New SSD OS drive tomorrow : Office installed on F: drive : Will it still work?

Draeger

Draeger

Draeger

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Further to my other thread regarding SSD drives, I intend using Clonezilla to make an identical image of my current C: drive with W7 Home Premium on it.

However, I usually install most of my other programs onto my "F:" drive ( Office 2010, Adobe CS3 and 4 etc ) and have a third drive for data and backups. If I make an identical image of my C: drive as it is just now, fit the new SSD when it arrives from OcUK tomorrow and then use Clonezilla to put the image back onto the drive will my programs installed on the "F:" drive still work as they do just now?. I'm guessing in theory the answer is yes as essentially the SSD will have a carbon copy of the old Raptor's Windows install?. Also, when Clonezilla does its thing and creates an identical image I assume ( and this might be a daft question, sorry!! ) that things like all my Outlook and Windows Live Mail emails will still be there?. Just a bit paranoid about mucking anything up!!.
 
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Id personally opt for a clean install, w7 optimises itself for ssd during install, not sure if this would hapeen with a cloned resotre...

Any particular reason why run your apps from another drive?
 
DrMekon said:
Id personally opt for a clean install, w7 optimises itself for ssd during install, not sure if this would hapeen with a cloned resotre...

Any particular reason why run your apps from another drive?
Click to expand...

I'm thinking I might just bite the bullet and do a fresh install despite me having only just done that on my current drive a few weeks ago. Getting too many people saying "Oh no, don't do a clone of an IDE/SATA drive onto an SSD" so it may well be prudent to go for the fresh install option.

I installed my apps onto my other drive mainly for space reasons - My current OS drive is a WD Raptor but only a 36Gb one so its a bit limited. I also thought it a better option to have games and apps on another drive so that if at any time my OS drive plays up all I have to do is reformat that and reinstall Windows rather than reinstall everything else as well. However, I now know that not to be quite as simple a plan as I thought because obviously games and apps write certain info to some folders on the C: drive as well and also to the Windows Registry. So not a fantastic idea really!!!.
 
it will work fine using the method you described, the programs on F: will still launch ok as they will be in the same place (on the same partition) where the registry expects them to be.
 
Cheers, I think I'm going to do a fresh install after all though. Would seem to be the best idea. Can anyone tell me if I need to format the Vertex first using a quick format or will this happen during the fresh install of Windows 7?. Also, anything else I need to do during the install process?. I'm guessing all it requires is :-

1. Fit new SSD to drive bay.
2. Remove SATA cables of any additional drives.
3. Start PC, change AHCI setting in BIOS.
4. Set BIOS to boot first from USB ( I have W7 Home Premium 64 on a USB stick ).
5. Boot to USB, install Windows 7.

That it?. I'm thinking the latest firmware 1.23 will already be on the SSD when it arrives?. What about this "TRIM" thing, does W7 set that up as it should be done during the install or is there something I need to do first?.
 
If the drive comes with the latest firmware then yes, that's all you need to do. Do NOT format before installing Windows 7 - if you tell it to install to the raw drive space it'll create and correctly align a partition before formatting it, which'll give you the best performance.

Once installed make sure defrag is disabled and then decide what you want to do about indexing. You can either disable it altogether, leave it alone, or just disable it on the C: drive.
 
Cool,thanks. Drive should be here in an hour or so according to the tracking order system so I'll report back with how it goes, fingers crossed!. ;)
 
Well, touch wood - That was a fairly painless experience!. Simple, all I did was as I posted above :-

1. Fit new SSD to drive bay ( already checked its firmware and it has shipped to me with 1.23 ).
2. Remove SATA cables of any additional drives.
3. Start PC, change AHCI setting in BIOS.
4. Set BIOS to boot first from USB ( I have W7 Home Premium 64 on a USB stick ).
5. Boot to USB, install Windows 7.

After W7 restarted I followed the steps recommended on the OCZ forums for making or rather checking that a few key items were disabled :-

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?79848-THE-BASIC-GUIDE-amp-FAQ-ABC-for-OCZ-SSD

Ran WEI and it is showing a score of 6.9. Now I'm going to install a few key apps such as Office 2010, Windows Live Mail, CS3 and of course, Avast! AV and then use Clonezilla to make an image that I can keep in a safe place in case things go wrong at any point in the future. Haven't ran any read/write tests yet, what do you guys recommend to do so?.

Overall, I'm impressed thus far. I timed my 36Gb WD Raptor from switching on, booting and getting to the desktop and it was a fairly quick 43 seconds. However with the SSD, it takes 21 seconds. Quite a result!!. Shutting down is almost instant after you have clicked "Shutdown". Also, I see a lot of folk using Asus P5 boards asking about compatibility and AHCI etc. I can confirm that all I had to do was go into the BIOS, change the controller from IDE to AHCI and then reboot. No issues at all. Depends what BIOS you are using though as I understand it, whether the AHCI option is there or not so your mileage may vary on that one.

Overall performance is definitely hugely increased. Programs and folders etc open at lightning fast speed. It's not a placebo effect, you definitely notice it!.

Very pleased so far and OcUK delivery was top drawer once again, guy from DPD was at the door almost to a minute of the guestimate on the tracking information online. :D
 
DragonQ said:
Hmm, 6.9? I get 7.7. Do you have the Intel RST drivers installed (assuming they are compatible with your system)?
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The only drivers I have installed after Windows 7 did its thing are nVidia display drivers and Realtek HD Audio for my onboard 5.1 sound. What are the RST drivers?. How do I tell if I have them or not?. I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.
 
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Draeger said:
The only drivers I have installed after Windows 7 did its thing are nVidia display drivers and Realtek HD Audio for my onboard 5.1 sound. What are the RST drivers?. How do I tell if I have them or not?. I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.
Click to expand...

If you haven't installed them, you haven't got them. It looks like your motherboard has a ICH9 southbridge, in which case you can install the RST drivers. You can get them here:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18859&ProdId=3061&lang=eng
 
Thanks for the link. So just download those, run the setup and install them and reboot?. What do they actually do and what are the benefits of running those rather than the standard Microsoft ones that Win 7 installed?.
 
Ok, downloaded the drivers and tried installing but I'm getting a message saying "This computer does not meet the minimum requirements for the software" and it terminates the installation.

Are these drivers only for RAID setups?.
 
DragonQ said:
No, they work for AHCI also. I find it strange that it doesn't install considering you have a the P35 chipset and it's listed on the driver page for the 3 series chipsets:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Sea...s+Chipsets&ProdId=2842&LineId=127&FamilyId=40
Click to expand...

What one is it, the top one or bottom one? :-

2q8bj7p.jpg


The one I downloaded and tried to install that fails was the F6 one ( I think? ). Is it that one or the other one?.

*EDIT* Just tried downloading the top one there and it still gives me the same error. I can't understand it either, no idea what system requirements my PC doesn't meet. :confused:
 
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