SSD upgrade NP-N102S

I've just upgraded my 2012 Samsung NP-N102S from Windows 7 Starter to Windows 10. I want to replace the HDD with a SSD. Will a SSD work on my netbook? Any help greatly appreciated thankyou.

 

There's no reason why an SSD won't work in the netbook. However, avoid the lowest capacities and make sure you buy an SSD with enough capacity so that it has some empty space for garbage management otherwise performance will suffer. 128GB might just be OK if you don't store much on the machine but Windows with all its updates progressively gets more obese). I would recommend the 250GB size as a minimum of which you leave about 50GB unpartitioned.

John

 

John, thanks for your really helpful answer. Why do you recommend leaving 50GB unpartitioned? I've no experience of SSDs. Kevin

 

The unpartitioned space is called "over-provisioning". There's a good description here but there are plenty more if you want a second opinion.

Lack of spare space may be one reason why the 128GB Sandisk U100 that I originally had in my Samsung NP900X3B could cause the computer to temporarily freeze but a very small write cache was another factor. Another reason for avoiding the smallest capacities of SSD is that their write speeds are usually lower due to the way the memory is structured, but you would have to check the manufacturers specs to see the details of what you plan to buy.

John

 

Thanks for explaining about the unpartitioned space. Currently I'm using 77 GB of my 320 gb had. So allowing fir expansion and 50 gb unpartitioned space 256 gb should be ok. That's really helpful. Thanks.

 

I agree. 256GB should be fine but 128GB, which you might have thought would be enough, would struggle after a while.

John