I think the strategy you employ is very reasonable. Setting up software and data how you want it takes time; having a cloned single drive provides a one-shot way to reset everything and that's good. (I clone drives as well.)
Related notes: a) the largest benefits of SSDs are speed and reliability. Your cloning setup dramatically decreases the importance / catastrophe of reliability. b) You can make all your other decisions and upgrade to SSDs once the size you want is readily available.
With regard to b) --- here is something I'm quite unclear on. If I have a computer with a hard drive, and if it can be opened for hard drive replacement, can I put an SSD in the same slot where I'd put a hard drive, or does the SSD require a completely different kind of connection?
If the connections are different, I don't see how b) will work. But if both kinds of drive fit in the same slot, then this seems like excellent advice.
This is an easy one. Yes, they are the same. Same SATA connectors, same size.
Internally, SSDs have a memory stick instead of all the spinning metal and moving parts, but the plastic housing is the same size as most 2.5" / laptop hard drives.
So it sounds like I can go ahead and buy any laptop with a hard drive --- as long as that drive is user-accessible --- and continue to live exactly as I've been living, until the 1T SSD's become readily available, then clone my hard drive onto an SSD, swap the SSD into the machine, and continue as before, except with more speed.
Yep! That's roughly what I did, except I am using a smaller SSD.
You should also be able to connect multiple drives to your computer at full speed. I imagine that is useful for making clones. SATA drives can even be connected/disconnected while the computer is running. The bay that Rowan suggested is one way to do that. Laptops also have eSATA ports, which let you connect SATA drives externally. Both of those should operate at full speed.
This sounds perfect then --- with the one proviso that I have to make sure any new laptop I order has a user-accessible hard drive (something I'd have thought was standard on all laptops up until a couple of days ago). Thanks many times over.
Related notes:
a) the largest benefits of SSDs are speed and reliability. Your cloning setup dramatically decreases the importance / catastrophe of reliability.
b) You can make all your other decisions and upgrade to SSDs once the size you want is readily available.
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If the connections are different, I don't see how b) will work. But if both kinds of drive fit in the same slot, then this seems like excellent advice.
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Internally, SSDs have a memory stick instead of all the spinning metal and moving parts, but the plastic housing is the same size as most 2.5" / laptop hard drives.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E1T0B-AM/dp/B00OBRFFAS/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1455987491&sr=1-1&keywords=1tb+ssd
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So it sounds like I can go ahead and buy any laptop with a hard drive --- as long as that drive is user-accessible --- and continue to live exactly as I've been living, until the 1T SSD's become readily available, then clone my hard drive onto an SSD, swap the SSD into the machine, and continue as before, except with more speed.
Yes?
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You should also be able to connect multiple drives to your computer at full speed. I imagine that is useful for making clones. SATA drives can even be connected/disconnected while the computer is running. The bay that Rowan suggested is one way to do that. Laptops also have eSATA ports, which let you connect SATA drives externally. Both of those should operate at full speed.
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