Can I boot from a 30GB SSD or did I just waste my money?

[Osuchan]

Hi,

Situation:
-1x Alienware laptop bought rather impulsively with regrettably little research and money (bought on finance)
-Alienware laptop has 500GB HDD and a 30GB SSD
-Alienware laptop is running Windows Home Premium x64
-Is there any way I can run/boot windows from the SSD or did I just waste much money on nothing?

and you don't think I can run/boot windows from the SSD;

-What is a good use for a 30GB SSD?

Any help or input is welcomed and much appreciated,

Osuchan

 

[alphanumeric]

I wouldn't try installing 7 to the 30 gig SSD, too small IMHO. It's likely already in use as a cache drive to speed up loading frequently used files. Similar to a hybrid SSD/HDD.

 

[Osuchan]

I wouldn't try installing 7 to the 30 gig SSD, too small IMHO. It's likely already in use as a cache drive to speed up loading frequently used files. Similar to a hybrid SSD/HDD.

In your experience, how big is Windows 7 when put onto an SSD? Also I've heard that perhaps disabling hibernate settings and limiting/moving page files can limit the size but I have no idea if I could make 30GB work or how to do any of that stuff :/

 

[alphanumeric]

On this PC with Windows 8.1 Pro and Office 2013 I'm using up about 20 GB. That's with hibernation disabled, system restore disabled, and all my user folders moved to my Data partition. The tutorials section will tell you how to turn those features off. There are installation tutorials too. I only just installed a little while ago and haven't installed all my programs etc, that's just the basics so far.

 

[Osuchan]

So considering that you're running at 20GB, how come you, and many people online, say that 30GB isn't enough given that it seems it would fit?

 

[madcratebuilder]

If you watch how you install programs 30GB well run windows 7 just fine. You should move the "User" folder to the hhd as this folder can become very large, 10GB or more is not uncommon.

On all my Win machines I use a ssd for the OS only and the average size is 20GB total for 64 bit HP and Ultimate. Claims that 30GB is insufficient are from users that have not really looked into it.

 

[theog]

You will need to un-raid the drives.

Dell tutorial links:
http://dell.to/15Cz2AS
http://dell.to/13EbJpn

How to order Microsoft official Dell OEM manufacturer's Recovery Disks.
Manuals | Dell US


http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dellcare/en/backupcd_form
http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dellcare/en/backupcd_form?DoNotRedirect=y

 

[Osuchan]

Thanks very much for the advice madcratebuilder. I have my data backed up now, but am very nervous as to how I will actually do the SSD transfer. Given that i don't have enough room for some options for the transfer, any advice as to how best I should proceed?

 

[Osuchan]

You will need to un-raid the drives.

Dell tutorial links:
http://dell.to/15Cz2AS
http://dell.to/13EbJpn

How to order Microsoft official Dell OEM manufacturer's Recovery Disks.
Manuals | Dell US


RouteTo
Dell - Support

Thanks a bunch. Very handy links. Feeling ready to move boot to SSD but have obvious concerns as I don't want to ruin my re-install. Is there an order to following the tutorials? (i.e should I complete the top link then the bottom one?)

Also, I am still in possession of the following discs;

-Microsoft windows 7 Home premium SP1 64 Bit
-M17x R4 resource DVD
-Resource media webcam cenral

With these resource discs and the tutorials you've linked to, Do I now have all the resources I need to attempt this? And how does disabling Hibernate and moving "Users" factor in to all this?

Sorry for so many questions, this is my first experience interacting with OS installation and as such I am very nervous and very inept at even understanding which things apply to me and which don't and which things I should be doing and need not be doing, etc.

Thanks

 

[SandeepP]

You will need to un-raid the drives.

Dell tutorial links:
http://dell.to/15Cz2AS
http://dell.to/13EbJpn

How to order Microsoft official Dell OEM manufacturer's Recovery Disks.
Manuals | Dell US


RouteTo
Dell - Support

Thanks a bunch. Very handy links. Feeling ready to move boot to SSD but have obvious concerns as I don't want to ruin my re-install. Is there an order to following the tutorials? (i.e should I complete the top link then the bottom one?)

Also, I am still in possession of the following discs;

-Microsoft windows 7 Home premium SP1 64 Bit
-M17x R4 resource DVD
-Resource media webcam cenral

With these resource discs and the tutorials you've linked to, Do I now have all the resources I need to attempt this? And how does disabling Hibernate and moving "Users" factor in to all this?

Sorry for so many questions, this is my first experience interacting with OS installation and as such I am very nervous and very inept at even understanding which things apply to me and which don't and which things I should be doing and need not be doing, etc.

Thanks

Hi Osuchan,

Theog asked me to look into this. I have some recommendations that might be useful. MSATA drive on your system is used as a cache device which helps in improving speed of the system already.

Installing OS on MSATA would increase the speed of booting the system and functionality but changes would not be alot if you are expecting one.

If you still wish to install windows on the MSATA drive only then follow this link to set the system to Non RAID and then cleaning disks:

http://dell.to/15Cz2AS

Once disks are cleaned then you should do a clean install using the Microsoft windows 7 Home premium SP1 64 Bit by following this link below:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html

Once windows is installed you can use the M17x R4 resource DVD to install drivers or you can perform the same from our support site. Check this video for performing the same:

Updating Dell Drivers

Then you can install various other softwares shipped with your system if you like:

Downloading software using DELL Downloads

Now about the space it should install fine as I just reinstalled Win 7 Ultimate and it took about 25 Gb of space on the system. However, you would need to disable alot of features. Check this for doing so:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/819-hibernate-enable-disable.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/81500-system-restore-enable-disable.html

Also, any software that you install on the system make sure you install it on a folder on SATA harddrive and not the MSATA to save you from running out of space.

Hope this answers your query. If you have any further queries, please feel free to contact us.

 

[Osuchan]

@Sandeep P and theog,

Thanks for the great advice. I've managed to get my laptop to boot from the SSD! Success!

However, I now cannot access my HDD.

Owing to only having 30GB SSD I've economized drivers I installed in the hopes that after installing chipset and network drivers the HDD drivers could auto update and after a reset or two I could access it again.

Please help!!

 

[theog]

Can you post a screen shot of Disk management?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/274797-disk-management-post-screen-capture-image.html

 

[SandeepP]

@Sandeep P and theog,

Thanks for the great advice. I've managed to get my laptop to boot from the SSD! Success!

However, I now cannot access my HDD.

Owing to only having 30GB SSD I've economized drivers I installed in the hopes that after installing chipset and network drivers the HDD drivers could auto update and after a reset or two I could access it again.

Please help!!

Hi Osuchan,

Its great to hear that you were able to boot through MSATA drive.

Please upload the images of your disk mnagement as you might need to format the harddrive. Post the screnshot as advised by theog so we can advise you further.

 

[Osuchan]

Hopefully the attachment works.

Thank you again for the support. At the moment I feel like pulling my hair out this whole experience has been very stressful. Without such generous support I would be probably alot worse off and in a much worse state

EDIT: Also, just because I apparently wasn't having enough problems before, the in-built speakers are acting very odd.

One the left of my laptop I have 3 audio jacks (2 headphone, 1 mic)
From the front it goes headphone, headphone, mic.

-With no audio jacks plugged in it does not emit any sound even though mixer tells me itis
-With audio jack (headphones) in the front most headphone socket, I get low quality, tinny audio through headphones
-With audio jack (headphones in the second headphone socket, the audio comes out in reasonable quality through the in-built speakers

Well, that's something to consider on top of EVERYTHING ¬_¬

 

[alphanumeric]

System reserved is a hidden partition with no drive letter, it will only be visible in device manager. The other partition is unallocated so it will not be visible either. I'm not sure if the System reserved is a left over from the previous install or actually in use. It's the only one marked active so I think it might be in use. Normally that would be on the drive Windows is installed to so it should be on Disk 0, not Disk 1. One way to find out is to delete it and see if Windows will still load. Ideally it should have been deleted during the install to Drive 0. It will work the way it is but its not what I would call ideal.

 

[Osuchan]

I cleaned both disks before this install and so it will be from this install.

If I were to delete it, what are the negatives of such an action?

 

[alphanumeric]

I cleaned both disks before this install and so it will be from this install.

If I were to delete it, what are the negatives of such an action?

I do believe the Windows boot loader is there so Windows will not load if you delete it.

EDIT: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/71363-system-reserved-partition-delete.html

 

[theog]

The System Reserved Partition is the Windows 7 one, follow the tutorial above.

 

[alphanumeric]

lol, for a second there I forgot what forum I was on.

 

[SandeepP]

Hopefully the attachment works.

Thank you again for the support. At the moment I feel like pulling my hair out this whole experience has been very stressful. Without such generous support I would be probably alot worse off and in a much worse state

EDIT: Also, just because I apparently wasn't having enough problems before, the in-built speakers are acting very odd.

One the left of my laptop I have 3 audio jacks (2 headphone, 1 mic)
From the front it goes headphone, headphone, mic.

-With no audio jacks plugged in it does not emit any sound even though mixer tells me itis
-With audio jack (headphones) in the front most headphone socket, I get low quality, tinny audio through headphones
-With audio jack (headphones in the second headphone socket, the audio comes out in reasonable quality through the in-built speakers

Well, that's something to consider on top of EVERYTHING ¬_¬

Hi Osuchan,

Its good to know that you were able to install Windows on MSATA drive as desired by you. Your SATA harddrive is detected all you have to do is right click on the unallocated drive,select create volume and follow onscreen instructions to format and assign the volume label to your SATA drive.

Then you should be able to use your SATA drive as a storage drive.

Now, for the audio issue did you update the drivers after installation of Windows 7. Check this video for updating all the correct drivers:

.Updating Dell Drivers

Also, make sure you download and install the audio driver from the link below:

Audio driver

Keep us posted with the results so we can advise you further.