Is it better to install Portable Apps on USB than SSD?

[danielson]

Just curious...

Would it be better to install Portable Apps on a USB device rather than on a SSD drive (such as my case).

Windows 7 64bit.

[sicknero]

I don't know much about SSD but I'd say it depends on what your needs are re; portable software.

My preference is to have as few installed programs as I can possibly get away with, so I have a directory on a separate partition to C:\ to run all my portables from.

Aside from that I have a smaller collection of portable software that I keep on a flash drive ... stuff which is useful for trouble-shooting and problem solving, rescuing O/Ss and so on.

Performance-wise, I can't say I've noticed much difference between running software from USB or from my HDD but I've never had SSD so I don't know how much difference that would make.

[danielson]

Ya, well the thing about SSD is you want to write to disk least often.
So i heard.

[Joe A.TT]

Originally Posted by sicknero

1. My preference is to have as few installed programs as I can possibly get away with...

2. Performance-wise, I can't say I've noticed much difference between running software from USB or from my HDD but I've never had SSD so I don't know how much difference that would make.

1. I agree. Ever since I discovered portable software I go portable as much as possible.

2. Performance-wise, I think the difference between external and internal media would be the amount of time it takes to start a program. I don't even think the difference will be that much noticeable unless you have extremely slow external media.

Originally Posted by danielson

Ya, well the thing about SSD is you want to write to disk least often.
So i heard.

I don't have an SSD either but I think what you are referring to really relates to extreme activity, e.g. defragging. IMHO, running portable apps from your SSD should be considered normal activity. For that matter, I don't see the amount of "wear and tear" being any different from running installed apps from the same SSD.

[J_L]

Originally Posted by danielson

Ya, well the thing about SSD is you want to write to disk least often.
So i heard.

Modern SSD last far longer than you'd think. Even if you have an older model, the amount of write from a portable app is minimal unless it writes a lot of data. Do note that flash drives have a limited lifespan as well.