Installing Intel 40GB SSD to existing system

Daaaveee

Daaaveee

Daaaveee

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Should be picking up an Intel 40GB SSD off the MM tonight :D Originally planned to spec one when I initially built my system in Jan but couldn't justify the extra.

All I have currently is a Samsung F3 1TB with Windows 7 Home Premium (OEM) which has about 600GB free space. All I want to do is move the Windows install on to the SSD, and keep everything else on the 1TB.

Is anyone able to tell me simply how I can do this, or know of a guide which shows you how?
 
Yeah I think cloning all 400GB would be expensive!

I could do a fresh install but not sure how that works with OEM Windows 7? Also would have to backup the stuff I want to keep and re-install a lot of programs games etc, a bit of a hassle.
 
Right, fresh install it will be then :) Guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and hope I don't miss any data when backing up! 50meg broadband will help from my Steam Library at least!
 
To confirm yes it is the Intel X25-V 40GB SSD :) I figured unless I could afford one big enough for everything then I would just get one for the OS.

I think my plan of attack looking at what you guys have suggested will be as follows:

1) Back up photos, game saves etc to be kept from existing hard drive on to external media.
2) Plug in the SSD and boot as normal.
3) Check and update SSD firmware if required.
4) Set drive to ACHI.
5) Set SATA ports to IDE.
6) Restart booting from Windows 7 disc.
7) Format existing hard drive.
8) Install OS on SSD.
9) Install Intel SSD Toolbox.
10) Check auto defrag is turned off.
11) Map all profile folders to existing hard drive which is now formatted.
12) Ensure everything is downloaded, installed etc on existing hard drive to keep SSD as clean as possible.

It will be a learning experience any way, I'll keep this post updated with how I get on and what I ended up doing to make it work... + any possible (probable?!) problems I may have :)
 
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Would like to keep System Restore, its saved my bacon a couple times in the past :o I'll see how much space it uses and disable if its too much though.

Will add Intel SSD Toolbox to the list of tasks :)

Steam library will of course be run from the existing drive, everything apart from OS and essential apps such as Firefox will kept off the SSD.
 
Added check for auto defrag :)

Going to go and fetch the drive now.

Did a check for my boot to see desktop and also the time to see Google homepage after clicking Firefox shortcut as soon as desktop was visible:

Boot time to desktop = 60 seconds
Boot time to Google homepage = 91 seconds

We'll see how those improve later hopefully!
 
Got the SSD now, just 'mounted' it while I wait for things to backup:

photonoh.jpg


Just hidden on the messy backside!
 
Right, stuck already :o

Dutch777 said he updated the firmware so can skip that step.

Now I should... 4) Set drive to ACHI. 5) Set SATA ports to IDE?

Plugged it in and went into the BIOS:

photo2jw.jpg


In pressing enter on the SSD gives:

photo3p.jpg


And Storage Configuration > Configure SATA as shows:

photo4bs.jpg


So do I leave that as IDE? How do I see if the SSD is set to AHCI?

Am OK to now just format and install a fresh OS?
 
Hey mate,

OK will do that now, not sure about what trentlad said earlier with 'Set SATA ports to IDE'.

I assume setting Sata as AHCI will set it as that for all of the drives, is that correct?
 
Up and running now :) Windows installed in < 15mins, boot to desktop takes 43 seconds and 46 seconds to homepage. Going to install Intel SSD toolbox now.
 
Steps I made are as follows for people interested in doing this themselves.

1) Back up everything I wanted to keep on external media.
2) Reboot, enter BIOS and Set storage configuration to AHCI.
3) Reboot from Windows installation disk, format existing drives and install OS to SSD.
4) Install Intel SSD toolbox.
5) Remap folders in users to existing drive.

Performance benchmark:

16031307.jpg


Looks pretty much in line with the drives specs :)
 
No problems Trentlad all sorted :)

Everything is instant now, you can see from my boot times before the time to a workable desktop was more like 90 seconds, now it is 45, so although the time to see the desktop is not that much faster, the time for it to be fully responsive is quite a lot faster. To be honest, before with the Samsung F3 1TB on its own, things were pretty close any way. I am happy with the speed boost but it is nothing spectacular as like I say I think it was pretty fast before. I think other people upgrading to SSDs might not have had such good speeds before and therefore are more impressed. Also you have to remember that a fresh Windows install always speeds things up compared to older installs so maybe that has an effect?

I'm happy with it for the price I paid, £55, but I don't think I would have been so impressed if I had spent £100 as they are retailing here for at the moment.

Yep TRIM is enabled, automatically, just checked.

My motherboard is an Asus P6T SE, so no 6Gb/s SATA, I think the sticker on the back of the SSD said 3Gb/s SATA anyway so I doubt 6Gb/s would be fuly utilised.

Overall summary, I'm happy with it for the price I paid but not massively impressed.
 
Slightly faster again, thanks for the tip :)

20100718intel40gbssdben.jpg


Can't say I really notice any difference though! Overall my opinions on SSDs would be they are very fast, but the real world perfomance difference over a fast conventional drive isn't really that big. The main difference in the boot time is from the 'Starting Windows' screen to fully working desktop is really fast, the normal BIOS screens etc are up for pretty much as long as as before. Also programs do open instantly, but at least from the ones I open every day, they only took a second or so longer anyway.

IMO they are very expensive for the speed upgrade, however if you can afford it then go for it, but your mileage my vary :)
 
To update tasks to get where I am now:

1) Plug in SSD and update firmware using existing OS.
2) Back up everything I wanted to keep on external media.
3) Reboot, enter BIOS and Set storage configuration to AHCI.
4) Reboot from Windows installation disk, format existing drives and install OS to SSD.
5) Install Intel SSD toolbox.
6) Check TRIM is enabled. Go to command prompt, type fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify. If the result is '0' TRIM is enabled.
7) Remap folders in users to existing drive.
8) Checked if auto defrag was disabled.
9) Disable indexing. As per http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY6kSoDPcaA
10) Disable C1E / Speedstep / Cool n Quiet etc in the BIOS.
11) Computer mgmt>device mgr.>disk drives>(select SSD)>click policies in properties box. NOTE: if the first box is checked(and it should be by default) then uncheck it and click ok. Now repeat this same procedure and RECHECK the box to enable write-cache again.
12) Install latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology drivers.
 
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Didn't really notice any more speed, actions were instant before and are still instant :p

Cheers though, added all the steps you mentioned, thats all I can think of.
 
Cheers trentlad, downloaded it and clicked Auto Tweak Settings, the only thing it changed was unchecking 'Disable Large System Cache'.

20100720intel40gbssdben.jpg


Score went up 5 :D Not sure what happened with Seq. Write speed but overall speeds are up. I guess as I'm just using it as an OS boot drive read speeds are more important anyway?

Cheers for the link, what would I do without you guys?!
 
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