Confused about new SSD and Diskpart

[herbc]

Hi everyone , i read all the great info about SSD's on here but i am still confused about just sticking a new SSD in my laptop , you say set the BIOS to ACHI and thats it ?

Is it best to clean install 7 on the new SSD or use a cloned image to install , any benefits to a clean install ?

Lastly , i see many people in the past have said you got to prep a new SSD to install an OS on it by running Diskpart commands , can someone explain this please?

Thank you so much.

 

[TheELF]

you say set the BIOS to ACHI and thats it ?

if it is available yes turn it on it will run slightly better,if your laptop bios does't have the option don't worry about it too much either,as I said it's only slightly.

Is it best to clean install 7 on the new SSD or use a cloned image to install , any benefits to a clean install

Clean is cleaner less clutter, less software that can cause slowdowns and so on but a clone is faster since it is already set up with all the software you want.

Lastly , i see many people in the past have said you got to prep a new SSD to install an OS on it by running Diskpart commands , can someone explain this please?

The installation process for the new windows versions is a bit funny,they use a ~300mb partition for the boot files and if your disk already has partitions on it you could have all kind of funny results.
If it is a new disk you should be ok by 99.99% win installation will take care of everything.

 

[herbc]

Thank you very much , i plan on just sticking the new SSD into the laptops hard drive slot and install Win 7 from an ISO file .

BIOS is set to ACHI and i set the new SSD to boot first .

I saw the below somewhere and thought i needed to follow it but your saying thats not the case.

Diskpart
List disk
Select disk n (where n is the number that was given for your SSD in List disk)
Clean
Create partition primary align=1024
Format fs=ntfs quick
Active (assuming you want to install an OS)
Exit

 

[ignatzatsonic]

You can use diskpart to make partitions if you prefer---rather than letting Windows make the partitions during the installation.

I use it.

The advantage is that if you make your partitions in diskpart, you will end up with a single C partition on the SSD. C would contain both Windows and boot files.

If you do NOT use diskpart, you'd end up with C and System Reserved, with the boot files on System Reserved.

The disadvantage of not having System Reserved is that you can't use BitLocker, which I have no interest in.

A disadvantage of having boot files on System Reserved is that you'd have to include that partition in your Windows backup plan (imaging) because that partition includes the necessary boot files. Not a big deal, but you'd have to do remember to do it.

It's a matter of personal preference. Nothing at all wrong with having System Reserved. I just prefer having boot files on C--mostly because to do otherwise offends my fastidiousness and sense of order.

Here's the diskpart commands I use:

Type in the following commands one by one, followed by the Enter key to create a partition (text in parentheses are comments only):

list disk (to show the ID number of the hard disk to partition, normally Disk 0)

select disk 0 (change 0 to another number if applicable)

clean (this wipes the drive of anything on it; not needed on a brand new drive)

create partition primary (this will create one primary partition covering the entire drive; if you instead want to create a primary partition of 80 GB, add “size=80000” after the word “primary&#8221

select partition 1 (this selects the partition you just made)

active (this marks that partition active)

format fs=ntfs quick (this formats that partition)

exit (this quits the diskpart program)

exit (this closes the command prompt window)

Continue Windows 7 installation as usual. Remember to highlight and select the partition just created when you come to the partition screen asking you "where do you want to install Windows?”.

 

[TheELF]

I saw the below somewhere and thought i needed to follow it but your saying thats not the case.

That is so the drive gets aligned properly, that was a problem when ssds first came out,they fixed it and the disks now get properly aligned when installing.