Intel 160 G SSD performance

[Carl2]

I have a Gateway FX6801 computer into which I have just installed an Intel solid-state drive. I still get a performance rating of 5.9 and the boot time is approximately the same as in the past for a Windows 7, approximately 1 minute and 20 seconds. Since the recovery disks require Windows to be installed on the original disk I used the cloning software that came with the desk. I had just been able to find the firmware version of the solid-state drive, 2CV102HA given by HD Tune Pro. Intel is offering version 1.5 so I do not know where I stand on this.
I had been given a suggestion that I should install Windows directly on this drive but before I spend more money I would like to be sure there is not some other problem. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Carl2

 

[sminlal]

Firstly, bear in mind that the performance rating won't change unless you click the link to re-evaluate it.

Cloning a Win7 installation from a hard drive onto an SSD is less than optimal because the partitions on the hard drive won't be aligned on 64-block boundaries. Nonetheless, I used Windows 7 "System Image" backup to back up an installed RC system from a WD Green drive and then restored it to a 160GB Intel "G2" drive just to see the performance difference. It cut boot and application load times in half - I made a video of the difference that you can see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTHX0MqVMss

I upgraded my drive to the 02HD firmware that supports TRIM, although for a new drive I doubt the newer firmware would make any significant speed difference, particularly for a read-intensive load like booting and starting applications.

You should make sure that the BIOS is set to run the drive in AHCI and not IDE Emulation mode - although I don't think it would make a huge difference in speed.

Where are the delays in the boot sequence? There are some things such as USB or network peculiarities that have nothing to do with the hard drive and which can lengthen the boot time.