How clever is windows 7 with SSD's?

cmsbfent · 27 Jan 2011 at 00:46

Hi folks

Basically, I'm thinking about making the jump to SSD drives with a standard drive just for storage.

My thinking is can I have a very small SSD just for windows 7 64-bit, and a seperate larger SSD for games and apps. Reason being, should I wish to wipe windows for any reason (viruses, etc) could I do a fresh reinstall of windows onto the small windows drive, and then have windows recognise all the paths for the games and programs on the other SSD allowing me to use them with the fresh install on the small drive

If that makes any sense

Thanks

Efour · 27 Jan 2011 at 02:14

Recently made the switch and as far as im aware EVERYTHING is pretty much automatic now for windows 7 and natively designed to configure itself.

Im right now configuring stuff that's not critical to be directed to download to my Samsung F3 storage drives...I've become a right "free space Nazi" now.

bremen1874 · 27 Jan 2011 at 02:29

The short answer is no.

Having a separate drive/partition for the operating system is a good idea because it does make life easier if an OS install is necessary.

If a clean install does prove to be necessary Windows 7 isn’t going to magically reinstall all of your applications just because you’re storing the application data elsewhere. Using SSDs rather than mechanical drives will make no difference.

ryu · 27 Jan 2011 at 04:32

its a shame there isnt some kind of external dashboard, u can install any app/game to on a seperate drive. and if you format/reinstall windows it could then reintegrate the required files into windows/registry with the click of a button!

cmsbfent · 27 Jan 2011 at 07:47

Shame really. Its alright saying you can reinstall windows in 15 minutes with these drives, but the fact you then have to reinstall all your programs still adds to this magic number

Has anyone used backup images stored on a normal drive to reinstall windows? Can ssd's read from normal drives at the point of a reinstall?

I'd say with windows and all programs I use for work (adobe, proengineer etc) I'd be getting close to 40gb. If it worked, how long would it take to reinstall this size image to an SSD?

Cheers

jimmy321 · 27 Jan 2011 at 13:27

I kept a hard drive from an old PC and use it to back up my SSD every month, lucky I have not had to test it but I assume I just need to run the W7 cd from boot and restore from the back up.

On another note if you are going to put anything other than W7 on your SSD if would recommend larger than 60gb, I use a 60gb for my OS at home and it's just big enough, 28 gig unused.

Bubo · 27 Jan 2011 at 14:14

I raised this question the other day. There is disk imaging inbuilt into windows 7 which you can restore with a windows 7 recovery disk. The only issue surrounding this practice is ensuring the partition on the ssd is properly aligned for optimum ssd use after the restore. You can use various tools to check this afterwards, such as the gparted live cd, which also would allow you to move partitions to correct alignment if it is out. Google ssd partition alignment for further details.