Question about hard drives

[TakeyB0y2]

So I want to get one of those SSD drives for my computer and use it as a secondary computer.I got an HDD in there and it's just slow. All I want to use the SSD for is to install my games and other software on, and probably just use it as extra storage. I won't be using it for my OS.

Thing is, I read somewhere that if you want a secondary hard drive, it has to be the EXACT same kind of hard drive as your main one. However I'm getting rather mixed information on that...

Then there's the thing about um... Jumper cables and master/slave thingies? I just want clarification on those. I tried looking for something that resembles the pin things on my hard drive that I saw in pictures, but couldn't find them. Pretty much any site that mentioned them was using older computers/hard drives, so, do they not do those anymore?

Sigh... I probably shouldn't be messing around with computers.

 

[mad825]

So I want to get one of those SSD drives for my computer and use it as a secondary computer.I got an HDD in there and it's just slow. All I want to use the SSD for is to install my games and other software on, and probably just use it as extra storage. I won't be using it for my OS.

Thing is, I read somewhere that if you want a secondary hard drive, it has to be the EXACT same kind of hard drive as your main one. However I'm getting rather mixed information on that...

Shouldn't really be an issue unless you are going to use RAID.

Then there's the thing about um... Jumper cables and master/slave thingies? I just want clarification on those. I tried looking for something that resembles the pin things on my hard drive that I saw in pictures, but couldn't find them. Pretty much any site that mentioned them was using older computers/hard drives, so, do they not do those anymore?

PATAs are now technologically redundant and has been for a while. We now use SATA which you just need to plug-in the harddrive into the motherboard, no fuss.

 

[DukeGren]

So I want to get one of those SSD drives for my computer and use it as a secondary computer.I got an HDD in there and it's just slow. All I want to use the SSD for is to install my games and other software on, and probably just use it as extra storage. I won't be using it for my OS.

Thing is, I read somewhere that if you want a secondary hard drive, it has to be the EXACT same kind of hard drive as your main one. However I'm getting rather mixed information on that...

Then there's the thing about um... Jumper cables and master/slave thingies? I just want clarification on those. I tried looking for something that resembles the pin things on my hard drive that I saw in pictures, but couldn't find them. Pretty much any site that mentioned them was using older computers/hard drives, so, do they not do those anymore?

Sigh... I probably shouldn't be messing around with computers.

I would advise against using an SSD for games, although it really just depends on how long you want it to last. Because they physically degrade over time as you can only write to a NAND flash cell about 10.000 times before it dies. I am not sure if this is helpful to you at all, as you may already be aware of this, but I just thought I would point it out.

 

[Supernova1138]

SSDs are the most beneficial to have the OS and certain frequently used programs on, as the SSDs have a much faster response time than regular hard drives. Windows boots up much faster on an SSD. For games, it really isn't worth it unless it is a title that has notoriously long and frequent load times. SSDs will only improve load times in games. Games are also so large that you won't be able to get a lot on an SSD unless you spend a lot to get a very big SSD.

 

[McMullen]

In most cases your secondary hard drive will cause no problems if it's different from the primary, especially if you're just using it as a secondary storage drive. I've used both identical and different primary/secondary drives with no problems.

Master/slave is obsolete, as I understand it. You used to have to plug your drives in in a specific order on the IDE cable (the big ribbon-looking one) but now SATA is the preferred method, and SATA connections don't care how or where they're plugged in, as long as it's the right connector, of course.

Most people prefer their OS and major software to be installed on a small, fast primary drive, and their media, backups, and other storage on a large secondary drive. SSDs are expensive, so like others have said, I wouldn't install games on them unless they're small.

 

[Vaishnav Reddy]

Now repeat after me -

SSD's are expensive.
SSD's are small.
SSD's only improve load times in games.
SSD's degrade over time.
SSD's are a big NO NO.

 

[MrTub]

So I want to get one of those SSD drives for my computer and use it as a secondary computer.I got an HDD in there and it's just slow. All I want to use the SSD for is to install my games and other software on, and probably just use it as extra storage. I won't be using it for my OS.

Thing is, I read somewhere that if you want a secondary hard drive, it has to be the EXACT same kind of hard drive as your main one. However I'm getting rather mixed information on that...

Then there's the thing about um... Jumper cables and master/slave thingies? I just want clarification on those. I tried looking for something that resembles the pin things on my hard drive that I saw in pictures, but couldn't find them. Pretty much any site that mentioned them was using older computers/hard drives, so, do they not do those anymore?

Sigh... I probably shouldn't be messing around with computers.

I would advise against using an SSD for games, although it really just depends on how long you want it to last. Because they physically degrade over time as you can only write to a NAND flash cell about 10.000 times before it dies. I am not sure if this is helpful to you at all, as you may already be aware of this, but I just thought I would point it out.

Ha, games will not break an ssd.

I've used my old ssd for os&torrents&games for about 1 year and considering I usually download more then 500gb a month and according to ssdlife (last time I checked) I had 99% health and expected lifetime of 7years left.
And this is on my old ssd which is a generation behind and its suppose to last around 1 million hours.
http://solid-state-drive-review.toptenreviews.com/



anyway I would advice against buying an ssd and saving it for a better cpu/gpu since that will make more of a difference with games unless you already have great cpu/gpus