Show us your SSD performance

[sygnus21]

Well.... I guess I'm spending $20 bucks

Just wanted to make sure the drive is running in peak performance doing it this way, as opposed to a fresh install.

Thanks.

 

[sygnus21]

That note is talking about the Intel RST RAID driver, it's the one that enables Trim and is used by most SSD users, at least the ones that can.
It gets very good performance. You don't have to have any RAID arrays to use it.
I'm using the 10.0 beta with no problems.

It will work with your Intel ICH10R chipset, just use the RST driver 9.6.0.1014 version for your OCZ SSD.

Have you found this guide on the OCZ site:

THE BASIC GUIDE & FAQ - ABC for OCZ SSD​

Just got clarification from OCZ that stating that the RST 10 series drivers are problematic, but the 9 series are fine. Anyway I don't use RAID, but I do use AHCI.

From: Eric Ryder [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, December 31, 2010 10:30 AM
To: Andrew
Subject: RE: clarification on Intel RST 10 series drivers

The drivers for the ICH10R from intel.com. There are 10.1.x series (the new current ones) and the (now older) 9.6.x drivers.

The 10 series seem to block the toolbox from communicating with the drive.
_____________________________
Eric Ryder
OCZ Forum Support Manager
OCZ Technology Group - www.ocztechnology.com

My reply.....

Sorry but you confused me. So to be clear…. If I have the 9.xxx drivers for the chipset installed I can use the toolbox. But if I have the new 10.xxx drivers installed I can’t?

BTW I'm using the 9.xxx drivers. Didn’t even know the 10.xxxx were out.

Thanks.

His answer....

Yes, you have it right.

And yes, I did read through this - THE BASIC GUIDE & FAQ - ABC for OCZ SSD

Thanks.

If you are not afraid of spending the 20 bucks, the tool is the way to go. Then you are certain that everything is perfect.

Just downloaded it. Now all I'm waiting for it delivery of the SSD drive. Will report back when I get things set up.

Thanks guys

Peace

 

[Airbot]

I haven't looked at the Paragon tool so can't say anything about it, if whs recommends it it must be good.

That note is talking about the Intel RST RAID driver, it's the one that enables Trim and is used by most SSD users, at least the ones that can.
It gets very good performance. You don't have to have any RAID arrays to use it.
I'm using the 10.0 beta with no problems.

It will work with your Intel ICH10R chipset, just use the RST driver 9.6.0.1014 version for your OCZ SSD.

Have you found this guide on the OCZ site:

THE BASIC GUIDE & FAQ - ABC for OCZ SSD​

What 10.0 Beta version are you using Dave?

I'm using the 10.1.0.1008 version. The latest that I know of. They're WHQL and there even posted on Intels site now. (Although, OCZ doesn't have there firmware geared using the 10v yet, so you cant use their toolbox or flash firmware to the drive with them as it won't recognize. But they're fine to use otherwise.)

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sea...tel®+RST)&ProdId=2101&LineId=1090&FamilyId=40

 

[sygnus21]

I can confirm what Airbot, and OCZ is saying. I just discovered I am using the 10 series driver and Toolbox won't read my drive with them. I had to use my old machine which has an ICH7R chipset using 8.9 drivers. So yeah, 10 series don't work

Also, OCZ's website claims version 1.24 as the latest firmware update for my drive, but toolbox shows it as 1.27



Am I missing something??? - OCZ Technology. I have an OCZ Vertex 2

Thanks.

@ whs, the paragon software worked like a champ. Thanks.

 

[Airbot]

The 10v work just fine. The only thing that doesn't work is if you want to use their toolbox or flash the drive with having them installed because they don't recognize the drive because OCZ hasn't made their firmware use the 10v yet. They go off the old outdated 9 version. They're just slow to update it. Other than that, using the 10 version is fine, most use them and I've seen no real problems with them. If you want to use the toolbox for whatever reason, you can just rollback to the old 9v to use, then back to 10v for normal use if you wanted.

1.24 is the current one they have out that you can get from a posted link ATM. But if you've just purchased a drive (newer one) they come with new firmware, i.e 1.26/1.27. They ship new drives with their newer firmware. Just haven't made it available to the general public yet. Some of their firmware updates are just 1.24 fixes with new drive size capacities.

Technical Discussion OCZ Vertex 2 80GB with fw 1.27?


If you want to check what firmware is currently on the drive, go there:

 

[profdlp]

I'm assuming I need to wait for Intel to release new firmware for my X25-M for the toolbox to work again?

 

[Abouna]

If you are not afraid of spending the 20 bucks, the tool is the way to go. Then you are certain that everything is perfect.

I assume that this DOESNT apply if one of the reasons you are adding an SSD is because something has gone haywire in your current OS? Or is that not an issue? I ask because I wrote this earlier today as my first post (no one has answered it yet....):

OK, newbie here!

Glad I found this forum and tutorial.

I'm running a Dell XPS Studio 8100, Lynnfield, I7-860, 2.8 & 8gb RAM. I do a lot of photo editing and was getting tired of my old XP machine. I upgraded to this a few months ago. It's been fairly good but certainly not as snappy as I had hoped for going from my old 8400 to this.

That said, the OS has been a bit flaky lately and I can't boot without getting the black screen and flashing cursor, I have to hit f12 and then go from there for the OS to boot properly.

With that in mind, I've decided to order a 120gb or so SSD as my primary drive. I keep the old boot drive for data only.

Here's what I need to know:

- I will be clean installing Windows 7 Pro x64 from the factory Re-installation disc from Dell onto the new SSD. Will this work?

- Do I need to do anything other than putting the disc into the drive when I start the computer?

- I assume, once I have the OS installed on the SSD, I can then reattach the original HD without fear of the computer trying to boot from that drive?

 

[essenbe]

This is the way recommended by the forum. Optimize SSD/HD for installation. Although I don't believe the 'clean all' command is necessary for a new drive and it seems that most people align at 1024. 64 will work good too but I have been told that 1024 is better for some reason.

Also, before you install disconnect all other hard drives in your system.

 

[sygnus21]

Hi Abouna, Welcome to seven forums and Happy New Year.

Now, first off you need to try and figure out why you're getting black screens. And since you're moving to a new drive and doing a fresh install (which I recommend due to your issues), this might cure your problems, but if it doesn't suspect a hardware issue.

As far as doing anything to the SSD drive prior to the OS install, maybe a firmware update, otherwise since your installing Windows 7 on it you shouldn't need to do any other maintenance. Well, make sure you enable AHCI in the BIOS most all SSD drives perform better on AHCI as opposed to IDE.

Now, if you’re going to image the drive, that is copy it over from the old drive, then the program whs recommended works like a champ as I just used it to image my drive and it was very quick and easy. I had my drive copied in less than 20 minutes -
However given your issues I wouldn’t image the drive, I would just do a fresh install of the OS on the SSD drive.

My two cents

 

[Dave76]

You don't have to have any RAID arrays to use it.
I'm using the 10.0 beta with no problems.

It will work with your Intel ICH10R chipset, just use the RST driver 9.6.0.1014 version for your OCZ SSD.

What 10.0 Beta version are you using Dave?

I'm using the 10.1.0.1008 version. The latest that I know of. They're WHQL and there even posted on Intels site now. (Although, OCZ doesn't have there firmware geared using the 10v yet, so you cant use their toolbox or flash firmware to the drive with them as it won't recognize. But they're fine to use otherwise.)

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&ProductFamily=Chipsets&ProductLine=Chipset+Software&ProductProduct=Intel%C2%AE+Rapid+Storage+Technology+%28Intel%C2%AE+RST%29&ProdId=2101&LineId=1090&FamilyId=40

Don't think it's actually a beta, 10.0.0.1046, got it from Station Drivers and it wasn't on Intel's site yet so, maybe pre-published.

Just D/L'ed the 10.1.0.1008 version.

If you are not afraid of spending the 20 bucks, the tool is the way to go. Then you are certain that everything is perfect.

I assume that this DOESNT apply if one of the reasons you are adding an SSD is because something has gone haywire in your current OS? Or is that not an issue? I ask because I wrote this earlier today as my first post (no one has answered it yet....):

OK, newbie here!

Glad I found this forum and tutorial.

I'm running a Dell XPS Studio 8100, Lynnfield, I7-860, 2.8 & 8gb RAM. I do a lot of photo editing and was getting tired of my old XP machine. I upgraded to this a few months ago. It's been fairly good but certainly not as snappy as I had hoped for going from my old 8400 to this.

That said, the OS has been a bit flaky lately and I can't boot without getting the black screen and flashing cursor, I have to hit f12 and then go from there for the OS to boot properly.

With that in mind, I've decided to order a 120gb or so SSD as my primary drive. I keep the old boot drive for data only.

Here's what I need to know:

- I will be clean installing Windows 7 Pro x64 from the factory Re-installation disc from Dell onto the new SSD. Will this work?

- Do I need to do anything other than putting the disc into the drive when I start the computer?

- I assume, once I have the OS installed on the SSD, I can then reattach the original HD without fear of the computer trying to boot from that drive?

Agree with essenbe and sygnus21.

- I will be clean installing Windows 7 Pro x64 from the factory Re-installation disc from Dell onto the new SSD. Will this work?

Yes, since you're having OS issues I would recommend to do the clean install, as you mentioned.

- Do I need to do anything other than putting the disc into the drive when I start the computer?

Yes,
First check for firmware update, install if not the latest.

Second, enable ACHI or RAID in your BIOS, whichever your Dell has options for. RAID will give you all the benefits of AHCI and you don't need to have anything in a RAID array.

Third, it's best to have the SSD in SATA port 0, unplug all other drives. Except the DVD if you are using it. I would recommend installing from USB memory stick, will be a little faster, but not absolutely necessary.

You don't need to do anything else to a new 'out of the box' SSD. Don't format it or make any partitions.
This will give you the small 'System Reserved' partition, 100mb, which is preferable. Unless you have a preference against it, up to you.

Win7 will align the partition and set all of the basic settings for the SSD.

MS Engineering for Windows 7 Support and Q&A for Solid-State Drives​

You can make more partitions after the installation if you want.

- I assume, once I have the OS installed on the SSD, I can then reattach the original HD without fear of the computer trying to boot from that drive?

Should be set to the SSD.
If it's not just go into the Boot device list in BIOS and change the preference order to the SSD above the HDD.

 

[Dave76]

I'm assuming I need to wait for Intel to release new firmware for my X25-M for the toolbox to work again?

What firmware do you have?

Mine is 2CV102HD, the Intel toolbox works fine.

What is the toolbox version?

 

[mickey megabyte]

...

is yours a three and a half incher, Airbot? (if you pardon the expression )

what's the 3.5 bit about?

here's mine...


(i wonder why my device manager is calling my drives 'ATA devices'?)

 

[Cr00zng]

Happy New Year everyone!

Crucial C300 128GB SSD SATA 3.0
HD Tune benchmark:

crucial c300.JPG

AS SSD benchmark:

AS benchmark.jpg

CrystalDisk benchmark:

cd benchmark.JPG

Three benchmarks and three different results...

CrystalDisk is out of whack, the maximum read speed for this drive is 355MB/s.

I am not too familiar with HD Tune in regards to its accuracy for testing SSD drives.

It is probably the AS SSD benchmark that is the most accurate, this benchmark is designed for SSD drives.

 

[sygnus21]

Also, OCZ's website claims version 1.24 as the latest firmware update for my drive, but toolbox shows it as 1.27

View attachment 127996

Am I missing something??? - OCZ Technology. I have an OCZ Vertex 2

1.24 is the current one they have out that you can get from a posted link ATM. But if you've just purchased a drive (newer one) they come with new firmware, i.e 1.26/1.27. They ship new drives with their newer firmware. Just haven't made it available to the general public yet. Some of their firmware updates are just 1.24 fixes with new drive size capacities.

Technical Discussion OCZ Vertex 2 80GB with fw 1.27?


If you want to check what firmware is currently on the drive, go there:

View attachment 128012

Done and it's definitely 1.27....



BTW do these speeds look right?





Thanks.

 

[mickey megabyte]

your atto looks very similar to mine.

 

[sygnus21]

Yeah that one looks simuliar to a lot of others so I guess I'm good.

Thanks

 

[Abouna]

Anyone have a preference for which SSD I should buy? I haven't ordered yet. I need to get a 120-128gb.

 

[sygnus21]

I don't know, a lot of people like OCZ, some prefer Intel. Do your homework. It took me months to decide on what to get and in the end I chose OCZ's Vertex 2 120Gig. I got it for $219 from Amazon.com. They now have it pushed back up to 223.

In the end it's going to come down to your wallet and personal tastes.

 

[Abouna]

I don't know, a lot of people like OCZ, some prefer Intel. Do your homework. It took me months to decide on what to get and in the end I chose OCZ's Vertex 2 120Gig. I got it for $219 from Amazon.com. They now have it pushed back up to 223.

In the end it's going to come down to your wallet and personal tastes.

I've done a fair amount of reading and it does seem that those are the two front runners. My biggest concern is reliability and warranty coverage. In that vein I have to lean toward Intel.

On the other hand, everyone seems to like the Sandforce 1200, which the OCZ uses I think but the Intel doesn't

 

[sygnus21]

Yeah it’s a hard decision. I started to go Intel but the sandforce controller and price pushed my wallet towards OCZ. Don't know what the warranty is for Intel, but the OCZ Vertex 2 is 3 years.

To be honest I can’t see you going bad with Intel. I could have easily done it myself and wouldn’t have lost any sleep.

The big requirement for me was the drive had to be at least 120GB. I think that (capacity) should be your consideration as well

Good luck.