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2011-12-05-upgrading-to-ssd.html
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---
layout: post
title: Upgrading to an SSD
date: '2011-12-05T17:00:00.000-05:00'
author: Carlo
tags:
- SSD
- RAM
- Hard Drive
- Asus
- Laptop
modified_time: '2011-12-07T16:52:24.975-05:00'
thumbnail: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8XR4HmtkNzU/Ttz7FbLOe5I/AAAAAAABRJY/wCLqRoHZpmk/s72-c/Windows+Experience+Index+Hitachi.png
blogger_id: tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1115978604548657664.post-3344734074982474149
blogger_orig_url: https://thewahlstedts.blogspot.com/2011/12/upgrading-to-ssd.html
---
<div style="text-align: center;">SSD = Solid State Drive</div><br />If you know anything about computers, you know that hard drives are moving the way of the SSD and the rest of your storage is going <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HRrbLA7rss">to the cloud</a> (unless you need a ton of store for some reason).<br /><br />The change is happening because of speed. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive">Hard drives</a> contain a lot of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wiy_eHdj8kg">small moving parts</a> which cause them to be slower by their very nature. Where as an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive">SSD</a> is more like the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random-access_memory">RAM</a> that is in your computer. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive#Comparison_of_SSD_with_hard_disk_drives">Wiki gives a good comparison of the two</a> but the biggest drawback of an SSD is that it doesn't hold as much information.<br /><br />Now, I could continue to go into great detail about the two however I'd rather just show you the performance increase I personally witnessed. I recently upgraded my laptop to an <a href="http://www.asus.com/Notebooks/Versatile_Performance/K53E/">Asus k53e</a> with an i5 processor. When I first got the laptop I updated the Windows Experience index and received the following score:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8XR4HmtkNzU/Ttz7FbLOe5I/AAAAAAABRJY/wCLqRoHZpmk/s1600/Windows+Experience+Index+Hitachi.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="450" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8XR4HmtkNzU/Ttz7FbLOe5I/AAAAAAABRJY/wCLqRoHZpmk/s640/Windows+Experience+Index+Hitachi.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />I also ran HD Tune Pro. Here are my results:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YBPM2bUAMhk/Ttz7EDQ3i2I/AAAAAAABRJI/f1n43eiVC6w/s1600/HDTune+Read+Hitachi.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YBPM2bUAMhk/Ttz7EDQ3i2I/AAAAAAABRJI/f1n43eiVC6w/s1600/HDTune+Read+Hitachi.png" /></a></div><div><br /><br /><div>I then installed the <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167050">Intel 320 Series</a> SSD I recently ordered. Of course I got a pretty good deal between the rebate they offered the Google Offer of $20 for $40 to spend at Newegg (Thanks Google!). After getting the OS installed, wireless drivers working, and all Windows updates installed I ran the experience index again. Here are my new results:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7QklG5CZckU/Ttz7F1oLSyI/AAAAAAABRJg/l3hagBBhdx0/s1600/Windows+Experience+Index+SSD.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="452" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7QklG5CZckU/Ttz7F1oLSyI/AAAAAAABRJg/l3hagBBhdx0/s640/Windows+Experience+Index+SSD.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />Here are the HD Tune Pro results with the SSD:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8qS5gh7xbGA/Ttz7Es5iikI/AAAAAAABRJQ/fmtZx86i1yw/s1600/HDTune+Read+SSD.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8qS5gh7xbGA/Ttz7Es5iikI/AAAAAAABRJQ/fmtZx86i1yw/s1600/HDTune+Read+SSD.png" /></a></div><br /><br /><br />Here are the CrystalDiskMark results which are <a href="http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=761&Itemid=60&limit=1&limitstart=6">similar to the speeds</a> <a href="http://hothardware.com/Reviews/Intel-SSD-320-Series-Review/?page=5">others are seeing</a> with this drive:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iAGL1krN1ew/Ttz7D7fWlvI/AAAAAAABRJA/_yNHq0FVI8k/s1600/CrystalDiskMark+SSD.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iAGL1krN1ew/Ttz7D7fWlvI/AAAAAAABRJA/_yNHq0FVI8k/s1600/CrystalDiskMark+SSD.png" /></a></div><br /><br />Finally, I received my RAM upgrade today from 4GB to 8GB. After installing it I updated the Windows Experience Index:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SMdf3ybN-_A/Tt0buBPAz6I/AAAAAAABRJo/8o7XHkIX6Jo/s1600/Windows+Experience+Index+SSD+8gb.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="458" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SMdf3ybN-_A/Tt0buBPAz6I/AAAAAAABRJo/8o7XHkIX6Jo/s640/Windows+Experience+Index+SSD+8gb.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />I've been using an SSD at work for some time now and seen their performance increase in a SQL server several years ago. However this is the first time I've personally owned one. I will tell you that it's well worth the money. It's the single best upgrade you can make to your computer. Hands down.<br /><br /><br />UPDATE 12/7/2011:<br /><br />After looking at the Windows Experience Index results from the RAM upgrade, I was convinced I had actually updated drivers. So, I took out the RAM and replaced it with the old stuff and ran the test again. You'll see by the results below that the RAM I upgraded to seems to be much faster.<br /><br />Re-test of the old 4GB RAM with SSD:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sGmgMldIPnE/Tt_gCPwI9HI/AAAAAAABRWA/Da4u5eZXyng/s1600/Windows+Experience+Index+SSD+4gb+old+RAM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="464" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sGmgMldIPnE/Tt_gCPwI9HI/AAAAAAABRWA/Da4u5eZXyng/s640/Windows+Experience+Index+SSD+4gb+old+RAM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br />Only 4GB of RAM but using the new upgraded RAM:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RCSUGG_l4fU/Tt_fxhh2r_I/AAAAAAABRV4/mf4JeBfomkQ/s1600/Windows+Experience+Index+SSD+4gb.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="464" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RCSUGG_l4fU/Tt_fxhh2r_I/AAAAAAABRV4/mf4JeBfomkQ/s640/Windows+Experience+Index+SSD+4gb.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /></div></div>