Hard drive died, SSD time!

ScumLord

My main hard drive went belly up on Sunday morning, I haven't really had a good look at it yet but it sounded pretty dead. I've reinstalled Win7 on the other hard drive for the time being but I think I should take the opportunity to upgrade to SSD.

I was looking at this one on Komplett.
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=487794
I just picked the cheapest one with the highest read/write speeds though, is it any good, should I spend more?


There isn't any limits on the amount of times you can install Win7 is there? It'll be on it's 3rd or 4th install when I put it onto the SSD.

The computer gets used for everything, Games, photoshop and premier.

Blazer

I'd go for a higher capacity one with maybe a slower read/write.
32gb wouldn't last long.

60gb is a bit more decent

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=584094

ScumLord

Berkut wrote: »

I'd go for a higher capacity one with maybe a slower read/write.
32gb wouldn't last long.

60gb is a bit more decent

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=584094

How do you mean won't last long? If it's just the size, the previous drive was a 36gb 10000rpm so I'm used to the small size although I have run into space issues on a few occasion's suppose I should go for the extra size.

EngTech

As well as the OS, you should put your most commonly used programs on the SSD.

You should also make sure that the SSD has TRIM support. More info on this article:http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2010/02/04/windows-7-ssd-performance-and-trim/1.

That website also has alot of SSD reviews.

uberpixie

ScumLord wrote: »

How do you mean won't last long? If it's just the size, the previous drive was a 36gb 10000rpm so I'm used to the small size although I have run into space issues on a few occasion's suppose I should go for the extra size.

I would recommend a 60gig. 30 gig for win7 and apps is a wee bit small.

Currently use:http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=425735
OCZ Vertex 60 gig with trim support.

A SSD does make using your PC that bit more responsive and I am happy with mine. I use it purely for Windows and some day to day apps, I use a regular samsung F1 for games and media.

Would advise to read up on the OCZ forums, specifically this guide.
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?63273-*-Windows-7-Ultimate-Tweaks-amp-Utilities-*

It has a few small tweaks (useful for all brands of SSDs), I moved all my windows and web browser temp files and page file to a magnetic drive. SSDs doen't like lots of small random access it tends to fragment them. Takes about 20 mins to go through.

Do a tiny bit of research before you get one and NEVER use the windows defragmenter on them: while this is fine for regular harddrives, it messes up SSDs big time.

Other than that it should be plain sailing.

Komplett: Marc

This happened to me about two-three weeks ago. The HDD in my old notebook died and I replaced it with the 64GB listed above and so far have to say I'm absolutely loving it. I really just needed it to be a backup machine, but I've ended up using an old MacBook as much, if not more than, my primary machine just because it's as nice

But yeah, as everyone else is saying, I'd recommend the 64GB over the 32GB...

jbloggs

If you can stretch, the 80GB Intel X25-M G2 is still the best size/performance/price option around at the moment...

Komplett: Marc

I had considered that when I was picking mine up but just couldn't bring myself to part with the extra €30ish... since i'm using Spotify for music there's not too much difference between the 64GB and 80GB (without music I find I use remarkably little HDD space).

I'm not sure though, anyone else running from an SSD?

ScumLord

jbloggs wrote: »

If you can stretch, the 80GB Intel X25-M G2 is still the best size/performance/price option around at the moment...

The write speed is only 230mb/70mb that's allot lower than some of the cheaper ones? That OCZ one has numbers of 230mb/135mb, are these numbers a bit of a fiddle?

I'll be buying in the next day or two I've decided to take the advise given and go for a bigger one, there's no point coming up short in the future.

ScumLord

I ordered that Intel one but I've one more question.

I have windows7 installed on a partition, I have no interest in cloning or saving that installation at all it's just keeping me going while I wait for the SSD.

How do I go about installing on the new hard drive? Do I just wipe and install or will I get the option to do that while installing on the SSD?

When the other hard drive went there was no mention of licenses or putting in the key so I'm assuming it just matched itself up to a database and said it was ok.

It's Windows 7 Ultimate I got it for free by going to the official Microsoft launch event.

uberpixie

ScumLord wrote: »

How do I go about installing on the new hard drive? Do I just wipe and install or will I get the option to do that while installing on the SSD?

Pop it in and install windows on it as you would a regular magnetic drive.

No special steps required.

C.D.

uberpixie wrote: »

Pop it in and install windows on it as you would a regular magnetic drive.

No special steps required.

Um, it will work for sure, but to get the most of your drive and ensure that performance does not degrade over time, I'd suggest reading this post.

Just as an FYI, the post talks about TRIM/GC to prevent degradation. Presuming your drive supports it, you still need to do a few things to ensure that TRIM is actually working and keeping your SSD in shape.

ScumLord

How should I deal with the existing Win7 install though? I'd like to just format the partition that currently has Win7 installed on it and reinstall win7 onto the SSD. I'm just wondering if that'll cause problems. All the security measures have me worried I'll end up wiping Win7 and not being able to reinstall it.

I don't think it'll be a problem it's a completely legal copy supplied by Microsoft.

ScumLord

Got it installed and it seems to be running fine, thanks for all the help.

One more thing though,

I went to turn off defragmenting for that drive but it doesn't show up in the list, is that normal? The reason I ask is because I obviously want to continue defraging the ordinary hard drives. They show up and when I select them all a tick box automatically says defrag all hard drives but C isn't there. I'm assuming Win7 just knows it's SSD and isn't listing it and it's safe enough to leave the defrag all hard drives option on.


Wouldn't say I've noticed a huge speed increase though, I am getting a much higher win experience score it's gone from something like 5.9 to 7.9. I still have to do a full confirm that trim is working though. It's on anyway.

Komplett (Marc)

Komplett (Marc) wrote: »

I had considered that when I was picking mine up but just couldn't bring myself to part with the extra €30ish... since i'm using Spotify for music there's not too much difference between the 64GB and 80GB (without music I find I use remarkably little HDD space).

I'm not sure though, anyone else running from an SSD?

My friend got a Corsair P64 SSD a few weeks ago as part of a large PC order. I built up the machine last week and it was seriously fast, 3 seconds to shut down Windows 7. :eek:

Arciphel

Just reading this thread with interest, am doing a serious new build this weekend and ordered one of the 80gb Intel X-25M's (2nd gen). I using an ASUS P6 socket 1136 mobo and an Intel i7 930, 12gb RAM etc. Would there be any advantages down the line in installing a second SSD drive and setting them up in RAID or is this not an advantage with SSDs? Cheers.

uberpixie

Arciphel wrote: »

Just reading this thread with interest, am doing a serious new build this weekend and ordered one of the 80gb Intel X-25M's (2nd gen). I using an ASUS P6 socket 1136 mobo and an Intel i7 930, 12gb RAM etc. Would there be any advantages down the line in installing a second SSD drive and setting them up in RAID or is this not an advantage with SSDs? Cheers.

Last I checked: TRIM is not supported for SSDs under RAID.
This will prob change in the future though.

Tbh x1 SSD is more than enough speed for running your OS drive on!:pac:

uberpixie

uberpixie wrote: »

Tbh x1 SSD is more than enough speed for running your OS drive on!:pac:

yip

Raiser

Whats the latest on Power saving when using SSDs for Laptops? I remember Toms Hardware rubbished their power saving claims a while back....

Also are they really noticeably quicker? If I have a perfectly fine HD do I care?

Cuddlesworth

Raiser wrote: »

Also are they really noticeably quicker? If I have a perfectly fine HD do I care?

In comparison to a laptop hard-drive. Yes. So very much quicker.