Reinstall Windows 7 Home SSD or Regular HD?

[Snag]

If you are reinstalling Windows 7 and detects 2 separate main hard drives (32gb SSD and 466gb HD) , which one do you install it to? SSD or HD? Thanks

 

[LittleJay]

It depends on how your SSD is currently set up. Is it being used as a cache drive for your current Windows installation, or is Windows installed on it and your HDD being used for storage?

 

[bigmck]

If you are reinstalling Windows 7 and detects 2 separate main hard drives (32gb SSD and 466gb HD) , which one do you install it to? SSD or HD? Thanks

You want your OS and progarms on a SSD if possible. Win 7 takes about 12 GB, so that you leave you some room for programs also. If you had a bigger SSD you would be in better shape, but you can still put the OS and some programs on the SSD. The SSD will make your programs open in one second. If you have any games, put those on the HDD.

 

[1Bowtie]

Just to add to what's been said, always unplug any extra drives so there is no chance of makeing a mistake.

 

[whs]

Just to add to what's been said, always unplug any extra drives so there is no chance of makeing a mistake.

That is good advice. The main reason you want to unplug all other disks is because the Win7 installer has this habit of placing the bootmgr on the first disk (lowest port) it finds. And that may not be convenient.

 

[LittleJay]

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware...ybrid-ssd-intel-rapid-storage-technology.html

Hey guys, if his 32 Gb SSD is a hybrid drive set up as a cache, can he actually install Windows 7 on it? That is why I asked my question in my initial post.

 

[whs]

Is it shown as a seperate disk in Disk Management ?? If yes, there should be no problem.

You should also check in Diskpart whether it is shown.

 

[LittleJay]

Is it shown as a seperate disk in Disk Management ?? If yes, there should be no problem.

You should also check in Diskpart whether it is shown.

Thank you for the info Wolfgang! I will keep it in mind for future reference.

 

[pbcopter]

32 GB is really too small for Windows 7. You will run out of room almost imediately.
Even 60GB would require most data to be placed on another disk.

 

[whs]

32 GB is really too small for Windows 7. You will run out of room almost imediately.
Even 60GB would require most data to be placed on another disk.

Not true. If you move the user data to the HDD, 32GB is plenty for the OS. Even with a LOT of programs, the system should not go over 25GB. What you need to do is disable the hiberfile and set the pagefile to 2GB.

 

[kbrady1979]

A regular, clean install of Win7 takes anywhere from 12-16GB. 20GB with drivers and all windows updates. If you have 10GB of just programs/applications alone, get a bigger drive. All of your other data needs to be on the HDD. As whs said above, disable hibernation and get rid of the file, and also lower your pagefile to something more reasonable. Just enough for Blue Screen dumps would be just fine.

The users folder, which includes Documents, downloads, pictures, music, videos, etc, should be remapped to your Hard Drive as none of that benefits from being on an SSD, and all it does it eat up space. I'm not even using 40GB on my SSD and I have Win7 Pro, all the programs I'll ever need, and some that I need to get rid of probably, and a couple of games. 32gb is cutting it close, but with some planning is very doable.

 

[whs]

A regular, clean install of Win7 takes anywhere from 12-16GB. 20GB with drivers and all windows updates. If you have 10GB of just programs/applications alone, get a bigger drive. All of your other data needs to be on the HDD. As whs said above, disable hibernation and get rid of the file, and also lower your pagefile to something more reasonable. Just enough for Blue Screen dumps would be just fine.

The users folder, which includes Documents, downloads, pictures, music, videos, etc, should be remapped to your Hard Drive as none of that benefits from being on an SSD, and all it does it eat up space. I'm not even using 40GB on my SSD and I have Win7 Pro, all the programs I'll ever need, and some that I need to get rid of probably, and a couple of games. 32gb is cutting it close, but with some planning is very doable.

I currently use 40GB too - but that includes a vBox virtual machine with Windows 8. Windows 7 alone is about 25GB.

 

[pbcopter]

32 GB is really too small for Windows 7. You will run out of room almost imediately.
Even 60GB would require most data to be placed on another disk.

Not true. If you move the user data to the HDD, 32GB is plenty for the OS. Even with a LOT of programs, the system should not go over 25GB. What you need to do is disable the hiberfile and set the pagefile to 2GB.

My comment was based on my experiences with a number of installations.
I believe the results will speak for itself.

 

[Snag]

I got a hybrid drive so I am trying to figure out the optimal way, thinking about just installing Windows in SSD and everything else in HDD.

Couldn't figure out how to use the damn Intel Rapid Storage Technology thing...

 

[whs]

32 GB is really too small for Windows 7. You will run out of room almost imediately.
Even 60GB would require most data to be placed on another disk.

Not true. If you move the user data to the HDD, 32GB is plenty for the OS. Even with a LOT of programs, the system should not go over 25GB. What you need to do is disable the hiberfile and set the pagefile to 2GB.

My comment was based on my experiences with a number of installations.
I believe the results will speak for itself.

I appreciate what say. But I have 6 SSDs and on all of them my OS takes about 25GBs - and that with a good collection of programs.

 

[bigmck]

I got a hybrid drive so I am trying to figure out the optimal way, thinking about just installing Windows in SSD and everything else in HDD.

Couldn't figure out how to use the damn Intel Rapid Storage Technology thing...

You need to put your programs on the same partition as the Win 7. The programs need to write to the registry.

 

[Snag]

Would it be better to install Windows 7 on HDD and set the 30gb SSD as a Cache drive?

I am trying to wrap my head around the Intel Rapid Storage Technology, when I reinstalled windows to the HDD, it only sets up SSD as a Cache drive, while it is suppose to use about 20GB is a Cache drive and 10GB as a Data drive.

Mine looks like this:
View image: SDC11483


Supposed to look like:
http://en.community.dell.com/cfs-fi...ons-components-files/3518/6253.Acc_5F00_3.png

Notice it suppose to split the SSD into Cache and Data drive...can't figure out how to do that....

 

[bigmck]

Would it be better to install Windows 7 on HDD and set the 30gb SSD as a Cache drive?

You have enough run to put Win 7 and quite a few programs on your SSD. Using the SSD for a cache is not using it to its full advantage.