Using a solid state drive the right way.

Hello! I know I never float around Icrontic much. (Sorry about that.) Though I do know that you are a rather friendly tech savvy bunch. Hence I was hoping I could hear from some of your experiences to apply to my own. I recently acquired a SSD for the first time and decided to put it to some use. Since I have never had one before, I find myself doing a lot of searching for information. There is still some info that I find lacking so I figured I would see if some of you might have an opinion on the matter.

The question is essentially, how do you use a solid state drive the right way? Or if you prefer, how do you use it the wrong way? A lot of the questions that come from that initial question are, what types of applications should I install on the SSD and which on my HDD? Should I move both my user and system temp directories off my SSD or will that remove many of the performance benefits? Is there any small system setting that I should change that I likely wouldn't know about?

Many of those questions come based off only having a vague understanding of how various things work. When it come to applications, should all apps that run on startup be installed to the SSD since it would help them load faster? If I have Google Chrome installed on the SSD, but my temp directory on a HDD, will it remove any benefits of being on the SSD? Same question applies to using Adobe Premier, Audition or any other part of the Creative Cloud suite. If the application is on one while the temporary files on another, will it still work as fast as it could? These are the sort of things that plague my inexperienced mind.

To make mention, I do know some things about solid state drives. Such as keeping media like pictures, music and games on my HDD since games are often added or removed causing extensive writing and music and pictures don't take too long to load due to their sizes and other such factors. Also, don't defrag them. Well established by now. Plus the reason for some of these questions is knowing they have a limited life span for writing.

Anyhow, if someone would like to share some of their insights with this matter it would be much appreciated. Also if you can avoid asking how I ended up with a SSD, that too would be appreciated. Safe to say it was part of an elaborate lesson costing about 500 bucks and 3 months of time without a desktop PC. The lesson being that I can't trust Logitech for the next 5 years.

Thanks!
Peter

Comments

  • Well I feel stupid for not including the model. It is a 255GB OCZ Vertex 4. Which I imagine qualifies as recent.
    midga
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited November 2013
    Indeed. @Ryder has literally given all the advice you need. There aren't any wonky setups or anything necessary anymore (and probably not on some of the older drives if they've been firmware-patched since then). If you install from a flash drive via USB 3.0, you also get the pleasure of your entire install taking <5 mins total.
  • It really can't be that simple can it? Just act like I would any other hard drive? I'm sorry for my disbelief but that sounds too practical for everything to just work. If that is so, I guess I will just start re-installing everything. Thank you @Ryder and @Tushon.
    midgaTushon
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited November 2013
    Yep. It really is that simple now. You may also want to jump in on our EVE discussions :)
    Chordash
  • I would say it's worth noting that you should make sure your controller is running ahci mode not ide prior to installation and during use of your OS.
    midga
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    Actually, for many SSDs, the most major advantage is in reading data(an SSD is blindingly fast for this). So, as @Ryder said, but that is the why.
  • ErrorNullTurnipErrorNullTurnip Illinois Icrontian
    I'd also add that moving your media folders to another drive can help keep a lot of free space for other things. Windows 7 (and up?) allow you to change where the Documents, Music, Videos, etc. folders are stored.
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