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  1. #1
    Herald of the Titans bloodwulf's Avatar
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    SSD Install Tips Please.

    I am receiving my first SSD this week because my main drive is starting to through a lot of SMART errors, and its old has hell anyways. So I wanted to know of any suggestions for my first install.

    My setup will look like this:
    OS drive: Samsung 840 250gb
    Extra drive: 500 gb HDD

    I intend to do the following:
    OS on SSD, move stuff like program data and user data to storage drive. Install only "important" programs to the SSD, everything else is going to my extra. I really don't use a lot of data on my current system, and 750gb will be more than enough for the most part. I was hoping to leave my extra drive formatted as is, but if necessary i can reformat it as well (i have a lot of school stuff on it that I was not wanting to have move around).

    My question is:
    From people who have experience with SSD installs, what are some things I should plan out ahead of time, what are some tips, and what are some common issues that might be encountered.


    Thanks all.
    We live in an era of "me versus them", an era where something is done that you don't like means you are personally attacked. People whine too much.
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  2. #2
    Which OS are you planning to use?
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  3. #3
    Herald of the Titans bloodwulf's Avatar
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    Windows 7 64 bit. Sorry I forgot to mention that.
    We live in an era of "me versus them", an era where something is done that you don't like means you are personally attacked. People whine too much.
    Let us play video games and be happy.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by bloodwulf View Post
    I intend to do the following:
    OS on SSD, move stuff like program data and user data to storage drive. Install only "important" programs to the SSD, everything else is going to my extra.
    Put everything into SSD you use more than once per week. If it gets full, then you can start worrying about moving stuff to other drives. Installing Office and games to HDD to save SSD space is just wasting the benefit you'll get from running stuff from faster disc.

    Quote Originally Posted by bloodwulf View Post
    From people who have experience with SSD installs, what are some things I should plan out ahead of time, what are some tips, and what are some common issues that might be encountered.
    Assuming there are no problems, this is the procedure:

    1) turn off computer
    2) open computer case, pull out SATA cables from all HDDs
    3) power on computer and enter BIOS/UEFI
    4) from BIOS/UEFI options make sure AHCI (or RAID) mode is turned on for all SATA drives*
    5) save settings and power off
    6) plug in SSD to SATA port 1
    7) power on computer and install windows, all windows patches and all hardware drivers ... make sure OS boots normally from SSD
    8) power off computer, plug back in SATA cables to all HDDs, close the case
    9) done

    * if you have some very old or crappy DVD drive it might not work on ACHI mode. If that is the case set some SATA ports in AHCI mode and some in IDE mode, and plug DVD drive only to IDE mode ports. RAID mode includes AHCI mode and will speed up SSD access, but turning on RAID mode unless you plan to use it is not a good idea.

    AHCI mode is not on by default, IDE is. SSDs will run much faster in AHCI or RAID mode.

    Unplugging HDDs is done as a precaution. When none of the HDDs are attached while installing windows, there's zero chance you'll accidentially overwrite it or add old OS into boot menu.
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  5. #5
    Also make sure that you don't have defrag scheduled to defrag the SSD.
    Disabling hibernate is also a good idea to save some space.
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  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by n0cturnal View Post
    Also make sure that you don't have defrag scheduled to defrag the SSD.
    Windows 7 and 8 does this by default.
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  7. #7
    Herald of the Titans bloodwulf's Avatar
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    Well when i said "important" files i meant certain games, but I have a lot of games installed at the moment that i only play like 1 time every 2 weeks or something. I intend to install some of my games.

    Btw the ACHI suggestion is appreciated. I would of forgot to do that.
    We live in an era of "me versus them", an era where something is done that you don't like means you are personally attacked. People whine too much.
    Let us play video games and be happy.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by bloodwulf View Post
    Well when i said "important" files i meant certain games, but I have a lot of games installed at the moment that i only play like 1 time every 2 weeks or something. I intend to install some of my games.
    In addition to Windows 8 (pagefile and hibernate off) I have currently WoW, Rift, D3, PoE and GW2 installed from games side, and on top of that Office 2010, few virtual machines, web server and some other fluff. 150GB used and 90GB free of 250GB SSD. You can fit surprising amount of crap into 250GB disc when keeping movies and mp3's stashed on old HDDs.
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  9. #9
    Moderator chazus's Avatar
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    Well when i said "important" files i meant certain games, but I have a lot of games installed at the moment that i only play like 1 time every 2 weeks or something. I intend to install some of my games.
    Do you -really- have more than 200gb of games installed? Like... really? 128gb wasn't quite enough for me, and I have a lot installed. But filling 250gb of just software seems.. difficult.

    I would start cleaning house of games not played before considering moving stuff to the storage drive.

    The storage drive is exactly that. Storage. Not 'spillover' or 'extra'. The only things that go on my storage drive is movies, music (I have ~60gb of music), a backup of important documents and pictures, and all of my software ISOs. There isn't really a huge reason anyone should be much different
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  10. #10
    Stood in the Fire h3lladvocate's Avatar
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    Aren't you supposed to change your alignment offset to 4096k or something like that as well?

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by chazus View Post
    Do you -really- have more than 200gb of games installed? Like... really? 128gb wasn't quite enough for me, and I have a lot installed. But filling 250gb of just software seems.. difficult.

    I would start cleaning house of games not played before considering moving stuff to the storage drive.

    The storage drive is exactly that. Storage. Not 'spillover' or 'extra'. The only things that go on my storage drive is movies, music (I have ~60gb of music), a backup of important documents and pictures, and all of my software ISOs. There isn't really a huge reason anyone should be much different
    I'm running about 2TB of storage and I'm getting 4TB more now that the prices are finally low again. I delete around 100GB of stuff every 2 weeks as it is right now.
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  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by h3lladvocate View Post
    Aren't you supposed to change your alignment offset to 4096k or something like that as well?
    Not needed anymore for many years. SSD controller chips take care of all that automagically.

    Quote Originally Posted by n0cturnal View Post
    I'm running about 2TB of storage and I'm getting 4TB more now that the prices are finally low again. I delete around 100GB of stuff every 2 weeks as it is right now.
    I was like that and collecting whole lot of anime... Until I found enlightenment. There's no point keeping all that crap because even if I someday watch it once, I wont watch the stuff ever again.
    Last edited by vesseblah; 2013-02-11 at 11:26 PM.
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  13. #13
    Herald of the Titans Maruka's Avatar
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    i can also attest that 256 gb hd fills up fast with steam sales >.>. the checklist of things to do up a few posts is perfect btw.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by vesseblah View Post
    I was like that and collecting whole lot of anime... Until I found enlightenment. There's no point keeping all that crap because even if I someday watch it once, I wont watch the stuff ever again.
    Well it is like 4-500GB of mp3 I've been collecting since '98 or so, and some other stuff I've been planning to put on DVD but I just haven't gotten around to do.

    ~250GB of games as well it seems.
    Last edited by n0cturnal; 2013-02-11 at 11:31 PM.
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  15. #15
    Moderator chazus's Avatar
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    I keep old TV shows that are getting harder and harder to find via... totally legitimate means. I may not even watch them, but if I feel nostalgic down the road... There's just some stuff that netflix/hulu/youtube just doesn't have. And even then, no guarantee they'll have them forever.
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  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by n0cturnal View Post
    and some other stuff I've been planning to put on DVD but I just haven't gotten around to do.
    Do you realize how many DVDs is 2TB of data? Or even 1TB if you burn half of it? (spoiler: more than 200 for 1TB)

    Doing that math was the final nail in the coffin for me to stop collecting shit for collection's sake, waiting to be burned and saved. Most of it is not so rare it can't be downloaded again in few hours, or watched from some streaming service. I ended up carrying 99% of my burned discs out into trashcan and keeping only things that are really rare or hard to find. That also helped cleaning up whole lot of shelfspace.
    Never going to log into this garbage forum again as long as calling obvious troll obvious troll is the easiest way to get banned.
    Trolling should be.

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by chazus View Post
    I keep old TV shows that are getting harder and harder to find via... totally legitimate means. I may not even watch them, but if I feel nostalgic down the road... There's just some stuff that netflix/hulu/youtube just doesn't have. And even then, no guarantee they'll have them forever.
    If only we had proper streaming services of series and such here in Sweden, we did get Netflix recently but everything they have is about 2-3 seasons behind unless you use a proxy to circumvent country restrictions.
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  18. #18
    I think everything's been covered in this thread so far that I've seen, but here's a step by step guide for getting it setup. Very well put together IMO.
    Sean's SSD Guide

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by vesseblah View Post
    Do you realize how many DVDs is 2TB of data? Or even 1TB if you burn half of it? (spoiler: more than 200 for 1TB)

    Doing that math was the final nail in the coffin for me to stop collecting shit for collection's sake, waiting to be burned and saved. Most of it is not so rare it can't be downloaded again in few hours, or watched from some streaming service. I ended up carrying 99% of my burned discs out into trashcan and keeping only things that are really rare or hard to find. That also helped cleaning up whole lot of shelfspace.
    Yeah I know, it would take a long time to burn it all that is why I'm replacing some of my older drives with two new 2TB drives. Prices on Caviar greens are down to like €80 now.
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  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by chazus View Post
    Do you -really- have more than 200gb of games installed? Like... really? 128gb wasn't quite enough for me, and I have a lot installed. But filling 250gb of just software seems.. difficult.

    I would start cleaning house of games not played before considering moving stuff to the storage drive.

    The storage drive is exactly that. Storage. Not 'spillover' or 'extra'. The only things that go on my storage drive is movies, music (I have ~60gb of music), a backup of important documents and pictures, and all of my software ISOs. There isn't really a huge reason anyone should be much different
    How much space does just WoW take up now? Probably around 40-50gbs. 250gb type ssd is probably ideal for most people how play 5ish games which include 1or 2 mmos

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