Swapping Storage Drives

J

jackbarratt404

Member
So I've got a payday in a month and would like to swap over from HDD to SSD to improve file access speed

Was Hoping to run the OS and some larger project data from my masters off it and keep my current drive for longer term storage (and steam files of course).

My current HDD
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE

So a couple questions:
  • How practical would it be for a first ever upgrade for me to be able to swap over to running off a SSD?
  • If it is recommended, which one should I go for (budget is currently £100 with some wiggle room withing reason)?


Any and all feedback would be appreciated!
As I said this is my first potential upgrade, so if I've got the totally wrong approach, don't be afraid to tell me.


Rest of system for reference:
Case
GAME MAX FALCON BLACK GAMING CASE (RGB LED)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-8400 (2.8GHz) 9MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B360M-A: Micro-ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1060 - DVI, HDMI, 3 x DP
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
How practical would it be for a first ever upgrade for me to be able to swap over to running off a SSD?/QUOTE] Very. It's one of the easiest upgrades there is.

If it is recommended, which one should I go for (budget is currently £100 with some wiggle room withing reason)?
Click to expand...
You could buy an m.2 NVMe SSD with that budget. But you could get a much larger 2.5" Sata SSD for the same money. You can often find very, very good SSDs like the Crucial MX500 and Samsung 860 Evo at 1TB for only a little over £100 when they're on offer (MX500 usually is the cheaper). Or 500gb SSDs for ~£60-70 when on offer.
A sata SSD is cheaper, gives more GB per £, and is still a massive upgrade over an HDD.

Also M.2 NVMe SSD lineups are currently being refreshed, so paying a premium for something that's top of the line but will no longer be top of the line in a few weeks, or that's brand new and top of the line and carries an even bigger premium, doesn't seem worth it :)

Edit: Oh, and you'll probably want favourite steam games on the SSD too so they load faster.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
J

jackbarratt404

Member
Hello again Oussebon!

Thank you for the recommendation, I will start looking around now for those

Are there any software issues I have be aware of whilst changing which drive I boot from?
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
No.

Other than always back up your data before doing anything. :)

You can clone the existing drive to the SSD with a range of free software (Redo Backup and Recovery, Macrium Reflect, Samsung Magician if you get a Samsung drive).

Or you can do a clean install of Windows onto your new SSD, and then reinstall your stuff. If doing a clean install, I'd recommend unplugging the HDD before running the install.

if doing a clean install, note that you can copy games across, you don't need to redownload them in most cases.
 
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