SSD Thread (Benchmarks, Brands, News, and Advice)

Actually, you didn't read far enough in that link... it states that things are disabled - based on how well the HD performs. This is why I don't suggest anything else than disabling defrag.

It even says that the pagefile is Best situated on the SSD. Read it all carefully.

Now, to the important stuff...

Sony actually released a BIOS to enable VT?

Link, please? Hurry!$%#$#

 

Yea, it's amazing!! What Vaio model do you have and what Bios (Phoenix or Inyside h2o )do you have?

 

VGN-AW110D and pretty sure it's a Phoenix BIOS.

Edit: Actually, I just rebooted and it's AMI... is that bad?

 

Are you absolutely sure that your laptop comes with the drives with the model number MMCRE28GFMXP? Your WEI doesn't seem to reflect that at all. I suggest that you actually check the model number of the drives to make sure that you're not ripped off.

 

Hmm, I'm not so sure about twice out of luck. If he get RAID'ed Intel SSD's, he still can't use TRIM, as TRIM doesn't support RAID.
And yes, you can do RAID'ed Intel SSD's in Sony Vaio Z

 

zephir,

Once, because of RAID and twice because of no available TRIM firmware for his Samsungs.

Oh yes! Can definitely RAID the Intel's, no problem there (but no TRIM, currently, as you stated, because Intel Matrix Storage Manager doesn't pass the TRIM commands to the drives).

 

Click Here:

http://levicki.net/articles/tips/20...ony_VAIO_notebook_with_AMI_Aptio_EFI_BIOS.php

I know i'm 2x out of luck, BUT...am I 3x out of luck cause of the firmware on both drives? I want to know if my drives have Garbage Collection (GC)...or am I 4x out of luck cause its Raided and even if it did have GC, because its raided, it won't even try to GC?

 

MegaMan X,

I think you do have GC, but you need to reboot and let your computer sit idle (you may have to log out too if you don't have a system password, see the link below). I would disable sleep and leave it logged out overnight.

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61663

Thanks for the link for VT on VAIO's, will read it tomorrow.

So, considering you're using RAID, you have the 'best' firmware right now (only once out of luck! ) since as far as I know, GC works on all drive arrangements.

What crossed my mind though, is that your drives are on SATA ports 0 and 4. Can you move/switch the port 4 drive so that it is on port 1? Maybe this will increase your speeds to 'normal'? I'm only suggesting this as I know not all ports are created equal for all things SSD (and even with my 4 Raptors on my desktop machine).

Thanks again for the VT link, Good Luck!

 

Yes gc should happen within the drives themselves. So an array should have no affect on the gc. It is simply the contorler doing it's thing.

Windows 7 and Trim is still brand spanking new as far as I'm concerned (even though ppl have been using 7 for months). I'm sure they will come up with a way to give RAID the Trim commands in the not too distant future it just seems like too big of a miss to not.

Mega, have u done any benchmarks on ur drive? I'd I'd be interested to see a crystaldiskmarks score or atto. These results may better expose an issue.

 

The Sony Vaio Z uses a special ribbon cable to allow RAID'ed SSDs. You can't change the SATA port used by the drives.
And my comment about RAID'ed Intel SSD is more directed toward Megaman X, letting him know that it's possible in a Sony Vaio Z.
I'm not talking about desktop or huge laptop here (which is what you're thinking I believe), but the Sony Vaio Z.

 

I wonder when Intel is going to rerelease the Trim firmware, fixed.

 

Okay, now it's my turn to be chicken/lazy. I read the link above and did additional research too into enabling VT on my VAIO. I downloaded the zip file but have not run it yet.

Yes, worried that I'll kill my notebook - but also thinking that with all the uninstall/reinstall of the Sony Utilities, I may as well wait until I reinstall Win 7 on this computer anyway - and today I'm simply not ready (too busy).

Anyone else here attempted this BIOS hack and can you now use XP Mode in Win 7?

I thought that Sony themselves had posted an 'official' BIOS that supports VT.

 

Oh, you know what, what I posted before was the old way to enable VT, I think Sony did release an official bios.

AW model right?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=379870

BIOS: R3072Y2 Includes SLIC 2.1 for Win7 OEM Activation and VT support.

My bad, for some reason, I wasn't thinking straight.

I'll try to do some benchmarks soon, gonna have to sit my laptop idle for a few hours first.

 

MegaMan X Thanks!!!

I'm setting up XP mode for the first time as we speak on my VAIO! Unbelievable!

To other AW Sony VAIO owners; I got a little worried when the Win 7 circle cursor replaced the mouse pointer (it seemed to 'freeze' for at least 2 minutes), but it finally came back to 'click here to shut down your computer' button. Shut down, F2 to get into the BIOS, enabled VT, rebooted and Voila!

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled programming:

MegaMan X, you may want to leave it for more than a few hours (I've read to do this at least once a week to keep the drives 'fresh'). You may also want to reboot, logoff, wait a few hours and repeat a couple of times and see if your HD light stays on 'solid' or not (after a few minutes that you've logged off).

Update; didn't even finish writing this post and XP Mode is on the desktop already - going to do the updates now!

 

Corsair P256 got a few times stutter problem which last several seconds to over 15 seconds, although it did run fast with WEI 7.4 in Win 7 x64 Ultimate.

 

is Corsair P256 exactly same as Samsung SSD PB22-J 256? is there anything else than a $200 price difference?

 

Seems to be.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/949/1/

 

For those of us with more limited budgets, it looks like Intel's new X-25V (40GB G2) release is imminent, and will have a nice price point:

Buy.com - no price yet

CostCentral.com - $123.56

pcsuperstore.com - $125.85

I wonder how this is different from Kingston's 40GB G2 drive though...who thinks that it is the exact same drive?

 

It may be the same hardware-wise, but the review I posted recently on the 'Mac' Vertex shows just how different the 'exact' drive can be - simply with different firmware.

Maybe the Intel will be 'better' than the Kingston or vice versa, but be sure to try to get it at around the $85 mark with mail-in rebate if you're interested.

 

firmware is different in DELL OEM model, which has no GC function. and it might not be able to upgrade: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5417344#post5417344

 

Im thinking of upgrading my 1005ha netbook with a 2.5" sata ssd. I assume this netbook is limited by sata I speeds (150mb/s)? bearing this in mind what is the best ssd i could buy for this netbook and what is the best budget ssd i could buy for this netbook? what would you personally recommend?
thanks

 

I would recommend the 60gb OCZ Summit because that is the one I am using. I have the latest FW VBM18C1Q and have punished the drive by installing/uninstalling games, reinstalling OS's multiple times, ran CCleaner write zeroes and pretty much borked the drives performance. Putting my system in sleep mode activates Samsungs version of garbage collection what they call PRF which supposedly cleans erased cells and consolidates the blocks and it restores the drives performance every time.

I think Amazon has the 60gb Summit for $150 right now. I paid $129 for the one I have from Newegg "shell shocker".

 

just noticed that we got a new thread in here. nice. i won't post much anymore as you might have noticed. personally, i'm waiting for the new intel drive, the 40gb one, so anyone around me can get ssds for cheap. other than that, all in my live stayed the same. still vista, no trim anywhere, and no trim needed anywhere.

greetings

 

Hello Gents, glad to be joining your thread

I just ordered the X25-M G2 80GB intel SSD for my M4400 (spec's in sig), should see it twards the end of the week. Very excited!!!

I plan to retain the OEM 240GB HDD for bulk storage in the optical bay caddy. My question is;

What all do I want to run on the SSD and what to allocate to the HDD?
OS is a given, but what about programs like iTunes, CAD, Room EQ wizard, ect... Can I put the program on the SSD and the saved files on the HDD (i.e. iTunes on SSD and the music library on the HDD, or will that cause performance issues?)

 

sgilmore62 gives a good option, but I would also consider the new Intel G2 40GB model too. You may be able to pick one up for as low as $85.

Depends on how much space you need, but up to $65 difference (almost half price) is a good savings for only 20GB less.

Would capacity be an issue and what O/S are you running on the netbook?

 

Sorry, perhaps this is a little offtopic here, but I can't find a solution to this problem and I think people in this thread has the best knowledge and experience with SSDs.

I have just installed a new x18-M 160GB SDD on my HP 2730p Tablet. Everything seems to work fine. BIOS HDD test runs and answers with a "Passed". I have been able to upgrade firmware to 8820 version. I run firmware upgrade again and it says firmware is already upgraded. Anyway, OS installation can't see the drive.

I have tried the HP restore DVD and it ends with an "Error 1012" message . I have tried a Windows XP SP3 installation CD and it says there is no drive to install the OS. I have tried a liveUSB key with GParted Live and the program is also unable to see the drive.

I have turned off TPM and reviewed any BIOS option I know that can be useful (AHCI mode for example). I do not know what else I can do. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

PS. I have found other people that use this drive with 2730p, so it should not be a compatibility issue.

 

Were those other 2730p users also installing XP SP3 because I'm thinking that the chipset drivers may need to be slipstreamed into the installation disk?

 

DrKnow65, you should be excited!

First, I hope you will be installing Win 7 RTM x64 bit to do a 'one and final' O/S install and to also take advantage of your 4GB of RAM. If your notebook allows you to go to 8GB or more of RAM, I would also highly push/suggest the Win 7 x64 bit route more now as well.

Second, I would install as many things as possible on the SSD, including O/S, Programs and any frequently used files as well - with the caveat that you leave about 20 to 30% free space on the drive when all is said and done. So for your 80GB drive, which should format to around 75GB, you want the drive filled to around 52GB (or to a maximum of 60GB - 60GB should include any and all temp, scratch disk and other files used when your computer is going full tilt).

To achieve this, make sure you point your 'Temp' and 'Tmp' folders to other than your SSD for both your User Variables and your System Variables in the Environment Variables section of the Advanced User settings dialogue box.

Before you install, if you can wait (and since you're running Win 7 anyways), I would wait for Intel to reissue the new TRIM capable firmware - I don't think they should be too much longer now?

Once you have the O/S installed, the only 'tweak' I would recommend is to simply check that Defrag was disabled. If you opted to go with the 8GB of RAM or more, I would also size the pagefile to 512MB min/max (seems to work best for me with 8GB RAM) and forget about it till Windows 8.

So, as you hinted - install programs to SSD, data to mech HD, but yes, performance will suffer (compared to programs and data on SSD), but you decide which data to keep on the SSD to maximize the performance of your system for how you use it.

More RAM will help with less (needless) writing to the SSD, Win 7 x64 is needed to take advantage of the RAM (even the current 4GB you have), keeping the drive at least 20% free will help with performance and last but not least - Enjoy!

Hope this helps.

 

You may need to do a secure erase on the drive to 'reinitialize' it.

You'll need access the the secure erase program v3.3 for the Intel drives and a computer that you can put the SSD on Sata port 0 or 1 with IDE/Compatibility mode (as opposed to AHCI mode).

Sorry, just running off right now, but do a search in this forum for those items and you should be able to resuscitate the drive.

 

Hi, I know other people with 2730p and x18-m 160GB, but I don't think they use XP SP3. In fact, I do not want to install XP. I only tried that to get more information about the problem. The "Error 1012" message of the Vista restore disk was not very useful . At least XP install program said there was no drive to install and that gave me a good clue about what was happening. Anyway I want to install Vista, not XP. Any ideas? I am really stuck on this.

Regards.

 

I'm using Vista. No problems. The XP SP3 installation Disk might lack the SATA drivers. The restore DVD, dunno..

have you some vista or win7 that you can test to install? it should work

 

tilleroftheearth; thanks for the quick reply.

I've got plans (waiting on funds) to install windows 7 enterprise as I get an "educators" discount on volume licensing ($69USD for Pro and $109 for Ent) because we home school out kids...

The extra 4GB will come shortly after stepping up to 64bit OS, currently using 32bit W7 RC.

I didn't realize that more RAM cut back on the excess writing to the SSD, sounds like another good excuse to purchase I have so much to learn...

Thanks again for the 101

 

Thank you very much for your answer. The drive is new (out of the box last friday), do you think it is better to reinitialize it or perhaps claim for a new one? I thought it could be a BIOS setup problem, but if the unit is faulty, perhaps is better an exchange.

If I decide to try the secure erase, would it be valid an external USB enclousure? I only have this laptop...

Thanks again.

 

I would suggest you to go there, download win7, and test if the setup fails then, too. if so, the disk might be faulty.

Legal Windows 7 Download Links

 

Thank you very much for your answer. Reading you sign, I think you are really one of the best persons to help me... . I do not have Windows Vista DVDs, I only have the restore disk I burned from the old drive. I have ordered Win7, because my laptop was elegible for the upgrade, but it won't arrive al least till mid november . Did you use HP restore disk for the installation or a Vista Intall DVD? I have also thought about cloning the old disk, but I would need an external USB enclousure.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

i always use clean installation disks only. if they don't work, something's with the hw. (and i need them for reinstallations/deployments on friends systems anyways).

if you have some download time to spare, download from the link i gave you. that way, you don't have to wait for your win7. install the right version, and use it till you get the activation key.

 

Thank you very much. I have remembered I downloaded a Win7 RC iso this summer. I will try first with it and, if that works, I will do it the way you suggest. I will post the results.

Thanks again and best regards.

 

It works!!!! . Thank you very much for your help. As you said, XP perhaps does not have the needed SATA drivers and perhaps my restore DVD is faulty (??), so it was bringing me to wrong conclusions. Win 7 RC has installed very quickly and I get from switch on to an operating Desktop in 30 seconds!!! (clean install and no programs yet).

Thank you.

 

nice to know. just be aware that you will have to reinstall for the full version you recieve later. that's why i suggested downloading the final version, so you can use it completely like you want and just activate laters.

still, happy to hear it works that's the most important part. have fun with your amazing disk, just as i have

 

Hi again. Anyone planning to replace his HDD or SSD on a HP computer, please read this article before if you plan to restore your system from HP restore DVDs.

As I told you yesterday, I was able to install Windows 7 without a glitch as davepermen suggested. Anyway, I wanted to know what was happenning. I tried to restore system from another restore DVD with the same results. So I did some research about this error message on the net and finally I found the previously mentioned article.

I have never heard about DMI before and now I can't believe it. OEMs mark their HDs for we to replace only with OEM parts.

I really have a problem, because the Win 7 DVD from HP I am waiting won't probably install... Let me guess... "Error 1012"

Any suggestion will be welcome...

Thanks in advance.

 

well, afaik, it doesn't matter what dvd you are installing from as long you have a right key
just download image from web, burn, or, even better, make bootable usb with it, and install it using key you got form hp...

or am I wrong ?!?!

 

I am not really sure about this. OEM licence keys are not always valid for other distribution DVDs. Can anybody confirm this?

Anyway, you will need to install all specific drivers and utilities on your own and I wonder: why should I pay $600 or more for a HP x18-m (they have the 80GB as OEM part) if I can buy it in expansys for $280? I bought a computer with a Vista licence, why should I look for another Vista install DVD if I change the HD?

Can anybody confirm that at least the key is valid with other Vista DVDs?

Thanks in advance.

 

OEM licence keys from your sticker doesn't work when you use non-oem Windows installation DVDs

 

Maybe installing Win 7 on OEM HDD and then cloning to X18-M will work.

Acronis True Image will keep original alignment.

 

out of curiosity does the x18-m have a microsata or standard sata port? and does it also support TRIM?

 

I think it is microsata, but you can see the conector in this link.

AFAIK, it does not support TRIM with current firmware and there will be no support for it in the future for G1 (first generation). G2 is supposed to implement TRIM with the lastest firmware, but currently there is a serious problem with it. Some people reported bricked units with Windows 7 and this firmware and Intel has deleted it from its web. Anyway there are still no G2 Intel SSD of 1.8''.

Regards.

 

Perhaps this will be a solution. I am going to buy an external case and I will try. I have to install the old HD again, but that is not really a problem. I would keep the image for further reinstallation if needed.

Thank you very much for your help.

 

November 4th PM Shell Shocker, "Internal Notebook Hard drive". May be another SSD.

 

@ jisaac: Yes, it's micro SATA.

@ lukas2: if You have Seagate HDD then You can use Disk Wizard for free. It's same as Acronis True Image but free.

BTW: after buying SSD I use HDD that came with notebook for backups (just to give You some idea)

 

Does any1 have an idea of how much the Intel 320GB will be, and when it will be released, Q1?