SSD

[Bobble]

I've got a Dell XPS 8500 tower from 2013 that appears to have a 32GB SSD that I never use. What should I be doing with it? It's too small to put Fallout 4 on there so my load times are less atrocious. OOTP? FM? Civ V?

Should I spring for an SSD of a size that can accommodate my Steam library? That doesn't seem practical.

Fix me, FOFC.

[RainMaker]

Putting a game on an SSD won't speed it up all that much. SSD is best used for the OS. Maybe storing things you pull up frequently like music, videos, and pictures?

Edit: Thinking about it, Fallout is one of the few games that I think you'd notice a difference. Mainly because it has so many loading screens. So I guess in that case, go ahead and do it.

[RainMaker]

Also I'd highly recommend buying a larger SSD and just put everything on it. Quality ones from Samsung have come down in price a ton over the years and it's probably the single best upgrade someone can make on an old computer.

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Putting a game on an SSD won't speed it up all that much. SSD is best used for the OS. Maybe storing things you pull up frequently like music, videos, and pictures?

Edit: Thinking about it, Fallout is one of the few games that I think you'd notice a difference. Mainly because it has so many loading screens. So I guess in that case, go ahead and do it.

Yeah, but Fallout won't fit. It's is 39GB with the DLC and the SSD is only 32.

Is there a way I can move my OS to the SSD? Is there a reason they wouldn't have put it on there in the first place?

What's a reasonable size for a SSD as your "main" drive? 1TB?

[cartman]

32GB is kinda small for a Windows OS boot drive. Minimum I'd go with would be a 256GB boot drive. I have a 512GB SSD that I use for everything in my laptop.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Bobble

Yeah, but Fallout won't fit. It's is 39GB with the DLC and the SSD is only 32.

Is there a way I can move my OS to the SSD? Is there a reason they wouldn't have put it on there in the first place?

What's a reasonable size for a SSD as your "main" drive? 1TB?

You'd just install the OS on the 32GB drive and boot from there. Windows 10 is actually kind of small and would fit, but it'd be tight if you want to use all the features.

As for a main drive, 250GB has been fine for me and is most affordable. You can use your old HDD as storage for stuff that doesn't benefit from an SSD if space becomes an issue. For me, my OS, some games, and the programs I use are on the SSD. Then I store all my documents, photos, videos, and so on on the HDD. Steam lets you choose where you want to install a game so you could just pick the SSD for games with lots of loading screens and the HDD for everything else.

I guess it comes down to what you keep on your computer. I think the 1TB SSD is too pricey for my taste ($300). You can buy a 250GB for under $100 and a 500GB for $160.

[MizzouRah]

I have the same pc.. are you sure it's not a hybrid drive? Mine is 32 GB SSD/1 TB sata hybrid HD.

So the OS installs on the SSD and everything else goes on the sata part of the HD.

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

I have the same pc.. are you sure it's not a hybrid drive? Mine is 32 GB SSD/1 TB sata hybrid HD.

So the OS installs on the SSD and everything else goes on the sata part of the HD.

I'm pretty sure it's at least not the 1TB. Here's a portion of the specs from my order back in 2013:

8W4Y9	1	Base,Mini Tower,Extreme Performance System,8500,Configure To Order
0293D	1	Module,Cord,Power,120V,6 Ft
U591H	1	Module,Screw,M2X3,K Screw Head,Modem Daughter Card,ESRS
952JY	1	Module,Bracket,Graphics,Support,Studio Xps,8500
RVW9D	1	Module,Thermal,Heatsink,95W,MNTW/SLTW
NXGDN	1	Module,Software,W8H/P64,Digital Video Disk Drive,MUL24
JC80D	1	Module,Software,W8H64,England/English,DAO/BCC
4H9WH	1	Module,Processor,I7-3770,77W,4C,IVB
9TT8Y	1	Module,Dual In-Line Memory Module,16GB,4X4GB,1600M,N-E
MDDT9	1	Module,Hard Drive,500G,S3,7.2K,Western Digital,XL500A
MX50J	1	Module,Solid State Drive,32,MCARD,PM830,ISRT
V62J8	1	Module,Dvd+/-Rw And Bd-Rom,BARE,Hitachi Lg Data Storage,INS
72KFH	1	Module,Card,Graphics,PITCAIRN XT,WIN8

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

So the OS installs on the SSD and everything else goes on the sata part of the HD.

So, how do I know if my OS is installed on the SSD? Just look for the Windows folder on C: or on the SSD (which is K:, I think)? There can't be part of it on one and part of it on the other or something like that?

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

You'd just install the OS on the 32GB drive and boot from there.

I'm not too savvy (surprise, surprise...) but the recommendations from a google search point to using Todo Backup Free to migrate your OS to the SSD. Thoughts? Anyone done it this way?

[stevew]

If you can access your pc's BIOS, it would show a boot order which can tell if the OS is launching off of a particular drive. I think anyways.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Bobble

I'm not too savvy (surprise, surprise...) but the recommendations from a google search point to using Todo Backup Free to migrate your OS to the SSD. Thoughts? Anyone done it this way?

I've never heard of Todo Backup.

If you want to install Windows 10 on the SSD, it's pretty simple. First, grab the windows download tool here:

Windows 10

Now using that tool you can create an installation file and put it on a USB stick. It should explain how to do it when you run the tool.

From there, you want to boot straight to your USB. To do that, start your computer and start tapping F12 at the screen where the Dell logo pops up. This should get you to a menu that asks what you want to boot from. You would choose the USB.

Now it should take a couple minutes and give you the option to install Windows. It'll also give you a choice on where to install it. I'd probably make sure the SSD is clear of files and formatted beforehand although I think the tool gives you the option to do it on the spot.

When you are done with that, you want to start the computer and tap F2 I believe (not sure what Dell uses to get into BIOS) to get into the BIOS. Inside the BIOS there should be a menu for BOOT. Under the priority section you want to put the SSD on top. This tells it to boot from that first. Save those changes and proceed.

Now it should boot to your SSD which has the new clean Windows 10 installation on it. Not it might get a little messy because you have Windows on your HDD also and programs that were already on there. So you'd have to create shortcuts for all those installed programs. You could also save all the files you want on Dropbox or something, reformat that HDD and just re-download all that software from scratch again.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Bobble

So, how do I know if my OS is installed on the SSD? Just look for the Windows folder on C: or on the SSD (which is K:, I think)? There can't be part of it on one and part of it on the other or something like that?

If it's a separate drive, then probably not. A hybrid drive acts like a single drive. If you open up K from Windows.. what's listed on the drive?