Installing SSD

Just ordered an 128gb Samsung 830 series SSD and a caddy so it will replace my optical drive. What is the best way to install Windows on the SSD? I'm guessing I'm going to have to reinstall the games/programs that I want on the SSD right?

 

If your going to use a caddy I recommend putting the 500 gig drive into the caddy and put the SSD in its place. You will need to reinstall windows and your programs. What I did is I used my Msata as my windows drive and my second drive as my programs drive and the third one as my games and downloads drive. For you use the SSD as your windows and programs drive and the 500 (Caddy drive) as your games drive.

 

Why put the 500gig in the caddy?

 

you're going to want to move the platter drive to the optical drive bay and seat the ssd in the primary drive bay. this is because the optical bay only supports up to sata II and you won't be taking advantage of the sata III speeds your new ssd is capable of. the best way to install windows is to do a clean, full install.

 

Because the 500 gig 7200 rpm drive is a Sata 2 drive and the Slot drive port only supports up to Sata 2 3gb. Your SSD is a Sata 3 6gb and you will get the best performance out of it. Beat me to it :thumbsup:

 

Cool. Thank you. Will I have to change anything in the bios?

 

nope, you'll still be booting in the same order.

 

Make sure you put hard drive settings in AHCI mode vs Raid

 

what's default on this?

 

R1 comes default with AHCI / R2 comes default with RAID

 

if you have a R2 i would leave it at RAID, i was having so much problems with AHCI mode and a SSD. It caused me to exchange my m14x r2 within a week, thinking it was the problem. It also caused me to exchange the ssd thinking it was faulty, twice. Turns out my computer didnt like it when i put it in AHCI mode for some reason.

I was using a Samsung 830 256gb ssd.

 

Thats weird. Normally it should immediately Bluescreen when you try to start windows in RAID mode with a single SSD as primary drive.

 

my ssd does NOT like ahci mode - would seize up and bluescreen... set it back to raid and things were fine again

 

Thats wierd mine runs fine on AHCI mode.

 

thanks for all the replies.. will let you guys know how it goes when I install it

edit: one more question. how am I going to install windows on it since it's an empty hard drive. I'll be able to use the Windows disk it came with?

 

depending on what kind of windows disc it came with, yes you should be able to boot from the dvd drive.

 

It says Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit but the disk says it may only be used for backup and recovery of your Alienware computer system. My thought is no since it's not an OEM copy of Windows it's just a restore disk correct? Is there anyone who has done what I am doing and used this disk successfully? Also I'm guessing since I'm replacing the optical drive with the HDD I should format the HDD replace it with the SSD and leave my optical in so I can do the install of Windows. Then use the caddy to replace the optical with the HDD. Sorry for all the questions, I know a decent amount about computer I just don't want to have any problems while doing this.

Edit: I forgot I have a Vista OEM disk so technically if the disk that came with my AW doesn't work I can just use the Vista OEM disk and a Win 7 upgrade disk I have.

 

That disk you have should be a real Windows 7 disk for complete fresh reinstall. Also, you can either get a case for your old internal optical drive, or just buy an external drive (which is what I did). That way I still can plug in my optical the very few times I need it, and the other 99% of the time it's stowed away in the orion backpack.

 

Got the SSD yesterday and just finished the clean install of Windows and all the drivers. Getting the caddy for the HDD tomorrow just gotta get some files off of it then format it. Installation went smooth, absolutely no problems and speeds are ridiculously fast. This is the first SSD I've used so I'm lovin it so far. Thanks for all the help guys.

 

I just installed my first SSD two weeks ago and now it causes me a huge problem. I love it so much that my other computers feel like pigs and now I have to upgrade them to SSD.

 

/edit wrong post