If your Windows PC is slow, usually the first suggestion people give you is to add more memory. But sometimes memory isn't the problem - you need to analyze the performance of your system before doing anything. In my case, with a radio automation computer running Vista, I was using only 50% of my physical memory, so that wasn't the problem.
What I ended up doing is replacing my mechanical hard drive with a Solid State one (224GB). The difference was amazing! Reinstalling Vista took minutes rather than hours, and booting takes seconds rather than minutes. The new system is very snappy, whereas prior to that it was laboring.
This makes sense, as all Windows systems are very disk intensive.
So if you have a slow PC, don't just blindly add memory. Sometimes fixes such as this are the ticket.
Just like flash drives and SD cards I suppose SS drives are rated for R/W access time.
What criteria is there for selection and how does cost compare to a mechanical drive?
I'm not really an expert here.
Cost is definitely more expensive than mechanical drives. For example, a 128GB SSID costs C$80, while you can get a 500GB 2.5 inch 5400 rpm mechanical drive for the same price. A 250GB SSID costs C$140.
I think that transfer rates are relatively comparable. Seek times are of course much faster on an SSID, even the cheapest ones. They can get even faster on the more expensive drives with larger buffers.
Basically, it's like a lot of other things. What you want to use these things for?
If you need a ton of storage, then mechanical drives make more sense.
SSID's make a lot of sense for system drives - you probably don't want a lot of storage in the form of data files on your system disk. System disks are accessed frequently for small amounts of O/S data (usually) on a random basis, and there even a cheap SSID shines.
Seriously, most PC users don't do these simple things that make a significant difference in speed. First, simply empty your Recycle Bin. Second, clean out your Cookie File. Third, use your PC's Disk Cleanup function. Fourth, make sure your hard drive has gone through Defrag. Fifth, download and use a reputable Registry Cleaner. Sixth, disable unnecessary Windows Startup Programs. Adding memory will help somewhat, but you'll still have slow PC unless you "take care of the business" listed here.
Everything you listed will help a little. The biggest bang for the buck is disabling (preferably uninstalling) unnecessary programs and Windows services.
Yes, cleaning up your hard drive will also help, but an SSD will increase your overall speed by an order of magnitude or more, whereas the others will be small percentages. Personally, I don't trust registry cleaners in any event, even the so-called reputable ones.
The intent of my post was to show that swapping out your mechanical hard drive for an SSD one is a relatively simple way to radically increase your Windows speed.
I recall from years ago using "ramdrive". This was a software driver that assigned RAM as a virtual hard drive. Limited by how much ram you had but very fast.
There are still programs that perform the same function.
Yes, after posting I Googled Ramdrive, found and installed a Radeon Ramdisk to try out with my audio editor.