SSD brands and speed

Having looked on Amazon for various things, I noticed a few Docking Stations seem fairly well supported with good reviews, but, I haven't a clue what they do, are they similar to an external enclosure case but can accept larger SSD's in size, does anyone know, please?

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.
 
ex-railwayman said:
Having looked on Amazon for various things, I noticed a few Docking Stations seem fairly well supported with good reviews, but, I haven't a clue what they do, are they similar to an external enclosure case but can accept larger SSD's in size, does anyone know, please?

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.
Click to expand...

You're limited to the speed of the connectors and the connectors depend on both the docking station and the PC, whichever has the slowest connector will be the limitation.

Cheerio John
 
ex-railwayman said:
I've been looking at these Fred, but, it appears that all Samsung EVO SSD's seem to be getting a bad press recently, something about old files that haven't been read take longer to load after a while, and Samsung are dragging their feet over the issue.

I'll keep searching anyway, the one thing that I have seen is that whatever SSD I get has to have an OS installed, some you can obtain that are already pre-installed, I assume that means WIN 7, or, 8?
If I just want to download and install a game onto it from a DVD, do I need an OS ?

Cheerz. ex.
Click to expand...

Samsung software update:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/samsung-840-evo-ssd-patch,27890.html

Cheerio John
 
2995Valliant said:
I have had a 120gb Corsair GT for over two years now - they're fairly old hat now but I can't fault it, and I have just bought a 500gb Crucial MX100 as my main system drive/Trainz drive with everything else (photos. music, documents etc) on a 1tb WD Black which had previously been the system drive.
So far I'm very happy with the Crucial MX100, and from what I could ascertain the technology within is reasonably tried and tested.
hth,
Anthony
Click to expand...

Hello Anthony,

Yeah, I looked at the Corsairs on offer on Amazon, some good reviews across their range, the only thing is the price for a 500GB was a bit too high for me personally, but, when I win the lottery I may get one in the future.

Cheerz. ex.
 
ex-railwayman said:
Hello Anthony,

Yeah, I looked at the Corsairs on offer on Amazon, some good reviews across their range, the only thing is the price for a 500GB was a bit too high for me personally, but, when I win the lottery I may get one in the future.

Cheerz. ex.
Click to expand...

I paid just over $200 for my entry-level HyperX 3K 240GB ssd, I saw instant improvements on the way my computer performs.
Honestly I feel the HDD was limiting my i7 severely.

- Team Fortress 2 has lower latency, loads almost immediately with minimum "loading" screen times
- Photoshop CS6 Extended loads in 3 seconds
- My laptop's boot time;
770e5f8292a3821c378747e282b98e8d.png

(See: BIOS Time)
- File transfers are ridiculously fast

Honestly if you're just getting into the SSD market, I seriously recommend the one I'm using now. I use my laptop for 18 hours daily, and it also gave me a slight battery boost, though I really need a new one.
I didn't run a speedtest on it, but there's numerous results online so I'm not going to be bothered to do it.
 
Hi there,

I'm waiting for the postman to deliver my new SSD, I wanted a 500GB, or, 512GB, whichever was offered by various companies, I am not too fussed regarding transfer times of files as such, just as long as I can get a faster start up to playing various games, things like Trainz which has thousands of files, and you keep accumulating them over the months, seems to bog down the hard drive a bit, I want to be able to wooosh into the game and start playing without the need for waiting on loading screens, etc. As I have a new PC I get pretty good BIOS stats already, but, wanted to improve on performance just a bit. I'll let you know how I get on.

Cheerz. ex.
 
Good luck with your new rig ex!

@johnwheeler Thanks for the link to the Samsung firmware update...done! :)

Cheers,
Fred
 
Now, I have a query, when I plug in my Buffalo Ministation HDD it shows in My Computer as HD-PCU2 (K), I now have a brand new SSD, but, when I plug it in it shows as USB DISK (L), and when I attempted to install a couple of games straight from DVD discs they were refused as being incompatible with the drive, I guess against piracy and general game sharing, developers such as Infinity Ward refused to let their Call of Duty games be put on USB's. So, as there is no manual with this little device, can I change the settings in My Computer to show this SSD as a drive and not a USB, does anyone know please, otherwise, I can only install games on it that aren't considered as incompatible, which will be very few probably.
Please explain in simple terms, as I'm an old duffer and anything technical flies over my head......:hehe:

Cheerz. ex.
 
Last edited:
Install it inside your computer. http://www.wikihow.com/Add-an-Extra-Hard-Drive

Programs may refuse to install on removable media due to the obvious risks of removal (accidental or otherwise) while data is being accessed. If your USB cable is old and a little loose it could even disconnect if you so much as touch the cable. In games this could mean corrupting your save game, in software this could mean all sorts of other errors. There is nothing technical about adding a hard drive; if you can handle a screwdriver and connect some cables together, you're already more than qualified.
 
No, Nicky, it's an SSD, an external one, you just plug it in and use it, it's so small it sits on the top of my PC Tower as the cable is only about 15 inches long, but, that's adequate for where the machine is situated.

Cheerz. ex.
 
SSDs are usually used in I/O intensive applications such as OS boot drives; using it as external storage is overkill in most applications so initially I had assumed you were using a SATA>USB adapter to connect the drive. In fact, where I live SSDs almost always come packaged with only a 3.5" tray and external SSDs are rarely found.

What make and model is this SSD please? It should be possible to remove the actual drive from the enclosure and install it as an internal drive so that you can install programs and games on it normally.
 
Hi Steve,

Haven't heard of that brand before but what you have is indeed an SSD packaged as a portable drive. There are more advanced high speed interfaces that may do what you want such as eSATA, Firewire or Thunderbolt but it seems the drive only has USB. Since external drives are really just internal drives in a fancy enclosure, you will have no problem taking it apart and putting that SSD into your computer. Some enclosures (such as WD Passports) use adhesives instead of screws, so you'll need to pry it open with a spudger, craft knife or similar sharp and sturdy object. Just take care not to break it though, because you can still keep it as a backup adapter for file recovery or repurposing old drives.

hdd-25-sata-hi_1_.jpg


This is the only solution I can think of to your problem. Maybe someone else can offer their thoughts.

Cheerio,
Nicholas
 
Last edited:
ex-railwayman said:
I don't intent to use it as a storage device Nicky, i wanted to use it as a hard drive equivalent, to run my games off it, Call of Duty, Railworks, Trainz, etc, etc.

Here's the website of the company I got it off Amazon UK at a good price, I certainly didn't pay the Manufacturers retail price for it.

http://www.integralmemory.com/product/usb-30-portable-ssd-external

Cheerz. ex.
Click to expand...


You would want to get a better spec, read/write times, unit. That seems like from two or more years ago. Just the 3.0 interface/enclosure is newer.

Paul
 
nicky9499 said:
Hi Steve,

Haven't heard of that brand before but what you have is indeed an SSD packaged as a portable drive. There are more advanced high speed interfaces that may do what you want such as eSATA, Firewire or Thunderbolt but it seems the drive only has USB. Since external drives are really just internal drives in a fancy enclosure, you will have no problem taking it apart and putting that SSD into your computer. Some enclosures (such as WD Passports) use adhesives instead of screws, so you'll need to pry it open with a spudger, craft knife or similar sharp and sturdy object. Just take care not to break it though, because you can still keep it as a backup adapter for file recovery or repurposing old drives. This is the only solution I can think of to your problem. Maybe someone else can offer their thoughts.

Cheerio,
Nicholas
Click to expand...

Hello Nicky,

It just so happens, that I also purchased an enclosure case from Amazon, as I believe in covering for every eventuality, and it was only a tenner.....:hehe:
This is what I obtained, now I would imagine that I can put my SSD in it, if it is not too small, then I can still use it externally.

Cheerz. Steve.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inateck-Enclosure-Tool-free-Installation-Compatible/dp/B00DW374W4
 
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