Migrating to SSD

[bratkinson]

I built a new computer from the ground up about 18 months ago and went with SSD as the C: drive (Windows 7, current documents, current photos in process, LR and other program work files...nothing else). I consistenly get 25 seconds or less from power on to my Windows desktop on the screen.

That doesn't sound very fast for an SSD. My new (low end) laptop with a regular drive is faster than that. The IT guy at my last job, build himself a computer with an SSD and he said that from start to being on Google was something like 7 seconds (although, I'd guess that slows down over time).

I'd have to guess your IT guy isn't counting POST time. I'm talking 'push the power on button' (not awake from sleep mode) to desktop. POST alone is like 15 seconds...4.7ghz quad processor, 16gb RAM, 1 SSD, 2 HDS, 8 USB ports and an intentionally low-end video card all have to be tested/verified/wait for timeouts before it starts loading Windows on my machine. And since dumping Trend Micro Internet Security for McAfee, it comes up 2-3 seconds faster.

 

[Garbz]

My first step was to Google 'SSD drive installation' and read up as much as I could from knowledgeable computer techhies and tech web sites. This is the instructions I followed:
Sean's Windows 7 Install & Optimization Guide for SSDs & HDDs
It's quite detailed. Be sure to scroll beyond the advertisements in the middle of the text. Hopefully, you'll understand some of the technical mumbo jumbo. I'm a computer geek myself so it all made perfect sense to me. If you're transferring Windows from your C: drive to the SSD, I think that site has directions for it. If not, Google 'SSD drive installation' and you will find what you need.

Some people are insane. Yes that stuff will work but a lot of it is someone doing something manually that gets done automatically.
* If you cleanly format a drive from windows 7 it is NO DIFFERENT than manually partitioning with DISKPART, the windows install actually uses this as a back end.
* Saying the system index is pointless because with a SSD search is fast anyway is utter rubbish. There's a massive difference between searching every file (quickly) and doing a database lookup.
* Garbage collection has nothing to do with power options in Windows. It happens the moment the drive is idle and does not take long at all. Sleeping the drive on the other hand happens after minutes of inactivity.
* Saying it's important to install virus protection but disabling UAC really deserves a slow-clap.
* Disabling prefetch and supercaching is stupid and will result in slowdowns. Just because your harddisk can no do 300MB/s random reads does not mean it's as fast as a 12000MB/s memory stick which is where the pre-fetch data lives.

The rest of the stuff in there is pretty good.

and you want a 6 gb/s SATA port on an SSD.

Probably an important thing to note here - not all SATA is the same. There are different classifications of SATA - and in order for you to get the most out of your SSD drive you'll want to make sure you get a SATA III drive, have a SATA III port on your motherboard and a SATA III cable to connect the two - If any of these are rated as SATA II then the whole system will run at SATA II speeds, and while this is still faster than a physical drive it's slower than SATA III.

Any cable made in the last 5 years should be ok. There was no difference between SATA II and SATA III cables and really SATA I wasn't around for very long. Also I wouldn't say this was critically important. There's not that much performance difference between SATAII and SATAIII unless you're buying quite the top of the range SSD. I recently put a SSD in an 8 year old laptop and despite being SATA 1 it was still blazingly fast compared to the HDD that came before it.

 

[manaheim]

I'm being a little lazy in my thread scanning, but I don't THINK anyone mentioned this...

You MUST BE certain that both your OS AND your SATA chipset support TRIM. An SSD can be utterly trashed in very short order if not.

TRIM and SSD performance: why is it important? - Crucial Community

 

[The_Traveler]

My pc has a Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 motherboard and nothing in the manual says anything about TRIM.

 

[manaheim]

If it's relatively new... it should... but you need to check. There are some tools out there that you can run that will test your motherboard to be certain. Unfortunately I can't recall what they were at present. :-/

 

[The_Traveler]

I found some mentions on Gigabyte Forum where it is supposed to - and even recommends the appropriate ports to plug into.
I haven't updated Bios for a couple of years so will probably try to remember how I did that before

 

[The_Traveler]

Well that was easy.
Gigabyte has a utility that does it.

Now to find a good deal on an SSD

 

[manaheim]

Sweet.

Highly recommend Samsung, btw. (for SSD)

 

[IByte]

I am about to buy a Sandisk Ultra Plus 256GB SSD to migrate from my current C: on my desktop.
I have ~150 GB on the C: currently with no data of any sort.

Are there any issues I should know that an experienced person would know (and I clearly don't)?
I am OK with routine HD installs, part replacements, etc but this is an entirely new field for me.

Samsung 840 pro 256. Install your OS and most used apps Lightroom for example. Secondary on a 7200 rpm barracuda....bam!! Faster loading time.

 

[bratkinson]

Samsung 840 pro 256. Install your OS and most used apps Lightroom for example. Secondary on a 7200 rpm barracuda....bam!! Faster loading time.

I went with a pair of Samsung 840s, 128gb variety. Only rarely is it more than 50% space used. I use one as a clone of the other...not RAID, but I separately clone one to the other about once a month. Both SSDs (and both HDDs) are in slide in/out slots, which makes cloning and removal very easy. After cloning one to the other, the new clone stays and the original SSD/HHD is taken out and stored.

 

[Garbz]

Good choice. To anyone else playing along stick clear of OCZ. They have the highest failure rates in the industry by almost an order of magnitude. Samsung is the surprising underdog with an awesome product in this case.

Also TRIM command is good, but the reality is for a small use drive (i.e. running windows loading applications etc) TRIM will only really show its benefits after a year or two, and you can refresh the drive by doing the SSD equivalent of a low-Level format using apps from the vendor. I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

 

[robbins.photo]

My pc has a Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 motherboard and nothing in the manual says anything about TRIM.

Lew, your motherboard uses the Intel P55 chipset and it should work fine.

 

[The_Traveler]

Thanks, all.
Now just to figure out why there is so much in cost difference between different model Samsung 256 gb. SSDs.

Can anyone pint me to a source that describes the critical specs that I should know in order to differentiate?

 

[manaheim]

Good choice. To anyone else playing along stick clear of OCZ. They have the highest failure rates in the industry by almost an order of magnitude. Samsung is the surprising underdog with an awesome product in this case.

Also TRIM command is good, but the reality is for a small use drive (i.e. running windows loading applications etc) TRIM will only really show its benefits after a year or two, and you can refresh the drive by doing the SSD equivalent of a low-Level format using apps from the vendor. I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

Chris, I thought the lack of trim resulted in physical damage to the drive by continually writing to the same "bits" or whatever? My understanding was that every time electrical charge was sent to a "bit" it was degraded in some way and that TRIM distributed that activity across the drive more evenly to avoid that condition.

Or something.

My memory here is degraded. (ha)

 

[The_Traveler]

Just this morning got a 'boot sector damaged or ....' message so I booted from a Windows Rescue Disk.
I had made a disk image after installing CC apps just 2 weeks ago and was able to restore from that successfully - thanks be to the image.

BUT............... should I take that as sign from the Computer Gods that my hard disk is on its way to hard disk heaven?

Should I press forward even more quickly with the conversion?