Help with getting OS onto msata

So when my new shinny m17x r4 arrived instead of taking time to think ahead I proceeded to install the crucial m4 ssd I had bought separate in the 2nd hard drive bay and left the OS on the 7200 rpm hdd.... Now I have all my games and photo editing software on the ssd while my music and saved films are on the hdd along with a few smaller programmes.

What I want to do is buy a small 32gb msata and get the OS on it while leaving the ssd for games and phoo editing and the hdd for mass storage... From what I have read it seems cloaning from hdd to ssd is a bad idea so wondering how the best way to do it. Without having to install everything again. Also could do with some guidance on driver instillation for my specific machine as have read a few conflicting articles...

 

Personally I would install the OS onto the SSD (crucial m4) rather than the mSATA. Its bigger and will perform faster (2 HDD/SSD bays are SATA III and mSATA is SATA II). I would use the small 32GB mSATA to cache the HDD.

Basically just install the OS onto the SSD, saves you hasle and you will get the best performance then. I would perform it as a clean install onto the SSD. Not really worth getting a mSATA at the minute.

 

Exactly what brother DDDenniZZZ says

 

32GB is too small for an OS volume. It will install, but there will be problems. It's best to just do what DDDenniZZZ says and install your OS and games on the SSD. It's less of a headache that way too since you would have to configure Windows to setup the Program Files folder(s) onto another volume.

 

Ok but I will loose all my installed games if I do a clean install of the OS on the ssd?? Nt end of the world nut it took hours and hours to install and in the case of steam download and install them. Not bought the msata yet so if its not a good Idea I can bin the idea off. If I bought another ssd how could I do a fresh install on that the get it to out all the shortcuts to my games back on the desk top?

 

All you can do is save your documents and settings to a file that you recover in the new installation. Use the windows backup to do that. It won't copy your programs and probably a bunch of other stuff, but it's a starting point a but further down the road from a clean install.

You really need to do it though. For safety you might be able to just change the boot order in the bios and then clean install to the SSD. That way if it all goes bad on you, you will still be able to change the boot order back and boot from your original installation.

The msata is still a good idea but only for speeding up your mechanical drive

 

Looks like I will need to bite the bullet and just do it then and except the time to re-install as punishment for being to quick before.

Regards to the msata - since it's only good for hdd cache I might just use the 750gb seagate xt hybrid dive I have in my mac.... More storage and no financial outlay which means more money for games.

How important is installing the drivers in correct order?? And where can I find a definitive step by step guide?? Being a long time mac user drivers are something I have never had to worry about.

 

Hopefully someone can jump in with a recommendation for a good guide, I've always 'winged' it :O

That seagate sounds like it will be the thing to try. I don't know how those hybrid drives work so I can't comment on it as opposed to an msata ssd cache?

I haven't seen anyone having problems with driver order but I know there are docs around here for it. main thing to remember is to only use ones from the dell site and not directly from the part manufactures. Once you get it all working on then you can look at updating - mainly the video driver.

If you have the RAID bios enabled (you see a screen with the disk config before the alienhead) then make sure you use the AW windows disk or you will have problems. Some people say turn off the raid bios but I prefer to have it for future use (maybe n msata cache later ). If windows hangs during installation or it BSOD's as soon as windows starts, mismatched disk drivers have loaded and it's a bit of work to get the right ones into the installation

Good luck

 

Anyone got any idea how I sole the error message I am seeing - tells me a media driver for my computer is missing but I am using the DVD dell provided....?

Figured it out - welt achi as opposed to raid in bios

 

AHCI and UEFI is possible is what I'd recommend, you running windows 8 or 7?
In windows 8 I boot to login within 10 seconds.

 

This is very true, most people I see going win 8 do it this way. The downside is that if you are using an SSD cache it no longer works, it becomes another drive. And to change it in the future you will need to do some registry magic or more probably re-install windows with the RAID enabled. Depends what is important to you, a slick, fast, win8 load, or future use of IRST technology?

To make the win 7 install work you have to extract the disk drivers onto a USB stick and load them at the disk config screen during install. First time I've seen this using the AW CD but who knows...

 

Cloning is not a good idea. If you are planning to do this you will probably need to do a full reinstall even if you don't want to. I would also install the O.S on the SSD. It'll give a better performance.