How do I configure my ssd setup?

ProComputerGaming · Jun 8, 2013

I just bought a samsung 840 120gb ssd for my boot drive, and my old boot drive is a 500gb WD Black drive. I have a few questions on how to configure this. I am not asking how to configure individual programs, I am asking what you guys recommend in terms of what to put on my ssd and on my hdd, the game managers I use are steam, origin, and gamestop apps. And I use iTunes. Where do I put where? Is there a special way to move your user files to your hdd? Should I put my game managers on the ssd and some games, and then the rest of the games on the hdd?

I apologize for the rambling and etc. I have a lot of questions and am only 13, and this is my first ssd build. TRIM and superfetch and everything was new to me.

Thanks a ton,
A fellow enthusiast

manofchalk · Jun 8, 2013

SSD:
Have your OS, important programs (Drivers, Internet browser, MS Office, etc) and a few games on it that would benefit from the faster load times (Skyrim!).
Its best if you leave about 20GB of capacity free, due to how SSD's work this will help with lifespan and performance.

HDD:
This is where the rest of the programs and bulk of your games should go. Your music, movies, documents and random files will go here as well, as they do not benefit from an SSD's speed. Make sure your browser and torrenting applications (for legal uses I'm sure

) download to here, should be somewhere in the settings.

Steam should allow you to download and install games to different drives, just make sure that your vigilant in making sure they are going to the right place (same with any program install). Dont know about Origin and Gamespy though, would put them on the HDD to be safe.

TRIM is a software function that clears "deleted" data (can explain this if you want) off the SSD periodically so that when it comes time to write new data it doesn't have to delete and then write, which helps performance.
Superfetch is a Windows utility that basically means that the OS knows where on the disk your data is stored. With a HDD this helps performance as it lowers access times, on an SSD this doesn't matter since access times are already effectively instant, disable it.

ProComputerGaming · Jun 8, 2013

Thank you for the response.
Now is it bad if I put my email and stuff that is constantly deleting and writing on my ssd? I have heard that it wears the ssd down faster, but I have also heard that today's ssd's you can use as a normal hdd, and not worry about the amount of write cycles left. Is that true?

manofchalk · Jun 8, 2013

The flash used in SSD's does have a limited number of write cycles, with the TLC flash used in the 840 (from memory, could be wrong) having 10,000 write cycles before they start to degrade.
However modern SSD's have so many redundancies built in (the 840 actually has 128GB of capacity, that last 8GB is used to distribute write cycles), advanced controllers to minimize damage and software functions like TRIM to keep it all running optimally. Under normal usage, the drive will last well beyond its obsolescence before it starts to degrade.

Its only when you are using an SSD as a scratch disk for video editing where you should be concerned about its longevity.

As for whether to put your email there, to me that's more of a question whether it will benefit from the extra speed, and if that capacity could be used for something else.

shan52 · Sep 2, 2013

Hi, can you explain me how to setup in the bios as this configuration for the ssd.

manofchalk :

SSD:
Have your OS, important programs (Drivers, Internet browser, MS Office, etc) and a few games on it that would benefit from the faster load times (Skyrim!).
Its best if you leave about 20GB of capacity free, due to how SSD's work this will help with lifespan and performance.

HDD:
This is where the rest of the programs and bulk of your games should go. Your music, movies, documents and random files will go here as well, as they do not benefit from an SSD's speed. Make sure your browser and torrenting applications (for legal uses I'm sure

) download to here, should be somewhere in the settings.

Steam should allow you to download and install games to different drives, just make sure that your vigilant in making sure they are going to the right place (same with any program install). Dont know about Origin and Gamespy though, would put them on the HDD to be safe.

TRIM is a software function that clears "deleted" data (can explain this if you want) off the SSD periodically so that when it comes time to write new data it doesn't have to delete and then write, which helps performance.
Superfetch is a Windows utility that basically means that the OS knows where on the disk your data is stored. With a HDD this helps performance as it lowers access times, on an SSD this doesn't matter since access times are already effectively instant, disable it.

manofchalk · Sep 3, 2013

I suggest you start your own thread on this question.
For what I said, the BIOS isn't involved at all.

Search

How do I configure my ssd setup?

ProComputerGaming

Honorable

manofchalk

manofchalk

Glorious

ProComputerGaming

Honorable

manofchalk

Glorious

shan52

Honorable

manofchalk

Glorious

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page