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  3. SSD... is it worth it in an old computer?

SSD... is it worth it in an old computer?

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  • J Joan M

    Hello all, My parents have two computers... a new i5 that is wonderful and an old one (Intel® Core™2 Duo E6600) that takes ages to start. It is clear that the HDD spins endlessly. Would you spend 100€ in a SSD? I don't know if that would mean a huge improvement in the performance of that computer or not... Should SSD work despite being an old computer? Any hint? Of course I could buy a new computer, but in this case I don't think it is needed as my father is using it only to download kitchen recipes... :rolleyes:

    OriginalGriffO Offline
    OriginalGriffO Offline
    OriginalGriff
    wrote on last edited by
    #2

    YES! Oh yes, yes yes... I run a E6700 @ 3.2GHz, with 4GB of RAM - and a 1TB SSD (plus a 1TB HDD for data). The performance difference when I fitted the SSD was phenomenal. Windows booted quickly, VS loaded fast, even Corel PaintShop Pro X8 became usable! :omg: It genuinely changed the way I worked: instead of loading everything - because they took forever to start - I load, use, close and everything is quicker because the load time is so short, and the RAM is free. Well worth the money!

    Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

    "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
    "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • J Joan M

      Hello all, My parents have two computers... a new i5 that is wonderful and an old one (Intel® Core™2 Duo E6600) that takes ages to start. It is clear that the HDD spins endlessly. Would you spend 100€ in a SSD? I don't know if that would mean a huge improvement in the performance of that computer or not... Should SSD work despite being an old computer? Any hint? Of course I could buy a new computer, but in this case I don't think it is needed as my father is using it only to download kitchen recipes... :rolleyes:

      OriginalGriffO Offline
      OriginalGriffO Offline
      OriginalGriff
      wrote on last edited by
      #3

      BTW: If you go for it, then AOMEI Partition Assistant: Partition Software & Disk Manager for PC, Laptop and Server[^] has a SSD Upgrade wizard which will do the job for you very nicely indeed - it has a full featured free version which includes the wizard.

      Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

      "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
      "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

      J 1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

        BTW: If you go for it, then AOMEI Partition Assistant: Partition Software & Disk Manager for PC, Laptop and Server[^] has a SSD Upgrade wizard which will do the job for you very nicely indeed - it has a full featured free version which includes the wizard.

        Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

        J Offline
        J Offline
        Joan M
        wrote on last edited by
        #4

        Thank you OG for both answers! I'll take a look at it, but probably I'll reinstall everything as I'm planning to get a 256 GB SSD... It has no sense getting anything bigger but the current HDD is much bigger so I don't know if AOMEI would cope with that...

        OriginalGriffO 1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • J Joan M

          Thank you OG for both answers! I'll take a look at it, but probably I'll reinstall everything as I'm planning to get a 256 GB SSD... It has no sense getting anything bigger but the current HDD is much bigger so I don't know if AOMEI would cope with that...

          OriginalGriffO Offline
          OriginalGriffO Offline
          OriginalGriff
          wrote on last edited by
          #5

          Depends how much is used space - if it's using less than the new SSD, then repartition it to the same size and the wizard will move everything. And that way bookmarks, passwords, logins, and the app someone forgot about but desperately needs right now still work exactly as it did, but better. If it isn't, then you're going to be looking at having both installed anyway (organised as OS/app and data perhaps?) so a good solid backup first would be a damn good idea... :laugh:

          Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

          "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
          "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

          J L 2 Replies Last reply
          0
          • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

            Depends how much is used space - if it's using less than the new SSD, then repartition it to the same size and the wizard will move everything. And that way bookmarks, passwords, logins, and the app someone forgot about but desperately needs right now still work exactly as it did, but better. If it isn't, then you're going to be looking at having both installed anyway (organised as OS/app and data perhaps?) so a good solid backup first would be a damn good idea... :laugh:

            Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

            J Offline
            J Offline
            Joan M
            wrote on last edited by
            #6

            I'll definitely look at it. Thank you!

            1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • J Joan M

              Hello all, My parents have two computers... a new i5 that is wonderful and an old one (Intel® Core™2 Duo E6600) that takes ages to start. It is clear that the HDD spins endlessly. Would you spend 100€ in a SSD? I don't know if that would mean a huge improvement in the performance of that computer or not... Should SSD work despite being an old computer? Any hint? Of course I could buy a new computer, but in this case I don't think it is needed as my father is using it only to download kitchen recipes... :rolleyes:

              T Offline
              T Offline
              theoldfool
              wrote on last edited by
              #7

              My +1 with the others. I rejuvenated a 10 year old Thinkpad with one.

              Arguing with a woman is like reading the Software License Agreement. In the end, you ignore everything and click "I agree". Anonymous

              J 1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • T theoldfool

                My +1 with the others. I rejuvenated a 10 year old Thinkpad with one.

                Arguing with a woman is like reading the Software License Agreement. In the end, you ignore everything and click "I agree". Anonymous

                J Offline
                J Offline
                Joan M
                wrote on last edited by
                #8

                Thank you theoldfool! :thumbsup:

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • J Joan M

                  Hello all, My parents have two computers... a new i5 that is wonderful and an old one (Intel® Core™2 Duo E6600) that takes ages to start. It is clear that the HDD spins endlessly. Would you spend 100€ in a SSD? I don't know if that would mean a huge improvement in the performance of that computer or not... Should SSD work despite being an old computer? Any hint? Of course I could buy a new computer, but in this case I don't think it is needed as my father is using it only to download kitchen recipes... :rolleyes:

                  P Offline
                  P Offline
                  PIEBALDconsult
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #9

                  I also have two old core 2 systems, but I think they would benefit more from adding ram.

                  J 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • J Joan M

                    Hello all, My parents have two computers... a new i5 that is wonderful and an old one (Intel® Core™2 Duo E6600) that takes ages to start. It is clear that the HDD spins endlessly. Would you spend 100€ in a SSD? I don't know if that would mean a huge improvement in the performance of that computer or not... Should SSD work despite being an old computer? Any hint? Of course I could buy a new computer, but in this case I don't think it is needed as my father is using it only to download kitchen recipes... :rolleyes:

                    G Offline
                    G Offline
                    Gary R Wheeler
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #10

                    For what it's worth: I have an Acer Aspire 6930 laptop, which originally came with a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2G of RAM, a 320G hard drive, and Windows Vista Home Premium. I bought it in 2007, ten years ago. I'm typing this post on it as we speak. It's been upgraded to 4G of RAM, from Vista to Win7 to Win10, and to a 1TB SSD. I originally paid around $650 for the machine, and have spent around $400 upgrading it. As far as a timing benchmark goes, it runs Visual Studio 2015 successfully. I've upgraded my daughter's college laptop in a similar fashion. Max out the RAM and switch to an SSD for less than half the price of a new laptop, and you'll breathe new life into an old one.

                    Software Zen: delete this;

                    J 1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                      Depends how much is used space - if it's using less than the new SSD, then repartition it to the same size and the wizard will move everything. And that way bookmarks, passwords, logins, and the app someone forgot about but desperately needs right now still work exactly as it did, but better. If it isn't, then you're going to be looking at having both installed anyway (organised as OS/app and data perhaps?) so a good solid backup first would be a damn good idea... :laugh:

                      Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

                      L Offline
                      L Offline
                      Lost User
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #11

                      100% agree with Griff, about a year back it's exactly what I did... 1. large (1TB) HDD to smaller (500 G) SSD - used space on HDD was about 300G 2. Aomei Partition Assistant - the Free version Ran the wizard, chose the options (simple, obvious), off she went. Less than a hour later without unplugging anything (just Bios change) booted from the SSD - zero issues. After initial housekeeping on the SSD I used the Aomei to do the reverse copy (yes, even though it says it's for HDD->SSD it 100% works the other way too) - done in case needed to re-restore after some heavy duty cleaning up I had planned (i.e. removing spurious software, device drivers and other windows system cruft.)

                      signature upgrading ... please wait.

                      OriginalGriffO J 2 Replies Last reply
                      0
                      • L Lost User

                        100% agree with Griff, about a year back it's exactly what I did... 1. large (1TB) HDD to smaller (500 G) SSD - used space on HDD was about 300G 2. Aomei Partition Assistant - the Free version Ran the wizard, chose the options (simple, obvious), off she went. Less than a hour later without unplugging anything (just Bios change) booted from the SSD - zero issues. After initial housekeeping on the SSD I used the Aomei to do the reverse copy (yes, even though it says it's for HDD->SSD it 100% works the other way too) - done in case needed to re-restore after some heavy duty cleaning up I had planned (i.e. removing spurious software, device drivers and other windows system cruft.)

                        signature upgrading ... please wait.

                        OriginalGriffO Offline
                        OriginalGriffO Offline
                        OriginalGriff
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #12

                        Did you mean to respond with this to Joan?

                        Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay... AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

                        "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
                        "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • J Joan M

                          Hello all, My parents have two computers... a new i5 that is wonderful and an old one (Intel® Core™2 Duo E6600) that takes ages to start. It is clear that the HDD spins endlessly. Would you spend 100€ in a SSD? I don't know if that would mean a huge improvement in the performance of that computer or not... Should SSD work despite being an old computer? Any hint? Of course I could buy a new computer, but in this case I don't think it is needed as my father is using it only to download kitchen recipes... :rolleyes:

                          W Offline
                          W Offline
                          wtf32
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #13

                          Look for boot times on Youtube .. You can even type in the type of Computer you have and actually watch the boot time for yourself and make a better decision .. There are many examples on youtube for SSD start times w/ an i5 i7 that have SSD added ..

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • J Joan M

                            Hello all, My parents have two computers... a new i5 that is wonderful and an old one (Intel® Core™2 Duo E6600) that takes ages to start. It is clear that the HDD spins endlessly. Would you spend 100€ in a SSD? I don't know if that would mean a huge improvement in the performance of that computer or not... Should SSD work despite being an old computer? Any hint? Of course I could buy a new computer, but in this case I don't think it is needed as my father is using it only to download kitchen recipes... :rolleyes:

                            R Offline
                            R Offline
                            Ravi Bhavnani
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #14

                            Joan M wrote:

                            and an old one (Intel® Core™2 Duo E6600) that takes ages to start

                            The first thing I would do is max out the RAM on this PC.  Adding RAM is cheaper than moving to an SSD, and it's likely that the OS is swapping (to a slow HDD) due to lack of RAM.  If more RAM cannot be added, I recommend upgrading the PC to one that can accept (at least) 8GB of memory. /ravi

                            My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

                            J 1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • J Joan M

                              Hello all, My parents have two computers... a new i5 that is wonderful and an old one (Intel® Core™2 Duo E6600) that takes ages to start. It is clear that the HDD spins endlessly. Would you spend 100€ in a SSD? I don't know if that would mean a huge improvement in the performance of that computer or not... Should SSD work despite being an old computer? Any hint? Of course I could buy a new computer, but in this case I don't think it is needed as my father is using it only to download kitchen recipes... :rolleyes:

                              N Offline
                              N Offline
                              Nelek
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #15

                              Had you said before I went to Barcelona, I could have brought you a 128 Gb SSD that I have in spare

                              M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

                              J 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • J Joan M

                                Hello all, My parents have two computers... a new i5 that is wonderful and an old one (Intel® Core™2 Duo E6600) that takes ages to start. It is clear that the HDD spins endlessly. Would you spend 100€ in a SSD? I don't know if that would mean a huge improvement in the performance of that computer or not... Should SSD work despite being an old computer? Any hint? Of course I could buy a new computer, but in this case I don't think it is needed as my father is using it only to download kitchen recipes... :rolleyes:

                                C Offline
                                C Offline
                                charlieg
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #16

                                One minor technical note: the old system needs a SATA interface. I'm assuming it does, but I see no mention of it.

                                Charlie Gilley <italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape... "Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783 “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759

                                J 1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • L Lost User

                                  100% agree with Griff, about a year back it's exactly what I did... 1. large (1TB) HDD to smaller (500 G) SSD - used space on HDD was about 300G 2. Aomei Partition Assistant - the Free version Ran the wizard, chose the options (simple, obvious), off she went. Less than a hour later without unplugging anything (just Bios change) booted from the SSD - zero issues. After initial housekeeping on the SSD I used the Aomei to do the reverse copy (yes, even though it says it's for HDD->SSD it 100% works the other way too) - done in case needed to re-restore after some heavy duty cleaning up I had planned (i.e. removing spurious software, device drivers and other windows system cruft.)

                                  signature upgrading ... please wait.

                                  J Offline
                                  J Offline
                                  Joan M
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #17

                                  Hi Lopatir, Thank you for your comments. :thumbsup:

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • P PIEBALDconsult

                                    I also have two old core 2 systems, but I think they would benefit more from adding ram.

                                    J Offline
                                    J Offline
                                    Joan M
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #18

                                    I guess it wouldn't harm too... but by now I've seen it not using all the ram... only internet browsing... But it takes literally ages to start... and you can hear the HDD noises continuously...

                                    P 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • G Gary R Wheeler

                                      For what it's worth: I have an Acer Aspire 6930 laptop, which originally came with a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2G of RAM, a 320G hard drive, and Windows Vista Home Premium. I bought it in 2007, ten years ago. I'm typing this post on it as we speak. It's been upgraded to 4G of RAM, from Vista to Win7 to Win10, and to a 1TB SSD. I originally paid around $650 for the machine, and have spent around $400 upgrading it. As far as a timing benchmark goes, it runs Visual Studio 2015 successfully. I've upgraded my daughter's college laptop in a similar fashion. Max out the RAM and switch to an SSD for less than half the price of a new laptop, and you'll breathe new life into an old one.

                                      Software Zen: delete this;

                                      J Offline
                                      J Offline
                                      Joan M
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #19

                                      Thank you Gary! Very similar experience... thank you for your comments! :thumbsup:

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • R Ravi Bhavnani

                                        Joan M wrote:

                                        and an old one (Intel® Core™2 Duo E6600) that takes ages to start

                                        The first thing I would do is max out the RAM on this PC.  Adding RAM is cheaper than moving to an SSD, and it's likely that the OS is swapping (to a slow HDD) due to lack of RAM.  If more RAM cannot be added, I recommend upgrading the PC to one that can accept (at least) 8GB of memory. /ravi

                                        My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

                                        J Offline
                                        J Offline
                                        Joan M
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #20

                                        Thank you Ravi! It would be a good thing too to add more RAM... let's see if I can find some spare parts...

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • N Nelek

                                          Had you said before I went to Barcelona, I could have brought you a 128 Gb SSD that I have in spare

                                          M.D.V. ;) If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about? Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.

                                          J Offline
                                          J Offline
                                          Joan M
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #21

                                          El don de la oportunidad... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Thank you anyway Nelek... :thumbsup:

                                          N 1 Reply Last reply
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