Solid State HD's

[vaneaton]

Does anyone have any ideas on the feasibility of using solid state hard drives rather than conventional platter disk drives?

[The Wise Monkey]

It depends on what you want to use it for.

For extra storage, it definitely isn't worth it, considering you can get terabyte hard drives for about $75 these days.

However, SSDs perform very well as OS/application drives i.e. you install the OS and all your applications on the SSD and have a separate, mechanical, drive for data storage. This means that you get the superb boot and application load times from the SSD and still have enough space to store all of your stuff.

[Kyle Denise]

It depends on what you want to use it for.

For extra storage, it definitely isn't worth it, considering you can get terabyte hard drives for about $75 these days.

However, SSDs perform very well as OS/application drives i.e. you install the OS and all your applications on the SSD and have a separate, mechanical, drive for data storage. This means that you get the superb boot and application load times from the SSD and still have enough space to store all of your stuff.

How hard would it be for a first time builder to install an SSD for the OS boot drive and get it up and running?

[The Wise Monkey]

No harder than installing a normal HD, and a lot faster. :)

All SSDs use the standard SATA connection, so there won't be a problem with cables. They are a lot smaller than standard hard drives, so you will probably need a bracket of some kind to hold it steady in your case.

As for OS choice, then you should really be using Windows 7. The reason for this is because it supports the Trim command, which is important to keep your SSD running at optimum performance.

I can go into more detail if you want, but I would strongly recommend Windows 7 as opposed to Vista or XP in order to get the best out of your SSD.