Thoughts on SSDs

Received yet another ad for SSDs (solid-state hard-drives). I’d love to have the benefits: faster boot times, less heat/more battery, longer life. As cool as a solid state drive is, I’m not sure I can justify the costs. Or, to bring the costs in line, lower my used disk space. As I think, though, I can see something of a work-around. Go with the smallest SSD I can justify, but then use the cloud, or an external hard-drive, or both for the bulk of my information storage. Also, bodes the question of “why do I save so much data?”

I do save nearly everything. That goes way back, though. Every so often, I purge my 4 drawer file cabinet. Yet I have years worth of receipts, various miscellaneous files. My data hoarding goes back to hard-copy days. And, perhaps, it’s time for that to end.

I think of the times that that one, random file, saved has been either helpful, or has saved my butt. Producing that email saying “I want you to do ‘x'” was perfect when a manager was yelling at me (during a meeting) about why I had done ‘x’. A few times, yet meaningful. Perhaps the positive response to this reinforced a pack-rat mentality, or the fear that this one document will be the one that saves me. Hmm…fear…an issue in-and-of itself.

More reflection is needed for me to know if this is need for data space, and fear-driven, or simply “I don’t have the cash for buying un-needed technology right now”. Perhaps someday I’ll flesh this out further. Perhaps. Someday.