Official Sony VAIO F Series i5/i7 owners thread *Part 3*

"Not a single person has blamed the hardware" - Not true (BIOS and_F12) and I'm not not talking only about this "issue".

"since I've run the tests right after doing a fresh install from recovery DVDs" - but for SSD's, you need tweaking & updates as the only Win 7 install on the market so far is outdated when it comes to SSD's.

 

I have blamed hardware, might still do :cry:

 

In some of the reviews, the Vertex 2 with Sandforce SF-1200 controller performs slower in sequential read & write tests than the older Vertex with Indilinx Barefoot controller. The Vertex 2 seems to have the advantage with smaller random reads & writes.

For example: OCZ Vertex 2 100GB SSD Review > Benchmarks: AS SSD Benchmark - TechSpot

So I'm not that bothered if my results are falling a bit short of yours on the larger block sizes. What concerns me is that I'm not getting the performance I should with the smaller block sizes.

Fair enough. Your file benchmark results look normal enough. But then again, I might have accepted mine too if I hadn't compared to safe mode and the Y.

Gotcha. I'll revise: I'm not blaming the hardware, at least not without more information. So far, I think the indications are that it's something on the software side.

Unfortunately, like the others I tried a whole sequence of driver updates and the usual SSD tweaks and they made relatively little difference (no more than 5MB/s).

 

Could anyone recommend a wireless mouse that is big (not mini or laptop), with a small usb receiver (like some of logitech have) and is not problematic? Not a gamer just graphic work and picture editing. Thanks.

 

The SSD "tweaks" that I use don't enhance performance. In fact, they seem to slow performance just a touch. However, the tweaks I use are done to limit the constant writing that normal HDDs are subject to. This will help to decrease the possibility that the SSD might corrupt data and lose performance over time.

 

I use a Logitech MX600 laser mouse, but it has a big receiver. It is full size and I have had no problems.

On the other hand, I have bought 4 of these: Performance Mouse MX?

We use them with the laptops at church. We have had no problems. I bought ours through Amazon. With the occational rebate, I paid about $65 for each one. They have rechargeable batteries built in and are charged through a USB port.

 

I use a Logitech Bluetooth Mouse (and Keyboard), no usb receiver needed (one comes with the kit but I don't use it), just load the Logitech software and "Connect" to the mouse/kbd...

 

Need a little help here.

I want to split my 454GB C drive in two (100/354) but can't shrink the drive more than 217197MB.
I have run disk cleaner and defrag several times, but still something is in the way.

Any suggestions how to fix this?

 

This is the one I use and am perfectly satisfied with:

Logitech Performance Mouse MX - Mouse - Wireless - 2.4 GHz

 

I beat you to it!!!!

 

Obviously you need to transfer stuff to an external hard drive or make C 256 GB. But are you talking about too much data or unmovable files? If the later there are utilities for that.

BTW, I would NEVER attempt shrinking C & creating D w/o a full system image backup on an external drive.

 

I love the machine, it's been amazing. I can run a lot of games on ultra with no lag and the battery life is beautiful. The screen and speed is amazing too. Is there any way to make the backlit keyboard manual?

 

As of right now, no. You can customize how long the backlight stays on (and set it to never turn off when you are in the dark), but there are no manual controls.

 

What games are you able to run on ultra? Do you mean at 1920x1080?

 

Acronis Disk Director 11 Home will do the job. You can download a demo version for free. I'm not sure if it is a full working version and they just allow you to use it for a number of days. It will split, resize and rotate your tires
I haven't tried it myself, but have friends who swear by it. As Joe said though, "always make a complete backup" before you attempt to do anything.

 

I can play sc2 at ultra textures/graphics at 1080, I can run bioshock at max, batman on high, and tf2 on ultra. Havent tried much else yet though.

 

Hit S1 >





Cover light sensor with finger, black electrical tape, happy face sticker or whatever. It's located above the F of the F9 key:



*****

Remapping Keys - Inconvenient volume controls

Well you could memorize that Fn + F2 = mute or:

Click Speakers icon > click mute or use mouse scroll wheel to adjust volume or remap S1 or uninstall Vaio_Media Center & the VAIO_key will remap to muting or use KeyTweak to remap any key including the ~ one under Esc or assign a mouse button to mute or volume via > Control Panel > Mouse, or, or, etc. Check these posts here, here and here.

 

To be used with caution, especially Acronis Backup in conjunction with 64-bit Win 7. Check this search for many horror stories : "windows 7" 64-bit Acronis problem.

Backup!

 

I had a similar problem. You have immoveable files that keep you from shrinking the volume to anyplace closer than the end of the last file. They are your pagefile, your hiberfile and your system restore.

FIRST - make a complete backup, NOT using System Restore.

Second - disable hibernation. From your start menu, type "cmd", right click and "Run as Admistrator". In the command prompt, type this: "powercfg -h off" This will disable hibernation and delete the hiberfile.

THIRD - Disable System Restore - Right click on My Computer, then click System Protection. Select your drive, then Configure. Select Turn Off System Protection. This will disable system restore AND delete all restore points.

Go back into Disk Management and see by how much more you can shrink the volume. If it's still not enough, you may need to defragment your pagefile to move it a bit further out on the HDD.

So you can see what things are before you start, I recommend you download VOPT. It's a simple interface defragmenting program that allows you to see the files in the variouos blocks. So, you'll see your immoveable files, hover over them and figure out if it's hiberfil, restore, or what.

This worked for me, when I couldn't shrink my C:\ down to less than 135GB. After this, I was able to get it down to 70GB, if I wanted to.

You can re-enable hibernation in the command prompt with "powercfg -h on"

 

I don't recommend Acronis Backup. I have been following the problems with Disk Director 10 and Win 7. Version 11 is the answer I believe. But like always back up before starting anything. I recommend using Win 7's Back up. I have made tons of images with Vista and Win 7 and have never (knock on wood) had any trouble restoring while using them. I have several notebooks and am continually (it seems) putting larger HD's in them hence the image backup and restore to new HD. YMMV.

 

Agreed.

I used successfully Acronis in the past but when I got the F (Feb. 2010), I researched it and could not believe all the fatal problems (needing full restore) caused by their newly launched 2010 version. That was one sad example of how you can destroy a stellar reputation by launching prematurely to market a product full of major bugs and bog down a program that was simple with a mess of useless 'features". Sad.

While Windows Backup it's not fancy with incremental backups, etc. It's simple, fast, works fine & is already included in Win 7.

Just paste this in the Windows Explorer address bar: Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Backup and Restore.

 

i just bought a zalman nc3000 notebook cooler
hopefully ill be able to do a benchmark soon

 

I love Windows Backup and Restore and wish MS would add just one thing: Allow restoring an image to a smaller HD assumming the data will fit.

 

It does not???

My wish would be incremental backup for personal files.

BTW if one does not have an external drive with eSATA interface then it may be an overnight job if you have a lot of data on your F.

 

Informative post, thanks!

Too bad we don't have a volunteer to keep up-to-date the post 1 on page 1 of this thread (Unification Post), especially with the new_F12 related stuff: Last edited by lrudyk : 04-21-2010 :sad:

Any takers for the task?

 

I happen to be backing up right now. I have had problems in the past with Win7 saying HDD not big enough, or proceeding with the backup and then announcing the HDD not big enough or delete data on it.

I have slashed my redundant data on C (backed up elsewhere) and there is an est size of 180 gb of used space on drive C. There is 220gb spare on the ext HDD . BTW for some reason, it would not recognise the H drive- via esata but not PoESATA, but still with separate USB power from 2 usb ports. Anyway, via usb connectn it recognised the drive in the Backup window so I proceeded. Unf I am using my other PoESATA drives for something else so couldn't try them.

It has been running for 9-10 hrs and it is still not complete, last I checked it was at 57% I am not sure if this is abnormally long, I am worried that it may be restarting another backup, once one has completed.

Joe, have you started doing the backlit keyboard replacement instruction yet?

 

"It has been running for 9-10 hrs and it is still not complete, last I checked it was at 57%" - That's nuts for 180 GB via USB. I would not trust that backup.

Does not make sense to connect via USB if the enclosure has the 3x faster eSATA. If you F does not see it, fix the problem. Try: turn off F, connect ext drive via POeSATA or eSATA + USB for power & boot. Or: Start > search: disk management. Change the ext drive letter of mark as active or search web.

Use Vaio_care > Once Click, clean & defrag HDD, check settings in TuneUp to delete restore points before backup.

Also clean & defrag ext drive before backing up.

*****

Keyboard Replacement

"have you started doing the backlit keyboard replacement instruction yet?" - Sorry, to busy until Sunday. Basically follow this LCD removal how-to until step 3 & examine keyboard replacement to spot notches.

To No End wrote a fine post about it, dunno why he did not add a few photos: Vaio_F11 - Spare keyboard replacement

 

Thanks Joe I will try this. When I click on the existing backup on the ext HDD , under properties it says 0 gb , 0 files I think. I guess alarm bells should be going off.

BTW as you know there are some differences between the layout of the US and UK keyboard. Do you know how these can be reconciled once swapped out, if they at all need to be and it is done automatically ?

 

It's not automatic but you can choose the keyboard layout & even swap keys if the UK key's symbols are translucent to let the LED light go through like the US ones. You could try direct a pocket flashlight beam under them in a dark room to check. My guess is that even if you swap keyboards, the layout will still be UK & some US symbols would be wrong unless you swap keys or tell Windows to use US layout.

What are the differences? Could you post some photos of both UK & US keyboards layout?

 

I cannot recommend Comodo backup enough ... free, incremental, includes encryption ..

Grab it here : Free File Backup Software Download

It's perfectly safe for Win 7

 

Will do. I know the UK enter key is far larger than the US one, more like a desktop keyboard. There are differences with £ and $ and shift-1 and shift-2 as well as a geographically relocated key. I will try to take decent pics with my iphone. I will try transilluminating the UK keyboard when I eventually get it off.

BTW, the backup finished and claimed to be successful. I have a few other non-back up related files on the backup ext drive- none of any of the files are dated today or even yesterday. What should the backup file look like ? A green downward arrow ? - old date anyway. As you say perhaps I should not trust it and follow your instructions above.

I did use this ext HDD with WDTV player in the past and it deposited files on it which I recently deleted, maybe the WDTV has screwed it up and it needs reformatting.

 

OK...so now I DO think that my SSD is slow. I sure do wish that it would perform as fast as my L1 cache, or at LEAST as fast as my memory!






I also wish I could get it to cool down. It always runs over 100F. I wish I could get it to run cooler.

 

So I was looking for ways to cool my F11 even more and I came up with a solution! I used a very small, battery operated vaccum cleaner (the kind used to clean car interiors, etc.). I created a funnel so it would seal to the F11 exhaust grill and turned on the vaccum. I left the Cooler Master cooling pad fans running, so I got a "push/pull" type of cooling.

The room temperature is 73F (23C) and I used a long hose so I could not hear the vaccum (out the window that is 2 meters away). No pictures as it is a home-built mess, but it shows what can be done for those who want to keep their machines cool.

The F11 fans actually shut off under 100F (38C) and with the window closed, this system was very quiet! I may even try a stress test for temps with this running and see how it performs (later, if at all!)

 

Here are my benchmarks

 

That's been my experience. When I moved from a 320 gig HD to the 160 SSD I kept getting an error (don't remember the exact but had to do with size miss-match). I shrunk the 320 gig down to 100 gig and still no luck. Some others seem to have had better results. Yes, incrementals would be nice.

 

I always right click on image --> choose size --> right click on image --> copy the address. This still works for me

 

Hi,

I have tried out SiSoftware's Sandra. Here are some specs from the
HDD and the controller in my vaio (F12 - VPCF12C5E):


If Sandra's correct, then it's the hdd being responsible for the SATA I
transfer mode.

Servus,
kcirtaP

 

Can people with SSD try SISoftoftware's Sandra so we can get info about different modes in use.

What does SISoftoftware's Sandra say in Safe Mode?

 

Ive installed most up to date Intel RST drivers from Intel website.



I need 1920x1080 vaio wallpapers from F series. Anyone could send me them ? I dont have access to my recovery disk here and I need them asap.

 

Here you go.

Wallpapers 1080p

I presume that your SSD runs on SATA2 as a actual Sata Mode.

 

Yes, its in SATA2 mode. Thanks for the wallpapers!

 

Hi,

I've opened my notebook and had a look at my seagate ST9500420AS drive.
As lundstrom.emil had stated here before for his drive, there is no jumper set on mine too.
According to the specs
( http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/...ook/momentus/7200.4 (Holliday)/100534376a.pdf)
no jumper should be set to obtain SATA II connection.
That's actually the factory setting.

Well that's all very merkwürdig...

 

I don't think its the HDD's themselves. I have similar issues w/ my new SSD. Well, not an issue. But... I get up to 200MB/s in safe mode, and only 150MB/s in normal mode (using HD Tune. see my benchmarks link in my sig for a few other program results). That's AFTER I've shut off indexing, search, pre- and super- fetch, as well as a bunch of other things.

I'm going to my mom's in a few days for my birthday. Will mount my SSD into a laptop there and run HD Tune. Will report back the results!

 

@lundstrom.emil:

Here are the benchmarks I promised you:


Maybe the problem is HD Tune. Look at these numbers!!! HD Tune reports them at 150MB/s in normal mode and 200MB/s in safe mode.

 

HD Tune might not be trustworthy then.

I will stop using synthetic software and test real life performance.

 

Err.. Hd Tune on Notebookcheck including the ST9500420AS (7200.4) on different laptops: Laptop hard disk benchmark list (including SSDs).

 

That actually looks a bit slow for a new Intel 80Gb G2 device. It might be expected to slow down somewhat after a few months or so of regular OS use (as mine has) but in new condition it should be more spritely. Was Windows installed onto it or was it loaded with an image of an earlier setup? This is a benchmark from my unit when it was new with a fresh OS in my desktop PC (year old+ ASUS m/b with Q6600 cpu):

AS SSD Benchmark 1.4.3645.3568
------------------------------
Name: INTEL SSDSA2M080G2GC ATA Device
Firmware: 2CV102HD
Controller: msahci
Offset: 103424 K - OK
Size: 74.53 GB
Date: 11/02/2010 19:25:07
------------------------------
Sequential:
------------------------------
Read: 253.78 MB/s
Write: 82.33 MB/s
------------------------------
4K:
------------------------------
Read: 21.23 MB/s
Write: 44.82 MB/s
------------------------------
4K-64Threads:
------------------------------
Read: 149.75 MB/s
Write: 58.01 MB/s
------------------------------
Access Times:
------------------------------
Read: 0.078 ms
Write: 0.099 ms
------------------------------
Score:
------------------------------
Read: 196
Write: 111
Total: 408
------------------------------

I don't think it's a desktop v laptop data bandwidth issue because my S Series (HM55 chipset) lets a Crucial C300 fly:

AS SSD Benchmark 1.4.3645.3568
------------------------------
Name: C300-CTFDDAC256MAG
Firmware: 0002
Controller: iaStor
Offset: 8187904 K - OK
Size: 238.47 GB
Date: 05/08/2010 01:11:26
------------------------------
Sequential:
------------------------------
Read: 235.19 MB/s
Write: 198.36 MB/s
------------------------------
4K:
------------------------------
Read: 16.94 MB/s
Write: 22.80 MB/s
------------------------------
4K-64Threads:
------------------------------
Read: 188.96 MB/s
Write: 166.48 MB/s
------------------------------
Access Times:
------------------------------
Read: 0.216 ms
Write: 0.802 ms
------------------------------
Score:
------------------------------
Read: 229
Write: 209
Total: 560
------------------------------

Seriously doubt that Crucial score would lead to any discernable day to day real use difference over your X25-M result.

 

We're actually struggling around here with disk performance issues. In safe mode, I can get my SSD to average 200MB/s. In normal mode, depending on the driver used, I can see performance from 115MB/s to 150MB/s.

We've become good at benchmarking, but still can't identify the cause of the difference in performace between safe and normal modes. I've got my SSD optimized in windows, so many functions are disabled that would normally be accessing the drive in the background. Check out my benchmark post, linked in my sig. It has numbers for most of the Intel drivers I found. I also added two from different benchmarking programs and had strikingly different results than HD Tune.

What chipset driver are you using? So far, my best performace is on 7.0.0.1013. The newer Rapid Storage Technology drivers are significantly slower for me.

 

I just found out I could plug USB 2.0 into my eSATA

 

it has a /usb symbol just above the port. I too was frantically looking for the 3rd port when I got this laptop