How to set up my ssd?

[jijoslin]

I have a single 1tb drive set up for my os,applications,and storage, I want to add an ssd, but not lose my data, does anyone know the best way to do this?

 

[RetiredChief]

^ +1. Note Don't forget set the boot priority to boot the SSD. You can still boot off the HDD by hitting the key during post that gives you boot menu (F12 on my MB).

On your current 1TB HDD, did you partition it so that your win 7 and programs were on one partition and all of YOUR files and data where on the 2nd partition - Hope, hope.
Reason, the best way to get rid of win 7 on HDD is to reformat that partition - AFTER you have all your programs installed on SSD and know that it is running properly.
If everything is on one hugh 1 TB drive, then you would have to back-up all your data/files befor reformating. (other ways exist, but reformat the better choice.)

 

[wolfram23]

I just installed an X25M 80gb last night. Installed Windows 7 64bit but I kept my RAID 0 HDDs plugged in as well. Basically after POST it asks which Win 7 to boot up. I could then access my HDDs (Which became D drive) and all previous information from the SSD Win 7. In fact I even was able to boot Steam off D drive, and games could run fine on it as well without transfering anything...

However, at this point I'm not impressed and I feel spending $250 after extended warranty was too much for the small performance gain. I'm going to return it and instead pick up a Mushkin Callisto Deluxe 60GB which will save me around $60+. Plus, the Intel SSD I got didn't even come with the mounting bracket (even tho I asked the salesman if I needed anything to install it) so add that to the cost and I'd be saving more like $80. After Win 7 and a few apps and updates, I still had 55GB free (ie 25GB used) so 60GB shouldn't be an issue at all for me.

I'm still curious as to proper setup procedures tho. For example, here's a good article with some info on things you might want to do:
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/3116/tweaktown_s_solid_state_drive_optimization_guide/index4.html

I'd like to touch on a few issues. Firstly, drivers. It seems Intel released new drivers that can allow TRIM on RAID SSDs. I've read some sources saying it's only if the SSD is not itself a part of the RAID but other people seem to think it'll work with RAID 0 SSDs too. Any info here?

Second, Write Cache. I get that it's good for performance, but is the only point of disabling the buffer (and risk losing data) to save space? How much space? 1GB? No biggie IMO.

Third, Indexing. Is this really going to make no difference? People say the SSD search speed is really good, and it makes sense. But at the same time a lot of those "random access" benchmarks don't mention if Indexing is on or off. I'd like to see a comparison. I've read that Indexing is better, especially if you do word searches for specific files on your drive - say, searching the title of a PDF.

Fouth, Defrag. Ok I understand SSDs do not, at all, need to be defraged. But if we don't run a scheduled defrag, this is a pointless operation right? I use Auslogics Defrag and can just select which drive to defrag and/or optimize... Would this option "uncheck" by default the SSD?

Fifth, System Restore. I like restore. It's a great safety net, so I don't want to disable it. At the same time, I don't want it taking up SSD space. Why can't I set it to save backups on my HDDs?? There's a ton of room there. If anyone knows how to do that I'm all ears!

Sixth, Superfetch and Prefetch. I don't really know what superfetch does. Apparently it "caches files used often" so does that mean it kind of preloads them or something? This seems similar to the Indexing argument. Prefetch, on the other hand, seems like something completely unrelated to SSD. In fact, Prefetch would appear to put more data on the SSD. I can only understand disabling this if you're running a system with a low amount of RAM (say 2gb). I currently have 8gb so I'm guessing this isn't in any way a benefit right? In fact, it's more of a detriment to SSD wear. Plus, isn't RAM still faster than an SSD?

 

[mgrzTX]

I could be wrong but I believe the newest Intel drivers support TRIM on SSDs even if they ARE in the array, could be wrong though.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2010/03/23/intel-releases-trim-for-raid/1

2nd and 3rd I believe your answers to your questions are correct, but don't have any concrete evidence.

4th, I don't quite understand your question.

5th, System restore points have to be on the drive that their "protecting". If you back up properly you shouldn't really need it however, and backing up your SSD onto one of your other HDDs automatically every day shouldn't be too hard if you want to. And I know it's a pain, but

To the OP. I would do what the 1st guys recommended. You can then go into your new install of Windows on your SSD and move all of your "library folder" locations back to your HDD so they don't take up all the space on your SSD. Move the Downloads, My Documents, My Pictures, etc.

for example

http://hubpages.com/hub/Windows-7_-_Moving_My_Documents

 

[wolfram23]

^thanks mgrzTX. I'm going to make my own thread now with a few more questions instead of hijacking this one haha.

 

[avatar_raq]

@ wolfram:
I did exactly as u did with my OCZ vertex2 (installing a 2nd OS while keeping 2 x 1TB HDDs in raid 0 connected), the boot time was faster than with the HDDs but less than what I expected, then I read somewhere that as long as the 'system reserved' partition on the HDDs then it'll slow startup, since it is needed in the process! I have yet to test this , but this could be the one of reasons why most ppl recommend disconnecting other drives!

 

[wolfram23]

@avatar_raq, I made a new thread on it, but yeah I think so too. Funny thing is after reinstalling without the HDDs, when I plugged them in that "system reserved" partition was visible. I simply hid it, as it's only 100mb - I think w/o a format I can't get that space back. On the plus side it seems to be faster now, although the shutdown slowed down after adding the HDDs back in.

 

[jijoslin]

Best answer selected by jijoslin.