My first SSD

Azarathal · 22 Nov 2012 at 14:23

Hey guys! So, just bought myself a brand new Samsung 830 as after reading for a little bit I've noticed it's highly recommended (Last time I looked into SSD's it was the M4 that was recommended).

Now, I'm wondering how best to prepare for installation? I'm making a back up of all my personal files and making a list of programs / games to reinstall onto my current hard drive (Needed a fresh install anyway).

I know to enable AHCI mode in Bios before doing a fresh install but thats pretty much it. Any help?

Duke · 22 Nov 2012 at 14:32

Put the latest firmware on before installing the OS, if there is one.

rishy · 22 Nov 2012 at 14:34

Like with the OCZ drives you cannot update the firmware on the drive if you boot from it

Azarathal · 22 Nov 2012 at 14:39

Sounds like the only downside to the drive then but I can just clone it to a spare HDD for future updates.

Anything else?

ntg · 22 Nov 2012 at 14:52

Azarathal said:
Sounds like the only downside to the drive then but I can just clone it to a spare HDD for future updates.

Anything else?

Check this recent thread out, it has all the steps:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18460245

Read it all the way through as near the end there are some links/tips on how to optimise the SSD after you install it.

wazza300 · 22 Nov 2012 at 16:47

youll be fine,there isnt any firmware updates for that drive yet as far as im aware

Azarathal · 22 Nov 2012 at 17:24

Thanks for all your help guys

Craig321 · 22 Nov 2012 at 17:27

rishy said:
Like with the OCZ drives you cannot update the firmware on the drive if you boot from it

I've updated my Vertex 3 a couple of times no problem & it's my boot drive. You just need to download and boot from the Linux distro that OCZ provide.

Azarathal · 22 Nov 2012 at 20:09

I've just read that the 830 comes bundled with a utility program which does the tweaks and optimisations for you so I think I'll just use that.

d_brennen · 22 Nov 2012 at 20:11

Craig321 said:
I've updated my Vertex 3 a couple of times no problem & it's my boot drive. You just need to download and boot from the Linux distro that OCZ provide.

With the knowledge that you really should have made a backup beforehand, just in case

Craig321 · 23 Nov 2012 at 01:08

d_brennen said:
With the knowledge that you really should have made a backup beforehand, just in case

Always

Azarathal · 24 Nov 2012 at 01:27

Apart from boot times I haven't noticed a huge increas in speed, installs run roughly the same but the only game I tried was Guild Wars2 and it only loaded marginally faster.

Set to AHCI, clean install except updates and guildwars 2 / speed fan
Intel SataIII ports with a 6gb/s cable
Haven't got a "clean up" partition because I forgot to do it during the install and I haven't read up about partitioning an SSD yet

Am I missing anything?

wazza300 · 24 Nov 2012 at 01:35

games can be hit and miss on how fast they benefit,some load up instant,some have no improvement,start up times are the most noticable,and for me windows media centre takes 1 or 2 seconds to load as to around 20-30 seconds on a hdd

you shouldnt need a clean up partition imo,the drive will reserve and hide a few gb of space to maintain the drive and replace any dead nand cells that die over time

trentlad · 24 Nov 2012 at 01:52

Hello Azarathal, there are a number of features you have to modify to get your SSD up to speed and living long and healthy. Things like TRIM enable, disabling auto defrag, installing Intel controller, formatting with the correct sector size, etc.

All these things are listed in Sean's SSD Guide and I highly recommend going through this to get the best out of your SSD. He does a very good job of keeping it up to date too.