Windows 7: Reinstalling Windows 7 on 32 GB SSD

(Lenovo U410 - 32 GB SSD, 750 GB HDD)



-A little bit of background information: I pretty much screwed around with my laptop trying to solve a problem. This eventually lead me to breaking a "RAID" setup in the laptop which uses a 32 GB SSD as cache with Intel Rapid Start/Storage Technology and reinstalling Windows 7 on just the HDD. I'm trying to figure out if I should just try to re-setup what I "broke" - not too sure how lol - or use the 32 GB SSD as a boot drive - which I'm also not sure on how to do.

I have read some guides on installing the OS on a small SSD and then moving things to the HDD manually/junction points/symbolic links.

I'm not sure exactly on how to do these things or if they're worth doing. I've also stumbled upon other people having problems with these methods as the OS just writes things back onto the boot drive; SSD.

I'd appreciate it if someone could give significant insight on this and share their knowledge.

A Windows 7 installation with updates is typically under 20 GB, probably over 15 GB.

I have an 80 GB SSD with 55 applications and have never used more than 30 GB of that 80.

You can save space by turning off hibernation, reducing the space devoted to System Restore, and either reducing the page file or putting it on another drive.

I don't think you'll get much encouragement about fiddling with junction points or symbolic links.

And probably not much encouragement for using RAID with a Windows 7/SSD laptop.

I'd install apps to the SSD up to the level of maybe 27 or 28 GB and then go to the 750 GB HDD.

I think I'll attempt this. Also, do I need to turn off my HDD in the BIOS before I install Windows 7 on the SSD? I read somewhere that some people did that, but I have a partition on the HDD that stores all my drivers (I have made a backup but I would still like to keep that partition).

Turn it off or disconnect it outright. If you don't, you may end up with some Windows files on the HDD, which you DON'T want to do.

Reconnect the HDD after the install and get whatever drivers you need----although you may not have to install any of them---Windows 7 does a good job of supplying needed drivers.

I answered this in your other thread: Removing RAID and Installing Windows 7

If this transpires like other 32gb SSD chips sold in a RAID array to speed up a HD's caching ability, once you break the RAID you need to boot in with a partitioning manager to partition the 32gb NTFS Primary so that the Windows 7 installer will see it to install. Partition Wizard Create Partition - Video Help

But you can first boot the Windows 7 installer as it may already detect this particular SSD without partitioning first. If so install OS and most-used programs along with paging file to SSD, all other programs and data linked via libraries on the HD. Library - Include a Folder - Windows 7 Forums