you do now?
First take a look on your hard drive interface. Older computers use IDE or parallel interfaces. When your computer has this type of interface a change is not worth to switch, as this will still be your system's bottleneck. When you have a Serial ATA interface you're fine.
Which size do you need? This is easy. Plug off your computer and open it carefully. When you own a desktop computer you should have a 3.5" hard drive. Laptops have a 2.5" or 1.8" drive build in. Remove the existing drive and connect your new SSD. Then open your BIOS settings (take a look on your computer manual on how to access your BIOS) and start the hardware identification, so that the system will recognize the new hardware.
SSDs are still much more expensive than regular hard drives, but prices are falling every day. So before switching to a SSD take a minute and think if the pros, like faster booting and lower battery consumption, especially on laptops, are worth to spend money for this type of storage.
About the Author:
Dominik Sapinski is lead tech developer at soft-evolution, an innovative provider of a free and business PIM software Pimero which adresses the needs of individuals and small companies.
