Solid State Drives

[PedroDaGr8]

Oddly enough, in spite of my tech love. I just finally got around to upgrading my OWN laptop to a solid state drive. I can't count the number of systems that I have installed SSDs in for people, while neglecting my own. I got the Samsung Evo 850. At $150 for a 500GB drive, there is NO reason anymore to not use an SSD in your system. Additionally, if you have a Windows 8 or newer PC, Microsoft makes it super easy to reinstall windows. You just need a USB thumbdrive and microsofts media creation tool. It will handle creating the USB installation drive. Then with installation, there is no key to enter in, it pulls the key from the BIOS. Surprisingly easy, I must say. Anyways, I have to reiterate that an SSD is BY FAR the best upgrade you can make in a computer right now. With this SSD, my computer boots in a matter of maybe 10 seconds to the desktop. What is funny is the old HDD in this laptop was such a piece of dogdoo that the computer felt pathetically slow (it is a cheap laptop, so that isn't saying much). With the SSD, it is super fast! So if your computer is feeling rather sluggish and you haven't made this jump, you owe it to yourself.

[CitizenBBN]

Right there with you. About 18 months ago I bought my current laptop and I love it. Got it 2nd hand (do that with all my systems these days), but it screams, and a huge part is the SSD drive. Mine is only 256Gb, but I don't store a lot of big data on it really, but it is feeling a tad cramped b/c I'm being lazy about getting rid of some image files.

Anyway, it screams. Now I also have 16GB of ram and it's an i7 chip. The Windows experience rates my hd at the full 7.9, but graphics are a tad slower on this system at 7.1. Still a screaming system, but it starts with the SSD.

I got one with RAID for my auction manager, it goes pretty quick, but still would do better with SSD.

I rarely wait for anything with this laptop, including Visual Studio, which is a hog. Takes no more than 10 seconds to start the whole environment from scratch.

[PedroDaGr8]

The biggest reason I was waiting was I was waiting for 500GB drives to come down in price. I do EVERYTHING with my laptop, so I wanted something that I knew was reliable but also had the storage space for everything I do. Most 250gb drives just didn't have enough room after OS is installed. So I knew that I needed a 500GB size drive. I agree on it screaming, my is a core i5, cheapie Asus. Nothing special about it but I would put it up against brand new top of the line computers with standard HDD.

[CitizenBBN]

I had to compromise some to go with 256GB, but the good thing is that SSD still performs fine with a higher percentage used. I could use some more space, but I can get by.

[PedroDaGr8]

For those that need it:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RQA6L50/


Amazon has a 1TB Crucial SSD on sale for $269.99.

[dan_bgblue]

Now priced at $319.99. That was a short sale. ;-)

[PedroDaGr8]

Now priced at $319.99. That was a short sale. ;-)

Yeah, they usually have a limited number at certain prices. So the better the deal the faster they go.

[KSRBEvans]

I was hoping to catch a 1 TB drive on a Black Friday sale next month, but $269 is a pretty good price. Sorry it's off sale. I'll keep an eye peeled in case it drops again.

Pedro, I see that Crucial drive comes with Acronis True Image, which I assume you use to put the old drive image on the new drive. Any thoughts on Acronis vs. Super Duper (I have a 2012 MacBook Pro)?

[PedroDaGr8]

I was hoping to catch a 1 TB drive on a Black Friday sale next month, but $269 is a pretty good price. Sorry it's off sale. I'll keep an eye peeled in case it drops again.

Pedro, I see that Crucial drive comes with Acronis True Image, which I assume you use to put the old drive image on the new drive. Any thoughts on Acronis vs. Super Duper (I have a 2012 MacBook Pro)?

I have not used SuperDuper before, I have used Acronis for transferring an install between standard HDDs, it worked very very well. With Windows, it is not advised (if you can help it) to do an image between HDD and SSD. This is because there is a lot of optimization that goes on "underneath the hood" for SSDs. As a result a transfer across doesn't work quite as well between the two HDD types, it isn't anything critical. Just a fresh install is a bit faster. I am not sure if OSX does the same level of optimizations and enhancements that Windows does. That being said, for a lot of people, not having to reinstall anything far outweighs any boost in speed.

As an aside, I am going to make a post about a black friday TRICK that you can use if you have a Discover Card.

[KSRBEvans]

Here's another sale on SSDs--not familiar with the OCZ brand, but $140 for a 480 GB drive:

http://deals.kinja.com/choose-your-capacity-and-save-big-on-a-new-ocz-ssd-1743266316?rev=1447862902793

[PedroDaGr8]

Here's another sale on SSDs--not familiar with the OCZ brand, but $140 for a 480 GB drive:

http://deals.kinja.com/choose-your-capacity-and-save-big-on-a-new-ocz-ssd-1743266316?rev=1447862902793

OCZ was an independent computer peripherals company until a couple years ago. They released a couple of bad series of drives and declared bankruptcy. Their name and IP was purchased by Toshiba a few years back and they are now the public facing wing of Toshiba's storage division (which was a huge manufacturer for OEM stuff but had essentially no consumer focused gear).

[CitizenBBN]

Ah Toshiba. I had the first laptop with a hard drive, it was a Toshiba. 10 meg drive. used so much power it had to be plugged in to AC, no battery. Orange plasma screen.

Got me through college though, thing was a tank and could crank on Lotus 1-2-3 and the stats DOS apps. Remote in with procomm to the VAX and I could rock, running the vax simulations for operations class and then cutting and pasting results into Lotus. Just had to bring my own cables and know which ports were active in the business building.

[KSRBEvans]

More today--Sandisk 960 GB drive, $219.99:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M8ABHVQ/?tag=kinjadeals-20&ascsubtag=[t|link[p|1743484238[a|B00M8ABHVQ[au|5727177402741770316

Transcend 512 GB drive, $131.99:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VX82PA6/?tag=kinjadeals-20&ascsubtag=[t|link[p|1743484238[a|B00VX82PA6[au|5727177402741770316

I'm looking really hard at the Sandisk because I hate running out of disk space, but I've only used about 300 gb on our 500 gb drive, so maybe a 500 will be enough.

[PedroDaGr8]

More today--Sandisk 960 GB drive, $219.99:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M8ABHVQ/?tag=kinjadeals-20&ascsubtag=[t|link[p|1743484238[a|B00M8ABHVQ[au|5727177402741770316

Transcend 512 GB drive, $131.99:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VX82PA6/?tag=kinjadeals-20&ascsubtag=[t|link[p|1743484238[a|B00VX82PA6[au|5727177402741770316

I'm looking really hard at the Sandisk because I hate running out of disk space, but I've only used about 300 gb on our 500 gb drive, so maybe a 500 will be enough.
If it helps you make up your mind, that Sandisk drive is significantly higher quality than the Transcend drive.

Sent from my LG-ls990 using Tapatalk

[KSRBEvans]

If it helps you make up your mind, that Sandisk drive is significantly higher quality than the Transcend drive.

Sent from my LG-ls990 using Tapatalk

:finger hovering above the mouse on the "Place Your Order" button:

[PedroDaGr8]

:finger hovering above the mouse on the "Place Your Order" button:

Just do it. Peer pressure.....peeeerrr presssuree......peeeeeeeeeerrrrrr prresssssuurrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Just kidding, if you are thinking about making the upgrade from a standard drive to an SSD, this is a great drive to do it with. Thanks for the link by the way, I sent it to my mom to order for a couple of computers at the office.

[KSRBEvans]

SanDisk 240GB, $54.99:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00S9Q9VS4?tag=kinjasocial-20

[PedroDaGr8]

SanDisk 240GB, $54.99:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00S9Q9VS4?tag=kinjasocial-20

Damn good deal for those that want to upgrade the basic computer. Many of us barely use a 512GB drive, let alone 1TB

[KSRBEvans]

At Newegg, Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB $76, 500 GB $140:

http://9to5toys.com/

[KSRBEvans]

If you're still looking (like me, unfortunately), SanDisk 480 GB $119:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M8ABFX6/?tag=kinjadeals-20&ascsubtag=d88651781b8bef1fc0482d408cb6367a0f8d96df&rawdata=%5Br%7Chttp%3A%2F%2Fdeals.kinja.com%2Ftoda ys-best-deals-wake-up-light-chromebit-camping-ha-1761475957%3Frev%3D1456505037089%5Bt%7Clink%5Bp%7C 1761475957%5Ba%7CB00M8ABFX6%5Bau%7C572717740274177 0316

[PedroDaGr8]

one thing I should mention, the Samsung software for migrating a drive over worked flawlessly. Keep your normal drive in the pc, hookup the ssd drive via a USB to SATA adapter (about $10 from amazon) and run the software. The software spots the Samsung SSD and mirrors your internal drive over in about 2-4hrs time (depending on drive size and amount of data stored). When done, just replace the standard drive in the laptop with the SSD and you are good to go.

[PedroDaGr8]

If you're still looking (like me, unfortunately), SanDisk 480 GB $119:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M8ABFX6/?tag=kinjadeals-20&ascsubtag=d88651781b8bef1fc0482d408cb6367a0f8d96df&rawdata=%5Br%7Chttp%3A%2F%2Fdeals.kinja.com%2Ftoda ys-best-deals-wake-up-light-chromebit-camping-ha-1761475957%3Frev%3D1456505037089%5Bt%7Clink%5Bp%7C 1761475957%5Ba%7CB00M8ABFX6%5Bau%7C572717740274177 0316

It is ~$10 cheaper today.

Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M8ABFX6?tag=slicinc-20&ascsubtag=0bd6a93cdfe911e5aec02a49a6ee87b60INT

NewEgg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?sdtid=8536365&SID=60073616dfe911e59f70a233133ff7c80INT&AID=10440897&PID=1225267&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-cables-_-na-_-na&Item=N82E16820173012&cm_sp=

[CitizenBBN]

I have to pull the trigger at this point. Did the homework and my Dell M6600, which is a great machine, supports dual drives, I can pop this baby in as pure storage space and not even have to fiddle with moving my boot drive stuff around.

[PedroDaGr8]

I have to pull the trigger at this point. Did the homework and my Dell M6600, which is a great machine, supports dual drives, I can pop this baby in as pure storage space and not even have to fiddle with moving my boot drive stuff around.

Why would you do that? The biggest benefits of an SSD are in running the OS and all major programs off of it. If SanDisk is like Samsung, the software for migrating a drive over is actually quite robust and painless. WAY easier than it used to be. All you need is the software and a USB-SATA cable (which I am sure you have). It took about 4 hours of unattended work to migrate everything over.

Procedure:

Connect the USB-SATA to your new SSD and plug into the computer
Let the drivers install
Run the software, it will automatically recognize the HDD in the PC and the SSD attached to USB
Run the migration (it will take about 4 hours or so, but you don't need to be there for it. I let it run overnight.)
Once the migration is complete, power down and install the SSD as your main drive.
Power back up and you are done. You can then wipe or remove the boot info from the HDD and use it for storage.
Install the HDD in the secondary drive bay.

[CitizenBBN]

I might, I'm debating, but I left out a key fact: the primary drive is a 256GB SSD already. :)

This thing is balls fast. Not the fastest in the world, but for the money I won on this one. SSD, 16GB, i7 at 2.4Ghz. I know I can do better now, but this thing loads Visual STudio almost immediately

What I need is more space. 256GB is a bit cramped.

[CitizenBBN]

I am thinking about upgrading some of my older machines which would speed them up enough to put them into service for various things around the gallery.

[PedroDaGr8]

I might, I'm debating, but I left out a key fact: the primary drive is a 256GB SSD already. :)

This thing is balls fast. Not the fastest in the world, but for the money I won on this one. SSD, 16GB, i7 at 2.4Ghz. I know I can do better now, but this thing loads Visual STudio almost immediately

What I need is more space. 256GB is a bit cramped.

I knew there had to be a reason why you weren't outright upgrading. 1TB SSD drives have dropped below $200 as well if you need a LOT more space.


I am thinking about upgrading some of my older machines which would speed them up enough to put them into service for various things around the gallery.

Yeah, this is a GREAT way to upgrade laptops that otherwise feel way too slow. I did this for several of my parents computers and it made a night and day difference.

[CitizenBBN]

The laptop we use for inventory is dragging on the HD. I need to do some cleaning, but it doesn't need storage space, for $70 I can swap out the drive and it will be a huge boost, not a bad deal.

What I need to do is not be lazy, get the 500gb drive and upgrade, then use the one I have now in that other computer. Just need to do a bare metal backup I guess, then install it on there.

Does the drive come with migration software? I've got Acronis on this one, it does bare metal backup/restore, but if the migration software is better that's great.

[CitizenBBN]

And yes I have a USB/SATA cable around here somewhere.

[PedroDaGr8]

The laptop we use for inventory is dragging on the HD. I need to do some cleaning, but it doesn't need storage space, for $70 I can swap out the drive and it will be a huge boost, not a bad deal.

What I need to do is not be lazy, get the 500gb drive and upgrade, then use the one I have now in that other computer. Just need to do a bare metal backup I guess, then install it on there.

Does the drive come with migration software? I've got Acronis on this one, it does bare metal backup/restore, but if the migration software is better that's great.

If it is like the Samsung then it does, I have not used the SanDisk personally. The Samsung drive migration software worked remarkably well, about as easily as you can get. Connect your drive, it recognized the Samsung drive and click a couple buttons and the transfer starts. If it doesn't come with software (in searching I can't find anything definitive) then of course Acronis is a reasonable choice.

[KSRBEvans]

I'm looking at doing a general overhaul of my 2012 MacBook Pro: new battery, new SSD, additional RAM. What's holding me up is trying to decide whether I want to stay at a 500 GB drive or upgrade to a 1 TB. I still have another 150 GB or so on my current drive so I don't think I need to upgrade, but as long as I'm getting in there, I'm also thinking about just doing it anyway.

[PedroDaGr8]

I'm looking at doing a general overhaul of my 2012 MacBook Pro: new battery, new SSD, additional RAM. What's holding me up is trying to decide whether I want to stay at a 500 GB drive or upgrade to a 1 TB. I still have another 150 GB or so on my current drive so I don't think I need to upgrade, but as long as I'm getting in there, I'm also thinking about just doing it anyway.

If you only have 150GB left on a 500GB, without a doubt go for a 1TB; if you have 150GB left on a 256GB or 320GB, then a 500GB is likely all you need. With the way prices have dropped recently, namely with 1TB often dropping to the $170-190 price point on sale; it is hard to not upgrade that high. Luckily, your macbook is a generation where apple still allowed you to do upgrades.


Though you might not need it, iFixit has some great teardown info for the Mid-2012 MacBook Pro 13":
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/MacBook_Pro_13%22_Unibody_Mid_2012

[CitizenBBN]

Now Apple just shoots you quietly when you try to mess with "their stuff".

Unless you're in China, in which case they do whatever the Chinese government says to do.

[KSRBEvans]

If you only have 150GB left on a 500GB, without a doubt go for a 1TB; if you have 150GB left on a 256GB or 320GB, then a 500GB is likely all you need. With the way prices have dropped recently, namely with 1TB often dropping to the $170-190 price point on sale; it is hard to not upgrade that high. Luckily, your macbook is a generation where apple still allowed you to do upgrades.


Though you might not need it, iFixit has some great teardown info for the Mid-2012 MacBook Pro 13":
https://www.ifixit.com/Device/MacBook_Pro_13%22_Unibody_Mid_2012

Awesome, thanks!

[PedroDaGr8]

Amazon has the SanDisk 480GB SSD for $99.99 right now. This is the lowest I have ever seen for this drive and pretty much the lowest I have seen for this size from a reputable company.

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Plus-480GB-2-5-Inch-SDSSDA-480G-G25/dp/B018X8LB2G/

EDIT: Camelcamelcamel agrees, this is the lowest (by $30) that this drive has been since it was introduced on Amazon in January.

[Darrell KSR]

https://tapatalk.com/shareLink?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.gawker.com%2F%7Er %2Flifehacker%2Fvip%2F%7E3%2FyN3lscDYGKw%2Fpick-your-favorite-flavor-of-flash-storage-in-todays-am-1764719193&share_tid=cc296fe33c64334521718f8876e2f951&share_fid=1066842
Pick Your Favorite Flavor of Flash Storage In Today's Amazon Gold Box

[KSRBEvans]

Amazon has the SanDisk 480GB SSD for $99.99 right now. This is the lowest I have ever seen for this drive and pretty much the lowest I have seen for this size from a reputable company.

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Plus-480GB-2-5-Inch-SDSSDA-480G-G25/dp/B018X8LB2G/

EDIT: Camelcamelcamel agrees, this is the lowest (by $30) that this drive has been since it was introduced on Amazon in January.

^Ooh, the 960GB version is $199 (http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra-2-5-Inch-Height-SDSSDHII-960G-G25/dp/B00M8ABHVQ/ref=lp_14051759011_1_7?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1457964984&sr=1-7). I've been waiting for the 1TBs to get under $200. Put up or shut up time....

[CitizenBBN]

I've got to go give some plasma and get some money, time to buy some drives.

[PedroDaGr8]

Samsung just released a 500GB version of their 750 EVO drive. This is a budget oriented version of the 850EVO. Current MSRP seems high but I have to say but I expect it to fall rapidly. The performance between the 750 and 850 is the same, only the 750 has a 3yr warranty not five and a bit shorter MTBF. My 850EVO has been STELLAR in performance. It has read speeds of 540MB/s and write speeds of 520MB/s. Truth be told, the difference between a drive with 240MB/s and 520MB/s is not a LOT but this drive also has a rated lifetime of over TEN YEARS assuming I rewrite the drive ENTIRELY every single day for that ten years. So even with the shorter MTBF it is still likely way more than most of us need. So keep your eye on this drive I expect it to hit some interesting price points in the coming months.

[PedroDaGr8]

THe SanDisk Ultra II 480GB is on sale for $108 shipped Neweegg on their ebay store. (http://www.ebay.com/itm/291286882137?customid=b93f3afc238311e688a246c0b895 752d0INT&pub=5574652453&campid=5335869999&afepn=5335869999&icep_id=117&ipn=icep&afepn=5335869999&rmvSB=true). This is the higher speed version of the one linked before.

[CitizenBBN]

I'm going to jump on one of these. I upgraded my 256Gb to 500gb with that last amazon one you posted and went great.

I do have a question though, I'm thinking of upgrading a couple of my desktops with these drives. Would vastly increase their speed, and I don't need workstations but it would extend the service life on these quite a bit and if they die I just move the drives.

But would I have to get a SSD in SATA and then get an IDE converter or is that a bad option? Other options for SSD on a desktop? For $100 that's a cheap upgrade for a couple of my machines.

[PedroDaGr8]

I'm going to jump on one of these. I upgraded my 256Gb to 500gb with that last amazon one you posted and went great.

I do have a question though, I'm thinking of upgrading a couple of my desktops with these drives. Would vastly increase their speed, and I don't need workstations but it would extend the service life on these quite a bit and if they die I just move the drives.

But would I have to get a SSD in SATA and then get an IDE converter or is that a bad option? Other options for SSD on a desktop? For $100 that's a cheap upgrade for a couple of my machines.

Check the motherboards, even if the PC didn't come with SATA the mobo's should have it. They have been ubiqioutous for quite a long time. If not, pretty much your only other options are SATA adapter cards (fine for PCIe, bad for PCI) or the IDE adapter.

[KSRBEvans]

SanDisk SSD Plus 480GB $93.79 shipped:

http://smile.amazon.com/SanDisk-Plus-480GB-2-5-Inch-SDSSDA-480G-G25/dp/B018X8LB2G/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1464713460&sr=1-2&keywords=sandisk+480+ssd

[PedroDaGr8]

Refurbished OCZ Denava 480GB Flash Sale on Newegg - $73

http://flash.newegg.com/Product/N82E16820228149?SID=4d1dca2c29ec11e6a2984627076903 cf0INT&AID=10440897&PID=1225267&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-cables-_-na-_-na&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-Slickdeals+LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=12087162&PID=1225267&SID=4d1dca2c29ec11e6a2984627076903cf0INT&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_source=afc-Slickdeals+LLC

[PedroDaGr8]

For those that need small size SSDs for things like office computers:
http://www.frys.com/product/8727761?site=cemail062016
Sign up for the frys email, they have a 120GB model for $39. Easily cheap enough to get a budget work computer up and running super fast.

[CitizenBBN]

Great find, I may jump on that for a couple of my laptops.

[dan_bgblue]

Please see a bit of info about my laptop in the snipped mage below. Will the referenced SSD work with my system? If it will, can I depend on someone smarter than me to walk me thru the process of imaging/copying everything off the current drive I have onto the new one?

5616

[Darrell KSR]

ADATA Premier SP550 2.5" 480GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) ASP


$93.99

http://m.ebay.com/itm/291544248218?rmvSB=true&ul_ref=http%3A%2F%2Frover.ebay.com%2Frover%2F1%2F7 11-53200-19255-0%2F1%3Fpub%3D5574652453%26afepn%3D5335869999%26ty pe%3D4%26campid%3D5337259887%26toolid%3D10001%26cu stomid%3Dec711e8e380711e6bc95a2faef5f0e470INT%26mp re%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.ebay.com%252Fitm%252FA DATA-Premier-SP550-2-5-480GB-SATA-III-TLC-Internal-Solid-State-Drive-SSD-ASP%252F291544248218%253Fcustomid%253Dec711e8e3807 11e6bc95a2faef5f0e470INT%2526pub%253D5574652453%25 26campid%253D5337259887%2526afepn%253D5335869999%2 526icep_id%253D117%2526ipn%253Dicep%2526hash%253Di tem43e1642f9a%2526_trkparms%253D5373%25253A0%25257 C5374%25253AFeatured%2526rmvSB%253Dtrue%26srcrot%3 D711-53200-19255-0%26rvr_id%3D1050057364343&_trkparms=5373:0|5374:Featured&_mwBanner=1

[PedroDaGr8]

Please see a bit of info about my laptop in the snipped mage below. Will the referenced SSD work with my system? If it will, can I depend on someone smarter than me to walk me thru the process of imaging/copying everything off the current drive I have onto the new one?

5616

It will work with your computer. The biggest thing is that it is a small size, only 120GB. I do not know the size of your current HDD, so I don't know if that is enough. For a work computer, where you don't store a lot of stuff on the PC then it can be useful. Otherwise, the one D linked is a better value (with similar speeds). I can promise you that your computer will run WAY faster after the upgrade. Also, while you are inside the laptop you might as well add some RAM to it (that is super easy and the ram slot is exposed at the same time as the HDD).

[dan_bgblue]

PC has 280 GB and there is 160 GB free, so your point is a good one. As for RAM, I installed additional RAM not long after I got the unit, and I bought and installed all the additional RAM that crucial.com told me that the system could utilize.

[KSRBEvans]

So it seems the prices on SSDs have stopped dropping. For example (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IAGSD68?kinja_price=100&tag=kinjadeals-20&ascsubtag=[t|link[p|1789425047[a|B01IAGSD68[au|5727177402741770316[b|deals), the lowest price I've seen for 500GB drives is around $99. Anyone seen anything lower? I'm going to upgrade my 2012 MacBook Pro to 8 GB RAM and an SSD, but I was hoping Black Friday/Cyber Monday would bring even better deals.

[PedroDaGr8]

So it seems the prices on SSDs have stopped dropping. For example (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IAGSD68?kinja_price=100&tag=kinjadeals-20&ascsubtag=[t|link[p|1789425047[a|B01IAGSD68[au|5727177402741770316[b|deals), the lowest price I've seen for 500GB drives is around $99. Anyone seen anything lower? I'm going to upgrade my 2012 MacBook Pro to 8 GB RAM and an SSD, but I was hoping Black Friday/Cyber Monday would bring even better deals.


There was a SanDisk Ultra II 480GB for $84 yesterday, but yeah it looks like that is getting close to the floor for prices. At least for now. The issue is that there just isn't that much demand for higher capacities which would drive down the price of the 1TB and smaller drives.

[KentuckyWildcat]

I really need to upgrade to an SSD, but I'm lazy.

[PedroDaGr8]

I really need to upgrade to an SSD, but I'm lazy.
Trust me, it is by far the best upgrade you can do on a computer

Sent from my LGLS992 using Tapatalk

[KSRBEvans]

So I'm a little frustrated with the prices of SSDs. Spinning hard drive prices continue to fall, but SSD prices remain about the same.

Pedro started this about 18 months ago with a post about a 500GB SSD for $150. I looked on Amazon to see if they had any Prime Day deals, and most 500GB drives are still around $150--I saw one "deal" for $136. That's higher than prices we've listed here before. Guess demand is keeping prices up.

[Darrell KSR]

These Amazon Prime deals are driving me crazy.

a) There are too many of them. I can't keep up, and it's frustrating to try.
b) Many of the prices are ridiculous--such as the one you just posted. OK, so if I'm going to buy a product "anyway," I'll take the extra $3 off. But that's not what I expect when I see what is marketed as a quasi-Black Friday Deal.
c) On the rare occasion when something seems good--it seems I have already missed out...such as a $50 Panera Gift card for $39.50. That's free money since we occasionally go there. Of course, I can't get that one. And I need that $10.50 to pay car insurance!

[KentuckyWildcat]

I finally did it. Definitely helped my laptop and now I'm using my 1 TB as an external to rip my daughters movies for Plex.

[PedroDaGr8]

So I'm a little frustrated with the prices of SSDs. Spinning hard drive prices continue to fall, but SSD prices remain about the same.

Pedro started this about 18 months ago with a post about a 500GB SSD for $150. I looked on Amazon to see if they had any Prime Day deals, and most 500GB drives are still around $150--I saw one "deal" for $136. That's higher than prices we've listed here before. Guess demand is keeping prices up.

Yep, it has been really really surprising that flash memory prices have not dropped further. Based on what I am reading, it is because of a combination of high demand across cellphones, computers and other devices and the transition from 2-D to 3-D NAND technologies that has resulted in VERY VERY high demand and not enough supply to fill it. NAND prices are actually UP almost 20% over last year, with no major declines in the near future anticipated. As for spinning platter prices dropping, of course they are, almost nobody wants a spinning drive anymore.

[KSRBEvans]

Well, finally broke down and did the deal--got a Crucial 525 GB SSD for $145 on Amazon. Some pain in cloning it*, but once I got it done--Oh. my. gosh. If I'd known how much speedier it would make this computer, I would've paid twice that and done it a couple of years ago. It used to labor to open my photos, and opening Word took a couple of minutes. And forget about having the 2 open at the same time--that would lock up the computer. Now photos open in about 1 second, and Office apps open in a fraction of a second. I keep opening and closing programs just to watch it go. Whatever anyone's told you about what a difference it makes in your computer's performance, well, it's an understatement.

Also, somehow I ended up with an extra 100 GB of storage. My old hard drive had used about 390 of 500 GB. After cloning the SSD and installing it, it says I've used 269 GB. Checked for documents, photos, music, etc. and that all seemed to copy over as part of the clone, so not sure where the extra storage came from, but glad to have it. Definitely time & money well spent.



*--Tried to do a Time Machine backup and restore from that and got nothing but error messages I couldn't work around. Finally got a SATA to USB enclosure put the SSD in there, cloned my hard drive to it using Carbon Copy Cloner and that worked like a champ.

[CitizenBBN]

Oh yeah, SSD is sweet.

[Darrell KSR]

I've been using a Surface Pro 3 "tablet" as my principal computer at my home office for a couple of years now. When I get frustrated with my spinning hard drives on my brand new computer at work, I go home. SSDs rule.

[CitizenBBN]

My Dell 6600 laptop is basically a 2012 computer, so it's not a current machine.

But put a honking SSD drive in it, 16GB of Ram and the fastest i7 they made at the time, and it still screams on my most recent apps.

I'm about to upgrade Visual Studio so we'll see, but this thing still flies with Office and such, and it's largely b/c of the SSD. I bought it refurb, paid way under workstation prices, put a $150 SSD upgrade in it and it flies.

[Darrell KSR]

Just ordered a 275 GB Crucial for $99 to replace a failed 120GB Kingston.

[Darrell KSR]

I hope it really was a failed SSD. Just got back my daughter's Lenovo laptop from the company and what my son diagnosed as a failing hard drive was instead a bad motherboard they replaced. So I hope we don't have a similar situation here.

By the way, very high regard for Lenovo service department. Although I had to ship it in at my expense, they received it Wednesday late afternoon at their Louisville service center, repaired it yesterday by replacing the motherboard after they diagnosed it, and shipped it back to me where we received it this afternoon. It is working flawlessly. Great service. 48 hours after they received it, it was as back in my hands properly repaired.

[KSRBEvans]

1TB Crucial Drive, $238:

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX300-Internal-Solid-State/dp/B01IAGSDUE?tag=kinjadeals-20&ascsubtag=0bf29a4dee860947762620da90c484c4ff3bd753&rawdata=%5Bks%7Ccuration%5Bt%7Clink%5Bp%7C18205169 81%5Ba%7CB01IAGSDUE%5Bau%7C5727177402741770316%5Bb %7Cdeals

[KSRBEvans]

Prices on SSDs finally starting to come down--here's a deal on a 480 GB for $100:

https://deals.kinja.com/1823028681

[KSRBEvans]

Here's a 1 TB drive for $220:

https://twitter.com/9to5toys/status/976798116618883073

[KSRBEvans]

So we started this thread a few years ago--I thought of it when I saw 500gb Crucial SSDs are on sale for $58:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0784SLQM6/?ascsubtag=cf416894e9831524052c984a26354e6255774bd a&tag=kinjadeals-20&th=1

While that's an incredibly low price, what really surprises me is the regular price is only $68. So prices have finally come down on these SSDs.