SSD upgrade worth it ... ?

[manolis kokotsakis]

I have a Thinkpad T440s with an Intel 240gb ssd 1500. I want to upgrade the laptop with a Samsung evo 860 250gb. Is it a good idea ? I will see any noticable upgrade on response ?

[Cigarguy]

Going from a HDD to SSD makes a big difference. From SSD to SSD not so much. If the Intel is working good, I wouldn't upgrade unless I want something of larger capacity.

[ajkula66]

Going from a HDD to SSD makes a big difference. From SSD to SSD not so much. If the Intel is working good, I wouldn't upgrade unless I want something of larger capacity.

+ 1 right here.

[dr_st]

+2

[axur-delmeria]

Completely agree. The T440s doesn't have NVMe, only SATA. Most decent SSDs can saturate the 600 megabyte/sec bandwidth of a SATA III link, so there's little advantage in upgrading SSDs except when you need greater storage space.

[manolis kokotsakis]

Thanks.

[w0qj]

1. +3.
You generally upgrade your SSD for larger capacity, or if your old SSD is broken.

2. Just going on a slight tangent here...

*IF* you are willing to put more money into your existing ThinkPad (as opposed to saving for a newer ThinkPad),

a) Ensure that you have enough RAM (8 GB or even 16 GB on a modern 64-bit Windows, depending on your daily usage).
Monitor to ensure that your Swap File (Paging Index File, aka virtual memory) is never used.
Swap File usage would wear out your SSD more.


[Edit: below Swap Size file advisory had been amended]
Also suggest set to your Swap File to a *static* size that is at least 2 GB in size, especially if your total physical RAM in your notebook is 8 GB or above).
Windows auto-adjusting Swap File size also would cause unnecessary wear and tear on your SSD.
Adding more RAM is cost effective if you are constantly using your Swap File, a good bang for your buck!
[Edit: above Swap Size file advisory had been amended]


b) Disable and delete your Hibernation File on your C:\ drive.
This would free up precious SSD space, and also help reduce wear and tear on your SSD yet again.
This is at a slight cost to your battery's wear and tear when you "sleep" your ThinkPad.

c) After you have done the above, and you still find that you are more than 90% full your SSD,
perhaps then it is time to consider a larger SSD purchase.
An almost full SSD also would cause disproportional wear and tear on your remaining "free" SSD space,
and may somewhat shorten your SSD's usable lifetime.

d) Again, this is *IF* you are willing to put more money into your existing ThinkPad (as opposed to saving for a newer ThinkPad)...

[dr_st]

a) Ensure that you have enough RAM (8 GB or even 16 GB on a modern 64-bit Windows, depending on your daily usage).
Monitor to ensure that your Swap File (Paging Index File, aka virtual memory) is never used.
Swap File usage would wear out your SSD more.
Also suggest set to your Swap File to a *static* size that is 2-3 times your total physical RAM.
Windows auto-adjusting Swap File size also would cause unnecessary wear and tear on your SSD.
Adding more RAM is cost effective if you are constantly using your Swap File, a good bang for your buck!

Did I read this right? You advocate 8-16GB of RAM and a swapfile that's 2-3 times the size of that? A 16-48GB swapfile?!

Agree with the "static" part, but not with the size! The size should be such that your peak workload does not exceed total RAM+swapfile (or else you will be running out of virtual memory, and applications will be crashing). Back when PCs had low RAM, the standard advice of swapfile size=1.5*RAM made sense, but not anymore. With 16GB of RAM I wouldn't bother with a swapfile of more than a couple of gigs (disabling it completely is not something I'd advise, because you would lose the ability of saving crash dumps, and it also might confuse some really poorly written software (not sure I encountered something like this in recent years, to be honest).

[w0qj]

1. OK, noted that 2-3 times your physical RAM is now over the top, this advice will be withdrawn by editing my above posting.

==> Q: So perhaps 2 GB of RAM is appropriate if your system has 8GB-16GB of physical RAM?


<<==== Off_Topic ====>>
2. I still work with FireFox 64-bit with lots of tabs, which is still drawing complaints of memory leaks as recently as a few months ago.
FireFox has [about:memory] function, which in itself is scary.
http://windowsreport.com/mozilla-firefo ... ng-windows

Anyways, noted that 2-3 times your physical RAM is now over the top, this advice will be withdrawn by editing my above posting.

[dr_st]

==> Q: So perhaps 2 GB of RAM is appropriate if your system has 8GB-16GB of physical RAM?

Again, it depends on one's workflow, but as a rule of thumb, I'd say it's good.

[RealBlackStuff]

@w0qj:
If you are still 'stuck' with Firefox, it's high time you download/install Firemin!

[w0qj]

<< Off-Topic >>
Oh wow, Firemin is basically FireFox sans memory leaks?
Will give it a try!

The main reason why I still keep FireFox around is its (payware) Add-on: "Video-DownloadHelper" which is very useful!

Thanks again!

[dr_st]

The main reason why I still keep FireFox around is its (payware) Add-on: "Video-DownloadHelper" which is very useful!

They have a version for Chrome now, don't they?

[w0qj]

The last time I've checked, Chrome had disabled/neutered Video Download Helper's most useful function (ie: some folks use it to download YouTube videos).
And who is the owner of both Chrome and YouTube?

I'm sticking with FireFox and Video Download Helper combo.

They have a version for Chrome now, don't they?

[w0qj]

Many thanks!

Looks like I'll keep using both Firemin and MemBoost to augment both FireFox and Thunderbird which I'm also using!

A big THANK YOU for your tip!

If you are still 'stuck' with Firefox, it's high time you download/install Firemin!

[dr_st]

The last time I've checked, Chrome had disabled/neutered Video Download Helper's most useful function (ie: some folks use it to download YouTube videos).

It's true, as I just found out; Google specifically does not want extensions to download Youtube videos, so it won't allow such extensions in the Chrome web store. There must be some workarounds, which I'll investigate later for my personal interest.

[w0qj]

If you just want a download and don't care about the guts/settings of your download, there are lots of freeware alternatives out there!
It's a perpetual slow motion arms race (cat-and-mouse, whack-a-mole) with Go*gle/YouTube... things are continually evolving over multi-month time frame...

The payware program that I use lets me to convert to any file format, and at any setting.
eg: MP3 at maximum 320 kbps, videos (MP4, MKV, etc.) at higher resolution and fps, etc.
Guess I'm a control freak

...I just found out; Google specifically does not want extensions to download YouTube videos, so it won't allow such extensions in the Chrome web store. There must be some workarounds, which I'll investigate later for my personal interest.

[axur-delmeria]

I download videos using the command-line youtube-dl program.

[dr_st]

If you just want a download and don't care about the guts/settings of your download, there are lots of freeware alternatives out there!
It's a perpetual slow motion arms race (cat-and-mouse, whack-a-mole) with Go*gle/YouTube... things are continually evolving over multi-month time frame...

Correct.

One thing I immediately thought about is that the Chrome web store can be circumvented by running the browser in 'developer mode', which allows extensions to be manually downloaded and installed. AddonCrop offers such extensions for various things, including Youtube Video Downloader:
https://addoncrop.com/youtube_video_downloader/

I haven't tried it yet, because I'm browsing from an old PC which has an old version of Slimjet, incompatible with the latest version of AddonCrop.

[w0qj]

There are usually three avenues for video/audio download:

a) Browser Add-On (Video Download Helper for FireFox, etc.)
b) Program (RealPlayer, etc.)
c) Website which can covert and then push the file to you (some nicer ones give you 1080p video conversion too!)
eg: www.onlinevideoconverter.com

Have fun exploring!