Considering buyin SSD for laptop (My dilemma)

Ok.

I have an Asus UL30VT-X1.

I love this thing. Bought it March of last year. Around October of last year, the computer made clicking sounds, so I shut it off. When I turned it on, it said to boot from drive or some crap, that I can't remember. I asked people here, and they said it could be signs of a HDD failure in the future. So, I bought a Western Digital 1TB external drive, and I used Macrium Reflect to make an image clone of it.

I told myself that if I had to replace the drive again, I would just use the clone I made.

Tonight, my hard drive made clicking noises again, and the computer froze. I took out the battery, and it booted fine, with no error messages. I am starting to think something is really wrong with the HDD, so I am at this moment, making another clone because I installed a lot of stuff between last time and today.

So, I am not sure whether to jump on the INTEL X25 120GB SSD, or just get another HDD.

I understand the benefits of a SSD, and what I really want is the durability. Should I wait, or buy this SSD?

Are there better brands that are cheaper or similarly priced?

Is my HDD really failing?

This would be my first time cloning a drive to a new one, so I am scared it won't go through.

Any help?

 

Intel's SSDs are being refreshed in the beginning of march, which means buying SSDs right now are not really the best of times.

If you can wait around say 1~ month, you could get some good deals on brand new SSDs that are freshly released

Try to look for a good deal on the SSDs in the used market, or I'd say wait a month and see what the 25nm process offers in terms of price vs. GB ratio.

 

I don't want my HDD to die so soon though. I have classes, and I'd rather upgrade quickly. I heard the G3 models were supposed to come out last year too, yet they got delayed.

 

Your HDD is about to die on you.

Do not bother doing another image of your drive (because some important data is on the corrupted/ dying section of your HDD; so that means the image you already made has corrupted data in places)
Instead you should backup every "user document" (pictures, game saves, music, bookmarks, installers, and everything else)

Buy a SSD (if you have the money, and can live with the limited internal storage space). Otherwise save yourself a bucket load of money and buy yourself a good quality HDD


EDIT: you will have to do a re-install of your OS onto whatever drive you get

 

Yes, that's why I would go with a standard HDD for now, as HDD's don't vary hugely on size.

Hitachi Travelstars are very nice, as well as Seagate and WD.

 

That sucks. I have lots of programs installed too, PhotoShop etc.

Macrium tells you if any data is corrupted though, so why would a clone be a bad idea?

I have backed up all my music and documents though

 

your HDD is failing. It is going to be cheaper when the new line comes out but how much ? Don't look at $/GB. Look at absolute dollar.

Not sure about the current price. Let's say it will be 80 bucks cheaper.

How many worry days will that save you.

In addition to that, you get a much snappier machine and it seems that you take it along with you a lot so you get the additional benefit of no moving parts as well as longer battery life.

Assuming it takes 30 days until the new model is out(I doubt), it is 3 bucks a day. Just drink less Starbuck.

 

I'm still under warranty, but I have way too much work on my hands at school to just send the thing away. I can get the Intel for $229. Has it dropped recently?

 

there may be some promotion going on here and there but I am not searching for one so haven't checked lately. 230 is a reasonably good price.

Let's see the alternative. You get a 7k500 for 70 or so. If you settle for it, that is fine.

Otherwise, when you later buy the new line, it may be at 150 and net net you pay the same price with just an addition 7k500 which you may not find any use of it. reselling it would net you some but not the full price.

The question though is, is 120GB enough for you ?

 

A clone is a bad idea because it will copy over even the corrupted data (it doesn't detect all the bad data). While it can be a pain to do a re-install, it isn't that bad (my laptop with a 1.8" 5400RPM drive installed Adobe Master Collection CS5 in about an hour, not too bad at all. MS Office suite in about 10 minutes)

Besides it will give you the chance to install only the good programs you have found along the way (I find that my computer ends up with a bit of crap software because I get too lazy to uninstall it all)


The Hitachi travelstar 7K500 is a great drive, but I had one fail on me when it was a primary drive in one of my previous notebooks (I treated it well and every thing, but it just decided it was its time to die). I have since sent that drive in for RMA, and also bought another one; I use both as external backup/ data storage drives in USB enclosures.


PS: a SSD will give you a "gee wiz" increase in performance, but it won't really improve too much (I used a Patriot Inferno 120GB SSD -got it for $215 after a MIR- when that Hitachi died on me... there was a real nice "gee wiz" effect, and a good 30min-1.5hr increase in battery life, no noise/ vibration as well. but I don't really think it is worth it)

 

My C drive currently says 97GB used out of a possible 116GB.

I haven't had any problems so far, my logical drive says 340GB.

But still, I can always use an external HDD for some stuff can't I?

 

I see your point, but my problem is that my Adobe suite was a one time download from my University. I understand what you mean about the GEE-WIZ factor, but durability is my main concern. I don;t want to have to baby the laptop all the time.

I guess another solution would be to buy a cheaper HDD, and wait for SSD's to become more common and jump on it.

 

97GB is a little bit tight, still ok. As the rule of thumb is that you can only use a SSD up to 85% full.

 

YouTube - Installing an Intel SSD into an Asus UL30VT Ultraportable

This guy did it with a 80GB SSD, using the same exact computer haha.

So, I guess I'll be able to use like 114GB of it?

 

Macrium just cloned and compressed it to 74GB.

I understand that there may be errors, but I still want to to be able to use my old stuff again without hassle. If there are any complications, I'll just do a clean install.

 

your current one is a 500GB ? If that is the case, there will be some complication. You have to wite out the extra partition(i.e. delete it) then do a Windows system image backup and restore if you want to preserve the existing installation. That is assuming there is no error on your current drive.

 

Macrium gave me an option of what partitions I want to make an image of, I only chose the C drive. My logical drive is empty, I don't have anything saved on it.

 

I have no experience with Macrium, does it restore the image properly(in terms of alignment) ? If yes, sure there is nothing to worry about.

 

Buy a new ~500GB hdd (7200, or 5400rpm), do a fresh install, contact some one at your university about the technical problem (a dead hard drive) you had, which forced you to get a different HDD and reinstall windows entirely (if you are calm, and explain it in a polite way; I think they will re-issue another activation/ download/ whatever it was the first time)

Things like this happen, and people usually know that, and that is why they should be able to help you out. If they at first refuse to consider it, then try talking to someone higher up in the chain or command there (ie: manager, VP, or chair person; point is it doesn't matter who you talk to as long as they have some pull around there and can get it done for you indirectly, or directly)


EDIT: I cannot stress this enough: If the original data on the HDD is corrupted in even 1 major section (which it is, judging by your issues you saw with it), then the "image" of that drive will have the EXACT same problem which will cause your computer to "die" very often whenever it tries to use that (apparently quite important) corrupted data

 

I have made copies or clones, but never actually had to restore them. From the tutorials I have seen on YouTube, it was simple. Just select the partition, select a destination and choose if you want it unneeded files to be compressed or not. Took about an hour.

From what I have learned, you boot the recovery CD that you make with the software and the source of the clone, and it takes the image and restores your previous desktop. It's "supposed" to work, and people have been raving about it, so it better work, haha.

 

I'll try. I'm still contemplating the SSD and HDD question in my mind now.

I'm starting to think 120GB is enough, but you never know.

Funny thing is my HDD is working perfectly right now. It has just been the 2 odd nights.

 

restoration in general is not a problem but the widely popular Acronis has a problem properly align the restored partition to 4K multiple which is bad for SSD(both speed and endurance). Intel is less affected by that problem but still.

 

Yeah, I see what you mean.

I've seen people run their OS off their external drive too.

 

i don't think that anyone yet has suggested the momentus XT (a hybrid of hdd/ssd)? it's an hdd with a small portion that is flash so you get an increase in speed/performance, not as much as a ssd, but a good boost. check on newegg - you will save A LOT of money vs buying an ssd, and you will have that extra space that you probably would need (since using more than 80% or so of an ssd is not recommended as it can decrease performance).

 

Amazon.com: Western Digital 320 GB Scorpio Black SATA 7200 RPM 16 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Notebook Hard Drive WD3200BEKT: Electronics

I ended up buying this after reading about SSD reliability and Momentus XT reliability.

I do not trust Seagate.