How does a combined 256GB SSD and 1TB SATA HDD work together?

Autobahn said:

I was thinking of increasing the RAM to 16GB on a new laptop but as I don't know what I really need so that my laptop won't get sluggish when using a few programs, is more Ram what I need?

Generally--when considering your budget, I'd certainly give the highest possible emphasis to raw CPU power--with at least 4 cores, possibly more. You would constantly benefit from the added CPU power. You can look at Passmark CPU benchmarks to give you a rough idea of how one CPU compares to another.

Moving from 8 to 16 GB RAM may or may not be noticeable, but that difference isn't likely to be as cost-effective as spending that same amount on a more powerful CPU unless you have unusual circumstances. You can easily monitor whether or not you are currently using up most or all of your current RAM.

You also have to face the fact that prices for RAM and SSDs are inflated by laptop manufacturers compared to what you would pay in the aftermarket. You may be able to get around that to some extent by purchasing a sparsely equipped but CPU-powerful laptop from the manufacturer and then later adding the SSD and possibly more RAM on your own at a lower price.

I would certainly get an SSD for Windows 10 and applications, one way or another. You need to properly size both the SSD and any HDD, depending on your individual requirements.

Assume you want to do a Clean install on your SSD with \Users on the HDD.
- Detach the data HDD (with D:\Users) and all other disks from the MB.
- Boot from the Win 10 installation disk and proceed with a clean install (deleting all partitions). When it ask you to insert your name, enter audit mode (Ctrl+Shift+F3). Windows reboots now entering a so called Audit Mode using the built-in administrator account. When Windows Desktop will be shown you'll notice the System Preparation Tool dialog in the middle of your screen. Close it for now by pressing the Cancel button.
Shut down and attach the HDD to the MB and boot. You will back to the Audit Mode using the built-in administrator account. Close the System Preparation Tool dialog in the middle of your screen by pressing the Cancel button.
- Launch Disk manager and set the HDD as D:
- Copy the Relocate.xml.txt to the root of D: and rename it as Relocate.xml.
- Open Explorer and move D:\users\NAME to another folder and delete D:\Users.
- Rename Sysprep.cmd.txt to Sysprep.cmd and execute it. It will begin Process clean up phase and reboot.
When back to Sysprep, make sure the dialog box is OOBE (fist line) and Reboot (second line). Hit ok.
It will reboot and move C:\users to D:\users. Now it will return to OOBE and you can insert your name etc.
All your data files and user programs configuration are on the old NAME folder you have moved from the old D:\users\NAME.
As it is a Clean install, D:\Users is also fresh so you will have to install all the programs and move your files to new D:\users\NAME. After you install a program a new setting will be under D:\Users\Name\AppData. Find it and you can replace the files from the old D:\Users\Name\AppData.

Megahertz said:

For my surprise, no one mentioned Kari excellent tutorial to move C:\Users (SSD) to D:\Users (HDD).
There are many advantages:
- All Libraries will point to D:\Users
- All temporary user files will be on D:\Users\NAME\AppData\Local\Temp
- You can do a Clean install on the SSD and your data will remain in the SSD

I have installed Windows and programs on a small SSD and moved the C:\Users (SSD) to D:\Users (HDD), not only on desktops but also on old laptops.
Two weeks ago a friend brought me a HP pro laptop that was taking 4 minutes to boot. I replaced the original HDD with a 120G SSD (US$ 25) and installed the HDD on a caddy to replace the ODD.
It boots now in 30 sec and has the speed of a SSD and the space of a HDD at low cost (US$~32).

This is my computer

Is this 'Kari' tutorial you mention on this forum or is it a Youtube video?
Do you have a link?

I came across this video on Youtube. The first part of the video just about makes sense but there are two parts to it and from what other viewers have said, the part near the end should have been done first.
I don't know if this is the case or not and the last part of the video does confuse things for me.
YouTube

ignatzatsonic said:

Generally--when considering your budget, I'd certainly give the highest possible emphasis to raw CPU power--with at least 4 cores, possibly more. You would constantly benefit from the added CPU power. You can look at Passmark CPU benchmarks to give you a rough idea of how one CPU compares to another.

Moving from 8 to 16 GB RAM may or may not be noticeable, but that difference isn't likely to be as cost-effective as spending that same amount on a more powerful CPU unless you have unusual circumstances. You can easily monitor whether or not you are currently using up most or all of your current RAM.

You also have to face the fact that prices for RAM and SSDs are inflated by laptop manufacturers compared to what you would pay in the aftermarket. You may be able to get around that to some extent by purchasing a sparsely equipped but CPU-powerful laptop from the manufacturer and then later adding the SSD and possibly more RAM on your own at a lower price.

I would certainly get an SSD for Windows 10 and applications, one way or another. You need to properly size both the SSD and any HDD, depending on your individual requirements.

Thanks for this post. This is the sort of information I'm after.

That's one of the things I was thinking about: Which is more important: Ram or Processor power.

Would there be a great deal of difference between my current processor/6 GB Ram and one of the latest top end i5 processors?

I'm currently using 52% of Memory, most of that used by Firefox due to the amount of tabs I use.
An extra 2 GB of Ram, is that going to make much of difference I wonder?