Computer upgrade

[Dodger]

Most of the quality PC's these days use Solid-State versus Hard Disc Drives (SSD's) anyway so I'm not sure why you guys keep mentioning SSD's. And PC's only have a life span of about 5 or 6 years - so If you get 8-10 years of reliable use consider yourself lucky.

Sorry Jun, but the last time I heard of someone other than a computer service technician burning in a capacitor on a PC was back when The Flintstones was the most popular Sunday morning cartoon...

[Gaybutton]

Most of the quality PC's these days use Solid-State versus Hard Disc Drives (SSD's) anyway so I'm not sure why you guys keep mentioning SSD's.

I'm not sure what you're getting at An SSD is solid state
It stands for solid state drive.

For me using an SSD is something fairly new, so I want to know everything I can about them before I start buying any. Maybe I'm weird, but I like to know what I'm doing before trying to do it.

I, for one, intend to be using an SSD for much more than simply storing data and I want to be sure an SSD will work better for me than a flash drive would. A good SSD is expensive so the more I know before buying, the better I like it.

[Dodger]

I, for one, intend to be using an SSD for much more than simply storing data and I want to be sure an SSD will work better for me than a flash drive would. A good SSD is expensive so the more I know before buying, the better I like it.

Sorry...(SSD) should have been placed after Solid State Drive in my last post.

If you're considering buying an expensive SSD as a replacement to your Hard Disc Drive on your older PC, you may also need to increase your RAM after loading Windows 11 (which isn't cheap ether).

The technology is changing at such a lightening-pace for computers, and computer components, that after 8-10 years it's better to just throw the dam thing in the trash and get a new one. At least those were the words of someone a hell-of-a-lot smarter than I am about computers.

[Jun]

Most of the quality PC's these days use Solid-State versus Hard Disc Drives (SSD's) anyway so I'm not sure why you guys keep mentioning SSD's. And PC's only have a life span of about 5 or 6 years - so If you get 8-10 years of reliable use consider yourself lucky.

I don't know where you get that from. I've never actually had a PC die.
My PC is 10 years old. The one that preceded it must be about 18 years old and is in occasional use by my mother (admittedly with the capacitor repair).
The last time we tried, my 22 year old laptop still worked, but was excruciatingly slow. I have two netbooks that are over 10 years old & will run (slowly).

As for SSDs, they are faster and are silent.

[Dodger]

The last time we tried, my 22 year old laptop still worked, but was excruciatingly slow. I have two netbooks that are over 10 years old & will run (slowly).

I think we're saying the same thing.

I've never had a PC completely die either. Meaning stop working all together. But once they start running very slow (usually around the 6-8 year mark) it's time to get a later model.

Kinda like the boys...LOL

[Jun]

They don't always start running slowly.
The 3 slow devices in my above list were all low spec machines.
The netbooks were low spec as I wanted a compact light weight machine for travel and they only sold low spec machines in such sizes. Even today, it's impossible to buy a very compact but high spec laptop.

However, my 10 year old PC is still quite quick and the 18 year old one is tolerable.
I think that's partly down to buying a better spec machine in the first place.
Also partly down to Microsoft not bloating their software quite as quickly. When I reluctantly downgraded this machine from Windows 7 to Windows 10, it was actually slightly faster than before.

Also, with Android tablets. Buy the cheapest Samsung device & it's dead slow after 3 years. Buy the fastest and it's still fast enough at 6 years. Therefore working out cheaper as well as more pleasant to use.

Just like the boys, I'm surprised how good a slightly older model can be (say 25~33 years).

[Gaybutton]

As far as I'm concerned all I really want is a computer that works! . . .

[Jun]

As far as I'm concerned all I really want is a computer that works! . . .

Your existing pre-upgrade PC probably works

[Gaybutton]

Your existing pre-upgrade PC probably works

If it was, do you think it would have even occurred to me to invest in a lot of new equipment?

[Dodger]

The netbooks were low spec as I wanted a compact light weight machine for travel and they only sold low spec machines in such sizes.

It's amazing what they build into these compact PC's these days.

My travel has been reduced by >90% since retiring so portability isn't a factor. Actually now I prefer a larger screen.

I have my last two work PC's sitting in a storage bin. They are both fairly high spec. which was needed for my work, but as mentioned earlier, they just started running slower over time which doesn't work for me.

I was thinking of donating these (one Dell, one Toshiba) to Father Rays Orphanage where they may do some good. I just want to bring them both the zero to wipe out any/all old data for security reasons.

Do you happen to know how to do this without destroying the hard drives?