HOW TO: Windows Installation Thread (includes SATA III, SSD Upgrade, RAID0 Discussion)

awesome, thx Mr.Fox... now just need to WAIT >< for my beast to come home...

 

You're welcome, bro. If you go with a Crucial, just be sure you are on firmware 0009. If the drive you buy comes with 0002, flash it before setting everything up. The thread I linked above has more information about that and the instructions on Crucial's download page are very straightforward and easy to follow.

 

i will be sure to give it a full read before installing anything, thx

 

i been doing some research, i was wondering what you think about this solution. would it be easier to get a cloning kit and clone the orignal factory state HDD onto the SSD and just simply install the SSD and go or are there any problems with this solution?

 

That may work fine as long as all the conditions are right. I am a big fan of drive imaging and cloning and have done that for years.

If your BIOS is set for RAID configuration, you will need to be sure it is set the same way for the SSD installation or you could have issues with the image or cloning operation working correctly. (You can have the BIOS set for RAID in a single drive or dissimilar drive scenario, but the drivers that run AHCI and RAID are different and could cause serious conflicts and BSOD.)

The key is to be prepared in case things don't go as planned. Have a USB or DVD installation disc ready if you need it. Use ABR to back up and restore your activation.

You can get the Windows SP1 installation source here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-digitalriver-windows-7-sp1-13-languages.html

You can get the ABR and Windows ISO tool here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html

 

I luv the threads on this forum. Guys giving out some great responses to questions. I hope to contribute in some way too.

I got my x18m delivered this Thursday. I really luv it. I'm impressed with the build quality of this thing. I even like the hat .

Anyway uninstalled the stock video driver. And followed the 6990M Crossfire Guide thread

Ran my first benchmark, 3dmark11 and got P4980, P5285, and P6490. It jumps around because I believe crossfire is using ULPS, which I hope i've disabled. I have 2 of these Kingston HyperX 240gb SSD's coming tuesday. Which I plan to set up in raid0, and then use an external like some of you guys did. What do u guys think of my choice? I was going to go with 2 cruical 256gb m4's updated to firmware 0009 for reliability, which where cheaper. At the last minute I decided to go for the kingston's because they are faster but not as unreliable as ocz's. Crossing my fingers. Will I have to disable LPM, like I've read some the threads?

If veritass is around - I read u wanted to create a image of your system and restore that rather than installing windows from scratch. How did the work, any problems or things to be careful of?

Mr. Fox, I will ofc use ABR and have windows installation usb ready incase problems.

 

i havent tired it yet, as i am still waiting for my M18x to delivered, its currently in production and it should arrive around Nov 7th at the latest. that said i think the issues to watch out for is what Mr.Fox has stated above about the about cloaning raid HDD to non raid SSD or vice-versa, so if you cloaning from single HDD to single SSD say 256gb, you wont incounter any problems and it should be safe.

so ya if your interested in the results i will test it out once my system arrives and cloan my 500GB HDD onto the 128GB Crucial M4, and let you know how it fans out

 

Then I'll go first. I'll do the image method first. raid 0 to raid 0. If problems I'll install windows from scratch.

 

awesome let me know how it goes, and good luck

 

My two HyperX 240gb's should be home waiting for me when I get home. I'll just have to prepare dinner and help with homework b4 I can play with them.

Since I ordered them from newegg I've been reading some great post by mr fox and dr650se mostly and a few others. I plan to align the raid by letting windows format/install. Then restoring a system image over that.??? Sound good? I have my activation key backed up. And plan to make windows install USB b4 starting. Then I'll tune windows for optimal ssd performance.

I'll post numbers if anyone's interested. I'm praying for no BSOD'S.

 

sandisk controller. get ready for bsod and freezes.

 

i just used Acronis software to clone stock 500gb drive to a Crucial M4 256gb drive and I was up and running in no time. BIOS is set to Raid.

 

Argh, your wrong in my case. And I cross my fingers you stay wrong. I looked at the reviews on newegg and these forums. Wasn't much complaining about the kingston hyperx's. I haven't BSOD since i installed them. (yes only 4 hours ago). But i have ran a few benchmarks and played starcraft2, rebooted a dozen times tweaking stuff. U are correct sandforce controllers have been giving alot BSOD's, especially OCZ's.

here's a screenshot

 

Hey bonedaddy, If you aren't running a Raid, u should use ACHI (speed increase) in BIOS. Just be sure to set it up ACHI in windows b4 activating it in BIOS.

 

BIOS being set to AHCI instead of RAID should have no effect on the speed, at least with the M18x. I've tried it both ways and there is no measurable difference. There is an advantage installing Windows with the BIOS set to RAID. If bonedaddy ever decides to purchase another identical SSD and run in RAID, Intel Rapid Store Technology allows you to create an array without losing any data or having to reinstall the OS. (After seeing your RAID0 speeds, who wouldn't want to do that, eh?)

Glad to hear you're (thus far) having to issues with SF controllers. Some do, and some don't. I bet they'll find a firmware fix for it before long.

 

I recently tested my patriot torqx vs a crucial m4. Despite the 3 year difference I felt no appreciable changes in performance. Benchmarks don't always tell the full story.

I was able via batboy's guide to use alienrespawn image to successfully install from a large HD to a smaller SSD 750GB >128GB

 

Bloodroses what was the difference between the two On performance and speed?

 

First one is the patriot torqx 128, second one is crucial m4 256


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : Crystal Dew World
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 214.367 MB/s
Sequential Write : 98.044 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 152.596 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 66.876 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 20.500 MB/s [ 5005.0 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 7.126 MB/s [ 1739.7 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 64.941 MB/s [ 15854.8 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 7.392 MB/s [ 1804.6 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [C: 30.8% (33.7/109.5 GB)] (x5)
Date : 2011/10/25 1:35:23
OS : Windows 7 Home Premium Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : Crystal Dew World
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 488.240 MB/s
Sequential Write : 268.384 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 382.603 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 267.884 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 19.846 MB/s [ 4845.3 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 48.299 MB/s [ 11791.7 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 191.359 MB/s [ 46718.4 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 236.363 MB/s [ 57705.8 IOPS]

Test : 1000 MB [C: 23.8% (52.1/218.9 GB)] (x5)
Date : 2011/10/28 13:08:59
OS : Windows 7 Home Premium Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)

 

Wow... those are massive differences in performance.

 

Hi guys!
I'm planing to buy an SSD for OS and programs. I think one of the best SSDs right now is kingston's hyperX. I was wondering which steps I would have to do if I plan to make RAID 0. I'm waiting for my rig to arrive home. My rig is coming with default HD (320Gb), and here is my question:

What problems I'm going to find if I try to clone the disk to a RAID 0 of those kingston's SSD?
Which steps I shall have to do?
I mean, Shall I do a clean install to make disks work properly?

Thank you very much!

PS: I'll do the RAID with 2 SSD of course

 

Could anyone help me?

Thank you very much!

 

The general consensus here is that it's better to do a fresh install of windows after you have created the Raid array and reinstall all the drivers in this order:

1. Chipset Driver
2. USB 3.0 Driver (11xR3, 14x, 17xR3, 18x only)
3. Intel RST Driver / Intel Management Engine
4. Freefall Sensor Driver
5. Alienware On-Screen Display Driver
6. INTEL & AMD Graphics drivers (must be switched to integrated graphics to install the Intel HD driver)
7. LAN Driver
8. Wireless Network Driver
9. Audio Driver
10. Bluetooth Driver
11. Touchpad Driver
12. Media Card Reader Driver
13. Alienware Command Center
NOTE: Command Center should always be installed last.

I put a SSD in mine and did a fresh install, everything fine now.

 

well...what do you do after it falls out of sata 3 mode later down the line?

 

Not sure who the question was directed at... I had an Intel SSD that dropped out of SATA III after reboots and booted slowly due to a conflict between it and my WD HDD, however I have since sold the Intel 510 and replaced it with a 128GB Crucial M4 SSD and everything is working perfectly.

 

your questions up above...


it seems to be a board/bios thing...i have to physically unplug it from the MB and power on, then power off and reconnect. then it kicks back into sata 3 mode. and it doesnt matter what drive i have in there first. heck...they are both the same drives.. . i remember that was discussed as well...

this is very annoying!

side note:
it did it to my m4 as well...and i would put it on stat port 1 and it would work fine...this is no help to raid though...

 

I didn't try too many fixes, bar swapping the drives in their bays etc. but nothing worked. The Intel SSD was perfect in there by itself but once the HDD was there, it made a strange clicking sound during boot up and boot times were over 30 secs. After a while I just tried a different brand of SSD and haven't looked back.

 

ok. thanks for the input!!

mine is back to working again. ill have to keep an eye on that...i didnt realize it wasn't working till i tried to run pcmark05. hdd scores were far to low.

i didn't get the clicking sound..just the dropped speeds when using an ssd/hdd combo, but it was fine if i set port1 as ssd.

 

If I mount a RAID Do I lose the TRIM function right? As I discuss in previous post I'm going to set up a RAID 0 with Kingston HyperX drives. I read that the current SSDs incorporates a function called garabage collection, which makes more or less the same function as TRIM.

With no active TRIM, the performance degrades as time passes.

My question is:

What procedure do you recomend me when this happens?

Format? Load a previously created image with everything installed?

It seems a little pain in the having to do this from time to time.
Do you know any other method to maintain or restore performance without having to reformat?

Thank you very much!

 

Help please last questions I guess hehe :S

 

what i did was...
pulled the drives out as a whole.
connected it to my desktop system.
then did a ocz wiper command on both. then put them back in the laptop.
if that didn't work...i would image the drive, then secure erase then re install image back on raid 0 setup.

 

I have a question for the smarter guys around here.

I was just upgraded to a 256g SSD from AW coming with the machine. I have a brand new Crucial M4 256g SSD sitting here in the box that I can drop into the 2nd bay. What is the best way to configure these drives? Would Raid be the best idea and if so, how do I accomplish this? Thanks in advance and sorry for the noobish question.

 

Continued discussion with johnksss that was off-topic in wrong thread.

 

i just switched the drive around and it installed without a hit.
very weird

edit:
it's back to doing the same thing with the drives switched. this really stinks!

 

I've heard that said by several people, but I have tried it more than once without success using Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit OEM DVD installation media. Using the Intel RST F6 drivers has worked flawlessly every time.

This may be a Sandforce bug, but it would not hurt to try the Intel RST F6 drivers.

Or, try this as an alternative. Break the RAID membership so the drives are independent. Install Windows to SSD0 without RAID membership with the BIOS configuration set to RAID. Once Windows is installed, install the latest Rapid Store Technology software and Intel Control Center. Create the RAID0 array within Windows and let RST do its thing. I have done this twice before and it worked excellent.

 

it will drop the sata port before you even get to reading the dvd drive.

 

Does this behavior occur only with the Maxiops SSD drives attached, or does it happen with the standard HDD also? If there is not problem with the standard HDD, do you have the latest firmware installed for your SSD?

 

a couple weeks ago they released a firmware for sandforce drives that fixed these issues. It was a major release.

 

Good info, littleone562. Was the firmware update a generic release for all Sandforce-based SSD drives, or brand and model-specific? If you have a link for the download, please post it. And, thank you for chiming in on this... much appreciated. +1 Rep.

 

the only way to know if a standard hd will cause the issue is to install a 6 gb model. which no one has or hasn't posted yet.

and i have fw 2.11 which has been doing fine and dandy. not going to flash 2.13 any time soon. did that on my agility drives and lost 200 mb's in speed.

as to firmware...not sure...
1: does the firmware tell the Mb to boot the drive at a certain speed?
2: does the firmware tell the MB to drop only port zero?
3: can the FW reset the the error on it's own?

but what i do know is you can using the intel software once in windows to reset an error on the drive..then reboot and the error is cleared on bootup.

ill have a better take after i try out da_g's bios with updated intel drivers...

yeah, kind of need to know what manufacture and brands and who has these updates...

 

ok, so this is really starting to bug me. will run 6 gb for a short time then it will drop to 3 gb. wth? no matter what drive is master. port0 keeps dropping out.

 

Sorry John. My question was possibly worded poorly, or perhaps I misunderstood the nature of your technical issue.

By "dropping out" did you mean the SATA port speeds dropping from 6GB to 3GB? I thought (possibly incorrectly) that the issue was your Windows installation was failing because the drives were disappearing or not being recognized during the OS installation process. If so, my question was geared toward whether or not this problem was occurring with a standard HDD installed versus your Maxiops SSD drives.

 

and the only way to know is to in stall a sata 3 mechanical hard drive and see if it drops to 3 gb.
when i was trying to install..the drive would drop out (drop from 6 to 3). once it drops..windows corrupts out. so you have to re install again.

 

Hmm. Man, sorry to hear this. This really stinks, and rather perplexing, too. Have you noticed anyone else on the forum that is running into this situation? I'm inclined to blame the Maxiops SSD drives. Is that what you're still thinking, too? Drop in speed aside, does everything seem to function properly with the mechanical HDDs that were installed prior to the Maxiops?

 

All brands of ssd's receieved the new firmware to fix the LPM issue/BSOD's on sata3 drives. It was v3.3.2 on some manufactures and 2.15 with OCZ. Trust me that is the one you want.

 

i dont have a bsod with any of my drives...just the sata dropping speeds from 6gb's to 3gb's

 

I would still strongly recommend you update to it, if you do some research on 2.15 lots of people have had a wide array of issues solved. It is non-destructive (no data loss).

 

Agree with littleone... There is a very good chance the firmware update will resolve that issue. Definitely worth the minor effort it would take to apply the update.

 

@johnksss - any breakthroughs yet, buddy?

 

nope.
i had to break the array and run my sata 3 drive on port 1 and my sata 2 drive on port 0

 

I hope I don't end up with that issue. Guess we'll soon find out. I'm not wishing you any bad luck, but I hope it turns out to be your SSD drives and not the laptop. Have you been able to confirm 100% whether it is an issue involving the SATA controller or the Maxiops yet?

Edit: if it is the drives, they are still under warranty, correct?