Installing Intel 40GB SSD to existing system

Daaaveee

Daaaveee

Daaaveee

Associate
Joined
21 Feb 2006
Posts
1,873
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?
 
glad you asked this coz i'm kinda in the same situation gonna get a corsair force 60gb drive in the next month and wanna use it as an os drive.
 
I have been thinking about this also as im getting a SSD soon. You can clone your existing HDD but that will clone everything and not just the o/s. I would imagine it would be necessary to do a clean install of Win 7 on the SSD and then hook your HDD up on the secondary SATA channel for storage unless you have a SSD with enough capacity to just clone your HDD (which given the price of them is unlikely) :D
 
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.
 
To be honest, from personal experience and what others have posted, doing a fresh install of 7 would be best on an SSD for performance.

Windows 7 is SSD aware - aligns it properly when formatting and disables services which it doesn't need (defrag for example). Change your BIOS to AHCI before installing as well. It's worth it.

Not sure about OEM and chaning HDD. I *think* it'll be ok but not certain.
 
Last edited:
Yeah you will be able to install your OEM copy of Win 7 on the SSD no problem. You might have to activate over the phone but that takes 2 minutes.
 
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!
 
Daaaveee, I'm watching this thread with great interest mate. I also was thinking about getting the Intel 40GB, is it the X25-V by any chance?

It would be really helpfull to tons of people if you could post your process for setting up the SSD on your system. I'm sure you'll learn things as you look into it, so it really wouldn't be wasted effort if you popped a little update in this thread.

So far, with a little research I've found out that setting up the Intel X25-V 40GB SSD should be something like...

1.) Download firmware utility and update the SSD firmware (using your current OS)
2.) Set BIOS to ACHI
3.) Set SATA ports to IDE
4.) After all this THEN install Windows 7 on the new SSD
5.) Download Intel Rapid Storage Technology and install on SSD OS
6.) Disable auto defrag


It would be helpful if anyone else has installed this SSD and can offer advice.
 
I wouldn't bother moving the windows install. But that is up to you. Reasons being that you might get blue screens on bootup if you have not set the sata mode to ACHI prior to windows 7 installation. But you can fix that by doing a registry fix, but that requires the ability to get into windows 7, so it can be tricky.

I recommend just plugging it in, setting it to ACHI and installing windows 7 on it. Leave your current install on the other hd and then just reinstall all the software that you do actually use and just copy across any settings files from your hard drive.
 
trentlad said:
Daaaveee, I'm watching this thread with great interest mate. I also was thinking about getting the Intel 40GB, is it the X25-V by any chance?

It would be really helpfull to tons of people if you could post your process for setting up the SSD on your system. I'm sure you'll learn things as you look into it, so it really wouldn't be wasted effort if you popped a little update in this thread.

So far, with a little research I've found out that setting up the Intel X25-V 40GB SSD should be something like...

1.) Download firmware utility and update the SSD firmware (using your current OS)
2.) Set BIOS to ACHI
3.) Set SATA ports to IDE
4.) After all this THEN install Windows 7 on the new SSD
5.) Download Intel Rapid Storage Technology and install on SSD OS
6.) Disable auto defrag


It would be helpful if anyone else has installed this SSD and can offer advice.
Click to expand...

7. Move the location of all your profile folders (Desktop, Downloads, etc) to another drive. (right-click each folder --> Properties --> Location.)

Have a little on the SSD as possible, especially with a 40gb SSD
 
I definitely wouldn't use your SSD for anything other than the OS and the programs you install. Maybe one game that you play a lot, but not multiple games.

I think once you start to go over 60% of your SSD capacity the read/write times start to fall dramatically. However, I think TRIM support (which the X25-V does have) will get around that problem a little. Someone please confirm if that's correct as I've only heard this in comments.
 
philtorrens said:
Perhaps an idea to disable system restore as well given it will take 12% of the available disk space? Just a thought.
Click to expand...

Does it really consume 12% of your OS size?!

This might not be a bad idea, I use a fantastic tool called advanced system optimizer. One of the many tools allows me to take my own restore points and back them up to my desired location.
 
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 :)
 
Last edited:
trentlad said:
Does it really consume 12% of your OS size?!

This might not be a bad idea, I use a fantastic tool called advanced system optimizer. One of the many tools allows me to take my own restore points and back them up to my desired location.
Click to expand...

Yup. System restore will use 12% or so of the total available disk space but you can change how much space it's allowed to use or turn it off completely.
 
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.
 
Yep one thing missing on your list was to disable the auto defrag in Win 7.

Fragmented files aren't an issue with SSD, so if you leave the Win 7 auto defrag switched on it will unnecessarily move around data. Win 7 defrags very frequently. Given the fact that an SSD memory block only has a limited number of re-writes, it will shorten the life of your SSD.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom