Best SSD drive compatible with Sony viao vgn-nw320f

A friend told me to get a Samsung SSD 850. I have Intel ich9m-e/m sata ahci comtroller. Which one is best? Most compatible, ease of install, ease of hard drive clone, etc...

 

Hollywood67, they all should be, however you'll be limited to SATA2 speeds. I suggest grabbing cheap SSD of bigger size and overprovisioning it heavíly, 25-30%.

 

Thx. Can you offer a suggestion? Any links to where I can learn more? Would be my first time, looking for noob instructions

rooted OE1

 

Hollywood67, how much are you willing to spend?

 

The previous reply was correct. All SSDs are essentially the same, for most purposes. You're not going g to find a difference in ease of use, comparability, or real-world performance. They are all pretty much the same.

And your friend was also correct. Get a Samsung 850 EVO (not 850 Pro), in whatever capacity you can afford. I'd recommend at least 256GB. Generally, the Samsung 850 EVO is a great value for speed and price.

 

Are we talking about a decade old chipset?

I would highly recommend that you do a clean install and forget about so called 'budget' SSD's. With sales every second week or so; a higher end, better performing, larger and cheaper SSD is almost always available for less. The SanDisk Extreme Pro 480GB (or better) is what I would be looking for (yeah; even for SATA2 usage - for now).

See:
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-2-5-Inch-Warranty-SDSSDXPS-480G-G25/dp/B00KHRYRLY


As suggested, 30% OP'ing is highly recommended on any drive you buy as is maxing out the RAM (first) on your platform and using the latest O/S possible - today; Win8.1x64Pro.

You can save a couple of dollars today by buying based just on price. But that is a false economy with SSD's.

If you think you'll be upgrading to a new(er) system in the next half decade; you'll want to bring this purchase into the new machine too.

 

tilleroftheearth, one can actually save a lot buying cheaper SSDs, and it is wiser to invest these money into capacity, especially if you have a very limited number of machines in use.

Hollywood67, If you purchase smaller SSD, you surely won't use it in newer machine, and resell value will be very low. Get the biggest one you can afford of some cheaper SSD line, just make sure the particular model ain't having serious problems e.g. overheating or extremely high failure rate.

 

I'd be curious what would be substantially cheaper than the SanDisk 480GB Extreme Pro I linked with similar capacity?

For myself, the next rung down on the price/quality scale would be much less than $100 to be worthwhile (and then; I wouldn't care about the SSD's characteristics - as long as it wasn't SF based).

 

tilleroftheearth, Samsung 850 EVO, budget Crucials, Sandisk Ultra II, Biwin (though I know nothing about the last). There's also extremely cheap Mushkin Chronos better suited for use as a storage drive, and couple brands I avoided on purpose.

 

Buying any (non Vnand/3Dnand) TLC nand based drives is lunacy (exit Ultra II). The best (latest gen) SSD the 850 EVO hardly is worth saving ~$42 for (especially over an estimated 5+ year term of ownership).

If $42 makes a difference to a buyer, then sure... go ahead and save some cash. But don't think that the $42 won't get you a better overall performing SSD. SSD's are not all created equal.

Sometimes, you have to go without a McD's for a day or two and buy the better product (better for your health and better for your computer platform too).

 

tilleroftheearth, unless the drive is 1TB+, it's actually worth saving, because within 3 years it will likely be replaced with something bigger and dumped to some secondary machine / external enclosure for backup / sold... unless one has a computer farm and/or Intel-Inside toilets, of course. On side note, McD's tastes like crap and costs a lot, at least where I live, so you have to buy better product every day anyway. =p

 

For such an old computer, here is my personal recommendation:
1. Crucial BX series SSD, the highest capacity you can afford
2. Fresh OS install to Windows 7, 64 bit if your system is 64 bit capable. Windows 8 taxes the CPU more, so I wouldn't put it on such an old machine.
3. Latest drivers, especially chipset and storage controller. Do some digging and find the latest ones, they should help maximize SSD performance on a SATA II chipset.

 

I'd actually suggest 8.1 over 7, it runs faster, even on older machines. x64 only if you have 4GB+ RAM, otherwise strictly x86.

 

Yeah, I suggest Win8.1x64Pro too (and soon; Win10...).

If the OP has a decade old platform now, I am assuming that an upgrade will not be to something current either - even in three years. And that is why the best performing SSD he/she can buy today makes more sense in the long term.

McD's does taste like crap for the $$ - but buying from a grocery store (or farmers market) for a couple of days to feed the family is still cheaper and better for you too - and, your system can get a 'real' SSD too.

 

Thanks for all of the valuable info. I have decided to go with Samsung EVO 250GB. I have Win7 64bit with 8GB ram currently (btw I did not get a win10 notification to upgrade, what's up with that?).
Next step I figure is to backup documents and other to external.
Is there a free cloning software out there? What is the procedure to put windows on my new drive?

 

See:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-10-upgrade-notification-enable/


Try one of the methods in the link above to see if the notification can be available for your device.

Last nag: do a clean install of the O/S you prefer. A clone of (how old is your current installation???) an existing setup to an SSD is the last thing you want to do, ime.

 

@tilleroftheearth No nag, I am new to this game and did not understand the vernacular. I am not a dirty flasher. How do I do I clean install O/S on a new drive without discs?

 

Hollywood67, read here.

 

This site will not work for me. 2 hours trying. Right product key. Strong connection. Multiple browsers

rooted OE1