SSD newbie- what do I need to know?

To start off, I wasn't expecting to go for the SSD route, but I decided to pull the trigger on a 160GB X25M G1 for a pretty decent price. I'm going to be using it in my Asus G73 with two 640GB HDDs for data. Unfortunately I've never had any experience with SSDs before, so I'm pretty lost and have a lot of questions.

Firstly, the drive is used. What(if anything) do I need to do to prepare the drive for installing an OS? I do understand that the G1 doesn't support TRIM. Will this end up being a major problem?

Also, what sorts of programs would be best to install on the SSD, and what would be best to keep on the HDDs? Other than music, movies, and documents that I'll be storing on the HDDs, I have a rather large amount of games(mainly FPS titles with a couple of strategy and RPGs mixed in), a couple of professional apps(Photoshop and a couple of 3D modeling programs), and your typical mix of Office apps, browsers, add-ons, and system tools. Any suggestions?

Finally, what is a safe capacity limit for an SSD? I'm assuming that filling the entire drive to capacity can be detrimental.

Any advice at all would be extremely appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

The lack of TRIM means that eventually as you fill up the hard drive it will get slower over time. There are some ways to get round this problem such as the " Tony-Trim" method but you need to maintain this regime quite regularly (you can probably see why people prefer having TRIM instead).

Since the SSD is used I would do a Secure Erase first to restore performance, also check the firmware is up to date as well from Intel's website. As for apps generally the frequently used ones should be installed on the SSD to gain maximum benefit. I put most of my apps on the SSD while files such as documents, music, videos etc. which generally take up the bulk of the storage space goes on the HDD.

 

I was just debating posting a new Topic called "New to SSD? Here's a great site!" thread.

SSD Academy

check this site out! It helped me a bunch when I was learning about SSD and recently researching all of the current market for the best drives.

 

Awesome, thanks! The Tony-TRIM site helped out wonders; I was wondering exactly how I was going to be able to prep the drive before throwing an OS on it. It sounds like a bit of a pain but as long as I don't have to redo the entire drive too often I think I'll be okay.

Is this what I need to do for secure erasing my new SSD? How to Secure Erase (reset) an Intel Solid State Drive (SSD) - IIS Hacks | Server and System Administration Looks pretty straightforward although hopefully I can get it to use a bootable CD; I don't have any USB floppy drives hanging around.

Oh, and congrats on scoring the T420! Sounds like an awesome new TP to play with!

That's a pretty good primer, thanks! I haven't gotten through all the vids yet but it's been interesting so far.

 

With regards to TRIM:

Some drives need it more than others. The C300, for example, suffers tremendously when used without TRIM. Most of Intel's drives (X25-M, X25-E, 320), on the other hand, still produce very good performance under normal usage even when used with an OS without TRIM support.

Here's what I'd recommend:

1) Figure out how much you're willing to spend.

2) Figure out how much space you want.

3) Figure out whether or not you care about reliability.

Based on #1 and #2, go through Anandtech's SSD reviews and figure out which drives meet your requirements. Based on #3, you might be able to exclude some of the drives that seem to have been designed to favor "speed over everything else" (ahem, OCZ). You should wind up with a relatively short list.

 

That's pretty good advice, though I admit I was a bit hasty in grabbing mine. I prefer reliability and Intel drives seem to have that quality down pat. I ended up grabbing a used 160GB X25M G1 for about $200 off of Feebay. I would have preferred a 256GB drive but most of those are still around twice the price I paid for the X25M. If the Intel drives seem to function pretty well without TRIM support and I periodically do the DIY TRIM substitute I'm pretty sure I'll be happy with the performance. I've been living with 5400RPM drives on both the G73 and my X200 for a little while; putting the stock 160GB, 7200RPM HDD in my X200 with a fresh Win7 installation has made it a bit more peppy.

 

Interestingly, the X25-M G1 actually out-performs the G2 when it comes to "used" performance in the absence of TRIM. The former was designed before OS support existed (and thus was designed to deal without it), whereas the latter was introduced after TRIM was a going concern.

 

That's refreshing to hear. I'm currently setting up a fresh install of Win7 on the G1. Compared to a platter drive I'm amazed at how fast it is. As a bonus, I also snagged a 256GB 1.8" SSD off of my local Craigslist for $100; the only caveat is that the seller stated it only played nice with Lenovo systems.

Naturally, my X200 now has this drive and I'm quite pleased with it as well.