Another week, another new SSD low.
$399.99 Makes it about $0.78 per GB. A few months ago I was struggling to find anything under $1.50 a GB.
I purchased a few Hitachi 3tb drives from B&H last time they were on special and had no issues. Received within a week using cheapest shipping option.
Sounds like a good move for me to upgrade.
I would however need to image the current drive onto the SSD when I get it.
What is the best gear to achieve this and I am happy to spend a little bit extra for a good drive dock with read/imaging/cloning capabilities.
side note: my laptop came with OEM Win7 Ult, and from a hardware perspective, will the hardware change (HDD to SSD) impact the registry and cause Win7 boot failure?
what i suggest is to invest in a separate sata drive reader like this http://star01.en.made-in-china.com/product/foIJYNXHZMRd/Chin…
(I'm just pulling links from google images)
then you plug it to a desktop :
1) backup your entire notebook hdd into a backup image on the desktop
2) clone the image onto the ssd.
that way, you don't have to touch the old notebook hdd (which effectively becomes your backup) and you can stuff around with the new SSD until you are satisfied.. if it fails at any stage, rinse repeat step 1, 2.
Sorry I do not image my drives. Iv'e used acronis and was happy with it.
It really depends on what you want to backup.
If files then I suggest what slowmo wrote. If you want the OS and programs with files then you need to image it. Just get an external drive or enclosure that is bigger than the drives you want to image. Alternatively if you have an high capacity burner like blu-ray you can go that route.
Remmember you should re-align the drive if you happen to chose this method. I'm not sure if windows will enable TRIM by default. You will need to manually turn that on also.
It just feels 'dirty' when I use an image.
there are some methods of cloning your existing hdd to a ssd, (plenty of articles on the net, you can google) but I read in a few reviews that it has been proven that a fresh installed OS on a SSD gives you more advantage over a cloned one.
i know it's hard when you need it for a laptop, but do go through the options and see which is best suited for you.
You would have to re-align the sectors wouldnt you.
That is if you want to optimize performance.
yes, that's the term i'm looking for. thank you :)
to me, it's not really optimise performance… but it's more like correcting the way the data is stored so that the SSD doesn't do stupid things (like reading twice) just to read 1 block of data. (to put it in very layman terms.)
epoch007 said,
Also being rather new to this, can anyone suggest the best way to clone my existing HDD onto the SSD?
I recently used EaseUS Disk Copy Home Edition (freeware)
Just create a bootable CD from the menu in Windows first and then reboot to the CD.
Straight forward options with a nice and simple interface.
Thanks Bender.
Does this copy across all the other programs already installed?
Just thinking that Microsoft Office 2010 Pro is rather big to even fit into this, and that is also OEM, so reinstallation is probably out of the question.
It makes an exact clone of your existing hdd.
Then shut down the pc, swap your hdd with the new ssd/hdd and start up the pc again.
It will be running from the clone.
Thanks mate. Shall give this cheaper option a try. Then if all fails, invest in a dual dock device.
Wish I could reinstall OS to get the best performance tho… sucks that OEM key makes this an obstacle.
Blast.
Crucial M4 256 GB is $189.99 on Amazon.
Lowest price ever.
Dammit, dammit, dammit…etc, etc!
Shipping to Australia isn't available for Amazon $189.99
That $32 for shipping really rains on the parade though! :s
I'll wait till Amazon start shipping again, or when local prices fall. (Though that could well be when Venus next crosses the sun)
BANG:
Crucial M4 256GB is now $179.99.
Just beat the lowest price again
You're killin' me dude! :(
now if only they shipped to australia… mail forwarding is too cost prohibitive..
would be awesome if i had some american friends that are coming over to visit.. urgh.
Anybody use this ssd on their mac?
Is it hard to install?
Depends what Mac you talking about. MBP or Mac Pro, ok, but MBA is impossible whilst iMac is tough. Also have to consider the hdd data transfer/OS reinstall.
I will buy it if it is $300 :(
It is a good bargain. I want this badly.
I bought the 256gb model from Amazon when they were $199. Used Shipito Airmail to get it here, postage from CA was only $11 with insurance (no tracking) and it arrived in less than a week from the time I ordered on Amazon… couldn't believe it.
How much does it cost to set up Shipitto?
I have the $50/year option. There is a free option, but the package mailout cost is $8.50 (vs. $2.50 on the paid plan). There are other differences too, like consolidation fees. I think their pricing is too complicated - you should check it out yourself if you're interested.
I do not think the M4 can saturate SATA 2 for there to be any loss.
You will be effectively limiting yourself to 3Gbps. But the M4 doesn't quite rich that limit. An 6Gbps controller will have little if any affect. So go for it.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/355?vs=560