EntropySink

Technical & Scientific => Hardware => Topic started by: micah on December 13, 2015, 10:20:09 AM

Title: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: micah on December 13, 2015, 10:20:09 AM
Long story short: 
I'm thinking of swapping out my 1TB 7200 RPM HD for a 500 GB SSD on a hunch that it will fix some problems I'm having.

Long story long:
I have been having some problems with my computer lately.  Its a 5-year old dell but its got a i7 chip (2.8GHz) and 8GB ram. I upgraded to Windows 10 a few months ago and it seemed fine; then a month or so ago I started getting this problem where it would take forever (like hours) to turn on and doing simple things like opening task manager would take minutes and most programs wouldn't even open.   In task manager I could see that the disk usage was pegged at 100% even though it didn't look like anything was using the drive (save for the occasional hit by system or some Service host.. but those were only using like .1MB/s)

Anyway, after a few days the problem just stopped and all seemed well.  I chalked it up to maybe something running in the background like the google drive sync or something -- especially since my wife just dumped like 15 GB worth of photos/videos off her old phone onto the hard drive.

Then last week it happened again.  After hours of messing around (mostly just sitting and waiting for things to open) I never really figured out the problem, but I can see that several windows updates have tried to install recently and all have failed.  Mid week, things just started working again!  So I foolishly went to the windows update screen and tried to re-do the upgrade (a coworker told me that the recent windows 10 updates solved some unrelated problems he'd been having since upgrading).  Anyway, as soon as I hit upgrade the disk usage went straight to 100%.  Eventually the update failed and by the next day (24 to 36 hours later) my computer was running fine again... as it is right now.

I have no idea whats going on.  But a couple people suggested that it could be a hard drive problem and even if its not, upgrading to a solid state drive couldn't hurt.  For what its worth, one of the time when everything was FUBAR i rebooted in safe-mode and everything ran fine.  That is, until I rebooted again the regular way and it went back to sucking.  So I don't know if it is a hard drive problem.

So, do you think its worth it to upgrade?  I'm looking at getting this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4P02CG6252&cm_re=MZ-7KE512BW-_-20-147-361-_-Product (its the same price on Amazon).  Space wise it would be a downgrade, but I'm only using about 380GB right now anyway.

I probably wont get it until after Christmas if at all, but trying to think it all through now.  Any other thoughts on my problem I'm having?
Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: KnuckleBuckett on December 14, 2015, 06:18:11 AM
Reinstalling W10 from scratch will help also.  Never trust an upgrade.  ALWAYS back any important data up on the cloud and a local unplugged solution!  Finally be really sure that all of the drivers are in good order for your machine. 

No need for the Pro series.  I happen to use the Samsung EVO series.  I have also had good luck with Intel at work.  I suggest these...

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E500B-AM/dp/B00OBRE5UE/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1450092209&sr=1-2&keywords=samsung+evo+850

or

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00KHRYRLY

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167338&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-BensBargains.com%20(Internet%20Brands)-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=404255&SID=461643_desktop
Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: ober on December 14, 2015, 09:17:53 AM
I stopped backing up to an unplugged solution a while ago.  Everything I need is in dropbox or committed to other online services.  Am I putting too much faith in the cloud providers?  Maybe.  But my external HD could fail just as easily as they could... much more easily.  I'm finally to a point where I don't give a flying fuck if my internal drive dies tomorrow.  I won't lose a damn thing.  :)

edit: oh, and on topic, yes, I agree it sounds like a HD issue.  Have you run the simple stuff like disk checkers and stuff?  I would also wonder if it might be a bad RAM issue.  Can't hurt to run memtest86 or whatever today's equivalent might be.
Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: KnuckleBuckett on December 14, 2015, 03:39:07 PM
This is a common complaint with Windows 10 users from what I hear locally.  Seems to come and go.  My guess is that it is tied into the forced automatic updates.  If a machine updates every day as needed maybe it is less of an issue, however it if has to do bulk updates, it could be eating cycles and HDD.

Another thing that can cause this is too little memory, however with 8GB I doubt that this is the problem.

Either way dumping a 5 year old spinner is wise indeed.  The SSD along with a brand new Win 10 install will make it feel like a new machine.

Do yourself a favor though and get your drivers for your motherboard, video card, etc. onto a memory stick before the new installation.  If you need specifics about your system to obtain them use Speccy.  I get it from filehippo. 

Use antivirus and ccleaner when you finish up the installation.  I like Avast but there are plenty of others if you don't.
Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: micah on December 14, 2015, 04:51:47 PM
thanks for the advice.  If I get a christmas bonus and can squirrel away a little cash after pay bills and buying the kids presents, I'll probably do this in the next couple weeks. Otherwise, I'll have to wait till tax rebate season.  I'll post again when the time comes for last second advice.  I'm not super confident in my abilities to upgrade hardware, but how hard could it be? ::cough cough (http://www.entropysink.com/forums/index.php?topic=7513.0)::
Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: KnuckleBuckett on December 15, 2015, 11:04:53 PM
Meh.  Just watch YT vids if you are worried about the process.
Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: micah on January 05, 2016, 08:05:51 PM
So my computer wont boot up any more.  from the bios it doesn't even show that there's a hard drive detected.  This is most certainly a dead hard drive, right?  If I go out and buy a new hard drive my computer will probably work?   I'm guessing I'm going to need to buy a new copy of Windows too.

Anyway, I had a christmas bonus but I paid bills and bought presents, I guess I need to wait and save up to fix this. Hopefully I can get my freelance work done from this Chromebook.

Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: micah on January 05, 2016, 10:13:51 PM
I wonder if I should forgo the SSD and just buy a new regular old HD.  I can get 1/2TB for $45 on amazon (or 1TB for $55).

I still wouldn't have an operating system though...  I suppose I could get a window 7 Home "system builders" DVD on amazon for about $55.  So $100 would get me a working computer again (minus all my non-cloud based files, that is.)

hmmm, what to do...
Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: KnuckleBuckett on January 06, 2016, 06:12:41 AM
Tough call.  SSDs makes your machine feel lightning fast.  Need tons of storage?  Go elsewhere.

Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: Jake on January 06, 2016, 08:53:33 AM
Get a regular hd at this point. You can upgrade to an ssd when you can afford it.

There is no windows sticker on the laptop? Couldn't you call or check on manufacturers website for the OEM windows license?
Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: micah on January 06, 2016, 09:46:16 AM
Couldn't you call or check on manufacturers website for the OEM windows license?

I didn't think of that, I may try that method (presuming I can scrounge up a windows 7 disk in the first place)

I'm going to mess with it all a bit more tonight. I got a linux distro boot disk here at work that I'm going to fire up tonight and see if I can mount the HD to it and see my files and run some disk check stuff.  I also want to make sure its not just the SATA Controller. So I might just try moving the cable to another controller on the motherboard, or maybe borrowing the cable from the optical drive to rule out a simple failure in the wiring.

(here are the specs on my MOB (http://www.findlaptopdriver.com/specs-5dn3x-dell-a00/) - posting here as a bookmark)
Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: KnuckleBuckett on January 06, 2016, 03:46:42 PM
Your CPU is a 1366?  Wow.  Nice processor.  Even today really.

Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: micah on January 17, 2016, 04:18:05 PM
So I'm planning on buy a new hard drive and a copy of windows 10.  Even went to best buy today (but didn't buy anything).
But now I'm not so sure.

I have stuff lying around so I stuck a 2.5 inch old macbook HD in my box, and reformated it (I'm running my computer of a linux distro CD).  Then I booted from a widnows XP system disc that I have to see what would happen.  The final result of wich was a BSoD that say "Stop error code 0x0000007B (INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE)"

I'm worried that If I buy a brand new HD and try to put any version of windows on it its going to croak; that maybe the problem isn't the hard drive after all.

Its just weird that, when I boot from my slacko-puppy linux CD, if I have my old Hard Drive plugged in, it can't find it.  But when I put this 2.5" old mac drive in, I was able to mount it no problem.   So is it the drive or the MOBO? 

Should I still drop $150-$200 to buy a new drive and copy of Windows? 
Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: Perspective on January 18, 2016, 01:38:27 PM
Why not just run Linux on the old Mac drive? Do you really need windows?
Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: micah on January 18, 2016, 04:35:51 PM
yeah.
I need to install photoshop and use MS Remote Desktop for work.

My company just instituted a new work from home policy and we can work from home one day a week.  But I need my tools of the trade.

I can do almost everything from my chromebook.  almost.
Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: hans on January 18, 2016, 05:34:21 PM
Wait, doesn't Linux have a remote desktop client now? It's been a while since I've cared, but I seem to remember connecting to windows machines from my Ubuntu laptop. Life is so much better when you don't have to use Windows.
Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: Jake on January 18, 2016, 07:21:15 PM
offtopic: company doesn't provide you with a laptop?
Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: micah on January 18, 2016, 07:37:58 PM
lots of people have laptops from work, but they're mostly account services people or project managers.  I have a 27" iMac and second giant monitor attached to it on my desk and, up until this week there's technically been no work-from-home policy that would have me work from anywhere other than my desk.
Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: Mike on January 18, 2016, 09:20:58 PM
What do you need remote desktop for?  I work from home about half the time (official we get 3 days @home but lately we've been coming in for a half day in the middle) and I just worked directly from the laptop.
Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: micah on January 18, 2016, 09:43:26 PM
we use this dumb software (http://gotoadvantage.com/advantage-software-overview) for project management but it lives on an internal server and can't be accessed from outside the building.
Title: Re: SSD Upgrade?
Post by: Mike on January 18, 2016, 10:22:22 PM
Sounds like they need to update their network then. Is it web based or app based?  I'd look into setting up a ssh tunnel to get around the need for remote desktop