storage upgrade for laptop

[JanJan]

I have a dell g3 17". The current 1TB HD is dying. What you would recommend for cheap storage update?

I'm thinking of this 1TB seagate hybrid drive

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Slap an nvme ssd in there. Crucial P1 or something of that nature. If that's just a scratch disk then it doesn't really matter.

Some 2.5'' SSDs for the same price of the p1 depending on how much storage you need

 

[timta2]

I would skip the gimmick hybrid drive and buy a decent SSD. I'm a Samsung fan.

 

[tabascosauz]

You linked the FireCuda 520. That's a PCIe 4.0 x4 drive. Your laptop can't even make use of 4.0 x4 speeds, only up to the standard 3.0 x4.

As for hybrid drives, there's a good reason why they've been left by the wayside. They suck. Low-end NVMes like the P1 or 660P aren't much more on price. I've spent a lot of time with SSHDs and Intel SRT with 32GB of NAND cache, and it's not great. You can imagine what the experience with just 8GB of cache is like.

If you want to save a buck, you can opt for a P1 or 660P/665P which are QLC drives and on the slow side. Alternately, DRAM-less TLC drives if done properly like the WD SN550 offer quite a bit better performance for about that price. If you aren't coming from a high-end NVMe and the price tag/supply is reasonable in your country, the SN550 pretty much fits the bill for most laptop users.

If you have a bit more to spend, you can look to the higher end. However, in this category, I settled with the SN750 because quite a few of the others go balls-to-the-wall for performance while neglecting power efficiency, which is great for a desktop, not for a laptop.

If this is a more recent Dell, they almost always ship with NVMes (and fast PM961/981 at that), so I would take advantage of the slot you're given. Not sure if any of them even support SATA M.2s on their slots, anyway.

 

[JanJan]

You linked the FireCuda 520. That's a PCIe 4.0 x4 drive. Your laptop can't even make use of 4.0 x4 speeds, only up to the standard 3.0 x4.

As for hybrid drives, there's a good reason why they've been left by the wayside. They suck. Low-end NVMes like the P1 or 660P aren't much more on price. I've spent a lot of time with SSHDs and Intel SRT with 32GB of NAND cache, and it's not great. You can imagine what the experience with just 8GB of cache is like.

If you want to save a buck, you can opt for a P1 or 660P/665P which are QLC drives and on the slow side. Alternately, DRAM-less TLC drives if done properly like the WD SN550 offer quite a bit better performance for about that price. If you aren't coming from a high-end NVMe and the price tag/supply is reasonable in your country, the SN550 pretty much fits the bill for most laptop users.

If you have a bit more to spend, you can look to the higher end. However, in this category, I settled with the SN750 because quite a few of the others go balls-to-the-wall for performance while neglecting power efficiency, which is great for a desktop, not for a laptop.

If this is a more recent Dell, they almost always ship with NVMes (and fast PM961/981 at that), so I would take advantage of the slot you're given. Not sure if any of them even support SATA M.2s on their slots, anyway.

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This is my laptop. It comes with a NVMe 128gb ssd and a 1TB HD. The ssd is on the bottom. Would something like a SN550 fit into that HD slot on top? The 128tb ssd is still working fine so I just want to fill the HDD space

 

[tabascosauz]

@JanJan the P1/660P/SN550 are all NVMe M.2 drives, so they're only ever going to replace the 128GB drive, sorry buddy.

However, you could just get a 1TB 2.5" SATA SSD for now and it'll slip into that HDD's spot just dandy. Plenty more performance out of just that compared to a spinny drive. Say you get like a 1TB WD Blue 3D, and both drives will then be on the same level of performance. That's definitely good enough if you came from a HDD for most of the storage.

Your 128GB is actually a SATA drive from Hynix, not an NVMe. I'm not sure if that slot is dual purpose, or SATA only.

Also, I must say that G3 is laid out very nicely. 2 SO-DIMM slots, an M.2, a 2.5", and a replaceable M.2 networking card. Dell's still doing the SO-DIMMs in 15" laptops and M.2s in all the laptops, but they've started soldering down the WLAN cards for no reason like in mine.

 

[JanJan]

@JanJan the P1/660P/SN550 are all NVMe M.2 drives, so they're only ever going to replace the 128GB drive, sorry buddy.

However, you could just get a 1TB 2.5" SATA SSD for now and it'll slip into that HDD's spot just dandy. Plenty more performance out of just that compared to a spinny drive. Say you get like a 1TB WD Blue 3D, and both drives will then be on the same level of performance. That's definitely good enough if you came from a HDD for most of the storage.

Your 128GB is actually a SATA drive from Hynix, not an NVMe. I'm not sure if that slot is dual purpose, or SATA only.

Also, I must say that G3 is laid out very nicely. 2 SO-DIMM slots, an M.2, a 2.5", and a replaceable M.2 networking card. Dell's still doing the SO-DIMMs in 15" laptops and M.2s in all the laptops, but they've started soldering down the WLAN cards for no reason like in mine.

something like this then? https://www.amazon.ca/Crucial-MX500...?keywords=1TB+sata+ssd&qid=1588900747&sr=8-15

 

[tabascosauz]

something like this then? https://www.amazon.ca/Crucial-MX500...?keywords=1TB+sata+ssd&qid=1588900747&sr=8-15

MX500's a pretty solid choice, yeah.

Are you in Canada? Things here have gotten a lil more expensive as of late. The most affordable yet still trustworthy 1TB 2.5" drives would be the Blue 3D and the MX500 both around $160. Then there's not much else save for the 860 EVO at $210. Keep an eye out sales if you're not that pressed to upgrade.