Should I upgrade to a solid state drive – SSD: 5 things you should know – SSD upgrade NYC

The need for speed, ah yes.  Just like in The Fast, The Furious, speed beats everything.  The same works for your computer.  If your computer is fast, you can accomplish your email tasks, daily to-do lists, and then your fun lists that much faster.  Also, it could even prevent possible computer crashes and blue screens which result from hanging, clashing applications in the background.

You probably already know you can easily upgrade or max out your RAM for a quick speed boost.  What about your hard drive?  Should you upgrade your hard drive to a solid state drive, a.k.a. SSD?  All answers point to yes, but let’s examine this a little bit.

5 things you should know if you’re thinking of upgrading to a solid state drive:

1. Yes, it’s fast.  Windows and Mac start-up time will be faster, programs will load faster, everything will be faster.  But, don’t start thinking you can do pop-a-wheelies, such as rendering video while playing a game or make your graphics smoother.  The main thing it will do access files faster on your drive.
2. How can you move your files and programs over?  Installing a new SSD will not automatically move your documents, photos, and programs over.  You’ll need to either clone, or mirror, your old hard drive or start from scratch by installing the operating system, programs, and files.  The latter will be needed if you have current computer issues, i.e. computer viruses, operating system corruption.
3. Isn’t it expensive?  It’s more expensive, yes, but prices have definitely come down to 50-75 cents per GB.  It’s like anything in life, the better the product, the more you’ll pay, and hopefully you’ll be happier for it over the years.
4. There’s not a lot of space.  Yes and no.  You can find a 512GB, 1TB solid state drive and beyond, but you’ll be paying a pretty dime for it.  Typically, SSD’s are bought in lower capacities which may force you to ask, will I have enough space?  you will by replacing your CD drive for a second hard drive, a regular hard drive.  The SSD is really working well for the operating system load time, so having it as a primary drive for that and using a secondary slower drive for your files and data works well.  Or you can just throw your files on the cloud for online storage and have one SSD for your computer.
5. Solid state drive install.  How is it done?  It’s done the same way on a laptop like a normal drive.  On a desktop, please make sure to first go into the BIOS to set your IDE configuration to AHCI.  It may also be called SATA Mode Selection or SATA Mode.  This will make sure you get optimal performance from your SSD.