Getting an SSD for the first time.

[Pete.Dakota]

I'm picking up an M4 for a boot drive in a new build. I also have a 320GB HDD. I have never had more than one drive before and don't know anything about RAID etc.

Do I need to worry about it? Can I just "plug and play", or can better performance be gained from some setting up?

Pardon my ignorance.

 

[jkb]

You can just connect the SSD, install windows and then connect your HDD for use as a data drive. You can set AHCI mode in your bios before you install windows but it isn't necessary.

 

[andy_mk3]

You can just connect the SSD, install windows and then connect your HDD for use as a data drive. You can set AHCI mode in your bios before you install windows but it isn't necessary.

You must set it to AHCI before installing windows, changing it afterwards can stop windows from booting.

Basically, you need to install your SSD. Made sure it's set to AHCI in BIOS, then install windows as normal. Once installed you can then plug in your secondary drive and away you go.

Just make sure that you disable the defrag on the SSD drive. There's a good guide here on things you should do for an SSD:

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/windows-7-and-ssds-setup-secrets-and-tune-up-tweaks/2910?pg=2