'Documents' disk; is a SSD worth it?

[kiddingguy]

Just a question... for a regular disk containing only documents and videos... is is worth to upgrade a SDHD/5400 RPM HDD to a SSD?

In terms of speed? Maybe reliability? Or other things?
Or doesn't it make any sense for this?

[Brandon H Supervisor]

I'd say it depends on how much data you're storing. An average of 5TB or less per drive then I say go for it. Prices have come down enough and we all know longevity isn't the issue it used to be on them. That paired with being quieter and more power efficient and it's a no brainer IMO these days.

[kiddingguy]

On 13/04/2023 at 21:39, Brandon H said:

I'd say it depends on how much data you're storing. An average of 5TB or less per drive then I say go for it. Prices have come down enough and we all know longevity isn't the issue it used to be on them. That paired with being quieter and more power efficient and it's a no brainer IMO these days.

My current disk is about 500 GB full (out of 1 TB), so I'm thinking of being future-proof with 2 TB.

[+Warwagon MVC]

On 13/04/2023 at 14:41, kiddingguy said:

My current disk is about 500 GB full (out of 1 TB), so I'm thinking of being future-proof with 2 TB.

Just remember to backup, backup, backup.

[farmeunit]

With prices dropping, it's a good time to buy, really, but you won't see a huge difference unless you move files around. 

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

On 13/04/2023 at 18:43, Warwagon said:

Just remember to backup, backup, backup.

And RAID 1 isn't a backup

[Gerowen]

I would go with an SSD.  HDDs are still fine for large, contiguous files like movies and such, as backup drives, and maybe to install older games that don't rely that heavily on reading directly from the hard drive while playing, but I regularly help my mom maintain her desktop and she has a 3TB internal hard drive that she uses for bulk storage and it's got thousands of small files like photos, documents, etc., and at least with Windows, it's a nightmare.  If you have to run a search for anything it takes for EVER.  Syncing files to a backup service like OneDrive takes ages because it takes so long to index what is present on the drive in order to figure out what needs to be backed up.  I even had the idea to try and run some de-duplication software to make sure she didn't have backups of her backups all stored on the same drive, and after 2 days I just cancelled the check because it was just ridiculous.  The drive is fine, passes SMART tests and such, it's just that spinning rust drives are incredibly slow when you've got a bunch of small files located at disparate places on the disk so that the heads have to thrash around to find things.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

One advantage to storing your data on a SSD is that backups (and restores) will be faster than from between two hard disk drives.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

[binaryzero]

The only time I'd consider buying a standard hard disk is when I need a volume > 4tb.

[kiddingguy]

On 14/04/2023 at 01:43, Warwagon said:

Just remember to backup, backup, backup.

Yes. I have some cloud-storage options available.

[Malisk]

On 14/04/2023 at 07:33, binaryzero said:

The only time I'd consider buying a standard hard disk is when I need a volume > 4tb.

I agree. I don't think there is even much of a financial incentive to go HDD with the current prices unless you start hitting several terabytes as you say. SSD volumes are really pushing HDD's out of the market for normal use as far as I can see.

[kiddingguy]

On 14/04/2023 at 12:34, Malisk said:

I agree. I don't think there is even much of a financial incentive to go HDD with the current prices unless you start hitting several terabytes as you say. SSD volumes are really pushing HDD's out of the market for normal use as far as I can see.

Question is on upgrading. And is it worth it? The current SSHD is functioning okay for docs.
Just wondering if a major speed bump, access time etc can be reached with regular word processor docs, some spreadsheets, and a video now and then.

[Dick Montage]

On 16/04/2023 at 13:42, kiddingguy said:

Just wondering if a major speed bump, access time etc can be reached with regular word processor docs, some spreadsheets, and a video now and then.

Yes, but to what level you’d notice it on smaller files is arguable.

[kiddingguy]

On 16/04/2023 at 15:53, Dick Montage said:

Yes, but to what level you’d notice it on smaller files is arguable.

That’s basically the question indeed…

[Dick Montage]

On 16/04/2023 at 15:04, kiddingguy said:

That’s basically the question indeed…

Then only you can answer it. Only you know what files you’ll be playing with now and in the next couple of years.

[kiddingguy]

On 16/04/2023 at 16:15, Dick Montage said:

Then only you can answer it. Only you know what files you’ll be playing with now and in the next couple of years.

This is a docs drive, so basically some Word-documents, Excel files, pictures etc. Some music files to store & play. Nothing major and hefty.
Windows, software & games are running from an NVMe disk or a -slower- 5 TB HHD WD_BLACK.

[bledd]

All HDD are too loud to have in the same room as a human.

 

SSD.

[bikeman25]

Myself i still use an older 4TB hard drive as my Documents drive, along with some videos, and excel worksheets, word documents,  Downloads and a bit of Music to listen to locally if i don't wanna stream via Pandora or Spotify as i was always concerned with too many writes to NvMe Boot drive, or Secondary Game SSD drive.

Someday i might be comfortable to go all SSD, but so far i don't think i am as yet myself lol.   

But who knows maybe a Christmas time 2023 i'll change my mind and configure a SSD as document drive

 

[+Warwagon MVC]

For me personally ... SSDs for boot drives and for all storage needs HDs. If I buy 1 4TB drive I buy 2 one for storage and 1 for a backup of the 1st.

[farmeunit]

On 16/04/2023 at 09:36, kiddingguy said:

This is a docs drive, so basically some Word-documents, Excel files, pictures etc. Some music files to store & play. Nothing major and hefty.
Windows, software & games are running from an NVMe disk or a -slower- 5 TB HHD WD_BLACK.

If it's just for docs, don't bother.  As long as games and OS are on an SSD, that's all that really matters.  Video editing can be hugely improved with SSD, as well as file transfers.  Just opening smaller files and even somewhat large ones won't matter at all.

[REM2000]

Depends on your budget, 2TB HDD will be a lot less than 2TB SSD, 

You have the speed and less noise with an SSD, 

Either should be pretty reliable, both are susceptible to failure, as others have said, with a solid backup you shouldn't need to worry. 

Personally everything live/in-use is SSD (Docs/Games/OS etc). 

Backup and large storage is mechanical due to cost. (as well as having a backup in the cloud). 

[DKAngel]

On 16/04/2023 at 22:40, bledd said:

All HDD are too loud to have in the same room as a human.

 

SSD.

i cant even hear the 5hdds i have in my case, all i hear is fans going full pelt at times

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

On 16/04/2023 at 09:40, bledd said:

All HDD are too loud to have in the same room as a human.

 

SSD.

If your HDDs are too loud, you might want to check them.. LOL

[bledd]

On 20/04/2023 at 16:44, DKAngel said:

i cant even hear the 5hdds i have in my case, all i hear is fans going full pelt at times

Well then your fans are too loud too.

 

I use a mixture of 80, 120 and 140MM fans, all at 5V.

[DKAngel]

On 25/04/2023 at 18:05, bledd said:

Well then your fans are too loud too.

 

I use a mixture of 80, 120 and 140MM fans, all at 5V.

its only ,my cpu and gfx card i can hear when gaming other than that my pc just has a nice quiet hum