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Moving to SSD

M

manutdc

Member
Hey all,

So I just got myself that OCZ Vertex 30GB SSD because of BCB and the rebate, and now I'm prepping to move over to SSD. I'll be installing Windows 7 on the SSD, and be setting up a RAID1 of two 1TB drives for all other things.

Few questions though:

1) I know some say to turn off the page file on the SSD, but can I move it's page file to the RAID1 array instead?

2) Is there a way to move System Restore points to the RAID1 array? I know turning it off on the SSD saves space, so I'd like to be able to move them and have them kept on the RAID1 array...failing that I'll just use Acronis to make backups of the SSD every now and then.

3) Can I create a RAID1 array with existing data on one disk? I don't know if the second 1TB I just ordered will get here by the time the SSD does, so I was thinking of moving stuff to the 1TB and then turning it into a RAID1 array once the second disk arrives. Since it's mirroring it should work, right? If it matters, I'm using a P45 with an Intel ICH10R.

Thanks for any help in advance!
 
manutdc said:
Hey all,

So I just got myself that OCZ Vertex 30GB SSD because of BCB and the rebate, and now I'm prepping to move over to SSD. I'll be installing Windows 7 on the SSD, and be setting up a RAID1 of two 1TB drives for all other things.

Few questions though:

1) I know some say to turn off the page file on the SSD, but can I move it's page file to the RAID1 array instead?

2) Is there a way to move System Restore points to the RAID1 array? I know turning it off on the SSD saves space, so I'd like to be able to move them and have them kept on the RAID1 array...failing that I'll just use Acronis to make backups of the SSD every now and then.

3) Can I create a RAID1 array with existing data on one disk? I don't know if the second 1TB I just ordered will get here by the time the SSD does, so I was thinking of moving stuff to the 1TB and then turning it into a RAID1 array once the second disk arrives. Since it's mirroring it should work, right? If it matters, I'm using a P45 with an Intel ICH10R.

Thanks for any help in advance!
Click to expand...

I think the mirroring should work to copy data over to the new drive in teh RADS 1 array. As for the SSD questions, we really need a sticky in this forum to answer common questions, and give hints on how to make the most of an SSD.
 
I figured the mirroring would work, but I've been googling for hours on SSDs and RAID1 and I think the general consensus is to just play it safe. I think I can force myself to wait a few more days...

But yes, a sticky on what to do with SSDs would be great - there seems to be a lot of different opinions on what should be done with them beyond the general no hibernation, no system restore and no pagefile on the SSD. I've been reading all over the place and there's just so much information but nothing that's clear cut and put together nicely.
 
So I just moved to the SSD last night and WOW! EVERYTHING works faster. Amazing.

Anyway, my second 1TB drive hasn't arrived yet...but now I'm debating whether it's worth putting the two 1TBs in RAID 1, or just leaving them separate and using one to store Acronis images. Is RAID 1 worth it, or should I just go with the imaging idea?

Thanks!
 
1. windows 7 does everything that you need for an SSD with the exception of enabling AHCI (you need to do it manually).
2. You should keep your page file, and in fact put it on your fastest 4k random write drive. With the old crappy jmicrons that was the ANY Spindle drive, because any spindle drive had better 4k random write performance then them. With the new quality SSDs any of the good SSDs beats any spindle drive in 4k random write speed, meaning you should put it on the SSD.
3. RAID1 is totally worth it.
4. Actually windows 7 is too agressive. a lot of the things it disables are not bad for SSDs, they are just bad for drives with extremely bad 4k random writes. like gen 1 jmicron based SSDs. new good SSDs stomp spindle drives into the curb and don't need as many things disabled (although, defrag definitely has to go. but don't worry, win7 automatically disables it on SSDs)
 
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Thanks for the reply taltamir! I've manually enabled AHCI in Windows 7 through the registry, so that should be good.

With 30GB on my SSD, I was thinking having the page file elsewhere would save space, but I do have nearly 15GB free still after installing what I think should be on it. I'll move it back, but is that going to shorten the life of the SSD with the writes/rewrites it'll be doing? If it matters, I have 4GB of RAM.

Will RAID 1 - hopefully Intel's Matrix Storage Manager will migrate my current storage drive to RAID 1 with no issues. It says it can create from an existing volume and preserve the data on the source drive, so it shouldn't be a problem.
 
Do you have to enable AHCI in the registry if you did a clean install of Win7 on an SSD with the system's BIOS in AHCI mode? Or is that only needed if you want to change to AHCI mode after having installed Windows in IDE mode?

Also, what's the consensus on drive indexing and superfetch/prefetch in Windows for SSDs? I've heard people saying to disable them, but I've heard others saying that it's fine to leave them on.
 
I enabled it in registry after installing, but when I installed my system was set to RAID. AHCI wasn't set to be on in the registry though, that's why I changed it.

I turned off indexing and changed superfetch/prefetch to boot files only, not application.

But I'm no expert (just got mine yesterday), so hopefully others will chime in!
 
taltamir said:
2. You should keep your page file, and in fact put it on your fastest 4k random write drive. With the old crappy jmicrons that was the ANY Spindle drive, because any spindle drive had better 4k random write performance then them. With the new quality SSDs any of the good SSDs beats any spindle drive in 4k random write speed, meaning you should put it on the SSD.
Click to expand...

so does leaving the pagefile as default on the ssd have better performance than set it to an backup drive?
 
vj8usa said:
Do you have to enable AHCI in the registry if you did a clean install of Win7 on an SSD with the system's BIOS in AHCI mode? Or is that only needed if you want to change to AHCI mode after having installed Windows in IDE mode?
Click to expand...
If you install Win7 with AHCI enabled in BIOS, you are done. No registry fiddling required. Having it in that mode tells Windows to install the proper drivers during the install. In IDE mode, they don't get installed, thus the registry editing when changing to AHCI after the fact.
 
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