SSD Noob questions

dayloon

dayloon

dayloon

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Hi All,

I've just purchased my first SSD Drive - a 30GB OCZ Vertex. I plan on installing Windows 7 RC because i here it's the best OS for SSD. However, i've read a huge amount about things which are confusing me so i was hoping that somebody could help me out :

1) I've heard that when you update the firmware, you need to reinstall everything on the disk. Is this correct ?

2) A lot of people go on about allignment etc. What are they talking about, how do i do it and is it necessary for all OS's ?

3) What does TRIM do and where do i get it from ?

4) I presume i'll also need to buy a 2.5" mounting bracket or something (i've got a cooler master cosmos s case). Which one do ppl recommend ?


Thats all for now :D Thank you for your patience !!!
 
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1) According to the OCZ firmware update manual, yes!
2) Vista/7 supposedly does it for you, it is with XP you need to fiddle with it
3) It is a special command for SSD technology, unlike motor drives with SSD the chips need to be "cleared" and then written over. In motor drives the disk puts the effort to "delete" when overwritting (thats why some "recovery" software work magically :p) The general idea here is that TRIM "degrags" the SSD in a special way to avoid unecessary work and thus make it faster. It is an improvement!
4) The SSD is tiny and VERY light. You can "stick" it in the case using velcro or buy the mounting adapters. Is up to you. No movement/noise/heat. PERFECT device from this respect :)

Don't quote me on these, but I hope it helps. :)
 
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dayloon said:
4) I presume i'll also need to buy a 2.5" mounting bracket or something (i've got a cooler master cosmos s case). Which one do ppl recommend ?
Click to expand...

Well you can just get a generic 2.5" to 3.5" like the one ocuk sell but I went for the branded OCZ SSD bracket for a couple of quid more but sadly had to shop elsewhere as ocuk don't stock it *shakes fist*
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velcro

:)

For my 2 x 30 Vertex I purchased ONE mounting adapter and used one (piece, it is two left-right in the box) for each drive instead of two. I drilled tiny holes and fastened the brackets with scews on the side of the case (inside disk holder, nothing visible outside)

Disks are tiny and very light so no worries and minimum air flow restrictions :)
 
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Firstly may I say good choice of drive that man! And I reckon you'll be wanting another in about a week!;)

On to your Q's...

1) - Yes, at the mo a frimware update does delete all data, there are moves to get an updater which doesn't do this, but nothing avail as yet.

2) - Alignment, don't worry Win7 will handle it all for you.

3) - Trim actually empties the blocks which have had data 'deleted', hence when you write data to a previously used block the drive doesn't need to delete what's there first, hence faster operation (returns the drive to an 'as new' state effectively). This is only avail on firmware 1.10 and with the OCZ TRIM tool (called WIPER.EXE) which you have to run manually.

4) - Any really, as others have said the drives are so light you can just velcro them in if you wanted to!
 
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