Solid State Drives (SSD's) explained

topdog@OC · 10 Apr 2011 at 22:55

There are a few things you should check and do, including getting and using the right driver for your particular chipset you're going to plug the drive into.

OCZ have an SSD guide that is available from their product pages and forums. I created a checklist from that of the things that were relevant to my installation and then followed it.

It was worth doing, as an end-user you use them just like any other drive, but for the installation and configuration there is more to it than for a mechanical drive, and it takes a little time but once you spend an hour getting that done it stays done and then you can forget about it all.

MOOGLEYS · 10 Apr 2011 at 22:59

topdog@OC said:
There are a few things you should check and do, including getting and using the right driver for your particular chipset you're going to plug the drive into.

OCZ have an SSD guide that is available from their product pages and forums. I created a checklist from that of the things that were relevant to my installation and then followed it.

It was worth doing, as an end-user you use them just like any other drive, but for the installation and configuration there is more to it than for a mechanical drive, and it takes a little time but once you spend an hour getting that done it stays done and then you can forget about it all.

Ok I will have a look at the OCZ page. I have ordered one of the OCZ Agility Series 60GB drives from here although it is out of stock so time to read up on what to do before it arrives. I thought there would be more than just plugging it in and going...

bhavv · 10 Apr 2011 at 23:30

I didnt know about anything about setting an SSD up, I just plugged in my C300, installed windows and it worked.

The only error I made was not unplugging my other HDDs first, so it was still putting the boot sector onto an F3 drive that I was trying to Raid after installing windows, and then my PC wouldnt boot.

So I had to unplug all my hard drives to make sure that all the boot files went onto the SSD as well.

Dutch Guy · 19 Apr 2011 at 09:09

Are there any programs I should not install on a SSD? (maybe Antivirus)
Would games see an improvement in loading speed or should I just install those on my mechanical storage drive?

Shand359 · 19 Apr 2011 at 14:54

I have now had 2 SSD drives fail on me so I have given up on them and returned to standard drives. Once the technology improves a bit and gets cheaper/more stable, I may try again. One thing I will say is this..........they are DAMN fast......

1st Fail:- Kingston SSD (64Gb)
2nd Fail:- OCZ Vertex2 (128Gb)

Wayne McNamara · 21 Jun 2011 at 06:38

Great Thread

Many thanks for this very informative guide. One quick question in regards to the installation of windows, I have read in other posts that in the case of Windows 7 systems using 16gb of Ram that some people often turn off the page file completely. I have a 60gb OCZ Vertex 2E and am slightly concerned about space. Has anyone else here done this? and if so have they encountered any issues with it?

Thanks again.

loki_360 · 29 Jun 2011 at 13:14

Wayne McNamara said:
Many thanks for this very informative guide. One quick question in regards to the installation of windows, I have read in other posts that in the case of Windows 7 systems using 16gb of Ram that some people often turn off the page file completely. I have a 60gb OCZ Vertex 2E and am slightly concerned about space. Has anyone else here done this? and if so have they encountered any issues with it?

Thanks again.

I have no page file but my work machine is a beast with 96gb ram... Test it, 16gb should be sufficient.

Humble_Pie · 26 Aug 2011 at 23:48

Great guide, an SSD would probably be overkill for my build though...

Flashheart · 1 Oct 2011 at 23:00

Good guide, thanks for the efforts man

Third Opinion · 9 Dec 2011 at 21:55

How are you guys using these drives? They have such small capacity. Do you use them to load windows onto then use a normal HDD for you games and files?

I have kind of got use to a 1TB drive.

dfarrall · 9 Dec 2011 at 22:01

Load windows & any apps i use all the time, then store everything on 1.5tb of storage drives.

FallshirmjAEger · 8 Jan 2012 at 12:34

dfarrall said:
Load windows & any apps i use all the time, then store everything on 1.5tb of storage drives.

Has anbyone used the ssd as cache available on the z68 boards?

blacblu · 11 Mar 2012 at 22:36

What can an SSD offer me, other than boot speed?

drumunsta · 23 Mar 2012 at 09:29

im new to this. i play games on my computer (MMO,FPS) is this a good move to get thm or stay with HHD.

PB94941 · 4 Apr 2012 at 19:45

Excellent, thanks

Jak3 Mac · 24 Apr 2012 at 18:20

Thanks

really helpful guide!

anty1 · 25 Apr 2012 at 19:16

Question if I install Windows and most used apps on a SSD and everything else on a HDD. When I want to reinstall Windows on the SSD do I need to reinstall the software on the HDD too?

importedforyou · 9 May 2012 at 22:25

If only TRIm was supported for RAID 0 then it would be super FAST!!!

thanks

HankScorpio · 16 May 2012 at 16:11

My sig ssd on a fresh install of windows 7 ultimate gave a WEI score of 7.9, previous install of W7 only ever gave 7.7.

Now after I've installed all my games and updates and whatnot and re-ran the test the score has dropped down to 7.7 again.

Is there any problems or is this normal?

silent · 20 May 2012 at 17:34

should i update the firmware on all SSD'd i own as soon as i get them?

can you update firmware on a drive that has windows on already?