Newbie with HDD/SSD setup and slow computer

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  1. Posts : 6
    64 bit W7 Pro
       #1

    Newbie with HDD/SSD setup and slow computer


    Hi,

    I have a new Lenovo x230 with W7 Pro initially installed to the 300 GB HDD, then shortly afterwards I bought an SSD (120 GB mSATA) and installed W7 to the SSD. I did not disconnect the HDD when I installed W7 on the SSD (so effectively have 2 copies of W7). The SSD is now the C: drive and the HDD is the D: drive. The laptop clearly boots from the C: drive (SSD) so I am ok there.

    Nothing seems to run quickly. Wake-up from hibernation is very slow and even browsing the web is much slower than the previous Vaio Z series I had that died a while ago. I am trying to get my system optimized so that it runs as efficiently and quickly as possible.

    I am good at following computer directions (I can customize things, install drives, jailbreak phones and things) but the research I have done on on things like moving the system reserve partition (which is what I suspect is wrong) is too advanced for poor ol' me. Here is a pic attached showing my systems drives, does this help? Glad to post more info, just tell me what you want to see.

    Thanks!
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Newbie with HDD/SSD setup and slow computer-hdd-sdd.jpg  
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 17
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
       #2

    If it were my rig, I would open the case,

    Swap the SATA leads of the SSD and the HDD - so the SSD is drive 0

    Set the Computer to boot from DVD

    Insert the Windows Install Disk and Start the Computer

    After setting Country - DO NOT SELECT Install instead...

    Click on Repair your computer

    Let it do a Start up Repair then Re-Boot...

    Should have a far speedier computer
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 6
    64 bit W7 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Thank you, this makes sense but I have an mSATA drive that my friend plugged into the mSATA "port" inside the laptop. Can I switch the leads on this computer?
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 6
    64 bit W7 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #4

    FYI here is how the VM is set up. Note that "D" is the system drive even though C is the Win7 drive (and I believe D is a partition on the mSATA SSD anyway, as I only have 2 drives: C (mSATA) and E (HDD). Does this help?
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Newbie with HDD/SSD setup and slow computer-system-drive.jpg  
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 17
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
       #5

    My Mistake - after NOW researching the Lenovo x230 I find that this is a LAPTOP and you seem to be running a Virtual Machine... VM

    with ?two? drives - I had assumed a desktop unit where the SATA sockets 0,1,2,3 also denote basic boot order for the drives.

    Sorry - My advise is NOT useful...
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 6
    64 bit W7 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #6

    sammyone said:
    My Mistake - after NOW researching the Lenovo x230 I find that this is a LAPTOP and you seem to be running a Virtual Machine... VM

    with ?two? drives - I had assumed a desktop unit where the SATA sockets 0,1,2,3 also denote basic boot order for the drives.

    Sorry - My advise is NOT useful...
    No, the picture shows Virtual Memory allocation not virtual machine.
    In any case, the SSD as stated in the original post is mSATA.

    Based on the pics and info, can anyone help?

    Thank you!
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 10
    Windows 7/8 Pro 64bit
       #7

    Remove the built-in HDD and boot up the machine. See if it changes anything. Do you need to have 2 Win7-Installations running?

    Otherwise wipe your HDD and check your bootloader to have only the one entry for the SSD-OS.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 6
    64 bit W7 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Fr0st777 said:
    Remove the built-in HDD and boot up the machine. See if it changes anything. Do you need to have 2 Win7-Installations running?

    Otherwise wipe your HDD and check your bootloader to have only the one entry for the SSD-OS.
    I bought the laptop so that I could avoid total inoperability if one drive crashed. If the HDD crashed, I could probably recover the documents that I store in it. If the mSATA SSD crashed I could simply boot from the HDD and take my time replacing the SSD. If I remove the HDD and it does speed things up, do I just reinsert it and the problem will be fixed?
    Last edited by weezl; 13 Oct 2013 at 19:22.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 10
    Windows 7/8 Pro 64bit
       #9

    well that sounds interesting...

    Can't tell if removing the HDD and putting it back will have the problem solved but I guess it's not a big deal to try if removing the HDD helps so just try that and report back how it went.

    Also maybe do a benchmark for SSDs like "ATTO" and report results. That could also give us a idea of what makes your system slow.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 6
    64 bit W7 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Fr0st777 said:
    well that sounds interesting...

    Can't tell if removing the HDD and putting it back will have the problem solved but I guess it's not a big deal to try if removing the HDD helps so just try that and report back how it went.

    Also maybe do a benchmark for SSDs like "ATTO" and report results. That could also give us a idea of what makes your system slow.
    Here is the ATTO:

    Thanks so much for your help! EDIT: I removed the HDD and had a much better experience. Except one of the taskbar icons was lost (pointing to my browser) and also the explorer browser that I rarely use spends about 40 seconds thinking when doing anything, even visiting google.com. After replacing the HDD, everything is the same but the Office programs seem a bit faster. I believe they were looking to the HDD for some file while opening and when they did not find this file when the HDD was remove, probably the default folder changed to the SSD. In any case, something is seriously wrong with the system in that I do need to keep the HDD installed but I hate the "conflicts" I am having with it in (and have no idea why I cant visit google when the HDD is out).
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Newbie with HDD/SSD setup and slow computer-atto-c-drive.gif  
    Last edited by weezl; 13 Oct 2013 at 21:18.
      My Computer


 
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