Making jump to SSD, need help

[bcastle]

I'm looking to buy a 2 TB SSD and then use my current (3 yr old) HDD as a back up. I also want to start setting up a decent whole system backup system as I don't do anything now, other than backing up my reports online or saving random stuff on a 4 TB external that I don't use that often. My build is 3 yrs old, but I left myself options to upgrade. Knowing that eventually I will replace my MOBO (Asus Z170A) (probably in another 3 years or so, I was wondering if I should get the M.2 ssd or a PCIE version. I don't mind a temporary bottleneck if I can use it on my next build, with the possibility of unlocking more potential on a future build. I know that m.2 has some limitations vs pcie. I have an EVGA GeForce GTX 970 installed in the top slot now, leaving me with 2 more spots. I also have CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) installed and i5 6600k with a big ass heat sink. I think I'm overclocked about 25%. I do some video editing from drone footage and take a bunch of pictures for my home inspection company. Not looking for top of the line or bottom of the barrel either. Thanks.

 

[camieabz]

Don't see any sentences ending with a '?'.

Guessing your want a recommendation for which brand or type then.

No point in M.2 SATA over 2.5" SATA. Same speeds, but less easy to install or remove in a hurry. (e.g. 2TB 960 Evo M.2 same speed as Crucial MX500 2.5" 500GB)

Be sure to get NVME if going for M.2 (e.g. Samsung 970 or Adata XPG SX8200)

NVME cards with 'Gen3 x4' will use 4 PCIe lanes, and will usually mean that 1 or 2 SATA drive ports on the motherboard are unusable (chipset limitations).

2TB SSDs? Prices are going to be excessive for NVME at 2TB, because they are top of the line in performance and capacity. The 970 Evo 2TB is around £500 / $600. If you scale back to 1TB, you're looking at the WD NVME Black (be sure it says NVME!) or the Adata SX8200 960GB, or the 970 Pro or Evo 1TB.


If NVME prices are not for you, or you insist on 2TB for main drive, then there's 2.5" drives, and the most sensibly priced one is the Crucial MX500 (got a 500GB one myself - fast for a 2.5" SSD).

Knowing the speeds of the Adata SX8200, I would opt for the 960GB M.2 for boot, and perhaps the a 1TB MX500 for extras. Using a similar setup of the Adata 480GB with the 500GB Crucial, and they are NICE!.

https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/11882238

 

[bcastle]

OK. I pulled the trigger and bought the Intel 660P m.2 2TB today from tiger direct for $310 (missed the $260 price on newegg and kicking myself). I know its half as fast as the EVO Pro version, but I can't justify that $550 price and I really wanted all my crap on one main drive, so i didnt want to go with smaller EVO pro.. According to the Asus rep, I can run two of those ssd's (m.2 and pcie) but it will only be raid0, which doesn't really sit well with me. From what I read I can still access my current 2tb hdd as a backup drive. I think i can run raid 1,5,10 if I added another HDD, but only in sata and not sure how that works if everything is on the m.2 ssd. My luck, probably not.

QUESTIONS:
Should I just clone the HDD to SDD as is? only 500 GB on there after 2 years of use
Should I do a fresh win7 install on new SSD? (not looking forward to all those updates and haven't had the best luck reusing keys)
Should I partition the new SSD to keep OS and Data separate?
Should I bite the bullet and upgrade to win10 since support effectively ends early 2019? I'm not a fan of getting all of this set up only to have to deal with OS upgrade in a year and redo all my backups.

As my original post indicated, I'm also trying to set up a back up system at the same time too.
Since this post, I uploaded just about all my files to my business onedrive account to sync, desktop, Ipad and phone (I understand this isnt an actual backup, but more for convenience to share among devices.
I connected my unused 4 TB external to my modem/router via USB 2.0, which will serve as backup for my computer and my wife's (She doesn't really save a whole bunch on there). This will take place after new drive is installed. Trying to clean up my data files too.

I plan to use my current 2TB to store a back up of my new SSD. I bought the 3 yr seagate data recovery from the new drive for $22 in case it craps out. I'm also looking at Backblaze backup for the $50/yr. Not sure that I really need both.

I currently only have about 500GB on my HDD with everything on it. I do have a 500GB external with 450 GB of movies/music and some data files on it that will make its way to the 4TB. I'm not putting any movies or music on my desktop.

Eventually, I was thinking of getting an actual NAS in raid, but again at $700 with drives, out of my price range at the moment and probably overkill for what I do and not really needed.

I think I'm probably going way overkill on trying to set up a backup system. My reports are stored in the cloud (and my computer) so I'm not really worried to bad. My business is not so mission critical that I need 24/7 raid 10 backups every 15 mins in my main computer and on a NAS. I'd be fine with 30 min backups on my computer to a single drive and then nightly backups to my external on the router.

If both hard drives in my main computer shit the bed, I'd still have to wait to order a new drive anyways. I can transfer inspection software to wife's computer in about a day (depending on tech support to issue new key). I could still do inspection from phone, just couldn't finish report until desktop switch was finished. Not a huge deal.