SSD question/tips

Niall · Aug 29, 2011, 17:56:45

And also, just to share, Crucial have refurbed SSD drives. I just got a 256gb drive for £184, saving me over £100 (woo!).

As I've never looked into it before, can you do a data transfer of an operating system to an SSD drive, or is it the same old story that you'll need a fresh install? Not really a problem, as on an SSD drive the windows install takes minutes and I can transfer my program folders over anyway, which hopefully wont cause any issues.

Also, does system ram effect performance of SSD drives? I've already got 8gb and the top end AMD hex core, so if anything is going to be a bottle neck in this system it'd be my sata drives, followed by the ram.

I doubt ram effects it at all, but thought I'd check. Oh and Scan have knocked £80 off the price of my ram, so £39 is almost too good to pass up for 8gb ram! http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-%282x4gb%29-corsair-ddr3-xms3-pc3-10600-%281333%29-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-9-9-9-24-150v

Rik · Aug 29, 2011, 17:59:10

If you image the OS drive, using something like Acronis, Niall, you can whack that straight onto the SSD drive. You might, of course, need to reactivate Windows.

System RAM should be as fast as the SSD, your bottleneck is always going to be the mechanical drive.

Niall · Aug 29, 2011, 18:01:05

My PC will be uber if the SSD refurb has worked. No idea what the refurb was, but at that price I thought I'd risk it. After all I can get a refund if it's knackered

Rik · Aug 29, 2011, 18:05:17

Only for 30 days...

.Griff. · Aug 29, 2011, 18:08:09

Are these the Crucial drives with 31 day warranties?

A word of warning I've had to RMA two Crucial SSD's in the last 9 months.

Transferring an existing OS installation to an SSD is pointless as you'll want to setup the SSD in AHCI mode which requires a fresh install anyway.

Niall · Aug 29, 2011, 18:27:46

Well if I have any problems, it'll go straight back.

My main concern is this motherboard as I had a problem when setting it up initially as it didn't like the SATA drive in certain settings. I'm not sure how it'll like the SSD and the SATAII drives. Well, time will tell.

What was wrong with your drives, Griff?

My SSD is Crucial, in fact it's vital

.Griff. · Aug 29, 2011, 18:31:25

Quote from: Niall on Aug 29, 2011, 18:27:46
Well if I have any problems, it'll go straight back.

My main concern is this motherboard as I had a problem when setting it up initially as it didn't like the SATA drive in certain settings. I'm not sure how it'll like the SSD and the SATAII drives. Well, time will tell.

What was wrong with your drives, Griff?

If it develops a problem after 31 days then obviously sending it back isn't an option.

As for my drives they simply "died". No idea what occurred but they were replaced each time under RMA.

If you look on Crucial's official forums you'll see it's fairly common.

Steve · Aug 29, 2011, 18:36:18

Certainly with XP you can switch to AHCi without a reinstall it's a little long winded but it is possible

.Griff. · Aug 29, 2011, 18:41:04

Quote from: Steve on Aug 29, 2011, 18:36:18
Certainly with XP you can switch to AHCi without a reinstall it's a little long winded but it is possible

True but it is long winded and as we all know a fresh install is the wise option.

Talking of XP that doesn't support TRIM so it would be illogical to use XP and an SSD together.

Steve · Aug 29, 2011, 18:45:41

Isn't it illogical to use XP anyways

.Griff. · Aug 29, 2011, 18:46:34

Quote from: Steve on Aug 29, 2011, 18:45:41
Isn't it illogical to use XP anyways

True!

Steve · Aug 29, 2011, 18:58:16

There are suggestions the same reg hack for ahci will work with Win7 and intel have an ssd optimiser that works in XP not my ball park has I don't have any SSD.

http://www.intel.com/design/flash/nand/value/overview.htm?2515521749

Niall · Aug 30, 2011, 14:28:24

Well the drive should be here tomorrow/thursday so I'll wait and see what works. I'm just going to install on the new drive. Hopefully I'll have no problems with the motherboard, which is my main concern. Worst case scenario is that the PC I'm building for my mum will have all the drives in it, leaving me with just the SSD drive and my external one for backup.