Can I just use an SSD as my standard storage solution?

rogueblade · 19 May 2016 at 22:27

Hi guys,
Putting together a summer build (for real this time), but haven't been in the game since 2009. Back then I had a WD 500GB 7200rpm HD which was/is pretty standard stuff.

Now I'm not massive on storing lots of things, so in 2016 I don't really expect to need more than 500GB. Capacity aside I still want things to be FAST.
Seeing SSDs like the 500GB Samsung 850 Pro, I'm wondering if I can simply use just that to run my rig.

Is that common these days? Any severe disadvantages I haven't considered?
(I'm also recently learning about M2 PCIe SSDs which are just for putting the operating system on?...need to do some digging there.)

FoxEye · 19 May 2016 at 22:54

AFAIK, mechanical drives have no advantages over SSDs for any usage. Except price/GB.

There's no reason at all that I know of not to replace all your storage drives with SSDs, if you can afford it.

flowrider99 · 19 May 2016 at 22:59

I only have SSD's in my PC. No issues experienced at all.

s452 · 19 May 2016 at 23:34

the only disadvantage I can remember from SSDs came from Data recovery, should your SSD die, data recovery was a lot harder (near impossible) on an SSD as opposed to an HDD. not sure if that still applies, but you should have backups anyways

Gze · 20 May 2016 at 11:26

SSDs have limited write capacity, but tend to be so high normal users will not reach them. For example, the 850 Pro can handle 150TB of writes minimum.

Cenedd · 20 May 2016 at 12:08

M.2's are great. They just slot in and require no power cable or data cable so they make for a really tidy install. The Samsung 950 Pro works nicely - I've got a pair on my board running in RAID 0.....because toys

These are by boot/OS drive and also games, apps etc. No problem at all. Nice and quick too.

Always worth having a backup of your stuff anyway - hard disks sometimes fail in a manner that you can get stuff back and sometimes they don't. It's not a gamble you'd want to take voluntarily.