Speed up old computer

Seasonal · Post by **Seasonal** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:28 pm

We have a rather old desktop computer. Intel i3-2100 @3.1ghz, 6gb DDR3 1333mhz RAM, Intel 6 SATA AHCI, 7200rpm 3gb/s SATA drive, Win 10 Pro.

It's mainly used as for web browsing or the like and video playback (connected to TV).

I'm wondering if getting an internal SSD drive, such as the Crucial MX500 (https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-NA ... 077SF8KMG/), would do much to speed it up. I don't believe we can install more RAM.

EDIT: It looks like the consensus is that an SSD will be a major improvement.

Reinstalling Windows and eliminating bloat is always good advice.

The specs are that 8gb of RAM can be installed, although going from 6 to 8 may not yield much of an improvement. I'll try the linked SSD first (and make sure I have power and SATA cables).

The main user of the computer does not want a new computer and wants only Windows.

Obviously an SSD will not result in a faster internet connection.

It's a Lenovo H420 7752.

EDIT 2: A Samsung may be better than the Crucial: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07L3D19MY

Mounting bracket and cables: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FD8YJB4

EDIT 3: success viewtopic.php?p=5418347#p5418347

lthenderson · Post by **lthenderson** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:39 pm

A SSD won't do much for internet speed. It will affect boot up speed and saving/reading things stored on the hard drive. I'm not sure what the limiting factors are for internet speed are as far as computer hardware goes. I would make sure my router is up to date though as that can greatly affect internet speed.

MathWizard · Post by **MathWizard** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:41 pm

You've likely got too many programs running, that you may not even know about. A clean install is the best, but that is a hassle. I suggest the following first.

You can stop programs from launching at startup.

Cntl-Alt-Delete will bring up a menu, select task manager,
and the you can see what applications are running, and how much resources they consume.

Over the years, you've probably installed software like Adobe which constantly runs and updater, looking to see if it should be updated .
You can just stop all those any any other superfluous programs from launching on startup, and performance should improve.

I also find that Chrome consumes less resources than Firefox, so I use that for web browsing. Be careful about adding lots of chrome extensions, that slows performance too.

An SSD will speed up boots, and if you need to store files, but for web browsing, your internet connection should be the slow part, unless you have a gigabit or higher internet connection.

Seasonal · Post by **Seasonal** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:45 pm

lthenderson wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:39 pm A SSD won't do much for internet speed. It will affect boot up speed and saving/reading things stored on the hard drive. I'm not sure what the limiting factors are for internet speed are as far as computer hardware goes. I would make sure my router is up to date though as that can greatly affect internet speed.

I'd be surprised if an SSD did anything for internet speed. The concern is boot up speed and running programs.

Kenkat · Post by **Kenkat** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:46 pm

Seasonal wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:28 pm We have a rather old desktop computer. Intel i3-2100 @3.1ghz, 6gb DDR3 1333mhz RAM, Intel 6 SATA AHCI, 7200rpm 3gb/s SATA drive, Win 10 Pro.

It's mainly used as for web browsing or the like and video playback (connected to TV).

I'm wondering if getting an internal SSD drive, such as the Crucial MX500 (https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-NA ... 077SF8KMG/), would do much to speed it up. I don't believe we can install more RAM.

Replacing the hard drive with an SSD will certainly provide a speed increase, most likely a big one. We no longer have any computers in our household without the primary drive being an SSD.

You should also be able to add more memory but you will probably need to remove all of the old memory sticks and replace with higher capacity, so it’s more of a replace than an add. For example, if you’ve got four slots, with three of them occupied by 2gb memory sticks, you could go with 4 x 4gb sticks for a total of 16gb. Exactly what is possible will depend on your specific configuration. This would also probably give you a performance boost but it might make sense to do the SSD first and then if you decide you need more, do the memory swap.

lthenderson · Post by **lthenderson** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:48 pm

Seasonal wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:45 pm It's mainly used as for web browsing or the like and video playback (connected to TV).

lthenderson wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:39 pm A SSD won't do much for internet speed. It will affect boot up speed and saving/reading things stored on the hard drive. I'm not sure what the limiting factors are for internet speed are as far as computer hardware goes. I would make sure my router is up to date though as that can greatly affect internet speed.
I'd be surprised if an SSD did anything for internet speed. The concern is boot up speed and running programs.

Reading your quote in the first post made it seem like internet speed was your primary concern. I would perhaps edit the post to clarify. Yes a SSD would help speed up boot up speeds and running programs where the hard drive is regularly accessed.

Seasonal · Post by **Seasonal** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:52 pm

MathWizard wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:41 pm You've likely got too many programs running, that you may not even know about. A clean install is the best, but that is a hassle. I suggest the following first.

You can stop programs from launching at startup.

Cntl-Alt-Delete will bring up a menu, select task manager,
and the you can see what applications are running, and how much resources they consume.

Over the years, you've probably installed software like Adobe which constantly runs and updater, looking to see if it should be updated .
You can just stop all those any any other superfluous programs from launching on startup, and performance should improve.

I also find that Chrome consumes less resources than Firefox, so I use that for web browsing. Be careful about adding lots of chrome extensions, that slows performance too.

An SSD will speed up boots, and if you need to store files, but for web browsing, your internet connection should be the slow part, unless you have a gigabit or higher internet connection.

It was a clean install earlier this year (reinstalled Win 7 and upgraded). It has Adobe, but I killed the updater.

Booting and launching programs takes a long time and the disk light is on a lot.

Seasonal · Post by **Seasonal** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:55 pm

Kenkat wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:46 pm
Seasonal wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:28 pm We have a rather old desktop computer. Intel i3-2100 @3.1ghz, 6gb DDR3 1333mhz RAM, Intel 6 SATA AHCI, 7200rpm 3gb/s SATA drive, Win 10 Pro.

It's mainly used as for web browsing or the like and video playback (connected to TV).

I'm wondering if getting an internal SSD drive, such as the Crucial MX500 (https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-NA ... 077SF8KMG/), would do much to speed it up. I don't believe we can install more RAM.
Replacing the hard drive with an SSD will certainly provide a speed increase, most likely a big one. We no longer have any computers in our household without the primary drive being an SSD.

You should also be able to add more memory but you will probably need to remove all of the old memory sticks and replace with higher capacity, so it’s more of a replace than an add. For example, if you’ve got four slots, with three of them occupied by 2gb memory sticks, you could go with 4 x 4gb sticks for a total of 16gb. Exactly what is possible will depend on your specific configuration. This would also probably give you a performance boost but it might make sense to do the SSD first and then if you decide you need more, do the memory swap.

It has 2 DIMM slots, with a 4gb and 2gb. Years ago I tried replacing the 2gb with a 4gb, but then it wouldn't boot. It could have been faulty memory and I didn't try again. I occasionally check task manager and there's almost always some free physical RAM.

ballons · Post by **ballons** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:57 pm

Seasonal wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:45 pm I'd be surprised if an SSD did anything for internet speed. The concern is boot up speed and running programs.

SSD will be like night and day. Programs will load faster but not operate much faster.

You said you only do web browsing and watching video. I would suggest Ubuntu (Xubuntu/Lubuntu will be faster) or Linux Mint if true. Linux runs better than windows.

oldlongbeard · Post by **oldlongbeard** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 6:01 pm

I would put Puppy Linux on a thumb drive. It will give you an option to create a saved file on your hard disk, which will NOT foul your Windoze install. Puppy will run like a scalded dog off the thumb drive. Want Windoze? Boot without the thumb drive plugged in.

02nz · Post by **02nz** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 6:08 pm

Seasonal wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:52 pm Booting and launching programs takes a long time and the disk light is on a lot.

SSD will make a big difference.

dziuniek · Post by **dziuniek** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 6:12 pm

6 GB of ram for internet browsing is more than plenty, I would not add any ram.

An SSD is probably the easiest upgrade here and most enhancement for the buck.

The only other thing you could look into is checking what motherboard you have, which version of bios (upgrade to newest bios revision) and then see what CPUs it supports. A faster cpu for whatever socket your motherboard supports will provide you with the biggest processing increase.

1. Get a best CPU your motherboard supports. (assuming it's a worthwhile upgrade)
2. Get SSD.

gmc4h232 · Post by **gmc4h232** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 6:12 pm

Try dropping it out a window. The higher the window the higher the speed.

tibbitts · Post by **tibbitts** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 6:13 pm

I've replaced hard drives with SSDs in four computers so far. Booting and starting programs is faster. Internet browsing, maybe a little. More memory helped (going from 4 to 8gb, or 8 to 16), and my computers with faster cpus do feel faster than my slower ones, including for browsing.

Rob5TCP · Post by **Rob5TCP** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 6:36 pm

Check your internet speed. You may find just upgrading will help. For computer speed, the best is the SSD, followed by memory. And check your startups -- see if you have junk loading that you don't need.

MathWizard · Post by **MathWizard** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 6:44 pm

Seasonal wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:52 pm
MathWizard wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:41 pm You've likely got too many programs running, that you may not even know about. A clean install is the best, but that is a hassle. I suggest the following first.

You can stop programs from launching at startup.

Cntl-Alt-Delete will bring up a menu, select task manager,
and the you can see what applications are running, and how much resources they consume.

Over the years, you've probably installed software like Adobe which constantly runs and updater, looking to see if it should be updated .
You can just stop all those any any other superfluous programs from launching on startup, and performance should improve.

I also find that Chrome consumes less resources than Firefox, so I use that for web browsing. Be careful about adding lots of chrome extensions, that slows performance too.

An SSD will speed up boots, and if you need to store files, but for web browsing, your internet connection should be the slow part, unless you have a gigabit or higher internet connection.
It was a clean install earlier this year (reinstalled Win 7 and upgraded). It has Adobe, but I killed the updater.

Booting and launching programs takes a long time and the disk light is on a lot.

If the disk light is on a lot, the computer memory may be swapping, between memory and disk, in which case the SSD would help immensely. Getting something with more RAM would be preferable.

You are running the 64 bit version of Windows 10, not the 32 bit version .

000 · Post by **000** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 6:45 pm

SSD + Linux

telemark · Post by **telemark** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 6:50 pm

When Windows runs low on memory it starts starts paging memory onto disk. Even if you can't add memory, this would go much faster with an SSD. You can see if this is happening by looking at Resource Monitor for memory use and swap space. Swap space should be at or near zero, or you will see things slowing down. You can use Task Manager to see which programs are using the most memory.

whodidntante · Post by **whodidntante** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 6:53 pm

Do a clean install of the OS and then don't install a bunch of crap on it. Only install the applications you will use frequently on your old hooptie PC. Next, pick a reasonably memory efficient browser to use. I'm typing this on Firefox on an old laptop that I bought before I started my MBA, that I finished in 2017. Chrome has gotten sloppy over the years since Google doesn't care about impressing you anymore.

michaelingp · Post by **michaelingp** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 6:55 pm

I think it's new computer time. The PassMark results on that processor is 1782. I've retired many computers with faster processors than that. (Most modern computers have processors with PassMarks over 10,000.) Most likely everything else is slow too. You can fool around with start up programs and such, but my experience is that you'll spend a lot of time and your computer will still be slow. Look at Task Manager. I would bet you are not maxing out memory or disk. Don't start a new thread of what computer to buy, just get the next to most expensive (either desktop or laptop) from Costco.

Compound · Post by **Compound** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 7:03 pm

Agreed on the SSD recommendation.

My primary laptop from several years ago was booting rather slowly — changing to the SSD made it feel lightening fast. I have since converted it into a Linux machine; despite it being over 10 years old, it performs admirably for what’s asked of it (mostly browser based tasks).

random_walker_77 · Post by **random_walker_77** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 7:08 pm

I disagree that this old computer is too slow. My main laptop is based around a core i5-7200u, and this CPU is only 10% slower..
https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/I ... 53577vsm41

Spend $30 for a SSD -- you'll be pleased by the speed up in booting and launching applications. If you put a lightweight linux such as mx linux, linux lite, or puppy linux, it'll be pretty fast. I recently revived a much slower desktop. The listed processor is pretty much a solid mid-range CPU.

(regarding linux vs windows, I'm seeing that immediately after booting win10, 2.3GB of ram are consumed. Booting mx linux, it's more like 0.6GB of RAM in use!)

bhough · Post by **bhough** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 7:17 pm

puppy linux on a thumb drive is an elegant solution and the best one.

Wiping it clean and installing ubuntu is the easiest solution. Once you do it, you won't go back. You can also make a thumb drive for ubuntu which is alot easier and for kali linux which is supposed to be for penetration, but they make it easy to make a thumb drive that you can boot off for that.

Once you start using linux, you'll realize it is actually easier than windows and mac. Plus a lot cheaper. And safer.
b

Watty · Post by **Watty** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 7:20 pm

A lot of what to do depends on your budget.

As others have said the first thing to do is to make sure you do not have a lot of junk programs running. You would want to back up your computer first but Windows 10 is really easy to reinstall now. Just search on "refresh" and you can find it, but it does take a long time to run so you may want to just let it run overnight. You will then need to reinstall any other programs that you want on the system.

I would likely go on and replace it especially if you or someone you know has a use for your old PC.

I have had good luck with refurnished ones and here is a refurbished Dell with an i5, 12 BG, and a smaller SSD for around $320. If you were going to spend $150 on the SSD and more memory anyway then getting something like that instead might make sense.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-refur ... Id=6383563

Best Buy has a number of different refurbished desktops in that price range.

Since it does not sound like you have any urgent need so you could also just wait to see what sort of Black Friday specials there are.

One option would be to go on and get the SSD for your current PC then if that is not enough and you get a different PC in a few months then you could move that SSD to your new PC.

A_Bond · Post by **A_Bond** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 7:34 pm

My first instinct would be to recommend a fresh install of Windows on a new SSD. Currently, a nice SSD is probably the most cost-efficient and noticeable upgrade possible for a home PC. Much faster program launch and boot speeds. A fresh install will help clear out any 'junk' your system has accumulated over the years.

squirm · Post by **squirm** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 7:35 pm

Just get a cheap SSD, there like a whole 50 bucks now. It will make everything seem faster to some degree.
Even a piece of junk QLC that has no dram with a terrible controller will feel quicker.

Yeah reinstall windows, maybe have some fun and upgrade the cpu to a cheap Ryzen, if the board allows it.

anthonyphamy · Post by **anthonyphamy** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 7:55 pm

I have bought SSD and RAM from crucial.com and happy with them. I second a clean install, SSD would make a huge difference. If you want to try using a lighter operating systems like Linux, then Linux Mint would be a good option as well.

Northern Flicker · Post by **Northern Flicker** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 8:01 pm

What specifically is running too slow?

Kenkat · Post by **Kenkat** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 8:17 pm

Seasonal wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:55 pm
Kenkat wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:46 pm
Seasonal wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:28 pm We have a rather old desktop computer. Intel i3-2100 @3.1ghz, 6gb DDR3 1333mhz RAM, Intel 6 SATA AHCI, 7200rpm 3gb/s SATA drive, Win 10 Pro.

It's mainly used as for web browsing or the like and video playback (connected to TV).

I'm wondering if getting an internal SSD drive, such as the Crucial MX500 (https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-NA ... 077SF8KMG/), would do much to speed it up. I don't believe we can install more RAM.
Replacing the hard drive with an SSD will certainly provide a speed increase, most likely a big one. We no longer have any computers in our household without the primary drive being an SSD.

You should also be able to add more memory but you will probably need to remove all of the old memory sticks and replace with higher capacity, so it’s more of a replace than an add. For example, if you’ve got four slots, with three of them occupied by 2gb memory sticks, you could go with 4 x 4gb sticks for a total of 16gb. Exactly what is possible will depend on your specific configuration. This would also probably give you a performance boost but it might make sense to do the SSD first and then if you decide you need more, do the memory swap.
It has 2 DIMM slots, with a 4gb and 2gb. Years ago I tried replacing the 2gb with a 4gb, but then it wouldn't boot. It could have been faulty memory and I didn't try again. I occasionally check task manager and there's almost always some free physical RAM.

Faulty or maybe a mismatch. 6gb isn’t terrible for Win 10 - just give the SSD a go then - I had an old laptop that had become unusable and an SSD gave it new life. Did the same with a desktop, which was also very slow. Night and day difference.

stimulacra · Post by **stimulacra** » Tue Aug 04, 2020 8:24 pm

SSD will breathe new life into your machine.

If possible to get your RAM up to 16GB, I think that will help a bunch as well.

Converting your machine to Chromium OS and making it a primarily web only machine will also make it appear faster but only do this if all your stuff is in the cloud.

inbox788 · Post by **inbox788** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 1:08 am

While you could improve your situation a bit for limited uses, I think it's long enough and time for a new computer. Check out the new Ryzen systems coming out.

Seasonal · Post by **Seasonal** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:05 am

It appears that an SSD is the way to go.

Any comments on the SSD and hardware I link at the end of the OP?

crefwatch · Post by **crefwatch** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:30 am

Windows is famous for bloated OS page swapping to run anything. It is not true that task software loads into RAM and sits there until you run another task. Everything the task does calls system software that calls other system software.

I put in an SSD and did a clean reinstall of Windows. The machine runs like new. I’ve always had a second hard drive for document storage, but that is not essential. There’s a backup drive on the network, in the basement.

You may find it hard to buy rails that adapt a new SSD to your elderly internal drive bays. Start thinking now about what shortcuts you’re willing to take? For instance, ty-wraps or drilling new holes! Can you go to a computer parts store?

Seasonal · Post by **Seasonal** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:48 am

crefwatch wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:30 am Windows is famous for bloated OS page swapping to run anything. It is not true that task software loads into RAM and sits there until you run another task. Everything the task does calls system software that calls other system software.

I put in an SSD and did a clean reinstall of Windows. The machine runs like new. I’ve always had a second hard drive for document storage, but that is not essential. There’s a backup drive on the network, in the basement.

You may find it hard to buy rails that adapt a new SSD to your elderly internal drive bays. Start thinking now about what shortcuts you’re willing to take? For instance, ty-wraps or drilling new holes! Can you go to a computer parts store?

If the screw holes in the rails linked in the OP don't line up, I could use ty-wraps or the like. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FD8YJB4

The case has lots of room:

The computer has a 4tb external USB drive for backup. It's accessible on the network through the computer.

UncleBen · Post by **UncleBen** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:50 am

We had some success increasing internet speed with a new router. It's amazing how many devices we have on wifi when you start looking at cellphones, doorbell, tablets, streaming devices, etc.

bloom2708 · Post by **bloom2708** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 8:45 am

Woot has some mini desktops today:

https://computers.woot.com/plus/hoard-o ... _ngh_dd_cp

02nz · Post by **02nz** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 8:48 am

Seasonal wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 6:05 am It appears that an SSD is the way to go.

Any comments on the SSD and hardware I link at the end of the OP?

Any SSD will make a big difference. Samsung, Crucial, and WD are good, but there's really very little difference esp. among 2.5-inch SATA drives (which is what you need).

go_mets · Post by **go_mets** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:49 pm

OP,

I highly highly recommend the Orico 2.5" to 3.5" adapter.
https://www.orico.shop/en/orico-25-to-3 ... erter.html

.

Seasonal · Post by **Seasonal** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:56 pm

go_mets wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:49 pm OP,

I highly highly recommend the Orico 2.5" to 3.5" adapter.
https://www.orico.shop/en/orico-25-to-3 ... erter.html

What's the advantage of that over the simple metal bracket I've linked?

random_walker_77 · Post by **random_walker_77** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 3:36 pm

Seasonal wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:56 pm
go_mets wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:49 pm OP,

I highly highly recommend the Orico 2.5" to 3.5" adapter.
https://www.orico.shop/en/orico-25-to-3 ... erter.html
What's the advantage of that over the simple metal bracket I've linked?

Looks like that one has heat sinks. Honestly, SSDs don't burn much power so there's not much heat to dissipate. I think a simple metal bracket would suffice. For the desktop that I recently upgraded, I'll confess that I didn't even do that -- I just used a little blue tape to secure the corners down, trying to minimize how much I used to minimize insulating any heat inside the drive. It's a desktop and isn't going anywhere... and after spending $26 on a SSD, I wasn't terribly motivated to spend another $5 on a bit of aluminum.

go_mets · Post by **go_mets** » Wed Aug 05, 2020 9:24 pm

Seasonal wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:56 pm
go_mets wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:49 pm OP,

I highly highly recommend the Orico 2.5" to 3.5" adapter.
https://www.orico.shop/en/orico-25-to-3 ... erter.html
What's the advantage of that over the simple metal bracket I've linked?

I wanted something that gave the 2.5" SSD the same exact form factor as a 3.5" traditional hard drive so that it would fit in the hard drive bracket for the Dell Optiplex 3020 SFF desktop PC.

.

mmmodem · Post by **mmmodem** » Thu Aug 06, 2020 10:29 am

Seasonal wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:56 pm
go_mets wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 2:49 pm OP,

I highly highly recommend the Orico 2.5" to 3.5" adapter.
https://www.orico.shop/en/orico-25-to-3 ... erter.html
What's the advantage of that over the simple metal bracket I've linked?

I wouldn't bother with mounting at all. I have the same vintage 2000 series Intel processor. My SSD is literally just hanging off the SATA cable. Tape it to the chassis if you like. I couldn't even be bothered to do that minimum. I wouldn't buy a $5 bracket on a computer worth <$25. You're literally doubling it's value by adding an SSD as it is.

I do properly mount my HDD's. They are heavy spinning objects. The SSD weighs almost nothing and has no moving pieces.

random_walker_77 · Post by **random_walker_77** » Thu Aug 06, 2020 11:02 am

mmmodem wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 10:29 am I wouldn't bother with mounting at all. I have the same vintage 2000 series Intel processor. My SSD is literally just hanging off the SATA cable. Tape it to the chassis if you like. I couldn't even be bothered to do that minimum. I wouldn't buy a $5 bracket on a computer worth <$25. You're literally doubling it's value by adding an SSD as it is.

I do properly mount my HDD's. They are heavy spinning objects. The SSD weighs almost nothing and has no moving pieces.

High five! Now I don't feel so bad about using a little bit of tape. But yeah, SSDs are nearly shock proof, and it's a desktop computer that isn't going to be moving around much.

Seasonal · Post by **Seasonal** » Thu Aug 06, 2020 11:18 am

random_walker_77 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 11:02 am
mmmodem wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 10:29 am I wouldn't bother with mounting at all. I have the same vintage 2000 series Intel processor. My SSD is literally just hanging off the SATA cable. Tape it to the chassis if you like. I couldn't even be bothered to do that minimum. I wouldn't buy a $5 bracket on a computer worth <$25. You're literally doubling it's value by adding an SSD as it is.

I do properly mount my HDD's. They are heavy spinning objects. The SSD weighs almost nothing and has no moving pieces.
High five! Now I don't feel so bad about using a little bit of tape. But yeah, SSDs are nearly shock proof, and it's a desktop computer that isn't going to be moving around much.

Agreed. I'm getting the hardware linked at the end of the OP mainly for the SATA and power cables.

Electron · Post by **Electron** » Thu Aug 06, 2020 12:59 pm

Temperature can be a concern with SSDs if you run any disk intensive applications.

https://harddrivegeek.com/ssd-temperature/

The Samsung Magician utility that I use with my SSD shows Temperature along with Drive Health on the main screen. Drive Health is related to the total number of erase and write cycles seen by the device. The utility also reports total bytes written.

I installed my SSD with a 2.5" adapter made by Sabrent and purchased on Amazon.

anoop · Post by **anoop** » Thu Aug 06, 2020 1:17 pm

Seasonal wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:45 pm
lthenderson wrote: ↑Tue Aug 04, 2020 5:39 pm A SSD won't do much for internet speed. It will affect boot up speed and saving/reading things stored on the hard drive. I'm not sure what the limiting factors are for internet speed are as far as computer hardware goes. I would make sure my router is up to date though as that can greatly affect internet speed.
I'd be surprised if an SSD did anything for internet speed. The concern is boot up speed and running programs.

It might help because of caching.

wander · Post by **wander** » Thu Aug 06, 2020 4:32 pm

Maybe it's just me but I think Ubuntu is more reliable than Windows.

westie · Post by **westie** » Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:32 pm

time to take your Ford Pinto to the graveyard, you're wasting money doing anything else.

Seasonal · Post by **Seasonal** » Fri Aug 07, 2020 5:35 am

I opened the case, mounted and plugged in the new SSD. The mounting bracket fits tightly and holds to the case by friction.

I moved some files from the old disk to backup, then cloned the old disk to the new SSD using Macrium Reflect (I had to adjust partition sizes). Set the new drive as first to boot in the bios. Got a "bootmgr is missing" error. Used Marcium recovery from a USB key to fix that.

So far everything runs smoothly. The difference in speed is night and day on startup. Well worth it.

acegolfer · Post by **acegolfer** » Fri Aug 07, 2020 8:42 am

Seasonal wrote: ↑Fri Aug 07, 2020 5:35 am I opened the case, mounted and plugged in the new SSD. The mounting bracket fits tightly and holds to the case by friction.

I moved some files from the old disk to backup, then cloned the old disk to the new SSD using Macrium Reflect (I had to adjust partition sizes). Set the new drive as first to boot in the bios. Got a "bootmgr is missing" error. Used Marcium recovery from a USB key to fix that.

So far everything runs smoothly. The difference in speed is night and day on startup. Well worth it.

Glad everything worked out. I did the same (clone) before. Then I had the itch to reinstall a clean OS from scratch. Made the old HDD as a data drive.