SSD. Worthwhile?
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Posted 26/05/2017 - 15:22
I doubt its worth it. Even with a modern quad core CPU, I see SSD drive technology as high end and relatively expensive. It certainly is not "needed" at all for the purposes of photo editing and image archiving.... Not for photo digital asset management at all really.
I'd argue that DVDs and Blu-Rays make more sense as something to bring into a system
My Guides to the Pentax Digital Camera Flash Lighting System : Download here from the PentaxForums Homepage Article .... link
Pentax K7 with BG-4 Grip / Samyang 14mm f2.8 ED AS IF UMC / DA18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL WR / SMC A28mm f2.8 / D FA 28-105mm / SMC F35-70 f3.5-4.5 / SMC A50mm f1.7 / Tamron AF70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD macro / SMC M75-150mm f4.0 / Tamron Adaptall (CT-135) 135mm f2.8 / Asahi Takumar-A 2X tele-converter / Pentax AF-540FGZ (I & II) Flashes / Cactus RF60/X Flashes & V6/V6II Transceiver
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I'd argue that DVDs and Blu-Rays make more sense as something to bring into a system
My Guides to the Pentax Digital Camera Flash Lighting System : Download here from the PentaxForums Homepage Article .... link
Pentax K7 with BG-4 Grip / Samyang 14mm f2.8 ED AS IF UMC / DA18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL WR / SMC A28mm f2.8 / D FA 28-105mm / SMC F35-70 f3.5-4.5 / SMC A50mm f1.7 / Tamron AF70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD macro / SMC M75-150mm f4.0 / Tamron Adaptall (CT-135) 135mm f2.8 / Asahi Takumar-A 2X tele-converter / Pentax AF-540FGZ (I & II) Flashes / Cactus RF60/X Flashes & V6/V6II Transceiver
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Posted 26/05/2017 - 16:41
I beg to differ. SSDs are not particularly expensive and you only needa small capacity one to contain your opetaing system and programs - data goes on the usual hard drive. I have a 250GB SSD and it makes the system much faster - in particular start up time is reduced to seconds. Whether you can do it yourself depends upon your level of expertise and confidence in doing it. I got a local computer firm to do mine. I would highly recommend the upgrade.
Miles
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Miles
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Posted 26/05/2017 - 18:42
Hi Simon
Yes, it's worth it, yes it's DIY'able, it will improve the speed of processing files dramatically, especially if you have limited RAM and there's a lot of disk writing going on.
It's also more secure than a moving parts hard drive, which are prone to fail at short notice.
Regards
David
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Nicola's Apartments, Kassiopi, Corfu
Some cameras, some lenses, some bits 'n' bobs
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Yes, it's worth it, yes it's DIY'able, it will improve the speed of processing files dramatically, especially if you have limited RAM and there's a lot of disk writing going on.
It's also more secure than a moving parts hard drive, which are prone to fail at short notice.
Regards
David
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Nicola's Apartments, Kassiopi, Corfu
Some cameras, some lenses, some bits 'n' bobs
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Posted 26/05/2017 - 18:52
But it's a question of 'worth what and for what ...'.
If the system lacks RAM capacity, then it would be best to get more RAM.
Is it worth the expense, risk and effort for what specifically the user needs? A hard drive would not normally be the key limiting component in a PC.
I'd think it would be better to start from scratch and get a new PC with components that match each other and complement each other in terms of performance.
My Guides to the Pentax Digital Camera Flash Lighting System : Download here from the PentaxForums Homepage Article .... link
Pentax K7 with BG-4 Grip / Samyang 14mm f2.8 ED AS IF UMC / DA18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL WR / SMC A28mm f2.8 / D FA 28-105mm / SMC F35-70 f3.5-4.5 / SMC A50mm f1.7 / Tamron AF70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD macro / SMC M75-150mm f4.0 / Tamron Adaptall (CT-135) 135mm f2.8 / Asahi Takumar-A 2X tele-converter / Pentax AF-540FGZ (I & II) Flashes / Cactus RF60/X Flashes & V6/V6II Transceiver
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If the system lacks RAM capacity, then it would be best to get more RAM.
Is it worth the expense, risk and effort for what specifically the user needs? A hard drive would not normally be the key limiting component in a PC.
I'd think it would be better to start from scratch and get a new PC with components that match each other and complement each other in terms of performance.
My Guides to the Pentax Digital Camera Flash Lighting System : Download here from the PentaxForums Homepage Article .... link
Pentax K7 with BG-4 Grip / Samyang 14mm f2.8 ED AS IF UMC / DA18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL WR / SMC A28mm f2.8 / D FA 28-105mm / SMC F35-70 f3.5-4.5 / SMC A50mm f1.7 / Tamron AF70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD macro / SMC M75-150mm f4.0 / Tamron Adaptall (CT-135) 135mm f2.8 / Asahi Takumar-A 2X tele-converter / Pentax AF-540FGZ (I & II) Flashes / Cactus RF60/X Flashes & V6/V6II Transceiver
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Posted 26/05/2017 - 19:16
Thank you all
Cost is a factor, I have just started work after 16 months of trying.
My laptop is 4 years old but it runs LR etc fine. I use windows 7. 64 bit.
The maximum RAM my board will hold is 8gb. I have 8gb.
I had read that an SSD accesses files more quickly, would that improve the performance of LR etc?
Boot times are unimportant. I'm not in that much of a rush!
I have been looking at a 500gb Samsung or Crucial.
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Cost is a factor, I have just started work after 16 months of trying.
My laptop is 4 years old but it runs LR etc fine. I use windows 7. 64 bit.
The maximum RAM my board will hold is 8gb. I have 8gb.
I had read that an SSD accesses files more quickly, would that improve the performance of LR etc?
Boot times are unimportant. I'm not in that much of a rush!
I have been looking at a 500gb Samsung or Crucial.
macmccreery.com
www.flickr.com/photos/simac/
www.500px.com/simac
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Posted 26/05/2017 - 19:57
Yes and yes. The difference is so massive you will feel pain when using your other drives 
'Photography...it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten....' (Aaron Siskind)
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'Photography...it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten....' (Aaron Siskind)
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Posted 26/05/2017 - 20:41
If you know what your doing and can be bothered reinstalling it's worth it... Your laptop may not be top of the line but it will speed up boot times, plus applications and images will load faster.
At the end of the day if you do upgrade the laptop later take out the ssd and get a usb3 caddy and you have a good backup drive.
I recently upgraded my laptop with this and more ram and it made a huge difference. Although I only went for a 240gb on as my laptop had 2 drive bays.
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At the end of the day if you do upgrade the laptop later take out the ssd and get a usb3 caddy and you have a good backup drive.
I recently upgraded my laptop with this and more ram and it made a huge difference. Although I only went for a 240gb on as my laptop had 2 drive bays.
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Posted 26/05/2017 - 21:32
stephen-s wrote:
If you know what your doing and can be bothered reinstalling it's worth it... Your laptop may not be top of the line but it will speed up boot times, plus applications and images will load faster.
At the end of the day if you do upgrade the laptop later take out the ssd and get a usb3 caddy and you have a good backup drive.
I recently upgraded my laptop with this and more ram and it made a huge difference. Although I only went for a 240gb on as my laptop had 2 drive bays.
If you know what your doing and can be bothered reinstalling it's worth it... Your laptop may not be top of the line but it will speed up boot times, plus applications and images will load faster.
At the end of the day if you do upgrade the laptop later take out the ssd and get a usb3 caddy and you have a good backup drive.
I recently upgraded my laptop with this and more ram and it made a huge difference. Although I only went for a 240gb on as my laptop had 2 drive bays.
Looking at 500 as that would accommodate the data on my current drive. Two bays! Cool.
macmccreery.com
www.flickr.com/photos/simac/
www.500px.com/simac
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Posted 27/05/2017 - 00:03
I would certainly give it the thumbs up. I installed one into my system when i built it 3 years ago and have never regretted it. I use the SSD as the program holder if you like and a large capacity normal drive for storage... The benefits are far speedier boot up times
.. Less noise from moving parts in a normal disk drive. Less prone to failure though not bullet proof...
K-1Gripped K-1 ungripped K-5ii K7 Various lenses
Stuart..
.. Less noise from moving parts in a normal disk drive. Less prone to failure though not bullet proof... K-1Gripped K-1 ungripped K-5ii K7 Various lenses
Stuart..
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Posted 27/05/2017 - 07:19
Expensive to go big, but cheap to go for just a small SSD.
Ideal is to SSD the operating system drive, and keep your existing drive. Hard to do that in a laptop. One option is to ditch the optical drive and purchase a replacement spacer daddy to hold one of the drives.
SSDs get a yes vote from me, I'll never go back.
That said, the system is only as good as its weakest link, so watch for RAM etc also. Plan B could be to sell and buy new too.
Ideal is to SSD the operating system drive, and keep your existing drive. Hard to do that in a laptop. One option is to ditch the optical drive and purchase a replacement spacer daddy to hold one of the drives.
SSDs get a yes vote from me, I'll never go back.
That said, the system is only as good as its weakest link, so watch for RAM etc also. Plan B could be to sell and buy new too.
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Posted 27/05/2017 - 07:52
you can buy a twin caddy to fit where your existing drive is that will take 2 ssd but you will need to be able to power them both. you will have to reinstall all programs and the operating system unless you clone the old drive onto the new, which requires software. your computer will need to have a sata3 port to get the full benefit of the drive as well
odd lens or 2
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odd lens or 2
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Posted 27/05/2017 - 08:26
And worth it ....? That was the first question. From what I could see the CPU in the OPs system dates from around 2012. My Guides to the Pentax Digital Camera Flash Lighting System : Download here from the PentaxForums Homepage Article .... link
Pentax K7 with BG-4 Grip / Samyang 14mm f2.8 ED AS IF UMC / DA18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL WR / SMC A28mm f2.8 / D FA 28-105mm / SMC F35-70 f3.5-4.5 / SMC A50mm f1.7 / Tamron AF70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD macro / SMC M75-150mm f4.0 / Tamron Adaptall (CT-135) 135mm f2.8 / Asahi Takumar-A 2X tele-converter / Pentax AF-540FGZ (I & II) Flashes / Cactus RF60/X Flashes & V6/V6II Transceiver
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Posted 27/05/2017 - 10:09
McGregNi wrote:
the CPU in the OPs system dates from around 2012.
the CPU in the OPs system dates from around 2012.
So does Pentax's video capabilities...
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Posted 27/05/2017 - 18:29
I doubt that an SSD would help much there either Richard! 
I'm not disagreeing that an SSD is a superior product over a traditional disk drive .... I'm just trying to keep it in perspective, and focus on exactly the benefits it would bring to simonmac specifically ....and of course the cost vs risk / hassle equation.
I don't feel that the reliability argument is a strong point .... the way to mitigate properly against disk failure is not to buy an SSD .... its to have a strong backup regime, and have a couple of independent backups at that. I'd advise 2 USB hard drive backups plus double layer DVD or Blu-Ray copies of all your photo files. Plus of course at least one of these stored at a different place than your computer.
I don't get the impression that Simon is a 'power user' in terms of commercial amounts of images to process, therefore I don't think the file loading times for Lightroom and export aspects would be that significant. He's already said he's not worried about bootup times. A new Win10 system with an average spec nowadays only takes up to a minute to get going anyway. The CPU and RAM will have a major influence on that also.
I agree with Richard earlier in that if choosing an SSD its best to keep that small, and the cost down, and use it for the operating system and programme installations. An economical 1Tb disk drive surely is the best value choice for storing photos on a Laptop, for future editing and viewing.
Unless there's a real interest in DIY computer tinkering as a bit of fun, then surely the safest route is to look at a new machine with good value all-round specs. We don't need more than an i5 or A8 CPU for photos, and 16Mb RAM is loads for those tasks. If a new machine could be got that included and SSD at a reasonable price, then great. I am assuming that Simons laptop is around 4-5 years old already ... ?
My Guides to the Pentax Digital Camera Flash Lighting System : Download here from the PentaxForums Homepage Article .... link
Pentax K7 with BG-4 Grip / Samyang 14mm f2.8 ED AS IF UMC / DA18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL WR / SMC A28mm f2.8 / D FA 28-105mm / SMC F35-70 f3.5-4.5 / SMC A50mm f1.7 / Tamron AF70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD macro / SMC M75-150mm f4.0 / Tamron Adaptall (CT-135) 135mm f2.8 / Asahi Takumar-A 2X tele-converter / Pentax AF-540FGZ (I & II) Flashes / Cactus RF60/X Flashes & V6/V6II Transceiver
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I'm not disagreeing that an SSD is a superior product over a traditional disk drive .... I'm just trying to keep it in perspective, and focus on exactly the benefits it would bring to simonmac specifically ....and of course the cost vs risk / hassle equation.
I don't feel that the reliability argument is a strong point .... the way to mitigate properly against disk failure is not to buy an SSD .... its to have a strong backup regime, and have a couple of independent backups at that. I'd advise 2 USB hard drive backups plus double layer DVD or Blu-Ray copies of all your photo files. Plus of course at least one of these stored at a different place than your computer.
I don't get the impression that Simon is a 'power user' in terms of commercial amounts of images to process, therefore I don't think the file loading times for Lightroom and export aspects would be that significant. He's already said he's not worried about bootup times. A new Win10 system with an average spec nowadays only takes up to a minute to get going anyway. The CPU and RAM will have a major influence on that also.
I agree with Richard earlier in that if choosing an SSD its best to keep that small, and the cost down, and use it for the operating system and programme installations. An economical 1Tb disk drive surely is the best value choice for storing photos on a Laptop, for future editing and viewing.
Unless there's a real interest in DIY computer tinkering as a bit of fun, then surely the safest route is to look at a new machine with good value all-round specs. We don't need more than an i5 or A8 CPU for photos, and 16Mb RAM is loads for those tasks. If a new machine could be got that included and SSD at a reasonable price, then great. I am assuming that Simons laptop is around 4-5 years old already ... ?
My Guides to the Pentax Digital Camera Flash Lighting System : Download here from the PentaxForums Homepage Article .... link
Pentax K7 with BG-4 Grip / Samyang 14mm f2.8 ED AS IF UMC / DA18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL WR / SMC A28mm f2.8 / D FA 28-105mm / SMC F35-70 f3.5-4.5 / SMC A50mm f1.7 / Tamron AF70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD macro / SMC M75-150mm f4.0 / Tamron Adaptall (CT-135) 135mm f2.8 / Asahi Takumar-A 2X tele-converter / Pentax AF-540FGZ (I & II) Flashes / Cactus RF60/X Flashes & V6/V6II Transceiver
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Simonmac
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Birmingham
I have a Samsung NP series with a Pentium dual core B950 .
Looking at an SSD.
Is it worth it and is it DIY able?
Cheers
Mac
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