[Discuss] SSD

[blu at nedharvey.com (Edward Ned Harvey)]

> From: discuss-bounces+blu=nedharvey.com at blu.org [mailto:discuss-
> bounces+blu=nedharvey.com at blu.org] On Behalf Of Richard McCluskey
> 
> I am using an SSD in my Dell E6410 laptop for work, running Ubuntu 12.04
> 64bit. I purchased a Kingston HyperX 120GB. I also upgraded from 4G RAM to
> 8GRAM at the same time. Drive has been solid for months now, and I still
> laugh every time I boot up. Sooooo fast. Reads, writes, anything that
> involves disk I/O is just incredible.  

So, for what it's worth, about a year ago I had the joy of deploying laptops
with SSD's for the first time.  For the heck of it, I built two identical
Precision M4500 systems side-by side, but one had the SSD and the other had
the 7200rpm HDD.

Ironically, as I sat there and used them, the different wasn't obvious.  On
one system, I launch something, it runs a few seconds, and it's done...  On
the other system, I do the same, I get about the same result, and I wondered
if I was doing something wrong with my SSD.

But then when they were all done, I decided to put them side-by-side, and
boot them up.  The SSD went twice as fast.  (I measured and video'd for
comparison.)  I launch apps, or do anything ... The SSD was consistently
twice as fast, in everything it did.

I didn't have a good gut feel for which was faster while they were both
building, because it's not something you do over and over.  But in normal,
day to day life, you get a feel for what to expect ... If firefox launches
slower than usual some day, you notice that.

When people upgrade to the SSD, they tend not to notice much of anything...
But when people get used to the SSD and then you give them an HDD, it's as
if the world is collapsing and the apocalypse has come.