# SSD suggestion for 5.5 yrs old system[Bought] EDIT: Now need advice on 4tb HDD



## sandynator (Aug 18, 2020)

My Desktop PC was built up in February 2015. Its *Core i3 4150* on *Gigabyte H81M-S2PH *board.

The old HDD seems to have developed  some bad sectors so now planning to purchase a SSD especially upto 256gb just for Windows 10 & installing other programs.
I am already having 2tb drive for storage.

Suggest me some good SSD under 3k budget which can be transferred to new system after 2 yrs.
I have seen *Crucial BX500*, *Kingston SSD now A400*, *Kingston Q500* & *WD green *240Gb around 2900 on amazon.

Heard good about Crucial MX500 & Samsung EVO models but are above 4.5k.

One more thing I have generic* Circle CC546 *Cabinet & not sure of SSD slot provision so how can I go about?
Do we get sata cable with the drive?


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## SaiyanGoku (Aug 19, 2020)

Get cheaper of Crucial BX500 or Kingston A400 from wherever you can find it for cheapest including mdcomputers, primeabgb, vedantcomputers, itdepot, amazon and flipkart.
I got BX500 and I don't think any new drive would come with sata cable. You don't need to have a dedicated slot for ssd. You can just mount it using double sided tape (YES!) if there are no 2.5" drive slots available.
Make sure to unplug current hdd before doing a fresh install.

Edit: You seem to be looking for a "future proof" ssd. In that case, after 2 years, there could be newer models and at lower price once the supply chain stabilizes. Right now prices are inflated.


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## whitestar_999 (Aug 19, 2020)

In case you don't want/prefer tape then you can get this, works just fine.
*www.onlyssd.com/buy/2-5-to-3-5-ssd-hdd-mounting-bracket/
Also see this post of mine:
*geek.digit.in/community/threads/ge...build-30000-approx.206760/page-3#post-2377129


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## sandynator (Aug 19, 2020)

Thank you guys...
Confusion between Kingston A400 or Q500? Not sure of difference between them.

How is this WD green 240 gb @ 2816 which is ranked 1st as per Amazon best seller followed by Kingston Q500 @2749 then Crucial BX 500 @2899 & finally Kingston A400 @ 2805.

I guess Service would not be an issue for any of these brands within Mumbai city.

My one more query is that suppose if the ssd fails & beyond repairs how to retrieve windows license key? Can same key be used on other ssd drive then?

Mostly will be buying from Amazon for faster delivery & bank card discounts if available during Ganeshotsav festival.

Any reputed brand for sata cable to buy? 

How is this Toshiba P300 HDD
Toshiba HDD
May get that if necessary.
Thanks again...


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## whitestar_999 (Aug 19, 2020)

A400 is more established series so go with that as not enough reviews/experiences of Q500 online. Never follow best selling products on amazon without doing proper research as many times it is the cheapest product with not so good quality which begs this position on amazon though in many categories this is not the case. Kingston ssd are on an average better than any WD green ssd. Crucial BX500 is similar to A400.

Nowadays win 10 license info is not stored in your pc but on microsoft activation servers. As long as your pc hardware remains same(aka no mobo change, ram & hdd/ssd doesn't matter) then simply doing a reinstall & connecting to net will automatically activate the win 10(same version originally activated) within few minutes. If the key is retail(aka not free upgrade or pre-installed like in case of laptops) then you can simply create a MS account & use that to login to win 10 which will then link your license with your MS account so in future if you change pc hardware then just login using same MS account after fresh installing win 10 & after connecting to net it will be automatically activated.


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## SaiyanGoku (Aug 19, 2020)

sandynator said:


> I guess Service would not be an issue for any of these brands within Mumbai city.


Get A400 or BX500 from primeabgb's shop man. You can buy sata cable there.


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## sandynator (Dec 8, 2020)

First of all thanks to all.
I got Kingston A400 240gb SSD  & 2Tb WD HDD from local dealer by end of August 2020. 

My old 1tb seagate hdd is in critical state now. Its getting detected but Hard Disk Sentinel showing  4% health & 100% performance. Coping/moving speed is drastically reduced since last few weeks & I doubt its even worth to store unwanted not so important data in it.

I would like to know if its proper time now to invest in 4tb HDD?  or  I should wait for some more price drop? 

BTW I am planning to get  Seagate Barracuda 4TB 5400 RPM Desktop Internal Hard Drive ST4000DM004 from PrimeABGB around 7926 INR


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## whitestar_999 (Dec 8, 2020)

HDD prices are not going down any time soon because of the WFH situation. I am using the same seagate 4TB ST4000DM004 & it is quite good. Just don't forget to move the slider to max performance in crystaldiskinfo settings--AAM/APM setting & don't download torrents to it(seeding is fine though) as its random 4k read write speeds are not very good especially because it is a smr drive so torrent speed will hit a speed breaker around 2MB/s & will fall down to few KB/s before picking up the speed again & the cycle continues.


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## sandynator (Dec 8, 2020)

*whitestar_999*
Thanks a lot for those details.
For downloading torrents which drive would be better?

My recently procured drive is  Western Digital *WD20EZAZ & *other old drive is  Seagate *ST2000DM006*.


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## RCuber (Dec 8, 2020)

sandynator said:


> My one more query is that suppose if the ssd fails & beyond repairs how to retrieve windows license key? Can same key be used on other ssd drive then?



If you link you windows install with a Microsoft account, it can be transferred. I have couple of licenses linked to my account, reinstalling the OS automatically activates it once you login via your Microsoft account.


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## sandynator (Dec 8, 2020)

*RCuber*
Thanks brother. Seeing you after long time.


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## RCuber (Dec 8, 2020)

sandynator said:


> *RCuber*
> Thanks brother. Seeing you after long time.


You are welcome.. nice to see you too


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## whitestar_999 (Dec 8, 2020)

sandynator said:


> *whitestar_999*
> Thanks a lot for those details.
> For downloading torrents which drive would be better?
> 
> My recently procured drive is  Western Digital *WD20EZAZ & *other old drive is  Seagate *ST2000DM006*.


Any 7200rpm drive is fine for downloading torrents, WD20EZAZ is 5400rpm drive but ST2000DM006 seems to be 7200rpm drive so use that for downloading torrents & once download is finished move it to 4TB drive for seeding.


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## sandynator (Dec 8, 2020)

whitestar_999 said:


> Any 7200rpm drive is fine for downloading torrents, WD20EZAZ is 5400rpm drive but ST2000DM006 seems to be 7200rpm drive so use that for downloading torrents & once download is finished move it to 4TB drive for seeding.


thanks a lot. I guess I will stick to it only for torrenting.


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## whitestar_999 (Dec 8, 2020)

sandynator said:


> thanks a lot. I guess I will stick to it only for torrenting.


If you don't download much torrents then you can use ssd too, A400 240gb ssd has 80TBW rating meaning you can write 80TB to it without issues so if you download ~1-2TB torrents in a year then this rating is more than enough.


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