Moving the OS to a SSD

[PapaXpress]

Need some advice on how large a SSD drive I need to get to move just the OS over to it. I will worry about moving my Steam folder and junk at a later time (i.e. when I have the money).

To start I have read through this article:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/14 ... ystem.html

I am opting for the easy way, and already purchased Paragon Migrate OS to SSD. When running the app it does not tell you upfront just how much drive space you will really need to move the OS over.

So I need some insight. Right now I am at 756GB used of 1TB on my primary drive. If I move my steam folder that will save about 200GB. I can probably clean up more from my user folders and it carries almost 10 years worth of junk, but I don't count on more than 100GB.

What is the best course here? I am hoping to buy just a 60GB SSD and leave as much of the user folders on the HDD as possible.

[Ericmopar]

A 60gb SSD for the OS is stretching it, even if you start putting most of your data and programs onto a separate drive. I'd get at least a 120GB drive just for the OS.
You need about 25% free cells in a SSD to allow for the controller's swapping out bad cells and wear leveling as the drive gets older.
So in practice, if you need 75GB on a drive, you really need a 100GB drive to allow for wear leveling.

Putting the OS on a SSD but other large programs on a HDD doesn't pan out in real life. The Standard drive will still load Steam Games slower anyway.
My big improvement came when I moved my Steam folder and paging file over to a 120GB drive, but left the OS on the HDD.
When I recently went to a 500GB SSD drive for the OS and future expansion, I didn't notice a huge improvement.
My cold boot times went from about 45secs to 15secs and my security scans are much quicker, but as far as internet and other programs, there is no real world difference.

In my case I'm going to move Steam to a partition on my new 500GB SSD and give my mother my 120GB Samsung 840Pro.
I've got an older 56GB Samsung 830 Evo that I'm currently using for the paging file and important backups of Railworks Stuff.

[PapaXpress]

So in other words, use the SSD in a place where there is more heavy lifting to do. That could be expensive. All in all my Steam folder (spread over three drives) comes over 500GB, so I need at least 1TB.

I may keep things the way they are and just save as best as I can for a new video card.

[JerryC]

I started out with a 120gb SSD, with OS and a few core programs on it. I installed Steam on it, and quickly found that Railworks along with Aliens v Predator were to much for the drive to handle. And if you are developing for RW, your space will run out even faster.

My current config is the OS on the original 120GB SSD. My programs are installed to a folder on a second 240GB SSD that I added later. And all the stuff that is good for long term storage or not meant to be read/written super-fly is on a 4TB platter drive. Of course as drives get larger and prices get cheaper, consolidating the OS and Programs back onto a single SSD will be in order.

[Ericmopar]

PapaXpress
Samsung 850 Evo 500GB drives are only $180 + tax at Fry's last time I looked.
That's the best bang per dollar and I can vouch for Samsung's quality these days.
Samsung also has the best warranty right now. 5years on Evo drives and 10 on the Pro series.
They also have some excellent software that comes with them.
On Windows 7 and up their drives are plug and play.

Papa, do you have backups on your Railworks drive, or is that really all Content and Assets? I'm asking because I'm wondering if you can move some of that to the HDD, like backups, and other content you don't actually use in game, like Jerry and I do.
This' what I do. I use an external 1TB HDD for backups, system image, and especially my Donner Redo. To many hundreds of hours in the Donner redo to lose it now... I've backed that one up in multiple locations.

[PapaXpress]

No, my backups are all on an external network drive. I just own a lot of games since my kids play on my computer as well (so I know what they are playing and for how long).

I turned off hibernate the other night and found when I booted today that I saved quite a chunk of space. I will move Steam over tonight and see what happens. I just dread the verify that will happen.

I am going to be using these instructions:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_art ... -YUBN-8129