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xxShinobixx

xxShinobixx

xxShinobixx

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Joined
20 Nov 2010
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739
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Sunny Hull
Hi all,
I'm a little unsure of what is the best way to do this so i would like to ask for a little help:

OK, I got a new Crucial M4 SSD drive (64GB) and i was wondering what my best way of setting it up would be, given my other drives.
So in total i have:

1x Crucial M4 SSD 64GB This
1x OCZ Vertex2 SSD 120GB This but unsure if it is the "E" version
1x Seagate Baracuda 7200rpm 500GB This
1x Seagate external HDD 7200rpm 500GB, which i have taken out of the shell and it is now setup as regular HDD. Model is ST3500830AS

The motherboard is:
Asrock Fatal1ty Z68 Pro Gen3 This

I would like to use the Crucial as my OS drive and it will also have installed PostgreSQL and Photoshop. It may have some other programs in the future but for now i would like to keep it simple. The Vertex will have all other programs, installed games etc. Things that i use often but do not need to be on the fastest drive. The other two drives are backups - music, pictures, documents etc.

So if I'm to wipe the SSD's clean and install a fresh copy of windows, what is the best way to set them up and what settings would i need to adjust in BIOS (if any) to make the most of the SSD's?

Thanks
 
soz for going off-topic, but when did you get the fatal1ty board, seems to be out of stock everywhere. Also how do you find the board?
 
1) In BIOS turn SATA mode to AHCI as this will allow the SSDs to perform at full speed.
2) Install Windows with the M4 and optical only plugged in. This will ensure all boot files will stay on the M4. The M4 should be plugged into either SATA3_0_1 ports as these ports are Intel controlled and will give maximum SATA 3 speeds. You can plug the optical to a SATA 2 port.
3) Once Windows is installed, install the necessary drivers and updates.
4) Plug the Vertex2 to the other SATA3_0_1 port and plug the HDDs to the SATA 2 ports, since HDD spin speeds doesn't even allow them to reach full SATA 2 speeds.

Then you can install all your software. Most software installations will ask what drive you want to install so just choose what SSD you want to install it on. With Windows 7 you can change the directory of Documents, Music, etc easily (Guide here, Option 2).

You can also disable the Marvell SATA controller on your board as well. It's a crappy controller, it never reaches full SATA 3 speeds and disabling it will help with boot times as POST will not need to check it during the initial tests. Also means another set of drivers you don't need to install either.
 
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