[SOLVED] SSD or M.2? [Upgrade Advice]

[SSlipknot]

This is the Build <--

I want to know if I would be better off with an M.2 or an SSD.
My motherboard says it is great for m.2 but I don't know any better so I thought I would ask here before making a choice.

I can buy from Amazon, Newegg, Bestbuy / Located in the USA.

Can spend up to $200-$250 MAX

I have two HHDs and I am wanting to upgrade them to SSDs or M.2s because they are getting old and are starting to get louder (plus they are just slow) Is there a way to switch over all my data so I won't lose everything?

This build is used for gaming, recording, Video editing.

Any help will be much appreciated, thank you.

 

[logainofhades]

M.2 is just a form factor, that SSD's go into and can be NVME/pci-e, or sata in spec. M.2 NVME has come down in price to the point that a 2.5" sata SSD doesn't make a lot of sense, unless you lack M.2 NVME slots. This would be my pick, for a drive, if you are using the top M.2 slot.

PCPartPicker Part List

Storage: Crucial P5 Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($239.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $239.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-03-25 09:21 EDT-0400


This one if you are going to use the bottom slot.

PCPartPicker Part List

Storage: Crucial P5 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($199.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $199.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-03-25 09:20 EDT-0400

 

[SkyNetRising]

I want to know if I would be better off with an M.2 or an SSD.

You can't get M.2 drive that is not an SSD (not talking about M.2 wifi modules here).
M.2 is just a form factor. M.2 drives are subset of all SSDs. So all M.2 drives are SSD.

 

[Zerk2012]

For your average user buy what cost less.

They got most of these wrong just by using them.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4DKLA7w9eeA

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7D2HPRGlkXs

 

[Bob.B]

This is the Build <--

I want to know if I would be better off with an M.2 or an SSD.
My motherboard says it is great for m.2 but I don't know any better so I thought I would ask here before making a choice.

I can buy from Amazon, Newegg, Bestbuy / Located in the USA.

Can spend up to $200-$250 MAX

I have two HHDs and I am wanting to upgrade them to SSDs or M.2s because they are getting old and are starting to get louder (plus they are just slow) Is there a way to switch over all my data so I won't lose everything?

This build is used for gaming, recording, Video editing.

Any help will be much appreciated, thank you.

Unless your moving big chunks of data around most users will not see much of a diff between 2.5 sata and m.2 nvme perf wise.

The advantage of m.2 is less cable clutter.

As for the switch over buy 2 ssd's that are at least 15% bigger than the amount of data on each hdd and one at a time clone the hdd to the ssd.

 

[logainofhades]

For your average user buy what cost less.

They got most of these wrong just by using them.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4DKLA7w9eeA

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7D2HPRGlkXs

A dramless drive could affect performance though. Many cheap drives 2.5 and M.2 suffer from this. Any good 2.5" drive really isn't priced vastly different, vs an NVME drive. That is why I don't recommend 2.5" drives, when there is an available M.2 NVME slot.

PCPartPicker Part List

Storage: Crucial MX500 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($197.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($199.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Crucial P5 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($199.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 870 Evo 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($184.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $781.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-03-25 13:47 EDT-0400

 

[Pextaxmx]

In my opinion, Samsung/Crucial/WD 2TB PCIE3.0 drives for 200USD are at the performance/price sweet spot these days.

 

[Why_Me]

This is the Build <--

I want to know if I would be better off with an M.2 or an SSD.
My motherboard says it is great for m.2 but I don't know any better so I thought I would ask here before making a choice.

I can buy from Amazon, Newegg, Bestbuy / Located in the USA.

Can spend up to $200-$250 MAX

I have two HHDs and I am wanting to upgrade them to SSDs or M.2s because they are getting old and are starting to get louder (plus they are just slow) Is there a way to switch over all my data so I won't lose everything?

This build is used for gaming, recording, Video editing.

Any help will be much appreciated, thank you.

Amazon.com: PNY CS2130 2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen3 x4 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD), Read up to 3,500 - M280CS2130-2TB-RB: Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: PNY CS2130 2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen3 x4 Internal Solid State Drive (SSD), Read up to 3,500 - M280CS2130-2TB-RB: Computers & Accessories

www.amazon.com

PNY CS2130 2TB M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen3 x4 Internal SSD $187.99