SSD Boot Drive?

[Puddle Jumper]

PJ,

You are amazing! Your depth and breath of knowledge on SSD's are commendable. I never realized how much of a difference between the Intel and the Kingston until I read your post...those benchmarks make it radically clear...

Well, after reading your post here I am considering returning the Kingston [I haven't opened it nor have I peel off the UPC label for the rebate] since Fry's offers a 15 day return policy...

The Intel X25-V is only 40gb...would that be enough for me to run Windows 7 Ultimate and the new MS Office 2010 on it? How many GB's would I have left? And would I need to alter settings such as Page File, etc?

Please help me to make an educated decision on this.

Thanks again for opening my eyes,

Soar

Glad I could help.

40gb should be more than enough for 7 and Office. I don't rember the exact size of a clean install of 7 but it's around 6-7gb and Office 2010 is about 3gb. You will want to put any other software you regularly use (aside from games) like browsers, media players, IM clients, etc on the SSD as well in order to get the maximum benefit from it. To give you a reference I currently have 29gb of stuff on my SSD and I could probably get rid of several gigs of programs that I don't really need on it.

As far as the Page file is concerned some people say you need to put it on another drive while other claim it's best to keep it on the SSD. Personally I haven't bothered changing it to another disk and if you are running 4gb or more of ram you probably aren't using it much anyways.

Also you generally want to leave 20% of a SSD empty for performance reasons. Another important issue regarding SSDs is never defrag them under any circumstances, Windows 7 should disable automatic defragging on them by default but it's worth double checking that it's actually turned off.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Glad I could help.

40gb should be more than enough for 7 and Office. I don't rember the exact size of a clean install of 7 but it's around 6-7gb and Office 2010 is about 3gb. You will want to put any other software you regularly use (aside from games) like browsers, media players, IM clients, etc on the SSD as well in order to get the maximum benefit from it. To give you a reference I currently have 29gb of stuff on my SSD and I could probably get rid of several gigs of programs that I don't really need on it.

As far as the Page file is concerned some people say you need to put it on another drive while other claim it's best to keep it on the SSD. Personally I haven't bothered changing it to another disk and if you are running 4gb or more of ram you probably aren't using it much anyways.

Also you generally want to leave 20% of a SSD empty for performance reasons. Another important issue regarding SSDs is never defrag them under any circumstances, Windows 7 should disable automatic defragging on them by default but it's worth double checking that it's actually turned off.

PJ,

Man, I hope I do not get busted for hijacking this thread!

Ok, after carefully scrutinizing the performance charts you posted, I made this discovery:

It is totally obvious I made a poor choice of SSD's, especially when one considers the 4KB random read/write speeds....dude, 44, 39, and 35 [Intel m, Intel v, and OCZ] vs. .9 on the Kingston? That is SICK! 44, 39, or 35 times faster than the Kingston? Am I reading that correctly?

I am so glad I asked you before I opened the Kingston and removed the UPC barcode [would have rendered it unreturnable].

I will definitely return the Kingston to Frys next time I am there.

Now I am debating on whether or not to purchase the Intel X25-V SSDSA2MP040G2R5 now or wait until it goes on sale again...aaauuuugghhhhhh! I have been patiently waiting over 3 months to gather all the components for this new build but I am running out of patience...the SSD is the last component I have been waiting for...

I did notice a couple of posts speaking about the importance of flashing the X25-V with the most up-to-date firmware...

PJ, have you ever done this update of the firmware on an Intel SSD, and if so, is it to be done before I install the OS?

And what is meant by flashing from an optic drive as the gentleman in this post describes?

"Arrived with firmware 02HB... had to flash to get most current, 02HD. Had difficulty flashing from optic drive... others have claimed this problem also."

If you can shed any light on this matter, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks again,

Soar

 

[Puddle Jumper]

You are reading the charts correctly.

The current price on the X25-V is pretty good on newegg, I don't remember seeing it cheaper any time recently.

It would be best to flash the firmware before installing windows. I'm not 100% sure how their firmware works but I know several of the OCZ ones would cause you to loose all of the data on the drive when you flashed them. I only have the OCZ SSD listed in my sig so I don't have any experience with flashing Intel drives firmware.

This page should have everything you would need for updating the firmware as well as instructions on how to do it.

* Intel® SATA Solid-State Drive Firmware Update Tool

I guess that guy is talking about flashing the drive using a bootable tool on a CD but his post is somewhat cryptic.

 

[soarwitheagles]

You are reading the charts correctly.

The current price on the X25-V is pretty good on newegg, I don't remember seeing it cheaper any time recently.

It would be best to flash the firmware before installing windows. I'm not 100% sure how their firmware works but I know several of the OCZ ones would cause you to loose all of the data on the drive when you flashed them. I only have the OCZ SSD listed in my sig so I don't have any experience with flashing Intel drives firmware.

This page should have everything you would need for updating the firmware as well as instructions on how to do it.

* Intel® SATA Solid-State Drive Firmware Update Tool

I guess that guy is talking about flashing the drive using a bootable tool on a CD but his post is somewhat cryptic.

PJ,

Ok, I think I will simply go for it. Thanks again for all your help. I have read the Intel info sheet on the Solid-State Drive Firmware Update Tool. It is fairly straight forward and easy to understand. You have helped me build a stronger confidence in how to install and configure an Intel SSD. I appreciate that!

I vote we change your user name from Puddle Jumper to the SSD Answer Man! LOL!

It's obvious you've done a fair share of reading and research on these matters.

Thanks again for sharing your insights and professional advice and suggestions, which by the way has helped me immensely.

Have a wonderful day!

Soar