New SSD

[sinsi]

Just got a 128GB SSD (for AU$165), imaged my C: to it and ran some tests. Fast? Yep.
A quick scan with MSE used to take around 2-3 minutes, now takes <30 seconds.

[Bill Cravener]

Hi sinsi, whats the boot up time like. It must be much quicker.

[sinsi]

Bootup time is a bit quicker, not really noticeable because it used to boot fast anyway.

eta: boot time from "starting windows" screen to desktop is around 15 seconds (no logon required), MSE is ready, wireless is connected to the router.
Internet Explorer connects straight away too. Wonder how win8 will go, this boots from another computer (Q6700 and hdd) in about 10 seconds...

[Bill Cravener]

I thought there'd be a noticeable speed up in boot time but I guess it's not all up to drive speed. Various system hardware requires initialization time that drive speed has little to do with.

[sinsi]

Well, loading Word for the first time used to take maybe 20 seconds, now it is just...there.
The other computer is getting an SSD next week, might even get a faster one (SATA3 for $199/120GB).

Bill, when win7 boots in under 30 seconds it doesn't really matter if it's 5 or 25 seconds :lol

[sinsi]

>The other computer is getting an SSD next week, might even get a faster one (SATA3 for $199/120GB).
Couldn't resist, it's got one now, and the good one. Core2 duo, win7 x32, 4GB DDR2 RAM, boots in 8 seconds. The friggin' BIOS tests for RAID take longer. "No any drive found" ::)
This computer has AVG (slow) and a HP printer/scanner (slow) as well as wireless (slow), 8 seconds! Seriously, RAID here we come.

[sinsi]

OK, serious money was spent :bg
- 120GB Intel 520 SSD
- 2x WD black 1TB -> 2TB striped RAID

Once I updated the AMD RAID software (Intel drive doesn't like AMD chipset, surprise) I got TRIM support and full SATA 6Gbps.
Copying from SSD to RAID gets me about 300MB/s, the other way is around 200.

Windows boots in (somewhere near) 8 seconds, but the improvements I have noticed are programs starting immediately.
Things like Word/Excel, which take a while to load all the dlls, IE, even Firefox.
Funnily enough the one I noticed the most was Event Viewer - the one from Vista onwards, which is really slow, loads straight away.

My conclusion? They are still a bit pricey but if you're replacing a dead drive then go for it.
My C: has Windows, Program Files and Users (except for my downloads/documents/music/pictures on E:) and is using 28.6Gb and it's all fast as hell.

[dedndave]

nice   :U

now, you might say,
"I remember floppy disks - lol"

in the not-too-distant future, they will be saying,
"I remember when drives had motors - lol"