SSD OS Space?

Well, I'm thinking of installing an SSD for OS on my computer, but won't I run out of space real quick as applications would have to be installed on this drive? Or would I be able to install programs on the other drive? (I know apps still store stuff on the main drive)

 

The idea behind SSDs is to install your OS and programs on it, so they can take advantage of the much quicker speeds of an SSD. The only programs I would imagine that you should install on an HDD instead (assuming your system has multiple drives) are games, which will benefit little from an SSD aside from launch speed.

Personally, I have enough space for my OS, programs, and data aside from downloaded movies (on external HDD) and music (on SD card, which sits in my laptop's card reader) on both my T500's 80GB SSD and my X120e's 64GB SSD.

 

You can install applications whereever you want and the same goes for games.

Windows updates though, they can only be installed on the main drive though.

Really? I mean, really?

As far as i've seen in real world testing the whole idea is the same when it comes to games and SSD's just like OS + SSD and such. And it loads alot faster than a mechanical hdd as far as i've seen.

Just wondering if you can back that statement up?

 

a 120/128gb SSD should give you enough space to install all your stuff including games..as long as you make sure to uninstall games or software that u'd no longer need..

I kinda thought the whole point of gaming systems using ssd is to increase loading times and give it a "snappier" feel? So why would you get an SSD and install games on an HDD? That would like, get rid of the point..IMHO

 

i have everything on my ssds installed. just all the big data stuff is not on there, that's on the home server. but all actual data, all apps, all games, the os, etc.. all on 80gb on my pc, 160gb on my laptop. never at the limit.

 

May I know what drive you use?

 

Realistically, 30-40 GB is just enough for the OS. My i7 desktop has a Vertex 30 GB just for OS and limited programs I use the most and it still has 30% free space.

60-80 GB is recommended as now they can be had for around 80-120 with rebates/sales.

Of course the larger the better, but jumping to 120-240 will bump prices up to 180-400 dollars respectively.

 

That is what i was thinking too!
But it seems according to MidnightSun that it isn't any real difference, as far as i've tested today, it's a BIG difference.

It's just ridicolous how fast things load with an SSD. Apps, games, movies - you name it.


Just to add to the topic, my SSD is at 60GB, i have 37GB free space, but i haven't really used the space for games as i don't game much, i installed some games just for today just to test the SSD out and it is way faster than any hdd i ever had. Loading map to map in game is also ridcolous heh. Best purschase i ever made.

 

i have a 64gb ssd for OS and my most used programs and my second drive(500gb hdd) for everything else
my ssd still has 18gb free

 

Well my original plan was to get a 60 or 80GB but then World of Warcraft is like, 25gb plus OS which is another 20GB..That won't leave me much room for other games, Call of Duty is about 12GB, plus of course office and other apps..So I think I'd need a 120GB..80 would probably be good but then it would probably be more than 90% full..only 1 drive bay so yeah..external HDD will be used for movies/music/etc..

 

Windows 7 Home Premium OEM image is ~15-16 GB. My Vertex 30 GB was 50% free after my Windows 7 install. Yeah WoW is a huge game, you will need to bump up the SSD size to fit it.

 

Was originally considering playing WoW from external HDD..But then it would kinda defeat the purpose of why i got an SSD in the first place..Btw, are there differences in installation/uninstallation speed? Cause I'll be doing a lot of that..Won't performance degrade? What drive is best for this?

 

Oh yes, installation is super fast compared to a mechanical hdd, atleast if the installation file is on the SSD or any other fast medium.
Otherwise installation will be limited by the medium that it's reading from (which will typically be the slowest and also set the speed).

My old c2d 2.0ghz 4GB ram laptop feels like a brand new computer with the SSD, you will notice a huge difference in most things! Especially loading things up from within the SSD. Photoshop took like 20secs to load up before, now it takes less than 10seconds.

It's just insane how much a SSD can improve the PC.

 

I think what midnight is trying to say is that aside from loading the game faster, ssd's have no effect on game performance.

 

Yes, I can. See below.

If you're going to paraphrase me, paraphrase me correctly.
I never said there isn't a difference in loading times. See: "games, which will benefit little from an SSD aside from launch speed."

trvelbug got it exactly right. Games are often 10GB+, a significant fraction of an SSD's size. SSDs will only benefit games in initial loading of the game, loading a new map from HDD, etc. There are no framerate benefits, which is the main indicator of gaming performance. For the OS or other applications that you often open/close (ie, a browser, MS Office), an SSD will definitely help you cut down on loading time, which is important in those circumstances.

Hence, my recommendation of installing games on an HDD if your system has both an SSD and an HDD, and you're short on space. Personally, I only ever installed one or two large games at a time, and I do not use a HDD caddy since 80GB/64GB is enough for me, so I installed them to my SSD. However, if you have a large collection of 10+ games that you play, it'd be either expensive (getting a huge SSD) or a waste of time (installing and uninstalling games when you want to play them) if you place them on your small SSD.

My point:

Yes, it would be a waste of time. You load games 10 seconds faster, but you end up spending 10 extra minutes uninstalling/installing the game. Your call on whether that's worth it.

 

If there is a game that benefits more on ssd is WOW (and other mmos), the game loads a ton of things, specially entering in big crowded cities an ssd, at peak time is amazing, specially for people that like a lot of mods, the ssd will shine giving you control of your character faster, even DCing while playing you will get inside in a fraction of the time, and hey maybe even preventing a wipe, etc. The pure reason i went to 160gb was WOW, i didnt find 80gb would be enough with it.

 

Exactly what I was thinking..Which is why I'm going for 120GB..And WoW is my main game..I mean I'll play Call of Duty once in a while or other games but just the campaign mode..I'll usually uninstall it once I finish it so I don't really keep more than 1 or 2 games installed at a given time..WoW will be the only game that I'll be keeping on it at all times..

 

I don't use my PCs for gaming, I actually work on these and having a fast hard drive would be nice! However, I have my 320gbs drive almost full. I can delete about 60-70 gigs of videos and pictures that are backed up and about 20 gigs for games, but the rest I need on my drive.
What takes so much space for me is that I run 2-3 VMwares on my computer and those take 20-30gbs each. I guess I could install the OS on the SSD and move the VMwares to the HDD, I don't really care about the speed on those.

 

Also I think having to connect an external drive EVERY TIME I play WoW is kinda a hassle..Specially since that's what I mainly play..I guess I could install games on an external drive..But then load times on say Black Ops wouldn't be all to good..Maybe I'll just install/uninstall games accordingly..I don't really keep more than 2 games installed at a time anyways..

 

I have a setup that is very similar to what you have in mind. My host OS is on an SSD while my VBox guests are still on an HDD. Most of them aren't bigger than 5GB but some have dozens of GBs. I'm considering to split the big images into two smaller ones and to move the system image to the SSD while keeping the data image on the HDD.

 

I am just trying to discuss what your experience is and what proof you have of it, not trying to put you down in any way if that is what you're thinking. I simply want to learn more (from what you've learned) so i can later share that experience with others, nothing else.

Anyways, i see now that i missunderstood your post, and i'm sorry for that
But when i read that you said that you _should_ install the games on a regular hdd instead of a SSD, it got me thinking!


And ofcourse framerate has nothing to do with the harddrive, that wasn't what i was asking though, but as i said, i missunderstood your post and thought you meant that there is no reason to install a game on a SSD because the load times won't give you any real difference.



Though your last sentance in the above post get me thinking again, if we where to set our minds to the waste of time-comment, then we wouldn't even be needing upgrades on hardware at all hehe.

And i guess people doesn't really go through the big hassle of installing and uninstalling games all the time - just to get the benefit on the faster load times, that's ridicolous.
I would rather think most people install the game/games they play the most or takes the most benefit of and SSD and let it be, what cannot fit they simply fit it onto another drive.

Have a great day!
Not here to start an argue, just trying to discuss as i said! So don't take anything personal because that's not my point and has never been, period. So excuse me if i may sound like a smartass. Hehe

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't installing the game in a regular HDD (especially since it's and external and will be passing through a USB 2.0 port) load just like a regular HDD and no speed would be gained by the ssd cause the program isn't installed in it in the first place? So then the ssd upgrade would be pretty much useless in this case right?

 

Do you ever play WoW when you aren't plugged in at home?
If you put a HDD, mouse, and maybe a gamer's keyboard on a USB hub where you play, you'd just plug in one cable for all three.

 

Oh what I meant was having to bring around the external HDD everytime I transfer from place to place is a hassle..And yes I play WoW in different places, I'm often on the move you see..

 

120gb should be enough, just make sure you install wow after you do all your updates of drivers, dont let other things install as the game from what i remember was close to 30gb for full dl, i think unpacked post installation is around 23, but you will need room while this happens. But on my 160gb post doing all the optimizations i was around 60GB with SC2 (no WOW), follow this optimization guide and should free up a decent amount, The SSD Optimization Guide, i didnt do all of them, read each one, some will not benefit intel drives.

 

I just downloaded WoW again actually from the client, cause I believe as time goes on the WoW folder gets larger and larger (mine was at 30GB) as it does not delete past updates. You can copy-paste WoW and it'll work just fine in my experience, done it multiple times on different systems. I now have it at 16GB, but I haven't played the actual game, I think the game updates while you are playing the game as well and eventually end up at the 25GB mark or soemthing..Hope that's not true though, would be great if it was "only" 16GB..It's quite a large game..:|

 

Yes.

I see little benefit in general though of installing a game on your SSD if you have an HDD also available. Only a select few games will really benefit from an SSD which would require on the fly game environment loading like Flight Simulator X.

 

According to the person above, WoW is one of the games that would benefit quite a lot from an SSD..Oh and I only have an external HDD, as in I plug it in via USB 2.0 so I'm guessing the data transfer rate would be quite slow..Was considering installing it to my external because the <60GB ssds are a little bit on the pricy side.. But I'll probably be getting a 120GB anyway so installing WoW on it won't be a problem..

 

WOW is similar to flight simulator as its a world that constantly loading, not fully but when you change zones, teleport, hearth its loading, and the amount of hdd activity on an mmo is high, there are even high end guilds that make having ssd a requirement (i find it stupid btw, but for sure helps a ton). Heres a video of dalaran loading with past gen ssds, SSD vs HDD World of Warcraft load times, also Tankspot Hardware Review - Intel X25-M Solid State Drive

 

Looks good..Will an ssd actually reduce lag? Yeah there are Elitist guilds, I'm more of a casual player but I would love faster loading times and less lag..

 

Depends on what's causing the lag. If it's lag from loading textures and world elements, then yes. If it's network lag, or too high graphics settings (which would mean CPU and GPU slowdowns) then no.

 

Ahh..makes sense, I don't think it's the graphics..Maybe the CPU, but I'm leaning toward loading elements..Hopefully the SSD will make things run "smoother"..

 

It really depends as Judicator said, most blizzard games, including WOW are very cpu bound, probably once you have the ssd your weakest link on your laptop will be the culv cpu, but the ssd should help with the inital lag and loading time.

 

Well considering that I can't do anything about my CPU, I'm bound to upgrading to ssd if I want a performance gain..I'll just pray for the best and hope the ssd will "boost" my system..

 

BeastRider,

Stop spinning your wheels; people have given you good advice but it seems you're bent on just spending money on a solution that is known not to work.

Don't pray (for performance) - read to understand:

From AnandTech:

(Emphasis mine).


See:
The Crucial m4 (Micron C400) SSD Review - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News


Good luck.

 

So what you're saying is, you don't recommend an SSD for a system that is bottlenecked elsewhere? Cause isn't it a fact that even old notebooks or old systems show significant improvement when upgrading to an SSD?..

 

If your HDD is not the bottleneck, switching to a SSD for performance reasons makes no sense.

 

no it's around 7-9gb (not exactly sure about the 64bit, i thought it's 9).

 

People need to turn off hibernate if they don't use it. It will "use" the same amount of space as memory that you have, same thing with pagefile. Although with hibernation that space actually isn't used until you hibernate, it's just reserved. Same with pagefile.

I would disable hibernation to free up a good several GB and manually set your pagefile to range 256MB to 1024MB. Or if you want, just leave it as is and at least you know you will never fully fill up your SSD, maintaining performance.