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I've got a 17" Acer laptop and it's got a second drive bay. I've finally decided to stick a second drive in as a program drive and keep the current 750gb HDD for storage.
As well as Win10, other programs are likely to be Zwift, Fusion 360, Cura (for slicing 3-D prints) mainly. Each one reckons about 4gb free disk space is required.
I think Win10 only needs around 10gb.
Given that I have 750gb of HDD for other storage, do I need more than a 120gb SSD? I'm kinda erring on the side of caution and thinking of getting a 240gb, but there's probably no point if most of it will never be used.
Presumably, if I do need more space to run a bigger program in the future that won't fit on the SSD I could just install it on the HDD and put up with it loading slower?
Ta, in advance...
For the price difference I'd go for a 240gb ssd. That's what I have in my laptop and it's ok with visual studio, SQL server etc.
120gb should be enough. You may have to be comfortable working out how to redirect some storage to your data drive, many default to the user directory, ie itunes. Normally it is quite simple, but it is best to think what the storage requirements are of a program when installing it rather than realise you have run out of disk space (and then some programmes like the sufferfest don't even give an option for changing the data storage, which is idiotic in a world where many users have smaller ssd os drives and spinning rust for data).
A 240Gb drive will be pretty cheap and I wouldn't suggest getting a smaller one as you need to buy for the data you will have in 5 years time rather than the minimum you can get away with today.
Yeah, I'll probably stump up for something a bit larger.
The main thing putting me off spending more than I need to is that the laptop is at least 7yrs old so I don't want to chuck money at it because it will probably need replacing before too long...
My (infrequently used) laptop has a 120gb SSD and it runs perfectly well on windows 10. For the difference in price I would get a 240gb one now.
HTH
My (infrequently used) laptop has a 120gb SSD and it runs perfectly well on windows 10. For the difference in price I would get a 240gb one now.
Cheers. I've just bought a 240gb Kingston SSD.
Just need to find the time now to create a new Win10 install USB, back-up the current HDD (just in case) & actually get the thing installed!
Yeah 240gb is about right for ssd, or whatever size is about £35 bang for buck if you are reading this in 6 months time.
The price difference is buttons these days, I'd go for the bigger one. Oh, you did. Well done. (-:
I think Win10 only needs around 10gb.
Err... no. It's easily double that, I'd allow 30GB as an absolute bare minimum for a Windows folder alone, not including page file and hibernation file (the former on mine is about 6GB and the latter will be the amount of RAM you have). I wouldn't entertain installing it on anything smaller than a 60GB partition.
Cheers. I’ve just bought a 240gb Kingston SSD.
Should've got a Samsung EVO.
back-up the current HDD (just in case)
Much as I'm a vocal advocate of backups, you're removing the old drive and turning it into a data drive. Your old drive is the backup, if it goes breasts uppermost then your rollback is to refit the old drive.
I have a cheap Intel NUC running as a Plex Media Server. That has a 32 GB drive. It's just adequate to run Windows and Plex, but can't handle upgrading Windows versions. I think 64 GB is really the minimum to run Windows properly. You might be able to install it on a 16 GB drive, but I don't think you could actually use it for anything.
you’re removing the old drive and turning it into a data drive. Your old drive is the backup
Erm, nope. The laptop has a second drive slot. I was planning on keeping the original drive as the storage drive in the laptop and adding the SSD as a boot drive. Before doing anything, I was gonna back up the data on the current drive, just because...
Should’ve got a Samsung EVO.
Well, here's the thing...I have seen this a lot on here, but....I had a £25 Amazon and this is really just a way of using that up. I know a Samsung Evo would have only been a bit more than the Kingston one...but hey ho.
Also, the 2nd drive space won't fit a drive in its enclosure. I've looked it up online and there used to be a different back you could buy to do this (with an extra bulge). If you can still find the backs, they are silly expensive.
People who have done the conversion, use an msata drive which had no enclosure and just plug it in. I'll probably 3-D print some kind of brace/enclosure to keep it in place once I know the required dims....
So, a drive with an enclosure would have been a non-starter. I could have taken it to bits, but I'd rather not wreck a pricier drive and have nothing to show for it...
There's a vid here...
Erm, nope. The laptop has a second drive slot. I was planning on keeping the original drive as the storage drive in the laptop and adding the SSD as a boot drive. Before doing anything, I was gonna back up the data on the current drive, just because…
What I'd do is remove the existing drive, fit the new one in its place, install W10, then fit the old drive in the second bay. Reasoning being that a) you're not risking kyboshing the old install somehow and b) you don't get into a tangle with boot order and BCD oddness.
Also, the 2nd drive space won’t fit a drive in its enclosure.
I'm not sure what you mean by "enclosure" here, but an SSD is notably thinner than a mechanical HDD if that's any help?
What I’d do is remove the existing drive, fit the new one in its place, install W10, then fit the old drive in the second bay. Reasoning being that a) you’re not risking kyboshing the old install somehow and b) you don’t get into a tangle with boot order and BCD oddness.
So...there are two drive spaces if I take the back off the laptop. One has a drive in currently. It is 750gb and is a normal laptop hdd. The other one is empty. But, the drive spaces are not the same depth.
The second drive space is shallower. Acer obviously intended that anyone adding a second drive would buy the more bulbous back as an add-on to make this option work. But, you can't really find these backs anymore and when you do, they are very expensive. So, the original drive will not fit in the second bay at all. It must stay where it is, and if I want to add an ssd it will have to go in the second bay.
I’m not sure what you mean by “enclosure” here, but an SSD is notably thinner than a mechanical HDD if that’s any help?
There are vids online of this. I know the ssd is thinner than a standard drive, but a standard ssd will not fit into the space. The vid link I put in my previous post shows this.
But, the actual working part of the ssd; the board itself, is much smaller than the enclosure it comes packed in and it will fit in on its own.
As far as I can work out, an msata ssd is basically a board with no enclosure/case or whatever it is called, so that will fit into the space available.
To be honest, this is why I have been put off doing it for so long. It is not a simple case of take this drive out and put that one in. But, it should work the way I have planned it, assuming there are no issues selecting what drive is the boot drive.