Quick SSD question

[Geosurface]

Hi all

With the ordering of a vid card yesterday my latest desktop is complete, however I went with a traditional hard drive. A Seagate 2 tb 7200 rpm...

yet when I first started planning this system I had intended to do an SSD for Windows 7 and maybe some other core programs, with the larger one for Steam and games and such.

My question is, if I already installed Windows 7 Home 64 bit on the traditional drive, and I'm considering again going out and getting an SSD for Windows... is it going to give me any headaches about installing it again with that same serial? Will I definitely need to format the 2tb drive, or could I just remove Windows from it?

Also, what is the smallest SSD that would still be worth my time to get? I'm not in a patient mood so if I do do this, it'll probably be what I can find at Best Buy. If a person is just planning to put Windows on an SSD, is there any reason to get one much larger?

any thoughts/tips would rock

 

[DesiPower]

A i5 2500K is so incomplete with a SSD that its ridiculous, its a crime...

I recommend Crucial M4 64GB

It will be a hassle to transfer OS to SSD from HDD although some come with conversion kits. I personally would NEVER do anything besides a clean install, I simply do not trust anything else.

 

[Geosurface]

I ended up grabbing this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820167049

at Best Buy just now, on clearance for $155 (more expensive than Newegg but it was worth it to have it tonight, to me)

so 80gb, obviously windows is going to go on there... what are some other things a person should make sure are on the SSD rather than the traditional? I have too many games to put all of them on there. Most of my games will be on the 2tb drive, and Steam will be on there.

I may put Diablo 3 on the SSD. Should I make sure VLC, any sort of... operational programs are on it? Firefox, etc?
http://redirect.anandtech.com/r?url...duct.aspx?Item=N82E16820167049&user=u00000687

 

[DesiPower]

yup, 80 gb is more than enough for everything that you need to install, except for Games, music and movies.

 

[Dinkydau]

Store anything that loads slow on the SSD. Photoshop and things like that, and heavy games too would really be good to have on the SSD. If you just install your favorite games, you'll save the most loading time.

 

[Geosurface]

Thanks for the info folks.

I'm putting any sort of program files that aren't games, music, movies, pictures on the SSD. I am at 40.8 free of 74.4 gb

How much breathing room do I need to leave for things like Firefox cache, etc? some games also like to put saves in My Documents, etc. And just... general Windows doing it's thing space? I don't want to suffocate it.

I've been thinking I'd put Diablo 3 on the SSD but some people in the past told me installing games on an SSD doesn't really help that much, any thoughts on this? I don't have any games on it so far. I considered StarCraft 2 but didn't do it.

 

[DaveSimmons]

A lot of programs create temp files on C: while they work. That can be a pretty huge amount of space for something like installing a game or modifying a huge archive. You might also want to change the Firefox default download location to be on your platter drive.

I'd try to leave at least 10 GB free on the boot drive, plus any extra space you might need for the Windows swap file.

 

[Geosurface]

A lot of programs create temp files on C: while they work. That can be a pretty huge amount of space for something like installing a game or modifying a huge archive. You might also want to change the Firefox default download location to be on your platter drive.

I'd try to leave at least 10 GB free on the boot drive, plus any extra space you might need for the Windows swap file.

Thanks. So are you saying that if I have Steam on the D: drive (the platter) and I install a Steam game... it's going to do temp stuff on C:?

 

[DesiPower]

I have 64GB M4, I have steam and Origin on SSD but all games are on HDD

 

[Geosurface]

I have 64GB M4, I have steam and Origin on SSD but all games are on HDD

Really? a while back when I researched Steam stuff, I didn't see any way you could have Steam on a different drive than Steam games. How'd you manage that?

 

[DesiPower]

I think I installed it on one drive then moved it to other or something like that, I used Steam to play free Dirt 3 that came with video card, don't remember what I did... but I didn't like it where I installed and I remember moving it... maybe it was along with the game...

 

[DaveSimmons]

Thanks. So are you saying that if I have Steam on the D: drive (the platter) and I install a Steam game... it's going to do temp stuff on C:?

Just during the install process, not forever. Lots of programs put things in temp folders, but the key word is temporary. They need the space for a bit then they normally free it back up for the next program.

Besides that, many games do put save files in your documents folder. If you play something like Fallout New Vegas and keep 50 saves that could add up to a good bit of space, but probably only 1-2 GB. That's something to keep an eye on.

 

[nine9s]

I do not have a SSD so I have not tried these but they seem well followed:

Guide to installing WIndwos with SSD :
http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds

Things to do after O/S is running:

http://thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/optimization-guides/the-ssd-optimization-guide-2/

 

[mfenn]

Thanks for the info folks.

I'm putting any sort of program files that aren't games, music, movies, pictures on the SSD. I am at 40.8 free of 74.4 gb

How much breathing room do I need to leave for things like Firefox cache, etc? some games also like to put saves in My Documents, etc. And just... general Windows doing it's thing space? I don't want to suffocate it.

I've been thinking I'd put Diablo 3 on the SSD but some people in the past told me installing games on an SSD doesn't really help that much, any thoughts on this? I don't have any games on it so far. I considered StarCraft 2 but didn't do it.

For an 80GB drive, I would try to leave around 20-25% free. That leaves some room for normal system processes (as have been mentioned) and some slack space for the SSD's garbage collection to work with.