Upgrading Dell Vostro 1000, does it worth it?

[Eximo]

i have another question, why does chrome freezes while pagefile is set to 0? i checked ram while using chrome and it had 2gb free! then why does it need pagefile when it never hits 4gb usage? it always has about 1.6-2.2 gb free space

Your system memory is also your video memory, some of it will be reserved by the system.

 

[USAFRet]

There is nothing inherently wrong with an SSD in this laptop.
Old or new. Not that I'd buy a used drive, but...

A SATA III SSD uses the exact same interface as the original SATA HDD.
It might be only SATA II, but it will still be more responsive than an HDD.

The current problems with this old Vostro are:

1. It is old. It was mediocre when it was new
2. Only 4GB RAM
3. No pagefile.

There is no issue with having the pagefile on the SSD.
Turn it back on, System Managed. And leave it alone.

Don't get a 320GB HDD for this...stop putting money into this old system.

 

[USAFRet]

can i pagefile on USB Flash Drive??? if yes then its good

Don't.
Just enable it on the SSD and leave it.

 

[troyer1234567]

Don't.
Just enable it on the SSD and leave it.

but it would destroy my ssd, wouldn't it?

 

[troyer1234567]

Your system memory is also your video memory, some of it will be reserved by the system.

it's most of the time like this

 

[USAFRet]

but it would destroy my ssd, wouldn't it?

NO.

Consider a system with only SSDs. Guess where the pagefile lives?

All my house systems, except for my NAS, are SSD only. No spinning drives.

The concept of SSDs dying early from the pagefile, or too many write cycles has not been a thing since the very first consumer level SSDs.

People don't write nearly as much to their SSD as they assume.

For your drive, I'd be VERY surprised if you reached 100TBW before the end of this decade. Seriously.
The 7 drives in my main system, all SSD (see below), are just short of 100TBW cumulative. Some of these drives have been in 24/7 use since Nov 2014.

Over the last few years, I've asked multiple times if anyone, in normal consumer use, has had a drive die from too many write cycles. So far, none.
Further....has anyone ever reached the warranty TBW for their drive. Again, none.

It is NOT a concern.

Now...I would not have obtained a WD Green SSD> That is a substandard performer.
But it will work.

 

[PeterMuellerr]

SSD swap into older hardware

But not THAT old, right?

spending MORE money on it is even worse

Yes and that's exactly why I suggested an upgrade for any part only if it costs the user 1 unit of currency.

I wouldn't go around buying used drives

For 1 unit of currency, I would. You can ask for the SMART health report in advance, and for an HDD it would reflect the real state of the drive better than for an SSD.

USB to SATA enclosures are also cheap.

Yes; at the place where I live you get the enclosure for 9 € together with an old HDD for 1 €: http://hood.de/0092948989.htm .

 

[PeterMuellerr]

SSDs can have a read only failure mode, where data can be extracted but no new data written. But more often than not if a single flash chip stops working all data on the drive is potentially lost without a recovery company getting involved.

I've personally experienced both scenarios for USB flash drives (which contain the same memory technology and less sophisticated controllers).

 

[PeterMuellerr]

can i pagefile on USB Flash Drive???

I don't know, but I wouldn't recommend it in any case because the USB interface and a USB flash drive are slow in comparison to any internal drive via IDE or SATA interface.

 

[PeterMuellerr]

For your drive, I'd be VERY surprised if you reached 100TBW before the end of this decade. Seriously.

Yes and this is true only for systems with plenty of RAM: the operating system doesn't have to swap much there. In the particular case of @troyer123456 , the laptop will be swapping constantly, every single second. (By experience, I did see how low-RAM systems work.) You know that every write wears down the cells and is slow, so you probably wouldn't bet on the longevity or speed of an SSD in such a situation. You'd probably wish to bet on the contrary.

 

[PeterMuellerr]

i have another question, why does chrome freezes while pagefile is set to 0? i checked ram while using chrome and it had 2gb free! then why does it need pagefile when it never hits 4gb usage? it always has about 1.6-2.2 gb free space

Your system is 32-bit; probably (not checked) no single application can get a huge chunk of heap: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/memory/virtual-address-space . If my memory doesn't fail me, one single program cannot get everything, but two or more applications can get more resources than one.
I told you that you shouldn't count on heavy apps! Using Chrome and MS Office will be a pain in the ass if not impossible at all.

I'd still put money into it (e.g., a larger/faster HDD) to be able to use the old laptop, but only for used parts and only for 1 $ per part. Conservation of resources is getting an issue, so, you have to learn to think in a new way. Buying used stuff instead of new stuff should increasingly become the first choice for every individual on Earth, including everyone in this thread and you in particular.

 

[troyer1234567]

Your system is 32-bit

no its 64bit win 7

 

[PeterMuellerr]

no its 64bit win 7

A 64-bit Windows 7 runs on such an old processor? Are you sure?

 

[Eximo]

First of the mobile Semprons to support 64bit, but yes, well past the introduction of AMD64 by AMD.

 

[PeterMuellerr]

First of the mobile Semprons to support 64bit, but yes, well past the introduction of AMD64 by AMD.

Hm. Well, then one way to save memory could be to try to switch to a 32-bit operating system. The instructions and data there are thinner and take less space than in a 64-bit system. (I have not checked myself, but it sounds logical.)

 

[USAFRet]

Hm. Well, then one way to save memory could be to try to switch to a 32-bit operating system. The instructions and data there are thinner and take less space than in a 64-bit system. (I have not checked myself, but it sounds logical.)

Not really.

And actually, given 4GB RAM, a 64bit OS allows the full 4GB to be used.
A 32bit OS limits it to ~3.5GB.

But that 0.5GB and the ancient CPU doesn't really make a difference with current software.

 

[PeterMuellerr]

Not really.

Isn't it the case that mov 2, rax on 64 bit takes more space than mov 2, eax on 32 bit and more than mov 2, ax on 16 bit (simply because the representation of 2 as a machine word takes more space)? So whenever you put a small constant into a register, you pay more the longer your machine word is?

 

[USAFRet]

Isn't it the case that mov 1, rax on 64 bit takes more space than mov 1, eax on 32 bit and more than mov 1, ax on 16 bit (simply because the representation of 1 takes more space)?

In my personal experience, on low end hardware, I see little user facing difference between a 64bit OS and a 32bit OS. Bothe Win 10, for instance.

The actual hardware is slow in either case.


Any actual difference would have to be measured with a stop watch at best.
For instance...
30.1 sec vs 30.2 sec.
vs 10 sec for slightly more recent or capable hardware.

 

[PeterMuellerr]

It's not directly about time needed for the instructions. It's about space needed for the operating system and indirectly, the used swap, and thus, indirectly, the time. I do recall a noticeable difference between fast mostly 16-bit Win 3.11 fWg vs. slow mostly 32-bit Win 95 on the same machine. In particular, then win95 intentionally switched to 16-bit mode internally so as to save space. (MS kept this fact silent and advertised W95 as a fully 32-bit OS.) I can imagine the same may happen for 32 vs 64 bit.

 

[troyer1234567]

Hm. Well, then one way to save memory could be to try to switch to a 32-bit operating system. The instructions and data there are thinner and take less space than in a 64-bit system. (I have not checked myself, but it sounds logical.)

32bit only recognizes 2.5 gb of ram that's why i installed win 7 64 bit

 

[USAFRet]

32bit only recognizes 2.5 gb of ram that's why i installed win 7 64 bit

Actually, 3.5.

 

[PeterMuellerr]

Actually, 3.5.

If we believe https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/memory/virtual-address-space , then it's 3 GB and you can adjust this. But it doesn't matter: If some RAM is reserved for the system, crucial parts of the system are likely to consume roughly this amount. So, adjusting the internal parameters or switching to a 64-bit Win 7 won't make the Windows less RAM-greedy anyway. I suggest you go for a dual-boot 32-bit Windows 8.1 + Debian Linux and don't use any nonessential graphical effects (e.g., remove background) and sound effects (e.g., Silent Sound Scheme) to speed up the system.

 

[TommyTwoTone66]

This laptop belongs in the trash and you should not spend one penny upgrading it. A Sempron laptop CPU was underpowered even when it launched, and struggled to run Windows XP. You have zero chance of a useful windows 7 or 10 experience. It will take 20 minutes to boot and 5 minutes to load each application, even with an SSD.
Finding DDR2 laptop ram that still works will be a pain, and the screen will be painfully low resolution, and your graphics chipset will be barely supported in any applications.

No.

 

[USAFRet]

If we believe https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/memory/virtual-address-space , then it's 3 GB and you can adjust this. But it doesn't matter: If some RAM is reserved for the system, crucial parts of the system are likely to consume roughly this amount. So, adjusting the internal parameters or switching to a 64-bit Win 7 won't make the Windows less RAM-greedy anyway. I suggest you go for a dual-boot 32-bit Windows 8.1 + Debian Linux and don't use any nonessential graphical effects (e.g., remove background) and sound effects (e.g., Silent Sound Scheme) to speed up the system.

In this particular ancient low end system, there will be little difference between Win 7, Win 8, Win 8.1, and Win 10.

He apparently has a valid license for the WIn 7 install. Activating Win 8.1 from Win 7 is not free.
Updating to Win 10 would be free.

 

[PeterMuellerr]

Win 7, Win 8, Win 8.1, and Win 10.

From what I know, Windows develops by growing; the kernel doesn't shrink. So later systems are definitely heavier (and IMHO they are probably noticeably heavier because of thousands of employed programmers continuously write Windows).