Do SSDs only increase boot time speeds?

[NamelessAndrew]

Does installing the OS on your SSD only increase boot time speeds or does it affect the overall smoothness? I won't be installing any games on my SSD and I plan to use it only for Windows and maybe
my browser. Also could you use symlinks to access the files on your HDD at the speed of the SSD? Somebody told me that but I doubt it's true.

*whoops, I typed increase boot times in the unedited version.

 

[eggbrook]

It will decrease boot times, not increase. Also they are much faster in their seek times, pretty much any program accessing the hard drive will do so much faster than a conventional disk based hard drive. No, there is no way to suddenly make a standard disk based hard drive go as fast as a solid state drive.

 

[soldier5637]

NO.
It increases the speed of everything that is ON IT phenomenally. Just make sure it's a reliable new one like the samsung 850 Evo or the Intel 730.

 

[USAFRet]

It speeds up whatever is installed on it. A lot.
No, symlinks to stuff on your HDD will still run at the speed of the HDD> And there is no reason to mess with symlinks. Simply install the game or application on the desired drive to start with.

 

[jsmithepa]

DEFINITELY SMOOTHER.

HDD, not matter how fast, it feels like driving in a somewhat congested highway, ur going 60 but cars cut in front you, after a while a truck is in front of you because you caught up, now you have slow down and maybe change lane...... SSD, is more wide open, you feel like speeding up, slow down, it's all up to you, at almost any time and instantly, nobody is blocking you.

 

[NamelessAndrew]

It will decrease boot times, not increase. Also they are much faster in their seek times, pretty much any program accessing the hard drive will do so much faster than a conventional disk based hard drive. No, there is no way to suddenly make a standard disk based hard drive go as fast as a solid state drive.

So suppose I only install windows on it. Would the only performance gain be increased boot time speeds or would it be smoother in other aspects?

 

[USAFRet]

It will decrease boot times, not increase. Also they are much faster in their seek times, pretty much any program accessing the hard drive will do so much faster than a conventional disk based hard drive. No, there is no way to suddenly make a standard disk based hard drive go as fast as a solid state drive.

So suppose I only install windows on it. Would the only performance gain be increased boot time speeds or would it be smoother in other aspects?

First off, you don't want 'only windows' on it.
The OS, and all or most of your applications apart from games. Depending on the size, of course.

AV, image editors, browsers, etc, etc, etc. All should also go on the SSD.
It makes the whole system feel snappier. It's not just the boot time reduction.