Which SSD to buy?

[PeterBJ]

....SATA ports in a computer are doing 500MB/s since a long time - 10+ years with the emergence of this interface.
And if you take this same or an equivalent drive and connect it via some adapters to an USB 3.0 port and you suddenly just get 30MB/s- I feel pushed back into the USB 2.0 days speedwise....

I wonder why enclosures for external HDDs or SSDs are only available with USB 3 or even USB 2 instead of e-SATA? I have 3 computers with e-SATA ports but I have found no enclosures with e-SATA ports. Even with a traditional HDD e-SATA is much faster than USB 3 or 2. Here is the drive bay for an external HDD on top of an old Medion computer from the Vista days, an MD8838. Notice from the left e-SATA, USB 2 and power connector for the Medion HDDrive2Go external HDD.

 

[Nifty]

Interesting and timely discussion!

Last week I went a little crazy on storage. Maybe I'm just feeling data-anxious?

First, I saw this kick-ass deal:

https://amzn.to/2MFjFqz
NVMe is pretty cool! I wish my motherboard supported it so I could use it directly as my C:drive

... but since it doesn't, I'm going to try and use it with this:
https://amzn.to/2MCTWz6

and put it in my PCIe slot for some SUPER fast storage for all my photos, videos, media, etc.

I figure that should be a pretty good drive to have even with my next computer.

... but then I realized my 128 SSD is pretty old and getting maxed out. I heard SSD doesn't like being so full, so I ordered one of these:
https://amzn.to/2WwgfLg

It should be a lot faster (and is 4x bigger) than my current drive:
https://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Compa...-128GB-vs-Crucial-MX500-500GB/m35185vsm418385

... for only $65!?!?!?

Then I decided to up my game on my backup process and add yet another drive to my collection:
https://amzn.to/2XyMoOO

Oh, and I decided to see what drives I have kicking around and saw this:

(and that's not even all of them)
So, yeah... I'm a data hoarder.

 

[SkedAddled]

Maybe you are thinking of Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) licenses, at least how they operated in the past.

Yes, I forgot that one. Good call.

I used a MSDN key for my Windows XP installations successfully, several times, across many
different hardware builds.
I tried Windows 8-something on my laptop as shipped, for about one hour, gave up on it,
and promptly installed 7 out of contemptuous disdain.

The laptop still runs 7, while I've found 10 to be far more accessible
than 8 on the big tower machine.
Once you kill off those damned 'tiles' and similar live-feed garbage,
narrow the start menu and other things down, load the Classic Shell
or successor, bring in the 'Take Ownership' and other tiny add-ons,
it actually becomes familiar enough to not force a retreat.

I'm only learning how to get around 10 because of the impending end-of-life
support for 7, and I've made some great headway with it, but I'll likely keep
the 7 disk for backward compatibility if/when needed.
I'll also be keeping everything from Win95 OSR2 onwards, just in case.

 

[Nifty]

Oh, and a couple items I found very helpful:

I use this to benchmark my PC and hardware, and also see how drives rank in speed, value, etc:
https://www.userbenchmark.com/

... and this video sheds light on how they are cramming more bits in tiny places:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OffzVc7ZB-o

 

[SkedAddled]

I wonder why enclosures for external HDDs or SSDs are only available with USB 3 or even USB 2 instead of e-SATA?

My desktop/tower system also has eSATA capability, as does an external drive dock I own. I've never tried the connection.

It was intended as an easy way to hot-swap drives, but the market failed to provide
the devices as intended, so it's fallen out of favor.
The USB infrastructure is far more widespread, which is likely the reason for
eSATA's low profile.

 

[stratman]

I wonder why enclosures for external HDDs or SSDs are only available with USB 3 or even USB 2 instead of e-SATA?

Been using my Thermaltake BlacX with eSATA (SATA 300) for years. Theoretical top speed 3 Gb/s which is 375 MB/s. Although USB 2 has top theoretical speed 480 MBPS, in reality with my motherboard, the eSATA transfers faster.

The newer eSATA (SATA 600) has theoretical top speed of 5 Gb/s. The new USB 3 has top theoretical speed of 6 Gb/s, and the latest USB 3.1 with 10 Gb/s.

As discussed previously, there are several variables that affect data transfer speeds, from the cable to the motherboard.

 

[stratman]

You posted a pair of great sites, @Nifty.

 

[SkedAddled]

I use this to benchmark my PC and hardware, and also see how drives rank in speed, value, etc:

All fine and good, but I would ask you:

WHY do you feel the need to 'benchmark' your stuff?

Seriously, if the system does what you want it to do, within reasonable time-frames,
what's the point or even the goal of such testing regimens?

Hell, I'm running a Core i7 3770K, not overclocked, with 16GB memory, fairly recent
AMD/Radeon video, a couple of VERY newly-acquired SSDs, and a rather robust
power supply. Yeah, don't forget the power supply, as it can fail everything
if the system's underpowered.
I have excellent cooling with fans and heatsinks, which is never to be overlooked.
Photoshop CS6 runs without a hitch, video plays to my 4K television just fine,
audio never stutters in modern format, graphics don't glitch...

But what's the purpose?
So you have bragging rights on faster transfer?
Big deal. Start the transfer and walk away from it for a bit.

Honestly, I just can't wrap my mind around the mentality that HAS TO
benchmark everything, all the time. It's a useless pursuit, and the standards
will be superceded in a short time afterwards.

 

[SkedAddled]

Been using my Thermaltake BlacX with eSATA (SATA 300) for years.

That's the one I have too, although I haven't used it for over a year.
It's kinda large & bulky, collects dust readily, the flipper door for 3.5" drives broke,
power switch is cumbersome, and it's just stupid-large compared to my system-mounted
drive dock.

 

[PeterBJ]

My Win 8.1 desktop computer has both USB 3 and eSATA, probably SATA 300. It also has a USB 3 docking station for an external HDD. I also have the external disk for the docking station on the computer. But a HDD attached to the eSATA port is much faster at least with my 6 years old Core i5 3350P computer. It looks like the eSATA port connects directly to a SATA port on the MB with a SATA cable and no converters to slow down the data transfer.