Psion7 Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 I have a Dell Studio 1737 laptop with SATA2/3Gbps. This laptop has two internal drive bays so I am looking at picking up a ~120GB SSD for the OS, Programs, etc. while keeping things like media on the 7200RPM HDD. I don't want to buy something that is overkill for this machine though as it is limited by the SATA2 interface. So what is the fastest drive I can get for this machine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Raze Subscriber² Posted April 14, 2015 Subscriber² Share Posted April 14, 2015 I recently purchased and installed this SSD into an older Toshiba (A505-S6967) and it has performed great, much faster than the 320GB Western Digital Blue 5400 rpm it came with. It also has a SATA2 interface. Used the included Samsung Migration software without problems. http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E250B-AM/dp/B00OAJ412U/ref=lp_10338773011_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1429013157&sr=1-1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psion7 Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 What sort of speeds do you get over SATA2 with that drive? Have you done any benchmarks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Raze Subscriber² Posted April 14, 2015 Subscriber² Share Posted April 14, 2015 I'll run some tests with the Samsung Magician software that came with it and post a screenshot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon H Supervisor Posted April 14, 2015 Supervisor Share Posted April 14, 2015 Crucial just came out with a new low end SSD line that should work perfectly for your needs http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/ssd/series/BX100 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Praetor Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Whatever SSD you buy, it will so much better than the actual HDD that laptop has. Having said that, since it's limited to SATA 2, it won't make sense buying a high performance SSD since the controller will be a big bootleneck. You can buy a Crucial MX or BX line since those are cheap SSDs with good performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Raze Subscriber² Posted April 14, 2015 Subscriber² Share Posted April 14, 2015 Here's a screenshot of the benchmark using the Samsung software, as has been mentioned you are connecting to a SATA2, so performance will reflect that. It will still be faster than any hard drive - I also purchased a Crucial for my PC that is performing great - http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX200-500GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B00RQA6E20/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1429015796&sr=1-4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daorbed9 Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 The IO is where you really see the performance of the SSD. The read/write speeds aren't as big as a factor in most of what you do for normal everyday use. The real issue with SSD in older pc's is the lack of ahci support. Over time you will lose performance and the life of the ssd will be reduced. I'm sure you don't really care its cut from 7-8 years to 4-5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psion7 Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 Here's a screenshot of the benchmark using the Samsung software, as has been mentioned you are connecting to a SATA2, so performance will reflect that. It will still be faster than any hard drive - I also purchased a Crucial for my PC that is performing great - http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX200-500GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B00RQA6E20/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1429015796&sr=1-4 Oh nice speeds, a lot better than the ~90MB/s I get at the moment with the HDD The IO is where you really see the performance of the SSD. The read/write speeds aren't as big as a factor in most of what you do for normal everyday use. The real issue with SSD in older pc's is the lack of ahci support. Over time you will lose performance and the life of the ssd will be reduced. I'm sure you don't really care its cut from 7-8 years to 4-5. What exactly do you mean by "lack of AHCI support"? My currents drives are installed as AHCI not IDE, is that what you mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daorbed9 Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Oh nice speeds, a lot better than the ~90MB/s I get at the moment with the HDD What exactly do you mean by "lack of AHCI support"? My currents drives are installed as AHCI not IDE, is that what you mean? Excellent you have an older model with AHCI. Then really you are only limited by max speed which isn't much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psion7 Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 Excellent you have an older model with AHCI. Then really you are only limited by max speed which isn't much. Nice Many thanks everyone. I think I will go for the Samsung 850 EVO as I have only heard good things about them. Not sure if I should go for the 120GB or 250GB though. I don't really need 250GB but it doesn't cost that much more and apparently IOPS are a little better although I doubt that would make any difference on my machine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Raze Subscriber² Posted April 14, 2015 Subscriber² Share Posted April 14, 2015 Get the 250GB, that extra space is always nice to have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
binesh Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 I recently upgraded to a Samsung 850 EVO, and my 2011 laptop breaths a new life now. Read about how I installed it and moved the old HDD to the optical drive bay here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
typu Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 i was amazed when i switched from a hdd to a ssd. thats years ago. that 120gb drive from intel cost me a ton ;-P but it was awesome. the access times make the difference imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psion7 Posted April 14, 2015 Author Share Posted April 14, 2015 I recently upgraded to a Samsung 850 EVO, and my 2011 laptop breaths a new life now. Read about how I installed it and moved the old HDD to the optical drive bay here. What exactly is Rapid Mode? I am guessing it takes a chunk of RAM to use as a cache to give such insane speeds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daorbed9 Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 What exactly is Rapid Mode? I am guessing it takes a chunk of RAM to use as a cache to give such insane speeds? in general it slows everything down to increase io a little bit. not worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psion7 Posted April 15, 2015 Author Share Posted April 15, 2015 One last question - I have been reading about this whole TRIM thing and wanted to check if it is a drive/os thing on a controller thing? Obviously my SATA controller is old so isn't gonna know anything about SSDs and TRIM but will Windows 8.1 deal with that stuff for me? Also I install the Intel Rapid Storage Technology stuff for my storage controller, when I reinstall do I still install this? My assumption is yes and also install the Samsung management software correct? They won't "fight" each other or something crazy for control over the controller/drive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
binesh Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Samsung Magician and Intel Rapid Storage Technology can run in tandem. And as for TRIM, the SATA II interface will allow for it if the drive is running in AHCI mode (check your BIOS settings). Try running the following command to see if TRIM is actually enabled: fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify Results: DisableDeleteNotify = 1 (Windows TRIM commands are disabled) DisableDeleteNotify = 0 (Windows TRIM commands are enabled) Psion7 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psion7 Posted April 16, 2015 Author Share Posted April 16, 2015 Just ordered a 250GB Samsung 850 EVO Thanks everyone! +Raze 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGHammer Posted April 16, 2015 Share Posted April 16, 2015 Samsung Magician and Intel Rapid Storage Technology can run in tandem. And as for TRIM, the SATA II interface will allow for it if the drive is running in AHCI mode (check your BIOS settings). Try running the following command to see if TRIM is actually enabled: fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify Results: DisableDeleteNotify = 1 (Windows TRIM commands are disabled) DisableDeleteNotify = 0 (Windows TRIM commands are enabled) In most cases, SSD-monitoring software expects Intel RST to be present - especially if it launched after RST itself was created (which is the case for most such software). Even better, you can typically use such software without an SSD present at all (this is certainly the case with Magician or Crucial's similar Storage Executive - which is browser-based) to get an idea of how it works (and whether it suits you in terms of usability, compatibility, etc.) - I'm running Storage Executive in Windows 10 10056 Pro - as a Firefox add-in, despite having no SSDs in my desktop. Where an SSD would likely show up first is on my new main development platform - which is a NOTEBOOK - Baby Pavilion, to be precise. The choice is between a pair of identically-priced Crucial 500GB SSDs - BX100 v. MX200. Either is technically overkill (faster transfer rates than the 3 GB firewall of Baby Pavilion's SATA ports); however, neither is over $200USD - retail. ($199.99USD at MicroCenter Fairfax, VA - $187.91USD from Amazon; the spread is barely ten percent.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psion7 Posted April 17, 2015 Author Share Posted April 17, 2015 Drive arrived today so I did a reinstall of Windows Below is the benchmark. Not too bad. binesh and +Raze 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidM Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 Just ordered a 250GB Samsung 850 EVO Thanks everyone! I really hope the 850 EVO's dont have the same bug the 840 EVO's have, my average read speed was down to 57MB/s on a 5 month old drive. Samsung released a "Restoration Tool" that I used to get back up to 536MB/s but it's already dropping as I type this. I'm afraid to test it again because it just makes me mad, and while they keep talking about a new "fix" but haven't released it yet. My first ssd was a Kingston 300v still used in my desktop and it was reading @ 267MB/s and it's 2 years old, they have a newer model that is really tempting me right now. I'm going to check out the BX100 as well $99 usd for 240GB sounds pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obry Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 I recently purchased and installed this SSD into an older Toshiba (A505-S6967) and it has performed great, much faster than the 320GB Western Digital Blue 5400 rpm it came with. It also has a SATA2 interface. Used the included Samsung Migration software without problems. http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E250B-AM/dp/B00OAJ412U/ref=lp_10338773011_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1429013157&sr=1-1 I just purchased the exact same drive for a Dell Precision laptop. Took out the optical tray and got a HDD caddy to go in its place where I installed the old hard drive. Difference is night and day even though it wasn't exactly an old machine. It is a great drive. Only problem is with all my apps it's almost full even with moving things like Dropbox, OneDrive, Downloads and other user folders to the second hard drive. +Raze 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psion7 Posted April 23, 2015 Author Share Posted April 23, 2015 I really hope the 850 EVO's dont have the same bug the 840 EVO's have, my average read speed was down to 57MB/s on a 5 month old drive. Samsung released a "Restoration Tool" that I used to get back up to 536MB/s but it's already dropping as I type this. I'm afraid to test it again because it just makes me mad, and while they keep talking about a new "fix" but haven't released it yet. My first ssd was a Kingston 300v still used in my desktop and it was reading @ 267MB/s and it's 2 years old, they have a newer model that is really tempting me right now. I'm going to check out the BX100 as well $99 usd for 240GB sounds pretty good. Yeah this is something I am worried about too. My fingers are crossed Samsung have fixed it in the 850 otherwise I am gonna be ###### Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TopGhia Posted April 23, 2015 Share Posted April 23, 2015 I put a Crucial M550 in my Vaio S Series & it's made one helluava difference from the standard hard drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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