SSD vs SSD and HDD?

[lachlancliffordcroker]

So I was thinking about buying a Kingston Savage 960gb but I have a Seagate 1TB HDD from my old machine. I don't really want to use the HDD because at times it can be quite loud but would I be able to store everything on the SSD? Like.. Everything? OS, Games, Pictures, Programs, Music and will it effect my system only having an SSD?

 

[atomicWAR]

I would run both an SSD and HDD. Use the SSD for OS and load time sensitive programs/games (I am looking at your Doom 2016). Then use your HDD for your random files like pics, video, music, old games, page file/virtual memory, etc. The other thing you may be able to do, depending on your motherboard make and model, is get a small 64GB SSD as well and use it as a cache for your HDD using Intel's RST SSD caching. Basically files used more frequently from your HDD will be placed on the faster SSD cache drive for faster loads. Basically it acts like a SSHD (hybrid drive) on steroids. Where a SSHD is usually choked by only having 8GB of flash using Intel's RST caching gives you much more flash to work with.

 

[atomicWAR]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/248828/how_to_setup_intel_smart_response_ssd_caching_technology.html

A piece on SSD caching

 

[lachlancliffordcroker]

What about the noise of the HDD ? Is it going to be harmful just using the SSD? I'm not saying I'll only use just the SSD, if it gets close to being full then I will put another HDD or SSD in.

 

[USAFRet]

So I was thinking about buying a Kingston Savage 960gb but I have a Seagate 1TB HDD from my old machine. I don't really want to use the HDD because at times it can be quite loud but would I be able to store everything on the SSD? Like.. Everything? OS, Games, Pictures, Programs, Music and will it effect my system only having an SSD?

You can put anything and everything on the SSD.
My system has 4 SSD's (500-250-250-960) and a 3TB HDD.
The only reason the HDD is in there is for backups.

 

[rkzhao]

For the average user, cost is really the main determining factor. HDDs are much cheaper for the capacity and the performance benefits of an SSD is really only noticeable in a few specific cases so it ends up being a waste of money.

Other than cost, there are other disadvantages to an SSD for long term storage with regards to aspects like endurance, data retention, and data recovery. However, none of that are likely to really come into play for the average PC user, and it's more a concern for data systems and enterprise use cases.

 

[Karadjgne]

Hdds are workhorses. Old and reliable. Apart from complete failure, it's almost always able to access that data, even if sectors have gone bad. This is especially true if the OS is on a different drive. Easy to copy, hard to break.
SSDs on the other hand introduce some risk. Pain in the butt to copy do different size drives, and while they don't suffer from bad sectors if they do break, that's it, dead, no recovery possible.

So there's some element of risk on both drives, it won't hurt to not have a hdd for storage, until the day it does.

Personally, I'd keep the hdd, takes but a second to plug it in, boot, backup, shutdown, unplug power once a month or so. This way it's there if you need it, but don't have to listen to it on a daily basis.