My Windows installation has finally said "fuck you Dag, fix me pls" and I'm running out of storage space, so I've decided to replace my two 500Gb HDDs with an SSD solely for my OS and a 2TB (or more) HDD for literally everything else. I remember reading somewhere that hard drives with more than 2Tb storage were unstable or something, but if that isn't true I'll probably go for a full 4Tb so that I don't have to get another memory device until SSDs cost what HDDs cost now. Anyways, when I built my computer I just moved the HDDs over from my last build so I wanted people who know the memory market better than me to give me some reccomendations. The SSD only needs to be big enough for Windows 7, (so over 60Gb is overkill) and my hard drive would be at least 2 Tb but preferably bigger. Money ain't a thing, I want quality pieces of hardware here (plus a 4TB HDD is cheap as shit compared to what it cost like 5 years ago).
I don't see much point in putting nothing but the OS on an SSD. You're going to boot faster and...that's about it. Do you turn it on and off enough that it'll make a real impact? Most of the noticeable improvements from an SSD are in game and program load times that you just won't see that way. If you want to have single-volume-like usage without having to instal/uninstall stuff the best option is SSD caching. That'll give you most of the SSD read performance on anything you use a lot but you'll still just see a single volume. Seagate makes a 4tb drive with a built in 8gb of SSD cache. Or newish Intel chipsets have it built in so you can just plug in any SSD and hardrive and set it up. I like WD black HDD for the warranty...but I'm not really up on benchmarks.
Using a SSD just for the OS can make the general feeling of the PC much faster because bootup is a lot faster and moving around in Windows is instantaneous to open any part of Windows. But you also should use it for your programs too, dont just buy a really small one for the OS and only the OS. Even if you had just your internet and little programs like that it makes the whole feeling of the PC seem so much faster. I dont even think any new SSD models are under 128GB these days anyway though. I dont really know anyone with more than 130GB of programs so a 128GB drive should be adequate for the OS and your applications. Even a full Microsoft Office suite, full Adobe suite, a few internet browsers, video editing program, and a few other things still doesnt even take up more than 128GB. Sure you will use more if you store all your pictures and videos and stuff there too, but those arent programs. If money really isnt an object and you want quality above all else then you may want to look at a 1TB Samsung 840 Evo for your mass storage needs. The Pro is better, but the EVO is still a high quality drive and you probably wont ever tell the difference. Not sure if you really need more than 1TB of space or not, but most people dont. You could do a 1TB drive for mass storage and games and another 120GB drive for the OS and programs. Or even step that up to a 250GB for OS, programs, and a couple games if you really want to and have the money.
The real reason I want to put just windows on the SSD is so that if I end up in another situation where I need to reinstall Windows again, it won't be too complicated. Also I'm using like 800Gb of storage and I would be at like 1.2Tb right now but I stopped getting games when I started playing Planetside again.
SSD for OS and programs. SSD for GAIMZ (Or hybrid disk) HDD for documents, movies, music, photos, etc. You might want to look into moving the Users folder from your SSD to the HDD as well, if you're using Windows. Note that this will most likely prevent you from upgrading your OS from ie. Win7 to Win8 and keep the settings, however this can be fixed by simply using symbolic links.
You can pick up a Seagate 4TB hard drive for $140 for just a few more hours today: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...414-Index-_-InternalHardDrives-_-22178338-L0C EMCPGPF24
Samsung 840 Pro or EVO are the best. Pro has MLC and is a bit faster, EVO has TLC and is a little bit slower. Though RAM can be used as extra cache for either to speed things up even more still
I need to implement turbo boost on my new EVO but i'd need to set the OS on it first tho. Enigma is right, samsung disks are the best ! They are on super sale for the march madness on Newegg too so enjoy em, that's how i got mine !
Looking at them today the drives are actually up in price $20-40 depending on model compared to just a few days ago when you bought yours Stock must be running low.
I have my SSD running as cache. I bought a 128gb Samsung Pro. The Intel software is smart enough to partition the drive, so no space is lost, and I can use that section of drive for video editing, etc.