My first ssd arrives tomorrow. . Any tips on how to get the best out of it. please?

Baldbloke

Baldbloke

Baldbloke

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Hi,

So I bit the bullet and finally ordered a Crucial M4 256Gb SSD. Hopefully it'll arrive in a day or two.

I gather some folks have had trouble and for others it's just plain sailing when setting up an SSD.

I'll be installing it as the main C drive in an MSI p67-GD65 motherboard and doing a fresh install of Win 7 64 bit. Can anyone tell me, please, if there are any common (or even not so common) problems or errors usually encountered by SSD noobs. What are the "Do's and dont's"?

Thanks.
 
The guide says it all, but let me give a few tips:

- Make sure it's in AHCI mode.
- Make sure you do the firmware before you start putting files on it, if necessary.
- Make sure you plug it into the SATA3 ports controlled by the chipset. They'll be fastest to my knowledge, unless there are motherboards designed around it.
- Don't defrag it!
 
NB Use Windows 'easy transfer' to get all accounts settings and documents from one setup to another. You'll need an external drive.

1) Change storage to AHCI in BIOS (dunno why you wouldn't be using this in the first place though)
2) Unplug old HDD, Plug in new SSD to first sata port
3) Install W7 64 to SSD from DVD or download as per above.
4) Install all important system drivers (chipset, graphics, Intel RST).
5) Open RST in system tray and check that disk data cache is enabled
6) Disable file content indexing (optionally turn it off completely) for SSD and double-check that Windows has correctly disabled scheduled defrags for SSD
7) Run WEI
8) Plug old HDD back in and format it.
 
Phage said:
NB Use Windows 'easy transfer' to get all accounts settings and documents from one setup to another. You'll need an external drive.

1) Change storage to AHCI in BIOS (dunno why you wouldn't be using this in the first place though)
2) Unplug old HDD, Plug in new SSD to first sata port
3) Install W7 64 to SSD from DVD or download as per above.
4) Install all important system drivers (chipset, graphics, Intel RST).
5) Open RST in system tray and check that disk data cache is enabled
6) Disable file content indexing (optionally turn it off completely) for SSD and double-check that Windows has correctly disabled scheduled defrags for SSD
7) Run WEI
8) Plug old HDD back in and format it.
Click to expand...


what he said^
 
If it was me i would do a clean install of windows + in bios make sure it is set to ahci mode , Me - i couldnt tell when using my system but when running testing progs it would show up, - a lot. for me sata 2 ports were beter than sata 3 , u need 2 test.
 
Thank you very much, people. I've printed the guide and made a few notes based on what you have advised. I'm sure I'll be fine now.

Last thought: I'm going to read a little about "trim". I think I once read this was a feature to be aware of when installing ssd. I don't know what it is yet but I'm not too lazy too do a bit of searching for info on it. But then, maybe things have evolved since.

Thanks again.
 
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