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    SSD upgrade for XPS M1530

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by thejamesjr, Sep 13, 2011.

  1. thejamesjr

    thejamesjr Notebook Geek

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    Upgrading my Dell XPS M1530 HDD to SSD.

    Which would you recommend from a price range: $200-$400?
    1. Crucial 128 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT128M4SSD2
    2. Crucial 256 GB m4 2.5-Inch SATA III CT256M4SSD
    3. OCZ Technology 240 GB Agility 2 Series SATA II 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive
    4. Intel 320 Series 160 GB SATA 3.0 Gb-s 2.5-Inch Solid-State Drive

    Any other recommendations?
     
    thejamesjr, Sep 13, 2011
    #1
  2. Tsunade_Hime

    Tsunade_Hime such bacon. wow

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    Depends on what you are looking to do with your laptop. I wouldn't recommend OCZ due to it having a SandForce controller and the myriad of customer service and quality issues of OCZ.

    Stick with the Intel or Crucial SSD.
     
    Tsunade_Hime, Sep 13, 2011
    #2
  3. thejamesjr

    thejamesjr Notebook Geek

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    Leaning towards Crucial...
    I can get the 128 GB for $189 or the 256 GB for $390.

    My intentions are to use it mainly for my OS Windows & Programs. I'd like to keep most of my data on my external. But I'm sure i'll end up throwing some music, movies and rom games on it.
     
    thejamesjr, Sep 13, 2011
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  4. Bill Nye

    Bill Nye Know Nothing

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    128 is a great budget drive; the 256 is more of a future proof drive. It's a bit faster than the 128gb version due to double bandwidth, albeit the difference is not as pronounced as the jump from 64gb to 128gb.
     
    Bill Nye, Sep 13, 2011
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  5. thejamesjr

    thejamesjr Notebook Geek

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    Yeah, the size of my OS and Programs are about 45GB. I figure 128GB is plenty if I try and keep most of my data on the external HDD. Although 256GB is nice to have!

    I originally had a Hitachi 320GB 5400 RPM. Upgraded a year ago to the Seagate Momentus XT hybrid 500GB, but it died on me last week (Should have got the WD Scorpio Black). Right now I'm back using original Hitachi (which BLOWS). Decided I want to make the jump to SSD and I don't want to buy a new laptop right now, still happy with the XPS.
     
    thejamesjr, Sep 13, 2011
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  6. thejamesjr

    thejamesjr Notebook Geek

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    Does anyone know if its possible to make a Windows 7 backup image or Acronis and recover it on a new SSD?

    From what I understand it's better to put a fresh copy and install of everything on a SSD and you can't do an image restore from a larger to smaller drive.

    Can someone confirm this?
     
    thejamesjr, Sep 13, 2011
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  7. madmattd

    madmattd Notebook Deity

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    You can image over if the source image is originally a Windows 7 install (i.e. not an upgrade from Vista, the alignment will be wrong in such a case). I did it going from a Western Digital Velociraptor 300GB RAID to an Intel 320 120GB using Western Digital's free version of Acronis.
     
    madmattd, Sep 13, 2011
    #7