Upgraded to a SSD!

[Cyterio]

I finally took the plunge and upgraded my OS drive to a SSD. Its hands down the best piece of hardware I've upgraded, ever, on my HTPC. Im coming from an old 5400 sata drive, and until now, never realized it was the reason for the media center hang-ups and temporary freezes I was encountering. Even after a fresh install, media center seemed to run sluggish at times. I just chalked it up to the software. Media Center in now lightning fast, no hang-ups, slow guide scrolling, or entering the movie or recorded tv menus. I went with a 120GB drive for the OS and store all my media on two separate 3TB drives. For those on the fence about upgrading, I can't recommend it enough.

[jasonbtx]

What he said. Best upgrade

[tad]

I finally took the plunge and upgraded my OS drive to a SSD. Its hands down the best piece of hardware I've upgraded, ever, on my HTPC. Im coming from an old 5400 sata drive, and until now, never realized it was the reason for the media center hang-ups and temporary freezes I was encountering. Even after a fresh install, media center seemed to run sluggish at times. I just chalked it up to the software. Media Center in now lightning fast, no hang-ups, slow guide scrolling, or entering the movie or recorded tv menus. I went with a 120GB drive for the OS and store all my media on two separate 3TB drives. For those on the fence about upgrading, I can't recommend it enough.

Welcome to the good life

[Scallica]

I finally took the plunge and upgraded my OS drive to a SSD.

Which drive did you install?

[Cyterio]

I went with the Toshiba Q Series Pro 128GB. I'm not going to lie, I mainly chose this drive because it was readily available at my local BestBuy and I was itching for something to mess with over the weekend.

[Bryan]

I refuse to use anything but SSD anymore. Once you use one, you can't go back.

[lithium630]

I have newer laptop with a Haswell i5 and 8gb of ram and it was ridiculously slow. I just changed the HD to an Intel SSD and it's like a whole new computer. I was going to do a clean install of Windows 8 but it is no easy task. Acer wanted $45 for the disk. I managed to get a retail ISO but other means (ahem) but it accept the product key to start the install. I gave up and cloned the old drive.

[newfiend]

Been using SSD's in all my builds since my first HTPC.. I was hooked as soon as I got the first one. Have them in all my PC's in the house now. I don't think I could go back to using a regular HDD again for an OS drive.

[asm495]

All my systems from Win7 MCE Server to NUCs all have SSDs in them now especially as prices have dropped so much. Shame I can't get one in my work laptop which does like to chug along periodically.

[crawfish]

Shame I can't get one in my work laptop which does like to chug along periodically.

Find a way! Recently, I found I had finally accumulated enough SSDs to replace the HD in my 2008 laptop with an old Intel X25-M, and it's like a new computer, even with its measly 2 GB RAM and 1.6 GHz Core 2 Duo. I use the thing once in a blue moon, and how I'd come to hate those occasions. It was never thrashing the pagefile; it was just a horrendously slow hard drive.

[newfiend]

It's amazing what they put in laptops for hdd's..5400 RPM crap.. An SSD must have been a night and day difference. I have them in all my systems now.. I couldn't go back to traditional hdd's after owning one.

[mike_ekim]

I installed my SSD this weekend. 120 GB Samsung 840 EVO. When searching for movies or pulling up the guide it used to take 30 seconds to a full minute, now it takes about 1.5 seconds. Sometimes I would kill MCE and then try again thinking it was a system hang. The Samsung migration software was easy to use and worked perfectly.

Best. Upgrade. Ever.

[koberhol]

I finally took the plunge and upgraded to SSD for my operating system!! I also agree with other posts as it was the best thing I have ever done for my WMC experience. The reason I say 'plunge' was not financial! It was taking a system that has been 99.9% trouble free and reliable = wife approval... and MESS WITH IT!!! It took the better part of 2 days because I couldn't simply clone the spinning drive and just move the operating system easily. So I did the whole 're-install'.. Uhm... Painful... to remember all those little nuances, and fixes, that I have incorporated over time that made my HTPC a great experience. For other eventual readers to this post... What I gained, which is similar to what others have summed up.

a) Boot times are extremely quick. Why is this so important? Because HTPC people are tinkerers and are always trying this, or that... Which... requires a RE-BOOT!! No more 3 minute waits to see that I didn't like the change and need to RE-BOOT it again!

b) Much quicker response from my Extender(s) remote control commands. More like a typical cable box for timing. Ceton Tuner and Echo's... If that matters to anyone.

c) I feel the best idea is to have operating system and media storage on 2 different components as the risk of losing everything is eliminated. Always Backup your system when things are running fine! Backup your system ... one more time... Backup your system! To me this is the difference between a headache and a castastrophe. Of course I am also a huge proponent of dedicated systems all the way down to network hubs and wiring to avoid the inherent typical WMC HTPC issues we see every day!

d) At $55 for 120GB who could resist! Resist buying a jumbo SSD if your just going to put your OS on it. My HTPC is single function use. I could have gone with a 60GB but the price differential wasn't enough to make a difference. I also wanted something that could be re-used in a future project if needed. Of course by then we will be speaking in words of TB's (Trilla Bytes) for OS's and Storage.. lol

[JTScribe]

I'm tempted to use an M.2 if and when I upgrade my SSD. The read speeds are crazy.