Why Should I Upgrade to SSD

Throw your HDD and get an SSD right now.

By Ibrahim Diallo

Published Dec 21 2015 ~ 4 minutes read

I had a very hard time accepting Solid State Drives. Not because I didn't think they were cool, but because the whole internet was telling me that it was an untested technology that couldn't last more than a year at a time.

If you don't know what SSDs are, they are an upgrade to regular hard drives. Unlike hard drives, they don't have magnetic disks inside, they are all chip based. What this means is there are no moving part, making them much faster then regular hard drives.

I have a two machines running Ubuntu at home, one is a laptop with SSD, and the other a desktop with a large hard drive. The difference between the two is the desktop boots in 2 minutes, while the laptop in a mere 15 seconds. And this is from a cold boot.

Yes, SSDs are much faster. But despite the speed, I was skeptical to make the switch. At least in 2011, most people where saying that after a year or so they just die.

A lot of people reported theirs breaking but despite that they were still recommending everyone get one. “Once you experience the speed, you will never go back.”

Being a PC enthusiast, I like to have the option to choose my parts. So I am always shopping for better components for my machine. I upgrade RAM, graphic card, or any components every time I see a new better part. That's the beauty of still using a PC in the 2010s. Parts are becoming cheaper and cheaper, and you get to keep up with technology without having to revamp your whole machine.

I had upgraded every part of my machine but, it seemed like I have reached a virtual limit when it came to speed. The speed increase looked good on a benchmark, but it was hard to tell the difference by experiencing it.

So when there was a sale on amazon for SSD, and I got a 120GB Sandisk. To test it, I installed it first on my slow laptop that was reaching its end of life. I installed Ubuntu 11.04 at the time. And my mind was blown. I was used to pressing the power button then going away for a while, while the computer booted up, but not this time. It was instantly on and ready to use.

Now I understood what people meant, that they would rather use an SSD that breaks in a year and keep buying them than use the more reliable hard disk drives.

But some how this rule has changed, or didn't apply to me. It's been 4 years, and I am still using the same SSD on the same laptop, and I am still enjoying the speed.

The laptop is used just like a desktop, meaning it is always on and never leave its post, yet here we are years later and still performing like a charm.

So if you haven't already, I highly recommend you buy an SSD for your machine. Not some hybrid currently on the market. You can get a 240GB for just $92 on amazon right now. There are instructions all over the web on how to move your OS from the hard drive to the solid state drive.

Once you experience the SSD, you will never go back.