Guide for installing on an SSD for the first time?

fross · 11 Apr 2011 at 16:17

Hi all,

well the dpd website tells me my package was delivered, which means I will be doing a new build tonight! Very excited. Not least among the new components will be a Vertex 3 SSD, so I'll be doing a clean build of Windows 7 onto that (I'm currently on a 2 year old Vista build on a SATA-II mechanical HD

)

I remember seeing once a sort of guide on here/linked from here as to how to go about installing an SSD from fresh. it had a few caveats if I remember rightly (such as put it in SATA mode for the first install, then turn it to AHCI after that? Also maybe some specific windows settings to use/not use) - I can't find it now, so does anyone have a link to something up to date regarding how to go about doing the install?

Thanks in advance

Philtor · 11 Apr 2011 at 16:21

Here ya go

- Set controller mode in BIOS to AHCI.
- Connect SSD into system and disconnect any HDD.
- Install Windows (just hit next at the install/format screen).
- Run Windows experience index assessment (disables Disk Defrag and SuperFetch).
- Connect up HDD again.
- Redirect Music, Pictures, Documents, Videos and Downloads folder to normal HDD.
- Reduce the amount of space allocated for system restore (optional).
- Disable Hibernation.
- Disable Windows search indexing and Drive indexing.

opethdisciple · 11 Apr 2011 at 16:25

The last bit: Disable Windows search indexing and Drive indexing.

Is this 100% neccessary?

fross · 11 Apr 2011 at 16:26

That's a great list Phil, thanks! I'll be using it tonight

Philtor · 11 Apr 2011 at 16:27

opethdisciple said:
The last bit: Disable Windows search indexing and Drive indexing.

Is this 100% neccessary?

Not really but at the same time they are not needed once your running a SSD

Emphacy · 11 Apr 2011 at 16:29

The last bit is necassery to stop the Windows Indexing process filling up your new and clean SSD with junk files.
It's already fast enough to search anyways so is again, more of an unessential process.

opethdisciple · 11 Apr 2011 at 16:29

And when you do this: Run Windows experience index assessment (disables Disk Defrag and SuperFetch).

Windows will auto disable defrag and superfetch?

I disable defrag any way..

DragonQ · 11 Apr 2011 at 16:59

opethdisciple said:
The last bit: Disable Windows search indexing and Drive indexing.

Is this 100% neccessary?

No. It might be worth reducing the number of files that are indexed though. Personally I only have it set to index a couple of folders on my data HDD that I search fairly often and nothing on my SSD (I don't use My Documents or anything anyway). The index itself is on the SSD though.

Sgt Tackleberry · 12 Apr 2011 at 13:52

philtorrens said:
Here ya go

- Set controller mode in BIOS to AHCI.
- Connect SSD into system and disconnect any HDD.
- Install Windows (just hit next at the install/format screen).
- Run Windows experience index assessment (disables Disk Defrag and SuperFetch).
- Connect up HDD again.
- Redirect Music, Pictures, Documents, Videos and Downloads folder to normal HDD.
- Reduce the amount of space allocated for system restore (optional).
- Disable Hibernation.
- Disable Windows search indexing and Drive indexing.

Hi i've just got my SSD. I 've just installed windows in 10mins flat! i like that

. but reading on what you put on what to do i am stuck on the last two.
" Disable Hibernation.Disable Windows search indexing and Drive indexing"
how do i do that?

Thanks

Philtor · 12 Apr 2011 at 13:59

Do you use Hibernation first of all before you disable it?

Then see below:

How to disable Hibernation
Open command prompt as an elevated user (run as admin).
Type the following: powercfg –h off

How to disable Windows search
Type services.msc into the start box and hit enter, then locate
the Windows search service from the list, select properties, change
startup type to disabled and then simply stop the service.

How to disable Drive indexing
Right click on SSD drive icon and select properties, then under the
General tab remove the check from ‘Index this drive for faster searching’.

Sgt Tackleberry · 12 Apr 2011 at 14:02

philtorrens said:
Do you use Hibernation first of all before you disable it?

Then see below:

How to disable Hibernation
Open command prompt as an elevated user (run as admin).
Type the following: powercfg –h off

How to disable Windows search
Type services.msc into the start box and hit enter, then locate
the Windows search service from the list, select properties, change
startup type to disabled and then simply stop the service.

How to disable Drive indexing
Right click on SSD drive icon and select properties, then under the
General tab remove the check from ‘Index this drive for faster searching’.

dnt know what hbernation does so must be a no then.

Philtor · 12 Apr 2011 at 14:05

Hibernation is a power-saving state designed primarily for laptops. While sleep puts your work and settings in memory and draws a small amount of power, hibernation puts your open documents and programs on your hard disk, and then turns off your computer.

Most peeps are ok to disable it on a desktop system

bhavv · 12 Apr 2011 at 16:44

philtorrens said:
- Redirect Music, Pictures, Documents, Videos and Downloads folder to normal HDD.

Im obviously missing something very obvious, how do I do this?

inogen · 13 Apr 2011 at 01:20

good link

Philtor · 13 Apr 2011 at 08:05

bhavv said:
Im obviously missing something very obvious, how do I do this?

Have a look at this bhavv. What I did was create folders on my HDD for Music, Pics, Documents etc and then redirect the default one's on my SSD to the HDD. I can still access the folders on my SSD as normal but the actual data is stored on the HDD.