Just ordered 256GB M4 - now what?

Just kidding - but I am complete noob with SSD.

Going to swap out the 750GB HDD on my L502x with this as soon as it arrives and do a clean Win7 install but should / can I partition it as I would a HDD (about 100GB for OS/Apps & the rest as data disk)?

Is there any point in trying to move the Dell recovery partition over or should I just stick with the recovery dvd I will have made before I pull the hdd?

Pretty basic stuff I'm sure but would appreciate advice from those that have gone before.

Many Thanks, M

 

You shouldn't partition the SSD. I wouldn't however.. Also do a clean install of your OS and update your drivers you'll be good to go!

 

Partition a storage device? Always!

I would not only partition it as you suggest (100GB C: drive, rest D: drive) I would even go further and do the following (and as a matter of fact, I have):

When you do a clean install of Win7x64 - move the users folder to the D: drive completely and automatically using the following link:

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...gramdata-folder-separate-drive-partition.html


What I would highly recommend too is to make your D: partition as small as possible (this will leave a higher percentage available as 'spare area').

Not only will this more bullet-proof your SSD's longetivity - but it will also help to keep the performance of the SSD as high as possible too.

Now, granted - Intel SSD's are the only ones that really take advantage of this little 'trick' (as recommended by Intel themselves) and other SSD's may not have be able to utilize this 'trick' 100% effectively - but I believe that they will be able to get some of the benefits that Intel products can achieve too.

Reasons to partition an SSD are the same as for partitioning a mechanical HDD - to seperate your O/S and program files from your data files and to facilitate easy O/S re-installs and/or DATA backup regimes.

With a mechanical HDD; not using the full capacity (short-stroking...) of a drive gives more, and more consistent performance. With an SSD we not only get the same things - but also have a much more robust storage device too (much less worries about writing an SSD to death with every additional percent of additional 'spare area').

Partition a storage device? Always!

 

Partition a storage device? Never done since XP

 

tunay, your loss!

Especially in XP a partitioned (short-stroked) setup was easily and obviously beneficial. Even over a RAID0 setup (unless the high sequentials were needed).

Proper partitioning is to storage as tuning the old (non-fuel injected engines) for the altitude you lived/used them in.

 

You just got your new SSD? Let me tell you now what...

You mail it to me

Mr. Mysterious

 

Ha HA good one MR, M , what is your mailing address, mine is too small ---

To the OP - Be sure to look for firmware updates if applicable to the OS you will be loading.
Also be sure to disable hibernation in Windows
AFA the recovery partition, I would not load it to the SSD, Just grab a good imaging program (Acronis for $$ , or PAragon 11 free) and once your machine has the OS and drivers loaded to your satisfaction create an image to an external storage device .. man that sounds nerdy

Question, is it a good idea to enable write caching on SSD, I am looking for longevity only? I have seen many conflicting opinions on this, and have full trust in the experts here!

 

Thanks for all the feedback. Will drop proper reply when I'm up and running cos as luck would have it my hdd just crashed so lost ( believe me been through every recovery option) system and having to clean install desktop ( before image recovery) 2 days b4 my l502 and m4 arrive. Don't you love irony. Plan to partition then, i guess my question should have been any downsides to separating data on ssd. Thanks all .. back to the installation .... sigh.

Sent from me android.

and Mysterious, if i don't like it after a few days it's yours ... )

Back up - thanks for the views.

Tunay - afraid I'm set in my ways and like to have my data separate from OS (and design for that matter) so as it seems there are no performance / operational issues will go tthe partition route (after firmware updates of course).

Tiller - interesting ... happy to leave a little reserve on drive as best practice but at these prices want as much room for data as possible. Will leaving 5-10GB unused on a 256GB drive be worthwhile do you think.

Josea - right after firmware update and clean install comes the acronis image

Cheers all, M

 

I was like you back in time, after I moved on to SSD I stopped to partition my drives, any of them. Personal preference

 

No, you don't want to leave as much room for your data as possible - you want to setup your system to be as fast, stable and reliable as possible.

If you want/need more storage - buy it.

M4's have no spare area set aside and you can easily kill their performance. I would recommend partititioning at least 20GB less than the full capacity - myself, I would be aiming for closer to ~50GB less (use 200GB of the total).

Of course, it's up to you (and don't forget if you use Acronis or any other cloning tool you won't have the option to use a smaller partition).

See:
Cost Of More Space, m4's Over-Provisioning : Crucial m4 And Intel SSD 320: The Other SSD Competitors


See:
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcache-www.intel.com%2Fcd%2F00%2F00%2F45%2F95%2F459555_459555.pdf&ei=9gsJTtyxJoz1gAe9tNDCDQ&usg=AFQjCNGc5gZVCj3pdNb0m0JooI_8YllYgA


Over provisioning? I think the benefits are well worth it.

 

Many thanks Tiller - will have a good read through.

Don't get the cloning restriction though - planning clean install not pulling a HDD image over. Presumably once I have partitioned my ssd I can use acronis to create an image of my boot as usual or am I missing something?

 

Had a quick read and - sold. Looks like I get to learn some fun new stuff with my ssd too!

So ... 50GB for slack, reduce OS to 80GB (current streamlined desktop setup only using 50) and the balance for data drive.

Here's my current game plan - again may be missing something:

1. L502x - replace installed hdd with M4
2. Run bios update (if necessary)
3. Partition SSD
4. Install Win7 - not sure from OEM/Restore or from old Win7 retail disks yet
5. Image system drive

Pls shout if I'm heading for a bear trap.

 

Hey, you're welcome.

About cloning: (maybe I imagined you wanted to do that)... but if you do clone, you usually don't get an option on how much of the new drive you want to use.

For your point (4.); forget 'old' disks: get yourself the latest Win7x64 version you have a key for - including SP1. Download the MS USB tool and create yourself a USB Windows 7 install 'key'.

See:
Microsoft Store Online


Look in this forum (use google... search is pathetic here) for legal Win7SP1 downloads and sacrifice a USB key (4GB or larger) and you're set.


Lol... ah! Step 5. That's where you want to image the drive. Okay - (up to you).

Good luck.

 

Found quite a few Win7HP sp1 options - question is will OEM distro key work with them (never tried).

 

then after ALL those steps you go and read this...

Can You Get More Space Or Speed From Your SSD? : Optimizing Precious Solid-State Storage

now drink wine and celebrate, you just got the best SSD for the money right now and you didn't waste your money on a Vertex 3

 

Installed M4 successfully as above - left 50GB spare.

Now if I could only track down which damn driver I'm missing ...

Thanks for all advice - that was pretty painless.

It was (ironically) the HDD drop sensor driver if anyone comes across this with same prob.

In a word - wow - after a couple of hours (and all the restarts associated with a clean install) I honestly have no idea how I lived in the dark for so long.

The difference is like a horse & cart vs a BMW - this is how pcs are meant to run!

My advice simply that it's worth every penny - if you haven't switched then beg, steal or borrow until you have an SSD driving your system.

Wondering about running without a pagefile and stability though. I've got 6GB ram installed - shouldn't I at least set something like min 1024MB max 3072MB pagefile or is this unnecessary in your experience?