128GB SSD or 7200 RPM 500GB HD

I currently purchased a Studio XPS 1645 with a SSD hard drive of a measly 128GB. This machine is replacing my Studio 1735 which has 2 HD's totaling 640GB (w/ about 50% used space). This new machine over all is quick. I really like it. The SSD plays a part in that as Its about twice as fast as a 7200RPM HHD, it makes no sound and carries no heat. The only down fall is space. My itunes alone is 60GB. Just called Dell about upgrading to a bigger SSD and WOW! It would be cheaper to buy a 2nd notebook.
So I'm Having a hard time deciding what to do.

Plan A- Cut this beautiful drive loose and get a 500GB 7200 RPM
Pros- Partition to 2 drives and have everything where I need it.
Cons- Slower, harder on the batt, noisy, hot, not as reliable as a SSD.

Plan B – Keep the SSD and Use my free agent for Pictures, movies music etc.
Pros. No performance sacrifices.
Cons. Annoying to tote and hook up a ext HD.

Plan C- ... If you can think of another way please let me know.

Thanks for reading- advise is welcome.

 

FYI- about 150 GB on my old PC was fluff. Crap stored in the basement and attic kinda stuff. I've come to find that moving from one PC to the next is just like moving from one home to the next. You tend to purge the crap you don't use because you don't want to move it.

I will be installing Office 2007, AdobeCS4, Pinicle Studio, win7-64

 

I choose plan B, but it all depends on how much you will be hooking up that external. I have an extra 100GB of space left on my SSD, but I also have 1 500GB WD usb 3.0 Essentials, and the 640GB factory drive in a usb 3.0 external for any extras I may need, along with my NAS which has 500GB free space for when I'm at home.

So for me, plan C is the obvious choice (more than enough space on SSD). If you find yourself hooking up that external everytime you turn on your computer, you may want to swap it out, although my boss has to do this everyday with his work laptop and doesn't seem to care.

 

Whata a NAS?

So after installing all your major Programs you only used like 100GB. Does this include music?

 

I went from a 1645 w/ Samsung 128GB SSD to a L702x w/ 750GB 7200RPM Western Digital Black. The 1645 felt a lot faster. I'm selling my Samsung in favor of a SATA III SSD, since my laptop supports it.

SSD is definitely the way to go for the boot drive, IMO.

 

I've used around 130GB of storage on the SSD, which includes everything: OS, programs, music, pics, games, VMware machines.

Network Attached Storage - it acts like an mapped network drive when I'm at home. It's hooked into my Cisco e4200 router. After formatting, actual capacity on the SSD drive is like 235, so I have close to 135GB of programs and music (30GB). My main programs are Win 7 Ultimate, Office 2007 Ultimate 2007 w/ Project & Visio 2007, Visual Studio, Adobe CS4 Web Premium, and VMware. Just those programs take up around 60GB of space.

 

VERY VERY Helpful input. Thanx

Thats basically what Im running. If i had your SSD I'd be happier. Just check the price at Dell... WOW! http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...=dellSearch&baynote_bnrank=0&baynote_irrank=3

I'm going to Custom install all my stuff, eliminating the options that I don't need, and see whats left of the 128GB

 

I have Windows 7, Office Enterprise 2010, a bunch of games, programs, and utilities installed. They take up maybe 55GB (SandForce SSDs compress all data) of my 120GB. I have a Linux install plus all my movies and music on an external 500GB eSATA HDD. It works great for me, though I am thinking of getting one of those caddys to replace my DVD drive with another HDD.

 

c- you can use something like THIS and put a second hard disk (ssd or normal doesn't matter) in the place of your dvd reader

sorry for my english !

 

I cant part with my Blu Ray. I use it too much.

 

twice?
I think the "feel" is more around 10x

 

Yeah, more and more convincing arguments to keep this SSD. I've finally finished backing up all my crap. So Ill report back on space used later today.

Thanx all