It takes more than 2 minutes to fully boot up
A healthy computer with an SSD boots in 15–30 seconds. If you press the power button and have time to make coffee before the desktop is usable, your old mechanical drive is the bottleneck — not the rest of the machine.
Opening a browser or Word takes 30+ seconds
Programs live on your drive, so every launch means reading thousands of small files. Mechanical drives are terrible at this; SSDs are built for it. If everyday apps crawl open, the drive is almost certainly to blame.
The computer makes grinding or clicking sounds
Mechanical drives have spinning platters and a moving arm. Grinding, clicking, or whirring under load means the moving parts are wearing out — and a drive that's making noise is a drive that's going to fail. Back up now and replace it before it dies.
Tasks that used to feel instant now feel sluggish
Drives slow down as they fill up and fragment over years of use. If the same computer that felt snappy three years ago now hesitates at everything, the drive has aged — even though the processor and memory are exactly as fast as the day you bought it.
The machine is 4–8 years old but otherwise works fine
This is the sweet spot for an SSD upgrade. The screen, keyboard, processor, and memory are all still good — the only thing holding the machine back is the drive. An upgrade costs a fraction of a new computer and most people say it feels brand new afterward.
Not sure if an SSD will fix your machine? I'll diagnose it honestly and quote the price before any work begins.