Is there a big difference between HDD and SSD?

I only have a 1TB HDD in my PC and it takes my PC several minutes to boot up. The HDD is a few years old, but that's still not normal, is it? Did a test in Windows PowerShell, my HDD reaches values of 95mb when reading + writing.

& SSD's are at least 450mb. So if my PC now takes 5 minutes to boot up, does my PC need 1 minute on a SSD because the SSD is 5 times faster? (Wants to buy me an SSD and move my entire system)

Just talked to a streamer, it has a 120GB SSD, & 1TB HDD. He says the games don't have to be on the SSD. For example, my Fortnite takes 4-5 minutes to start, he thinks it only takes 20-30 seconds, even though his game is on the HDD. He thinks that's because the EpicGames Launcher is on the SSD. That doesn't make sense to me, but I don't want to commit myself to jz either. Is what he says right? That e.g. Steam can be on the SSD, but Steam games on the HDD & still start so quickly?

Therefore he says, I should only get a 120GB hard drive, & only move Windows.

But I would like to get a 480GB SSD, because my data on the HDD is 420GB big & I will still delete a lot if I sort out.

And, if I need more storage, I wanted to get a second SSD later instead of buying a 1TB SSD now, which I probably don't even need.

What would you recommend? A 120GB SSD costs around 20 euro, a 480GB around 55 euro, so I would like to take the 480er from the price, if you could assure me that it's worth it.

& a YouTuber, I'm not sure at the moment, whether Klixtra or hardware deal, said that the PC prices in October / November are very good & should be struck. From 2020 everything should be more expensive again, do you think that's right? Or will things get even cheaper from January because it's Christmas time? That's what many say.

Hope you can help me.

The first question: yes, the difference is huge. SSDs are massively faster.

Will it work if only the launcher is on the SSD?

- I don't know. You have to try it. I only have a 256Gb SSD.

The 125Gb would actually be too small. If you want to delete a lot of data anyway, the 480Gb SSD is worth it for you. A 2. Then retrofitting sounds plausible. And 55 euro are not the world either. Then buy the 480Gb and see if you need a 2nd or a larger one.

Okay thanks. & 55 euro may not be the world, but when you are 15 you think a few times about what you buy.

First of all: An SSD accelerates the system start to a second. An SSD also makes a big difference in games. GTA 5 z. B. Loads half an eternity from an HDD, maximum 15 seconds from an SSD.

The reason for the extremely slow startup of your PC may be that your 1TB HDD already contains a lot of data. An HDD with a read head similar to a record must find the "right groove" where the data was stored. The more "grooving" there are, logically the longer it takes.

It's definitely worth it. I don't know what you have installed in your Windows and how old the installation is, but mine boots within 25 seconds (is about 1 year old).
SSDs benefit from the access speed, which is 1 ms, while with an HDD it is between 9-10 ms, you can take the slowest toad and you will still think "wow".
Windows loads 1,000de files at startup, that adds up.
480 GB is more than sufficient, as long as they don't have much besides games, 240 GB are easy for me.
Can only recommend an SSD.

Okay thanks. But my PC needs several minutes on the HDD, can it be that the HDD is already a few years old and is it because of it? And Windows was installed 14 months ago, I guess, so I bought it used as new.

So you mean, how many say, there's never anything deleted on a PC? You delete files, but are they really still there, just not visible? Because I've already created & deleted several 100 GB on this hard drive, through videos. Can it be because of it?

But where I bought the PC used 14 months ago, it also took about 3 or 4 minutes.

Then just think that the HDD is already a few years old.

I'm also convinced that SSDs are great, but because I think my HDD is normal, I think my PC with a 3 times faster SSD still takes 2.3 minutes to boot up.

But now I know that my HDD does not seem to be normal.

Then I think I'll put on a 480GB SSD, thanks. And do you believe, buy now, or will they be even cheaper from January?

Of course, many factors can play a role. For example, due to the many creation and deletion, it could also be highly fragmented or, as you say, of course simply decrepit.

Have an ancient 500GB HDD here and it is so slow, opening the root directory takes a lifetime xD

At Christmas there could of course be offers for SSDs again, but I don't think they will be significantly cheaper again at the turn of the year, since they are already super cheap.

Okay thanks. So don't you think they're more expensive right now because of the Christmas season?

https://www.mindfactory.de/...71434.html

I chose that as an example, because I own it and when I bought it, it was even more expensive. So Christmas will definitely not make them more expensive ^^

Okay thanks, Lyd recommended the same in a comment below, only as a small variant. Many say Samsung is better, isn't it? Would be only 3 euro extra

It depends on which Samsung. There are different price ranges. But in general you can say with a good conscience that almost every SSD is good, but if an SSD with the same technical data costs more than another, you usually pay for a better and more durable product.

In a good 5 years, I have never broken a cheap SSD or reached the end of her life and I really tortured it.

Okay, then I'll get Kingston's, thanks. And can I somehow reinstall my Windows on the HDD and then move it to the new SSD? Would like to start over, but don't want to buy Windows again.

Maybe the HDD is fragmented, then it gets extreme. For me Windows started 3 times faster than with HDD. 25-30 seconds is actually normal, with SSDs fragmentation doesn't matter.
If you right click on the drive → Properties → Tools, you can defragment the HDD

A Windows license is not actually tied to a system. Unless it is an OEM license. But if you just change the hard drive, Windows actually still recognizes it as the same system. What you can of course do is mirror the HDD to the SSD.

I haven't done it myself, but it shouldn't be too complicated. This would be e.g. A possible guide:

https://praxistipps.chip.de/...gehts_2907

Oh and something else? Should I buy a special SATA cable that is fast enough for an SSd? Or are they exactly the same as 10 years ago? And can it be that a motherboard does not support SSDs? Sounds silly, but I'm not a PC professional. (Got the mainboard: Asus P8Z68 - V LE)

So first move my system to the SSD, and then reinstall it on the SSD? But isn't there residual waste on the SSD? Wants to keep it as clean as possible.

& if I had to enter the same key again, that wouldn't work either, because I used the PC with Windows.

SATA cable is SATA cable ^^

Yes to support… I know someone who has a mainboard that comes from an approximately 10 year old office computer. The SSD also works for him, so I'm pretty sure that your board can do it.

For Windows: Try the new installation on the SSD, try the key. If it works, that's good, otherwise buy a Windows 10 key for 13 euro, which in my opinion saves no money, but nerves xD

What does fragmented mean?

I don't have a key. But if there's Windows for 13 euro, please. Thought that would cost at least 40 euro

But I will inform myself well, 13 euro is half a month's pocket money for me, I would rather research for a few hours.

But thanks for your help

Yes, that's right. I also do.

Until recently, however, they were significantly more expensive. So I mean that ^^

That the data on the HDD is almost mixed up, when defragmenting it is sorted again.

Yes I understand.

I think I'll just go for 1TB, more future proof.

Okay, I'll do it. I trust you times that it's not something like formatting or something.