New to SSD's

spookywillow

spookywillow

spookywillow

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My SSD should be turning up in the next few hours (OCZ Vertex 3 240GB) so I'm just getting my self sorted ready to install windows on it.

Firstly will i have to reinstall from scratch as I dont have ACHI enabled at the moment and I understand it has to be or can i just use a clone of my drive and restore it on the SSD as i only reinstalled last week.

Also is this guide still of any use seeing as drives have moved on http://www.techradar.com/news/compu...ps-to-optimise-your-drives-performance-943984

Ramdisks, Any good with just 8gb of ram? Say set 2gb for a Ramdisk for temp files and leave 6gb for the system, will that still be enough for the likes of BF3?
 
You dont need to reinstall from scratch although it is usually best. You will need to apply the registry patch to your existing installation to enable AHCI. This is best done on the existing drive before you clone. Apply patch, reboot, change to AHCI in bios, start windows.
Windows 7 will automatically detect the SSD and set up trim, defrag etc for you, no need to do anything.
 
ok I have made the clone onto the SSD but when it wont boot, tried loading the windows 7 disk to repair but i get this error.

"System Recovery Option is not compatible with the version of windows you are trying to repair"

I have no cd rom so can't make a proper recovery cd. what can i do?
 
I upgrade this week to SSD for how long it took start to finish i'd go for a clean install if possible :)
Is there a way of setting the install files to a separate HD then install from there to your SSD with you not having a cd-rom, like how you can install LINUX from pen drive.
 
It's looking like i might have to :( I can install that from usb just fine but to create a recovery disk you have to use a cd burner

Just tried a windows backup image and that gives me an invalid parameter error which i guess is due to the different disk sizes.

I have an EFI system partition on the SSD which i can't seem to get rid of, is it supposed to be there?
 
Mine didn't have one, all i did was plug the 6gb sata cable in the right slot an my mobo did the rest for me, installed the program that came with the SSD an every thing was showing to be working fine,but i did install from disc.

Didn't you get a clone program with the SSD? like Magician.
 
Cheers for the link, I'm not sure it's running as well as it should and i dont like the look of the "Bad" thing in the screenie :(

as-ssd-bench%20OCZ-VERTEX3%20ATA%20%2014.07.2012%2020-16-01.png
 
It's not 4k aligned,you have to format and align it to 4096mb,or use paragon alignment tool,and use atto benchmark for ocz ssd's
 
wazza300 is correct on both counts (at least for the Sandforce based drives re - not using AS SSD / CDM). Time for you to read the OCZ FAQ me thinks.

What tool did you use to clone / recover your OS drive? Most modern ones (Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image 2012 etc. should handle the partition alignment correctly). I use Acronis TI 2012, works fine (fully functional trial version available if you don't want to buy).

I'd also consider trying the latest Intel RST drivers as well, rather than the standard Microsoft AHCI drivers (that's what the msahci means). Available via Intel downloads, or Gigabytes WEB site. Though for some drives it seems to make little difference. My Vertex 2E workd fine with the stock MS AHCI driver, but the Vertex 4 drive that I've just got, gave better results with the Intel RST drivers. Suck it and see, as they say.
You can always un-install them if not happy, or no difference.

Also worth checking at some point that TRIM enabled on drive and in Windows. Crystal Disk Info will tell you this, or SSD Life.

I'd also at some point re-run Windows WEI and check that de-fragmentation is switched off for this drive (should be automatically) but never hurts to check.

Have fun.

PS. Might be easier just to re-clone your drive using a tool that maintains the correct alignment. Can't also see why you could not use Windows 7 own built in system image / restore (using repair/installation disk).

PPS. I also wouldn't bother too much myself about SSD "tweaking" (see http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/f...BC-for-OCZ-SSD&p=567576&viewfull=1#post567576). Again have a look and see what the OCZ SSD FAQ says about this. Each to their own though.

PPPS. If you are going to have another go (IE. either clean install of Windows, or re-clone) make sure you "secure erase" your SSD first (this will return the drive to "out of the box state"). Which if you don't have another system to attach your SSD to as a secondary drive (to use OCZ toolbox), you'll need to use a program like Parted Magic (GOOGLE this for a guide).
 
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wazza300 said:
It's not 4k aligned,you have to format and align it to 4096mb,or use paragon alignment tool,and use atto benchmark for ocz ssd's
Click to expand...

Wazza where can you get the Paragon alignment tool now I have looked and it only seems to be available as a bigger package (Hard Disk Manager Suite I think)?
 
I can't find it either and I dont think the options are available in the free version.

So far I have made a backup of my windows partition with acronis true image 12 and have parted magic too, Will restoring the backup set my alignment correctly?

Edit, no it wont, alignment is still wrong.
 
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do you need to run Paragon alignment tool from a bootable disk and not from within windows? i have it and have tried creating a bootable disk but it wont load. i'm using unetbootin to create a bootable usb drive.
 
no just run the installer,enter the code and run it from within windows,it will fix/align it while you wait or after reboot ect
 
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