Has anyone installed a SSD Drive before?

[karlsnooks]

Don't sweat the small stuff. The write "problem" is grossly over exaggeratied. Put the page file on the ssd or anywhere or do like me and just don't worry about messing around with it.

 

[madtownidiot]

FYI the defrag service is not disabled to prolong the life of a SSD. It's disabled because it will never be necessary. Even if an image of a system partition in which every sector was a fragment of a different file were moved to a SSD it wouldn't be any slower than a clean 1st install.

 

[tw33k]

do like me and just don't worry about messing around with it.

+1. Like I posted in another thread...People need to learn to leave Windows 7 alone. It is not XP.

 

[whs]

Moving the pagefile off the SSD is defeating the purpose of the fast SSD. I have never done that and never encountered any problems. Your SSD will last a lot longer than you will care to keep it. So I would not worry.

Regarding the 2.5" to 3.5" adaptor, here is an example: Newegg.com - OCZ OCZACSSDBRKT Solid State Drive 3.5" Adaptor Bracket

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

I didn't spend money for an adapter, I used some velcro to "attach" the SSD to the case, works a treat.

 

[karlsnooks]

Mine came withe an adapter which I didn't need so gave to my favorite computer repair shop.

 

[whs]

If there is a 3.5" bay which is easily accessible, I would recommend the bracket that sells for less than $10. But that is not always the case. I had to resort to Velcro in one of my boxes too (dumb Dell).

 

[madtownidiot]

If there is a 3.5" bay which is easily accessible, I would recommend the bracket that sells for less than $10. But that is not always the case. I had to resort to Velcro in one of my boxes too (dumb Dell).

nothing wrong with that... I once used velcro to add 4 more HDDs to an atx box I was using for all my back up files

 

[habibi]

All these talks are really pysching me up to get a SSD.. I will save more $. Thanks guys!

 

[karlsnooks]

What have we done?

Just joking, you will not regret the decision.

Glad that we could help.

 

[habibi]

Intel just announced new SSD specs! Hope the older ones will be cheaper!

 

[habibi]

I finally bought the intel x-25M 120GB SSD yesterday. Plugged it into my PC via Sata, boot Windows 7 Ultimate from DVD and installed directly to it. I have a couple of questions:

1. I didn't format or create new partition from the Windows installation menu. I just chose it and it continues to install. So, is the drive aligned properly then? This thread gave me the impression that there's still some stuff I need to do. I was hoping Win 7 would take care of it.

2. I just realized this morning that I didn't plug the SSD into SATA port 0 or 1. I just plugged into the next available port (port 5). Does it matter? There was some discussion on the 'Net about Win 7 TRIM only works if it is port 0 and 1. If that is the case, can I just plug it into port 0 and 1 WITHOUT having to reinstall? Will it just work?

3. I didn't enable AHCI in BIOS and I'm not sure if it was enabled (at work now).. I guess I could just go back and enable it, right?

Anyway, while the experience of SSD is snappy once Windows start running, I didn't find a significant boot time improvement over Win 7 on spinny drives. I also heard that my spinny drives start turning during boot time and I wonder why is that - this could explain the lack of significant improvements during boot. Any advice?

 

[whs]

Hmm, strange that your boot time did not improve. Check with Soluto what is holding it up. The information I get from Soluto about my 90GB OCZ Vertex2 is in the picture below - if my arithmetic is right, that corresponds to 16 seconds. And I am not even running in AHCI mode because this dumb Sony laptop does not let you change anything in the BIOS.

In principle the Win7 installer should align your SSD, but you never know, Check it - instructions here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/113967-ssd-alignment.html?ltr=S

PS; the spinning disk is started by the BIOS. So that is no reason for concern.

 

[habibi]

Thanks, whs.. I will definitely try out Soluto. That's a neat tool. Just this morning I also discovered SpaceSniffer.. another cool tool to map pictorially your directory sizes. It allows you to know which directory took up the biggest HDD space. Useful to sniff out the small SSD to optimize it.

BTW, do you know if I could just enabled ACHI in BIOS without needing to reinstall Win 7 into the SSD? Or can recable the drive into a different SATA port?

 

[whs]

1. I would enable AHCI before the installation. And then see this: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/61869-ahci-enable-windows-7-vista.html

2. Yeah, I know space sniffer. But I use WinDirStat which is a lot better (and more fun) - I think.

BTW: 120GB is really large for the OS. I have 2x60GB, 2x80GB and 1x90GB and never ran out of space. And 3 of those are on laptops with only 1 disk. It is only a matter of organization. I do, however, have 8 external disks and a box full of USB sticks that I use extensively.

Another tip: Download this .zip folder where you find a comprehensive tutorial I made for the installation of an SSD and the OS. You may find that useful: Install an SSD and transfer the Operating System.zip - Windows Live

 

[habibi]

Great guide in the zip file and the 'enable ACHI after Win 7 installation'. I have done just that and enabled ACHI. Yay.

Edit: WOW, after I enabled ACHI, my WEI index for the HDD went from 7.5 to 7.7. Excellent!

In your guide, you said to ignore other tweaking from other websites. I am inclined to follow your advice (and I am lazy) - but what about TEMP variables? Should I move it elsewhere?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Great guide in the zip file and the 'enable ACHI after Win 7 installation'. I have done just that and enabled ACHI. Yay.

Edit: WOW, after I enabled ACHI, my WEI index for the HDD went from 7.5 to 7.7. Excellent!

In your guide, you said to ignore other tweaking from other websites. I am inclined to follow your advice (and I am lazy) - but what about TEMP variables? Should I move it elsewhere?

Hello.


Here's some other ideas, especially numbers 8 & 9 if you don't use them though I advise against completely disabling System Restore, just trim its "used storage space" to about 4GB in case you ever need it.

How to Free Up and Recover Hard Drive Space


If you ever have startup issues and the SSD is not connected to SATA port # 0/1 whichever is the first port on your motherboard, post a snip of disk management from the SSD OS and describe what is what, so we can look at it.

   Note

In the Windows start menu right click computer and click manage, in the left pane of the "Computer Management" window that opens click disk management and post a snip of that.

How to Upload and Post a Screenshot and File in Seven Forums

 

[whs]

Great guide in the zip file and the 'enable ACHI after Win 7 installation'. I have done just that and enabled ACHI. Yay.

Edit: WOW, after I enabled ACHI, my WEI index for the HDD went from 7.5 to 7.7. Excellent!

In your guide, you said to ignore other tweaking from other websites. I am inclined to follow your advice (and I am lazy) - but what about TEMP variables? Should I move it elsewhere?

I guess you could move those. I never do. If you are very skilled, you can, of course, make a few more tweaks to get another half percent more performance. When I wrote the guide, I had the average user in mind and did not want him to get into trouble by applying tweaks he does not understand for a very nominal gain.

 

[habibi]

Hmm, I have a problem. iTunes backup my iPhone data into c:\users\<username>\appdata\roaming... and it is about 16gb per backup and there can be a few backups at a time! My SSD is going to run out of space soon!! What can I do? Good idea to map c:\user files to another drive?

 

[NessPJ]

Can't you simply tell iTunes to use a different location for those backups?