New hardrive recommendations? Specs inside....

T

TheBlindMan12v

New Member
Messages
8
Hi,
I'm considering a new hardrive for my PC. I purchased this PC in late 2008 and it's time to invest on a larger/ faster hardrive. I was thinking of going with a SSD for my operating system and HDD for files in effort to have a faster machine. Not sure if it's even an option with my PC specs.
CPU

AMD Athlon II X2 235 2.710GHZ 29 °C

Regor 45nm Technology

RAM

6.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 (6-6-6-18)

Motherboard

eMachines MCP61PM-GM (CPU 1) 35 °C

Graphics

Storage

698GB Seagate ST375052 8AS SCSI Disk Device (SATA) 41 °C

I was considering a 1TB HDD if I went that route. What do you guys advise? Thanks
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 home premium 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    EMachines ET1331G-03W
    CPU
    Factory
    Motherboard
    Factory
    Memory
    Factory
    Graphics Card(s)
    Factory
    Browser
    Internet explorer 10
    Antivirus
    Microsoft security essentials
I would recommend you get a 120GB SSD (or bigger) as your boot drive for that system, it should give your machine a little more snap to it, especially during boot and program loading times. Something like this: https://www.neweggbusiness.com/Prod...6eN76MQGOZO-pV-fI9Xmre-mVsr60Fto4WRoCxzrw_wcB

I'm not sure I would bother with a 1TB HDD for it. You already have a 7200RPM 700GB HDD drive. You didn't mention how much you wish to spend nor how full your current drive is so it's hard to make specific recommendations. You will gain some additional space when you move your OS and Programs to the SSD. The move from 700GB to 1TB gives you only an additional 50% of disk space (around 300GB), not much of a boost in disk space. You may want to go with a 1.5TB or even 2TB HDD, depending on your data storage needs. I have always liked the WD Black drives but the Black is overkill if you will just use it as a data drive so you might look at a WD Blue drive. Like this: WD Blue 2TB Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 5400 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD20EZRZ-Newegg.com
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W10 Pro (desktop), W10 (laptop), W10 Pro (tablet)
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built i7-8700K, Hp Envy x360 EVO Laptop, MS Surface Pro 7
    CPU
    3.7Ghz Core i7-8700K, 11th Gen Core i7-1165G7 4.7Ghz, 10th Gen Core™ i5-1035G4 1.1Ghz
    Motherboard
    ASUS TUF Z370-Pro Gaming, HP, MS
    Memory
    16G, 8G, 8G
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon RX580, Intel Iris X Graphics, Intel Iris Plus Graphics G4
    Sound Card
    ATI High Definition Audio (Built-in to mobo)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual Samsung U32J59 32 inch monitors, 13.3" display, 12.3" display
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160 (Desktop), 1920x1080 (laptop), 2736x1824 Pro 7
    Hard Drives
    500GB ssd boot drive with 2 & 10TB Data (Desktop), 512GB ssd (laptop), 128GB SSD (tablet)
    PSU
    Corsair CX 750M
    Case
    Antec 100
    Cooling
    Coolermaster CM 212+
    Keyboard
    IBM Model M - used continuously since 1986
    Mouse
    Microsoft IntelliMouse
    Internet Speed
    665Mbps/15Mbps down/up
    Browser
    FireFox, MS Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender on all
    Other Info
    Retired in 2015 after working in the tech industry for 41 years. First 10 years as a Technician, the rest as a programmer/software engineer. After 1 year of retirement, I was bored so went back to work as a Robotic Process Automation Consultant. Retired for 3rd (and final) time in 2019.
How much disk space do all your current files take up now? Frankly, unless the budget is REALLY tight, I see no reason for old, slow, archaic technology, electro-mechanical devices like hard drives these days.

Not sure if it's even an option with my PC specs.
Click to expand...
If your current motherboard is supporting SATA drives now, then sure you can use SSDs. You will need a small bracket adapter to mount the smaller SSD into a HD drive bay, but note many SSDs come with these. If not, you can see they are very inexpensive.

Your computer likely does not have the latest SATA version, but SATA is forwards and backwards compatible - you just don't get the speed advantage of latest versions. If you get an SSD now, you ensure better future proofing by being able to carry the SSD forward to your new computer.

And considering your current computer is pushing 9 years old, I sure would be budgeting for a new computer now and NOT invest much in this one. It is very likely your power supply, motherboard, graphics, or some other component (or components) will start to show their age soon too.

I hope you have good and current backups!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W10 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
strollin said:
I would recommend you get a 120GB SSD (or bigger) as your boot drive for that system, it should give your machine a little more snap to it, especially during boot and program loading times. Something like this: https://www.neweggbusiness.com/Prod...6eN76MQGOZO-pV-fI9Xmre-mVsr60Fto4WRoCxzrw_wcB

I'm not sure I would bother with a 1TB HDD for it. You already have a 7200RPM 700GB HDD drive. You didn't mention how much you wish to spend nor how full your current drive is so it's hard to make specific recommendations. You will gain some additional space when you move your OS and Programs to the SSD. The move from 700GB to 1TB gives you only an additional 50% of disk space (around 300GB), not much of a boost in disk space. You may want to go with a 1.5TB or even 2TB HDD, depending on your data storage needs. I have always liked the WD Black drives but the Black is overkill if you will just use it as a data drive so you might look at a WD Blue drive. Like this: WD Blue 2TB Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 5400 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD20EZRZ-Newegg.com
Click to expand...


Hi,
Thanks for the suggestions. I wil look into the SSD option. As I am only using about 250GB of storage of my current harddrive, I am more then likely going to hold off on upgrading to a harddrive if mine is still good.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 home premium 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    EMachines ET1331G-03W
    CPU
    Factory
    Motherboard
    Factory
    Memory
    Factory
    Graphics Card(s)
    Factory
    Browser
    Internet explorer 10
    Antivirus
    Microsoft security essentials
Itaregid said:
How much disk space do all your current files take up now? Frankly, unless the budget is REALLY tight, I see no reason for old, slow, archaic technology, electro-mechanical devices like hard drives these days.

Not sure if it's even an option with my PC specs.
Click to expand...
If your current motherboard is supporting SATA drives now, then sure you can use SSDs. You will need a small bracket adapter to mount the smaller SSD into a HD drive bay, but note many SSDs come with these. If not, you can see they are very inexpensive.

Your computer likely does not have the latest SATA version, but SATA is forwards and backwards compatible - you just don't get the speed advantage of latest versions. If you get an SSD now, you ensure better future proofing by being able to carry the SSD forward to your new computer.

And considering your current computer is pushing 9 years old, I sure would be budgeting for a new computer now and NOT invest much in this one. It is very likely your power supply, motherboard, graphics, or some other component (or components) will start to show their age soon too.

I hope you have good and current backups!
Click to expand...


Hi,
thanks for the suggestion. I will check if the recommended SSD above comes with the things you are talking about. Is there any software that I can download to check the condition or failure on my hardware? I would like to stretch out the most I can on this desktop as I do have a laptop that I purchased in 2013. Also, can you elaborate on the speed advantage deal that you mentioned?

This desktop is my primary machine and has served me very well. It still performs very well considering its age; however I have done a couple clean installs of Windows 7, Windows 8 and one just recently when I upgraded to Windows 10. Thanks a lot for the feedback guys.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 home premium 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    EMachines ET1331G-03W
    CPU
    Factory
    Motherboard
    Factory
    Memory
    Factory
    Graphics Card(s)
    Factory
    Browser
    Internet explorer 10
    Antivirus
    Microsoft security essentials
SATA 3.0 supports faster data transfer than previous versions of SATA. For example, SATA 3.0 has a transfer rate of 6 Gbit/s while SATA 2.0 only 3 Gbit/s. Since it is likely any new SATA drive (HD or SSD) will be SATA 3.0 and most likely your motherboard only supports SATA 2.0, any new drive will be forced to throttle back to the slower speeds. This sounds worse than it is in your case as any new drive will likely still be faster than what you are using now. And for sure, any new SSD will be MUCH faster than any HD.

There are various programs that claim they can check your PC's health - I don't trust them. Running Error Checking on your current drive might be a good idea, and of course, keeping an eye on your system temps and keeping the interior clean of heat trapping dust is always a good idea (and necessary). And of course, keep Windows updated, use a decent anti-malware solution, and avoid being click-happy on unsolicited downloads, links, popups and attachments.

Generally speaking, computer components either work, or don't work. The only ones the might slowly degrade over time are the mechanical devices (drives and fans) and your PSU. As noted above, running Error Checking (or chkdsk) on the drives is good - and keeping a large chunk of free disk space on the drive will help keep Windows running smoothly and minimize the drive thrashing (for HDs anyway) due to heavy fragmentation. You can check your PSU voltages with a program like HWiNFO64. Speccy is another great system specs program, but I have found it often does not report voltages correctly. For example, for my +12V, Speccy is showing .048V while HWiNFO shows 12.02V. Otherwise, Speccy is very good and easier to understand.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W10 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
Itaregid said:
SATA 3.0 supports faster data transfer than previous versions of SATA. For example, SATA 3.0 has a transfer rate of 6 Gbit/s while SATA 2.0 only 3 Gbit/s. Since it is likely any new SATA drive (HD or SSD) will be SATA 3.0 and most likely your motherboard only supports SATA 2.0, any new drive will be forced to throttle back to the slower speeds. This sounds worse than it is in your case as any new drive will likely still be faster than what you are using now. And for sure, any new SSD will be MUCH faster than any HD.

There are various programs that claim they can check your PC's health - I don't trust them. Running Error Checking on your current drive might be a good idea, and of course, keeping an eye on your system temps and keeping the interior clean of heat trapping dust is always a good idea (and necessary). And of course, keep Windows updated, use a decent anti-malware solution, and avoid being click-happy on unsolicited downloads, links, popups and attachments.

Generally speaking, computer components either work, or don't work. The only ones the might slowly degrade over time are the mechanical devices (drives and fans) and your PSU. As noted above, running Error Checking (or chkdsk) on the drives is good - and keeping a large chunk of free disk space on the drive will help keep Windows running smoothly and minimize the drive thrashing (for HDs anyway) due to heavy fragmentation. You can check your PSU voltages with a program like HWiNFO64. Speccy is another great system specs program, but I have found it often does not report voltages correctly. For example, for my +12V, Speccy is showing .048V while HWiNFO shows 12.02V. Otherwise, Speccy is very good and easier to understand.
Click to expand...



Hi, I will look into the software that you suggested. I actually obtained the specs that I provided above on the original post from the speccy program. Considering the fact that I use the JAWS screen reader, I am able to interact with the interface and obtain the information that I need as a text format or simply by doing optical character recognition of the window to recognize the text. Thanks
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 home premium 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    EMachines ET1331G-03W
    CPU
    Factory
    Motherboard
    Factory
    Memory
    Factory
    Graphics Card(s)
    Factory
    Browser
    Internet explorer 10
    Antivirus
    Microsoft security essentials
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top