HDD or SSD replacement?

I have been having some serious problems with my T500 thats may suggest impending hard drive failure, although hardware diagnostics show that everything seems to be fine. Right now I have a primary 7200rpm 320Gb drive with about 100Gb free, and could use more capacity but also more speed. Boxing day price alternatives locally available seem to be a 7200rpm 500Gb or 750GB HDD in the range of $70 to 90 or a 240Gb SSD around $140 to 160. Which would be the better choice as a system replacment drive?

 

100% go for the ssd. you will notice a world of difference. i would try and go for the largest drive you can afford.
i went from a western digital 7200 on my previous clevo to a 512ssd and will never look back.
bootup time was roughly 20-25 second and now its 12 seconds and thats with a crucial drive. samsung are even faster but of course dearer. i would of got a samsung but 512gb werent released back then.

 

SSDs are great (I have three), but they're not the perfect solution to every system; and they are still several time more expansive per GB than an HDD.

Get one only if speed is critical in your work, since they will make no difference in typical daily work like work processing and/or surfing the web. That sad, the can add new vigor and vitality to an aging system. So if either of these is your case, you can consider adding an SSD a practical move forward.

 

SSD, by far.

 

Can I add,

Get a reliable SSD, and get a cheap external drive for storage, best of both worlds methinks

 

Definitely go for a reliable SSD, which usually just means something from Crucial, Samsung, or Intel only.

 

If you are doing lots of writes and need the extra space, HDD.

Otherwise SSD, much more performance. I just prefer a mix of both, put one in the main bay and the second one in a caddy.

 

See this is a Dual drive from Western Digital WD Black2


Dual Drive 2.5" 120 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD Kit (WD1001X06XDTL) by Western Digital



Amazon.com: WD Black2 Dual Drive 2.5" 120 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD Kit (WD1001X06XDTL): Computers & Accessories

 

As some say: never, *ever* buy first-gen products, especially tech. You're essentially being the company's unpaid beta tester for such things.

A safer bet would be a HHDD like the Seagate Momentus XT, though it only has a SSD cache and not a "real" SSD in it. Still, it does help with boot times at least.

 

Get a SSD as a boot drive (120-256GB) and a large 5400rpm drive with a third-party carrier as a storage drive.

You'll fall in love with that T500 all over again.

I've personally had good experiences with Crucial (C300 and M4 aka Micron C400), Samsung (830 and 840 Pro), Intel 320 series and pre-SandForce OCZ SSDs on ThinkPads. YMMV.

Happy shopping.

 

You are wrong. I just want to help .

 

Yup I'd say the seagate's hybrid option is a lot cheaper and I don't recall if the WDC performance was a lot different...however that would be hdd bay 2, the primary should still be a reliable ssd (you could look into a 840evo.... The bashing techreport gave the ssd won't be doable in a proper consumer machine)

 

I honestly see no point in paying for anything but a conventional spinning drive for UltraBay use, but that's me.

I'd also strongly advise the OP to shop for a SSD which has been proven to play well with T500, even if it means staying a generation or two behind...

 

Even an older SSD is still much faster than a 7200RPM HDD (especially in seek times and random access times, which are the more important specs).

That said, I'm extremely happy with my Intel 320.

 

I would also agree to get an SSD going into 2014. Not even the Seagate SSHD's are worth spending time on with the price of real solid state storage (and the associated performance gains).

The WD Dual drive is the worst recommendation here. More expensive, unproven and in the end; gimmicky. Just too little too late when we have (or soon will have) 1TB mSATA drives for the asking.

For $300 you could have snagged a SanDisk Extreme II 480GB drive during the latest sales... not only would a mechanical drive be relegated to 'only' backup duties - it would put the WD dual drive to shame in longevity, durability and PERFORMANCE. All while saving you money and time and hair-pulling when the inevitable 'incompatibilities' arise from the new WD offering.


Now, I can be wrong and the WD dual drive can turn out to be the most stable first release product ever... but history would indicate otherwise.

The driving factor though? Price. Just not worth it (it is worth closer to $150 - $180 at the most to 'try' this gimmicky drive).


Good luck.

 

Good advice. On the other hand, some also say, never say never. And you have to admit that its these "test dummies" that move us forward. Imagine where we'd be if nobody took a chance on the SSD?

 

True true. But let someone else do that .