[Ruby351]

I know your dislike for the Cloud Gina, but I changed the HDD in my laptop for a 1TB Sandisk SSD yesterday (bought for £65.99 from Argos) and because I have most of my files (excluding music and movies) stored on the cloud I was done and dusted last night.
My movies are stored on a 4TB SDD taped to the lid of my laptop and music on a 1TB SSD

As Ian said, SSD is the way to go, it’s made my old laptop so much quicker than it was. I formatted the old 1TB HDD that was in the laptop to start with and moved that into the old DVD drive slot as there was only a blanking cover there. I got myself a caddy to hold the drive. This too will get changed out for a SSD at some point.

2.5" SATA HDD Hard Drive Disk Caddy Tray Bracket For 12.7mm Universal CD DVD-ROM | eBay

This 2nd Hard Disk Drive Caddy Enclosure is an universal version, it gives you maximum storage flexibility enabling you to add a second hard disk drive to your laptop. Fit for all 12.7mm SATA interface DVD drive bay, which is widly using in Sony, Samsung, Dell, Acer, ASUS, Lenovo, Toshiba, Dell...

www.ebay.co.uk

I know in reading about them, SSD’s can deteriorate too but they are less prone to damage as there are no moving parts in them like the HDD drives.

Ah thanks for the info Glenn, but all this is too high powered for me, I would never be able to open up the internals of my laptop to do anything as I don't have the savvy, I don't know the first thing about the workings of these things and respect those that do - all power to them I say.

I took a look on the big 'A' last night for a SSD EHD following idrobbo's advice, I thought it was a make not a type ... doh! That's when I realised my drives were all HDD, I don't know the difference of course, other than price and that the former is better going by idrobbo and what you have said above. Anyway, I have to look again, as there are so many variables and picking through them all getting ones that reviews don't say the item is a fake is taking some time already, but I am not giving up

So much talk of 1TB and 2TB and so on, when all I want is about 160GB, gotta laugh eh?

 

[idrobbo]

You think you only want 160Gb, then take all those pics of various Big A memorabilia, you’ll soon run out of space 😃. Relative cost increase these days is small.

I did a little research then settled on this a couple of years ago, there is now a later version (870). Has worked fine for me.
Samsung 860 EVO 500 GB SATA 2.5 Inch Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (MZ-76E500), black

 

[Ruby351]

You think you only want 160Gb, then take all those pics of various Big A memorabilia, you’ll soon run out of space 😃. Relative cost increase these days is small.

I did a little research then settled on this a couple of years ago, there is now a later version (870). Has worked fine for me.
Samsung 860 EVO 500 GB SATA 2.5 Inch Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (MZ-76E500), black

Hah! Very good idrobbo, you crack me up and I think you are getting to know me all too well

I have just taken a look at what's on offer regarding the SSD you mentioned and then realised it is internal - I am not able to do that and I like to keep most of my files stored on external hard drives away from my PC. Not to worry but thank you for the info - much appreciated

 

[Glenn65]

Gina, even if you keep the HDD internally, if your replacing your external drives, I'd still go for SSD, although there may be a slight increase in cost, they are far quicker to access files especially if your laptop has USB 3 on it and will also be more power efficient, meaning your laptop would last longer when running off the battery.

 

[Ian D]

Hah! Very good idrobbo, you crack me up and I think you are getting to know me all too well

I have just taken a look at what's on offer regarding the SSD you mentioned and then realised it is internal - I am not able to do that and I like to keep most of my files stored on external hard drives away from my PC. Not to worry but thank you for the info - much appreciated

Just buy an external case enclosure and put the internal drive inside of it, which then converts it to an external. Real cheap to purchase as well.

As easy as this, then clip the cover on.

 

[idrobbo]

Hah! Very good idrobbo, you crack me up and I think you are getting to know me all too well

My work here is done 😃

As IanD says above just buy a case for it, I meant to put that in my post. Seeing that image reminds me other trusted brands are Seagate & Western Digital.

 

[Ruby351]

Gina, even if you keep the HDD internally, if your replacing your external drives, I'd still go for SSD, although there may be a slight increase in cost, they are far quicker to access files especially if your laptop has USB 3 on it and will also be more power efficient, meaning your laptop would last longer when running off the battery.

Thanks Glenn and yes, that's what I will do from now on

 

[Ruby351]

Just buy an external case enclosure and put the internal drive inside of it, which then converts it to an external. Real cheap to purchase as well.

As easy as this, then clip the cover on.
View attachment 60866

Ah that's helpful Ian, many thanks, I will have a look for one and take it from there

 

[Ruby351]

My work here is done 😃

As IanD says above just buy a case for it, I meant to put that in my post. Seeing that image reminds me other trusted brands are Seagate & Western Digital.

So funny ... you can have a rest but don't stray too far now mind

Thanks for the help idrobbo, much appreciated

 

[idrobbo]

If I stray too far all the alarms go off. I’m usually restricted to crayons but someone left this iPad laid around. Ssshhh don’t tell them 🤪

 

[PetA]

If I stray too far all the alarms go off. I’m usually restricted to crayons but someone left this iPad laid around. Ssshhh don’t tell them 🤪

Surprised that you can cope with something as modern as.. crayons @idrobbo... 😛

 

[Ruby351]

... I changed the HDD in my laptop for a 1TB Sandisk SSD yesterday (bought for £65.99 from Argos) and because I have most of my files (excluding music and movies) stored on the cloud I was done and dusted last night.
My movies are stored on a 4TB SDD taped to the lid of my laptop and music on a 1TB SSD

I did a little research then settled on this a couple of years ago, there is now a later version (870). Has worked fine for me.
Samsung 860 EVO 500 GB SATA 2.5 Inch Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (MZ-76E500), black

Just buy an external case enclosure and put the internal drive inside of it, which then converts it to an external. Real cheap to purchase as well.

Righteo then, I have taken all of your great advice and finally made a purchase a few minutes ago after as you can well imagine, much cogitating and many hours perusing 'A' and the internet to get some more info on what I should be buying so lets hope I have got it right

I went for a cheaper and smaller capacity version than idrobbo's Samsung but bigger than needed and not the cheapest available, but all told the price/size/number of purchases and reviews all seemed to point me in the direction of the one I bought which is of course an internal SSD.

The next thing I had to check on was the USB ports that Glenn mentioned, I knew I had a number of these and in the back of my mind recalled a 2 and a 3.1 as I thought but I didn't know which one was on which side, so I went back on the Currys' website to check and found my laptop has a USB 2.0, USB 3.2 and a USB Type-C.

Ah, so what is a Type-C I wonder? Off I go again and now I know and for those of you who were like me you might be surprised that you do know only you didn't know at the time, if you get my drift? Well anyway, here is a link to some more detailed info and I put together some pictures to make things easier to explain ... bet your eyes roll when you see the answer Just for completeness I added the other USB types too, although I have missed out anything to do with Thunderbolt which can increase speeds via the USB Type-C connector if adapted to take it, by up to 40gbps, but you can find out more about this if interested, in the article I mentioned.

What Is USB-C? An Explainer (pcmag.com)

 

[Ruby351]

Now I know that I have a USB Type-C port and that this allows for faster speeds while transferring data, this alters the criteria in looking for the external caddy to put the internal drive inside as suggested by Ian.

Back onto the big 'A' I go, but I'm not absolutely sure about what I am looking for here, the good thing is though, when you purchase things from Amazon, towards the end of the blurb, they make suggestions as to what might go with the product you intend to buy, and in this case they had a caddy they recommended, so I checked this out and it gave me an idea of size and the sort of thing to look for.

Great, now all I had to do was to find the same thing, with a USB Type-C to Type-C cable attachment, as I thought there is no point in having a Type-C at one end and something different at the other. Trawling through what was on offer I pretty soon whittled it down to a couple and decided to do for the one with the most purchases/reviews and so that's it, jobs done, orders in and they should be with me this Saturday.

These are the internal SSD and caddy I bought ... if you can see any glaring errors I have made, let me down gently, as at least the good thing is, I can always send them back I suppose

Kingston A400 SSD Internal Solid State Drive 2.5" SATA Rev 3.0, 480GB - SA400S37/480G : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

ORICO 2.5'' Hard Drive Enclosure Type-C USB 3.2 Computer External Hard Drive Enclosure SATA III to Gen2(6 Gbps) Tool-Free for 2.5 Inch 7mm 9.5mm Support UASP Up to 4TB-2139C3-G2: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

 

[Ian D]

Not all USB type-c is the same either and even cables are different too depending on spec.

 

[Glenn65]

I have a similar caddy for a 3.5 HDD 3TB drive I have.

I must admit I have some 1TB Western Digital HDD external drives too, I really should rationalise, as I'm like Ian, happy to have stuff backed up, but when it gets to a point where you don't know where anything is, it's time to do some house keeping.

The amount of photos I have, I'd fill that 480GB drive in no time. I have over 500GB in music alone, then there are the movies. None of which are in the biggest formats (I'm currently in the process of converting them all to suit the car) but the 4TB external drive is half full.

 

[Ruby351]

Not all USB type-c is the same either and even cables are different too depending on spec.

View attachment 60941

I wish I hadn't started this now ... goodness me, all this stuff can get mighty confusing

That diagram is brilliant Ian as it solved a big mystery for me Yesterday while looking at the ports at side of my laptop wearing my special magnifying glasses AND a handheld magnifying glass, I saw that one USB had what looked like SS by the logo, but I thought it was my eyes playing tricks, now I know differently of course, as it is all down to the type of port it is.

What's more, I now know which is the USB 2.0 and which is the USB 3.1 which was advertised as being USB 3.2

There is no marking next to the Type-C port so I don't know what that is ... yet

 

[Ruby351]

In case these might help others, and I must say they are a boon, I have called on them so many times I have lost count. In fact only 2 days ago, I was in a heap in the corner of the lounge changing a double non-switch plug socket over to a switched one and this took me nearly 2 hours. I know, I know, but you wouldn't believe the trouble I had fitting the 3 already present cables into the new box front plus the one I was taking a spur to/from. One of the existing cables was very, very short, then I had to chip out plaster for the new box cable to slip into the original, not only that, but the new face wouldn't slip in would it, oh no not 'eck as like, so I had to chip out plaster around the original box to get that to sit flush. Anyway, by now I'm sat in the pitch black, but these 'ere specs are brilliant, I can see everything as clearly and can carry on working until I get the job done, power back on and everything working as it should.

These were actually a gift bought for me by my bestest friend when we just happened to be in Morrisons one day.

 

[Ruby351]

I have a similar caddy for a 3.5 HDD 3TB drive I have.

I must admit I have some 1TB Western Digital HDD external drives too, I really should rationalise, as I'm like Ian, happy to have stuff backed up, but when it gets to a point where you don't know where anything is, it's time to do some house keeping.

The amount of photos I have, I'd fill that 480GB drive in no time. I have over 500GB in music alone, then there are the movies. None of which are in the biggest formats (I'm currently in the process of converting them all to suit the car) but the 4TB external drive is half full.

Crikey Glenn, you do have one heck of a lot of things to keep on file ... 4TB whoosh!!!

The bulk of mine is really photos and short video clips primarily of our pets and as we have now stopped breeding both our dogs and cats, there won't be any more of them I don't suppose. I don't have much interest in music ... shock- horror ... or films other than watching the occasional one on Netflix. I can't tell you how many DVDs we have but it must be hundreds and do we ever watch them? Nope, they are all stored in loads of plastic storage boxes, probably end up taking them to a car boot, then again I don't suppose any one else want's them either. Anyway, my need for storage space is pretty small really and I can get away with 160GB, but the price etc. was right with the 480 so in for a penny as they say.

The first external hard drive I bought was a Western Digital 500GB and that has to be something like 15+ years ago now and it's still going strong.

 

[idrobbo]

Fair play Ruby, you do your research & go for it. Well done. 👍

 

[idrobbo]

Surprised that you can cope with something as modern as.. crayons @idrobbo... 😛

It’s all they allow me to hold on the rare occasions they take the strait jacket off!