Have you thought about ways you can speed up your computer or get extra storage? If so, a solid-state drive may be the solution.
PCs and laptops using SSDs start up faster and run faster than traditional hard drives. They use less energy, they're quieter and they give you more space.
Some laptops come with SSDs already installed, but most computers use traditional hard drives. HDDs are affordable, easy to use and they typically offer more storage than SSDs.
But if you find yourself groaning each morning when your computer is taking forever to start up, an SSD can be a great solution. SSDs store programs, photos, games and just about everything else a hard drive stores.
However, SSDs use memory chips. HDDs use magnetic disks that spin around with information retrieved by a little arm. Each time you start up your HDD, it starts over, which is why it takes so long to get going. SSDs don't do that.
SSDs are good to store programs that take up a lot of space on your computer and slow it down. They're also good for backing up files and photos that you want to keep an extra copy of.
One potential downside to SSDs, though, is that they can have a limited lifetime. That's because of the way they work. Simply, you can't just write over information you already have stored on an SSD, like you can with a hard drive. With an SSD, you have to rewrite everything, which can wear it down over time.
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When you turn off your computer or laptop, every program and file is saved to your hard drive. That's why, when you start up your computer, everything is still there.
Your programs like Microsoft Windows are there. The photos you saved of your kids are still there.
Unfortunately, the process of saving everything takes time. Worse, it takes a lot of time to retrieve all that information when you turn on your computer. That's one reason it takes so long to get started in the morning. That process is called hibernation.
Fortunately, SSDs don't go through that process. So, you don't need hibernation mode.
Here's how you turn it off with Windows 10: Right-click the start button (window icon in lower-left corner) >> choose Command Prompt (Admin) >> choose Yes >> type powercfg.exe /hibernate off >> Enter.
Turn Off Defrag
Has anyone ever told you to defragment your computer? They said that because of the way hard drives save data.
On that magnetic disk, you save data in different places. So, the arm that retrieves it goes back and forth multiple times. When you defrag, you shift around that data so that similar content is closer to each other.
SSDs do not have that spinning disk, so there is no need to defragment everything you've saved. Make sure your computer isn't automatically defragmenting.
Here's how: Type "defrag" into your taskbar search (where it says Type here to search) >> click on Defragment and Optimize Drives >> if it says On in the lower-left side of the pop-up box, click on Change Settings >> the little box where it says Run on a Schedule should not have a check mark.
Turn Off the Secret Superfetch
If you use Windows, you use Superfetch all the time, even if you don't know it. Microsoft created Superfetch to speed up your computer.
The programs you use most often are partly moved from your hard drive to RAM. That way it's faster for your computer to find them and get going.
However, because SSD is so fast, Superfetch may be redundant. Here's how to turn it off: Type Services into your taskbar menu >> click Services >> scroll down to Superfetch >> if it says Superfetch is running, click on Stop the Service in the upper-left corner.
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Are you getting an SSD so you can free up space on your hard drive? If you're permanently moving important documents and photos, and it would break your heart to lose them, make sure you have a second copy.
SSDs are convenient for that. But it's hardware that will break over time. Make sure your second copy is saved to the cloud.
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