Upgrading to SSD question/s

[Achilleslastand]

Upgrading to a Crucial MX100 but also want to keep my WD Black for additional storage. Is this as easy as installing the SSD then installing windows and then installing the HDD for additional storage?
Anything I need to do in Bios?

 

[Charlie98]

Make sure your BIOS is set to AHCI. If you are going to clean install your OS, hook up only the SSD... leave the HDD unplugged while you are installing and updating. Once your OS is squared away, then install the HDD.

If you want to just continue to use your existing OS, you can clone it over using a number of free utilities, wipe the HDD, and then format it as your storage HDD.

EDIT: Make sure it's plugged into a SATA3 port on the mobo...

 

[Cerb]

Disconnect the HDD.

Install Windows. Make the new OS' PC name and user name different than the old one (while I haven't found the exact set of causes, sometimes matching naming on new installs can make Windows list the wrong drive's files, when browsing the old drive's user folder of the same name).

Reconnect the HDD.

Make sure the SSD is before the HDD in your boot order.

Done.

 

[Achilleslastand]

Ok here is noob question #2
When I reinstall Microsoft Sec Essentials, CCleaner, etc I assume this would be installed on the SSD and not the HDD or does it matter and why?

 

[Cerb]

Software like MSE doesn't give you a choice, and gets installed on C:, which will be the SSD. For other software, whichever. The SSD is faster, but you're probably getting a smaller one than your HDD, so not everything will necessary fit comfortably.

 

[Achilleslastand]

OK next set of questions........
Its best to have TRIM enabled on an SSD?
System Restore, enable or no?
Is it safe to run any registry cleaners, etc?

 

[SMSSMS]

on a side note, if you haven't yet actually bought the MX100, I suggest buying one of the newer generation SSDs from Crucial, either the BX100 or the MX200. BX100 is cheaper and seems to perform better.

 

[bonehead123]

So far, IMHO, all the above advice is correct.

I am, however, not a big fan of Crucial's SSD's, for reasons I will not bore you with atm. But suffice it to say I would recommend a different brand and then go for it with the installs/clones/reinstalls etc...

Definitely keep your OS separated on the SSD for best performance, and all apps you can on the storage drive.

Be VERY careful when selecting a registry cleaner...some of them are fine but some of them will FUBAR your system faster than a speeding bullet to the cpu socket... you could also learn to do it yourself if you are so inclined

 

[ArisVer]

My programs only take 8GB of space; no office suite and no games. The 8GB are actually the folders Program Files, Program Files (x86) and ProgramData. I would put them on the SSD instead of the other disk for the same reason you install the OS on it. Simply faster.

 

[mikeymikec]

OK next set of questions........
Its best to have TRIM enabled on an SSD?

AFAIK you won't get a choice, yes it's a good thing.

System Restore, enable or no?

Enable

Is it safe to run any registry cleaners, etc?

Don't bother installing them, instead play Solitaire et al to waste your time but in a more enjoyable way.

 

[SSBrain]

AFAIK you won't get a choice,

On Windows you can disable trim through a command line statement if you want, but there aren't many reasons why one would want to do so except perhaps debugging or improving data recoverability.

 

[Shmee]

Definitely only have 1 drive available during install, windows can be dumb and put some system files on the wrong drive, even if the SSD is selected for install.

 

[Puffnstuff]

If you have a uefi bios make sure that you install windows in uefi mode for maximum performance.

 

[Coup27]

System Restore, enable or no?

I disable system restore because I find it totally useless. On systems where I have tried to repair them and system restore was active, not once has system restore ever been able to fix a problem and I have always either had to find a solution myself or format.

 

[Emulex]

I agree system restore is pointless as long as you make full backups somewhere (windows backup) periodically

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I'll just interject to describe how I've gradually adopted SSDs for the essential purposes.

In 2011, the size and expense made SSDs less attractive. But I saw the potential for Intel ISRT, so I bought a 60GB SSD and used it to cache a WD Black HDD. I finally bought a 512GB 840-Pro 13 months ago. On that particular system, my only needs for an HDD were limited to DVR capture and certain files I don't keep on my server. I built another system later last year.

I'd also acquired a laptop which I refurbished with a Crucial MX100, and went through the 90-day trial period of an all-in-one caching program named Primo-Cache -- from Romex software. It worked without a hitch on the laptop, enabling me to cache the SSD to RAM, so I bought a 3-PC license for it.

I'm now using it on the second of the two desktops. The boot drive is a Samsung 840 EVO, but only 256 GB right now, approximately half full. So I used Primo with another 60GB SSD to cache a 500GB driver (for starters).

Both Intel and Samsung attempted to make the public think that ISRT or RAPID were "proprietary" and you couldn't have them any other way. You had to configure the motherboard for RAID-mode with ISRT; you had to configure you motherboard and SSD for AHCI mode to get RAPID.

Primo allows you to do it any which-a-way. So I've completely abjured RAID configurations, supplementing current solutions with robust backup. I use AHCI mode -- period. Departing from my KISS-principle inclinations, I've got RAPID caching my 840 EVO, and Primo caching the HDD. That may change soon, if I choose to swap the 512GB MX100 in the laptop for the 256GB EVO -- especially. I'll simply cache the big SSD to RAM and cache the HDD to a small 40GB SSD, using the same Primo-Cache program.

I then made sure to install all new games or other software on the HDD. So far, about 75 GB are used space. And I've never had a single problem these last four or five months with Primo-Cache.

 

[Achilleslastand]

Is the Samsung Magician worth installing? I have everything tweaked with W7 booting in about 5 seconds. Trim/on, Hibernation/off, etc.
What exactly does the software offer?

 

[Puffnstuff]

You need magician to keep your firmware current and if you wan to run their proprietary memory cashing option. You don't have to run it all the time which is the great thing about it.