New SSD Arriving (Intel) - Tips?

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Hi

bit the bullet and bought an X25-M. When i install it, and whak on Win 7 etc is there anything i should/shouldnt do?

Never owned an SSD, or read up on them, but i hear people mentioning firmwares, drivers and TRIM support. What software do i need, when do i nstall it and when do i use said software or is it automatic?

Many TIA
 
That's a good question mate.
I bought 3 X25-M's recently, installed win7 on all, but have done nothing as regards firmware, trim etc, as i don't really know.
So i'd like some asdvice on this too.
 
With SSD you have a writeable ROM which is like your BIOS it generally improves the product most tend to be easy to update. Trim is part of internal software that keeps the SSD optimising its writing to it. (you don't have to do anything)

Intel link for x-25
Intel serch update firmware
 
^ and a new version of the SSD Toolbox dated 22/3.

"This release consists of continuous improvement changes."
 
I'm in the same position - getting my X25-M today. :) I have had confirmation from several recent OcUK purchasers that the new drive comes with the latest firmware (with TRIM). I'm not sure how you check the firmware version (anyone? maybe the Intel Toolbox thing?) but I believe one of the things it will do is disable defragmentation scheduling for Windows 7 - so I'd check that.
 
So What does toolbox do?

Can I update firmware without damaging win7 install? Or should I do it whilst on my current install?
 
You can check firmware in Windows device manager, the SSD Toolbox, or many of the free HDD tools. I've found that the defrag schedule is not disabled by default and pre-fetch / super fetch enabled. Easy enough to tweak these after a Windows install.

Can I update firmware without damaging win7 install?
Click to expand...
Yes!
 
Thanks for your help chaps, but you're confusing me further! Drivers, toolbox etc

Is there anything different I NEED to do compared to mechanical?

Firmware, I think I'm sorted.
 
As above, avoid excessive writing to avoid wear, and you can treat an SSD pretty much the same as a regular HDD but it really is worth doing some reading as there are a lot of tweaks you can apply to get the best performance out of them. We're not trying to confuse you at all but in general firmware and controller drivers will have more of a performance impact on an SSD compared to a HDD.

Having said that, a lot of the wear level write paranoia is calming down some as they become more mainstream and we have better information. Diskeeper and PerfectDisk for example now have optimised defrag routines specific for SSD.

There is a sticky here on the forums that you might want to browse.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18040306

Also, there is an Intel forum that can be a good source of information specific to your drive, if you can be bothered with what is often a painfully slow and unreliable web server.

http://communities.intel.com/community/tech/solidstate?view=discussions
 
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Thanks - not sugggesting you're intentionally trying to be confusing, just that when you're au fait with something it's easy to lose us n00bs
 
Fully understand that it can be daunting at first. Install your drive as you would any other HDD and enjoy it! The current models all seem to be shipping with the latest firmware already installed which should make things simple for you. You'll get impressive performance out of the box and can take your time to tweak and optimise as you go along.
 
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