Need help SSD owners

**Ven** · 06-22-2012, 08:48 AM

Well my SSD will be in today, what exactly do I need to do as far as bios settings are concerned? I have googled and searched the web, there is alot of info.....but nothing is consistent.
I will not be running my OS on this, That will be staying on my 1TB spinpoint F3. I just want to migrate all of my gaming programs to it. Anyone have advice?

**Apophis** · 06-22-2012, 08:59 AM

I didn't really have to do anything in my BIOS. For me it was pretty much plug & play. Aside from making sure you're using an appropriate SATA2/SATA3 port (depending on the drive's interface) I don't think there's really too much to know!

Enjoy your newfound speed though!!!

**Ven** · 06-22-2012, 09:10 AM

Originally Posted by Apophis

I didn't really have to do anything in my BIOS. For me it was pretty much plug & play. Aside from making sure you're using an appropriate SATA2/SATA3 port (depending on the drive's interface) I don't think there's really too much to know!

Enjoy your newfound speed though!!!

well I am reading that you want it set up AHCI....however my standard HD is set up IDE. Not sure if this is only if there is an OS on it or not.

PS. ANyone know of some easy, FREE, ghosting software......in case I get frisky?

**Grunt 70** · 06-22-2012, 09:18 AM

Great question. When I got my first SSD (OCZ Vertex 2) 18 months ago I read in user forums to make sure you are using AHCI mode instead of IDE mode. My original install was under IDE and I manually changed a registry setting to make it AHCI. IDE I guess is a protocol used by older operating systems and AHCI is an improvement that facilitates maximum performance. Why? I couldn't tell you. Apo probably can address that one but I made the change in the registry and things are working fine.

Here is a thread I pulled from Tom's Hardware today referencing the issue.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/275898-32-ahci

From what I understand the SSD will work fine on IDE but for max performance you can make the registry change.

I just added another SSD (Vertex 3) and bios recognized it right away but the OS didn't...until I initialized the drive using WIN 7. Had a panicky moment or two until I figured it out...here is a youtube tutorial on how to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZpeEmF90XA

Good luck. What did you buy?

**Apophis** · 06-22-2012, 09:18 AM

What kind of drive did you get? Both of my SSD drives came with DVDs that had cloning software on them to migrate my data from my spinny disks to SSD.

Short of that.... I use CloneZilla quite a bit at home and work.

**Ven** · 06-22-2012, 09:26 AM

I got this....it was on shell shocker for $69.99, so I pulled the trigger

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227706

**Grunt 70** · 06-22-2012, 09:50 AM

Good deal. I got the 90GB version for about $100 a few weeks back. Nice score. Having zero issues with it so far and am very happy with the performance.

**Ven** · 06-22-2012, 10:01 AM

set the registry to AHCI....anything else?

**ThirdSin** · 06-22-2012, 10:10 AM

Im on my mobile so cant find a good article to link just yet, but make sure TRIM is enabled. A quick wikipedia read should explain enough I think.

I just went out and found this.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/how-can-i-know-if-trim-command-is-working-on/80e600c0-d2fd-41b4-801b-650e05dac350

**Warlab** · 06-22-2012, 11:44 AM

Set your HDD to AHCI and do a fresh install Ven.
Sure you could clone your old HDD, but why not take the opportunity to freshen up your OS install?

I just did this all last weekend when I got my Samsung SSD.
Mine came with a utility that did the OS tweaks needed at the click of a button (Prefetch, Indexing, Defrag, Trim, etc.) I'm guessing yours will too.

**Grunt 70** · 06-22-2012, 11:48 AM

Neg on the utilities...unless the 120 Gig version has something the 90 Gig version doesnt. That sounds pretty useeful. I'm guessing it's disable the first three and enable the last?

**QuantumQrack** · 06-22-2012, 11:53 AM

Turn on AHCI in your BIOS. Setup boot sequence to 1st - DVD drive, 2nd - SSD. Install fresh copy of windows on SSD. Simple. Not installing windows on your SSD? Then I have to wonder why you got an SSD in the first place.

Beware of screwing around with your registry. It may end up causing you a hell of a headache. :-) (but if you know what you are doing, then disregard)

One other thing. Don't defrag your SSD. :-)

**Warlab** · 06-22-2012, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by Grunt 70

Neg on the utilities...unless the 120 Gig version has something the 90 Gig version doesnt. That sounds pretty useeful. I'm guessing it's disable the first three and enable the last?

Correct Grunt

**Ven** · 06-22-2012, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by QuantumQrack

Turn on AHCI in your BIOS. Setup boot sequence to 1st - DVD drive, 2nd - SSD. Install fresh copy of windows on SSD. Simple. Not installing windows on your SSD? Then I have to wonder why you got an SSD in the first place.

Beware of screwing around with your registry. It may end up causing you a hell of a headache. :-) (but if you know what you are doing, then disregard)

One other thing. Don't defrag your SSD. :-)

Why no OS? Simple SSD's failure rate is much larger than a standard hd. I just want faster game loading

**gijoe** · 06-22-2012, 02:00 PM

Ven I think your facts on SSD failure is a bit out dated. Tons of first gens were crap but most manufacturers are already 3rd and fourth generations in. I havent heard of any major issues with next gen SSDs. If I had to guess about why you dont want to put your OS on your SSD id say its because you dont want to spend the time to back everything up and transfer it over