Bigger HDD or add a SSD?

I'm trying to figure out what makes more sense in my situation.

I have the notebook in my signature with 128GB SSD boot drive and 1TB HDD for storage. I am only using about 40-50GB of my boot SSD and I have about 500-600 used on my 1TB HDD (I'm not on it right now to get exact numbers). I'd like to add a bit more space, nothing crazy. I'm trying to decide if I should get a 512GB SSD to go into my 2nd M.2 slot and move my games to that (about 150-200GB of games) and free up space on my 1TB HDD for only storage, or should I just get a 2TB HDD to replace my 1TB?

Which seems more logical? I know that the HDD will be cheaper, but would there be much benefit to moving the games to an SSD instead of HDD other than load times? They do not feel all that slow to load right now to me currently.

Thanks.

 

Personally, I would go the SSD route. I say this because I have that setup on my desktop. NVME SSD for boot and a Samsung 840 for games. I have 6TB of storage over 3 HDDs. I have my most commonly played games on the Samsung and I really appreciate the load times in comparison to some of the games that are on a HDD. GTAV for instance, even on a decent HDD take a while to get in game because of the amount it has to load, on the SSD it loads so much quicker I'm not sure I can go back to a HDD! Same goes for Dragon Age: Inquisition.

 

No sense in installing an HDD in this machine. Get a 500GB M.2 SATA SSD for your second slot (The prices right now for those are the sweet spot imo).

In 6 months drop the HDD for a 2TB SSD (i bit the bullet on a good ebay deal for 380£, but i';m sure it will hit 250£ this year for 2TB.

 

I say go with the 2tb spinner. For a hundred bucks it is the clear price/performance winner, IMO.

I agree that the 2.5" slot ought to have an SSD, but retail drives are currently maxing out at 2tb and 4tb is easy enough but they just don't offer it yet on retail SSDs--so I would wait.

I'm discouraged at how slowly things are moving on the m.2 SSDs. I thought we'd be looking at the 1tb 950s right now--what's the hold up? FWIW I'm not going to jump until 2tb m.2 sticks are widely available.

I solved my big storage issues with the Seagate Backup Fast 4tb usb drive. They are teensy tiny and yet twice the speed of other spinnning drives. My Alienware vindicator sleeve has plenty of room to tote one or two along, so I have plenty of storage. Did the OP do as I said and get one?

 

spinners are louder, make more heat and take more power. not sure why you'd get one knowing you'll dump it very shortly. 2tb ssds are out and prices are dropping fast.

 

Do you actually play that many titles frequently? My suggestion would be for the SSD, and then pickup a portable drive to store backups of whatever games you don't play at least once a month on there.

The hold up is 256 bit NAND and the fact that you can fit only so many chips onto an M2 slot.

Samsung was supposed to reveal 1TB M2 solutions to a consumer level around this time of the year, but they've been available through OEM channels for a while now, albeit at significant ($6-800) cost .

 

I usually play a game through until completion then I backup the save files and delete the game data. I never have more than 3-4 games installed at once.

 

Here's a 1 TB M.2. Because why not.
But from your last post, I don't think you need a 1 TB SSD. Something like 250 GB SSD should do.