Better to use just 1 SSD?

[dunkirkman]

Hey guys, so I just talked to a Best buy rep about my PC build.

He said that he prefers to use 1 as sometimes having 2 SSD's can cause certain installed programs to not function properly.

He said that there would be no performance difference but rather a recommendation. I'm getting a 2tb Samsung Evo 860 SSD for games and will use my old 850 500gb for the OS. Which would you guys prefer me do?

 

[USAFRet]

Hey guys, so I just talked to a Best buy rep about my PC build.

He said that he prefers to use 1 as sometimes having 2 SSD's can cause certain installed programs to not function properly.

He said that there would be no performance difference but rather a recommendation. I'm getting a 2tb Samsung Evo 860 SSD for games and will use my old 850 500gb for the OS. Which would you guys prefer me do?

He is Full Of Crap. (as one expects from a BB/GS minion)
2 drives, be they SSD or otherwise, are no problem.

A 500GB 850 for the OS and applications and a larger drive, SSD or HDD, is a perfect combination.

 

[punkncat]

Yeah, I mean I am currently using an M.2 for OS and two Samsung SSD striped for games.

 

[punkncat]

Hey guys, so I just talked to a Best buy rep about my PC build.

He said that he prefers to use 1 as sometimes having 2 SSD's can cause certain installed programs to not function properly.

He said that there would be no performance difference but rather a recommendation. I'm getting a 2tb Samsung Evo 860 SSD for games and will use my old 850 500gb for the OS. Which would you guys prefer me do?

He is Full Of Crap. (as one expects from a BB/GS minion)
2 drives, be they SSD or otherwise, are no problem.

A 500GB 850 for the OS and applications and a larger drive, SSD or HDD, is a perfect combination.

Where someone that knows a little something about a computer, yeah total BS.....however....in the reps defense. You have to consider the lower average of consumers that come in wanting "gaming computers" etc and know NOTHING about them. I don't know that I would recommend multiple drives for most "average or below" users, either. The BS story just adds a believability that instantly lets him know who he is dealing with to buy it.

 

[USAFRet]

Hey guys, so I just talked to a Best buy rep about my PC build.

He said that he prefers to use 1 as sometimes having 2 SSD's can cause certain installed programs to not function properly.

He said that there would be no performance difference but rather a recommendation. I'm getting a 2tb Samsung Evo 860 SSD for games and will use my old 850 500gb for the OS. Which would you guys prefer me do?

He is Full Of Crap. (as one expects from a BB/GS minion)
2 drives, be they SSD or otherwise, are no problem.

A 500GB 850 for the OS and applications and a larger drive, SSD or HDD, is a perfect combination.

Where someone that knows a little something about a computer, yeah total BS.....however....in the reps defense. You have to consider the lower average of consumers that come in wanting "gaming computers" etc and know NOTHING about them. I don't know that I would recommend multiple drives for most "average or below" users, either. The BS story just adds a believability that instantly lets him know who he is dealing with to buy it.

I'm wondering if the BB drone gave a reason, or just a blanket "can cause..."

 

[dunkirkman]

Thanks guys for the help! Btw why wouldnt you use that m.2 for games and the Samsung SSD for the OS? Isn't the m.2 faster

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks guys for the help! Btw why wouldnt you use that m.2 for games and the Samsung SSD for the OS? Isn't the m.2 faster

In that case, I'd use the m.2 (assuming it is NVMe) for the OS and other drives for games, etc.

You want the OS and applications on the fastest drive. Games don't benefit that much between one SSD or another.

 

[punkncat]

Yes, that's the point. My OS is running on the fastest drive, meaning that pretty much everything I run actively is running off the M.2 (and RAM) aside from times when it's accessing data (like loading a new map, etc) from the SSD, which is also darned fast.

 

[geofelt]

From a simplicity of operation point of view, a single large ssd is the easiest.
Since, in this case there is an OS on one drive and a larger storage ssd, I see no problem.

What I would NOT do is try for some sort of raid-0 configuration.
It offers no real performance benefit and might actually be slower.

 

[punkncat]

What I would NOT do is try for some sort of raid-0 configuration.
It offers no real performance benefit and might actually be slower.

I do so in order to distribute use across the two drives evenly. I don't keep info there that is not also cloud stored, IE, Steam, Origin, etc.

 

[geofelt]

You have not explicitly said that you are using raid-0, but that is what I surmise.For what purpose?
If you use raid-0, parts of each record will be distributed between two devices.
That increases the probability of failure and the severity of failure.
In addition, reading a block takes longer from two devices vs. one.
Raid-0 has been over hyped as a performance enhancer.
Sequential benchmarks do look wonderful, but the real world does not seem to deliver the indicated performance benefits for most
desktop users. The reason is, that sequential benchmarks are coded for maximum overlapped I/O rates.
It depends on reading a stripe of data simultaneously from each raid-0 member, and that is rarely what we do.
The OS does mostly small random reads and writes, so raid-0 is of little use there.

Here is a older study using ssd devices in raid-0.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-raid-benchmark,3485.html
Spoiler... no benefit at all.

 

[toshibitsu]

Asking a Best Buy rep for tech advice is like asking a McDonald's employee to read your palm.

Next time ask here first.