SSD Windows XP....Yes, that question

[orion23]

Hi guys!

Friend of mine needs to make some very old systems somewhat faster.
He runs XP and all he needs is 2 drives, 60GB each or so, nothing fancy.

Systems have to run XP because of dated software....

This is 2013, does the whole trim / gc stuff still apply to newer drives ?

I was looking @ the intel SSDSC2CT060A3K5 mainly because of the toolbox software

Questions:

1: Will performance improve ?

2: Do I still have to worry about TRIM because of windows XP ?

3: Is the toolbox utility automated or can it be scheduled to run on its own?

Thanks.....

 

[infoiltrator]

Generally Samsung 840s 128 GB go on sale around $90-100 and 60 GB are difficult to find under about $70.. Samsung utilities are very good. worth a compare.
Not sure about XP.

 

[imagoon]

Hi guys!

Friend of mine needs to make some very old systems somewhat faster.
He runs XP and all he needs is 2 drives, 60GB each or so, nothing fancy.

Systems have to run XP because of dated software....

This is 2013, does the whole trim / gc stuff still apply to newer drives ?

I was looking @ the intel SSDSC2CT060A3K5 mainly because of the toolbox software

Questions:

1: Will performance improve ?

2: Do I still have to worry about TRIM because of windows XP ?

3: Is the toolbox utility automated or can it be scheduled to run on its own?

Thanks.....

1) Is the system disk IO bound? If not, it won't improve it much. May make it snappier but if the machine is CPU or RAM bound then the improvement is minimal.

2) Samsung uses spare area GC. TRIM only makes the GC more efficient. It won't cause any problems not to have it.

3) Not sure, I never bother to run the utility on my Samsung drives.

 

[Cerb]

This is 2013, does the whole trim / gc stuff still apply to newer drives ?

Yes. Just scratch Sandforce controller drives off your list, if not running Windows 7, 8, or Linux, IMO. This includes the Intel 330.

Get the Samsung 120GB, Corsair Neutron 64GB (there's a rebate right now at Newegg), or a Crucial M4 64GB, format the drive in Windows 7 or 8 (for alignment), then install XP without changing the partitions, and disable defrag.

With any of the above, or a Plextor M5S (I just didn't find any cheaper than the Samsung 120GB), the only thing you'll have to worry about is alignment, which initial partitioning in Windows 7 should automatically do.

Also, get a mounting plate for each, if not included in the drive you buy, which is usually around $5.

1. Maybe, if the problem is hitting the disk due to issues other than low RAM.
2. For performance over time, maybe, depending on drive.
3. Dunno. My thinking with XP is to align, install, turn off defrag, and leave it alone; further tweaking is trying to teach a pig to sing.

 

[Nothinman]

Systems have to run XP because of dated software....

This is 2013, does the whole trim / gc stuff still apply to newer drives ?

I love that. You exclaim that you don't think you should have to worry about TRIM or GC because it's 2013 directly after mentioning that your friend absolutely has to use a decade old OS that has no concept of TRIM and will never be updated to do so. They would most likely be better off upgrading to Win7 or even 8 and running their crap software within a virtualized XP if compatibility mode doesn't work for it.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Just ghost'ed an XP SP3 image onto a Toshiba SSD (Marvel). No issues, at all. Runs like it should.

EDIT: XP isn't a bad OS if you know how to use it. In certain cases, I prefer it to Windows 8, since it's a lot more customizable and requires less resources. And sometimes old programs work just fine, no need to fix what ain't broken.

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/5/tosh.png/]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us[/URL]http://imageshack.us

 

[tweakboy]

TRIM is a MUST. in RAID0 you can trim on xp uh guys!!!

 

[orion23]

I love that. You exclaim that you don't think you should have to worry about TRIM or GC because it's 2013 directly after mentioning that your friend absolutely has to use a decade old OS that has no concept of TRIM and will never be updated to do so. They would most likely be better off upgrading to Win7 or even 8 and running their crap software within a virtualized XP if compatibility mode doesn't work for it.

Yes, only because of some possible update by Microsoft for windows XP, Hotfix?
Also, a work around my SSD manufacturer's such as a utility / scheduled task...that kind of a thing.

The problem he has is his network setup, very basic, 3 PC setup for a restaurant which doesn't require much to run, however, the software was originally installed and configured under XP and upgrading the software is EXTREMELY expensive, hence the reason for trying to do the best possible upgrade, and I really believe that the only choice here is a speedy SSD

 

[orion23]

Awesome feedback....Thank you all for your replies, time to decide what to buy and take a chance with this..

Thanks again!

 

[orion23]

Dunno. My thinking with XP is to align, install, turn off defrag, and leave it alone; further tweaking is trying to teach a pig to sing.

 

[Nothinman]

Yes, only because of some possible update by Microsoft for windows XP, Hotfix?
Also, a work around my SSD manufacturer's such as a utility / scheduled task...that kind of a thing.

The problem he has is his network setup, very basic, 3 PC setup for a restaurant which doesn't require much to run, however, the software was originally installed and configured under XP and upgrading the software is EXTREMELY expensive, hence the reason for trying to do the best possible upgrade, and I really believe that the only choice here is a speedy SSD

Isn't running a business on unsupported software pretty risky as well? I understand your hesitation to move to something semi-recent, but I've seen a lot of local, small business do the same thing and it always blows up in their face eventually. It's better to have a planned upgrade than a forced one some weekend when it all goes kaboom.

 

[orion23]

Isn't running a business on unsupported software pretty risky as well? I understand your hesitation to move to something semi-recent, but I've seen a lot of local, small business do the same thing and it always blows up in their face eventually. It's better to have a planned upgrade than a forced one some weekend when it all goes kaboom.

I agree, except that we are talking about a $2,000 upgrade vs a $150 maybe $200.

...For now, it's as simple as having a saved image of all PC's and replacing the drive or the pc itself (ebay

maybe in time...

 

[johny12]

SSD is solution for you, i believe Intel 520 SSD, Kingston & OCZ are good & reliable

 

[kmmatney]

I've put SSDs in quite a few XP systems, and it always a nice improvement. First of all, you want an SSD brand that has a toolbox for performing a manual "TRIM" in XP. Intel and Samsung have that, so IMO it's best to use those brands. The Intel SSD toolbox will let you schedule a manual TRIM (or optimize as I think they call it) once a a week.

The next part is optional. After cloning the Windows XP image to the SSD, I usually run GParted (boot CD) and align the partition. Instruction for it are here:

http://blog.eracks.com/2012/08/proper-alignment-of-your-ssd-using-gparted-open-source-software/

I think you'll still need to align the partition even if you do a fresh isntall, as windows XP doesn't know how to format SSDs for best performance. Even without this extra alignment step, SSDs perform fine in Windows XP.

One other final step is to enable AHCI, if the motherboard supports it. I often don't bother with this, but you can do it after XP is already installed (or cloned) following these instructions:

http://www.blah-blah.ch/it/how-to-s/enable-ahci/

I haven't found AHCI to make that much difference (over IDE mode) myself, so I often don't bother with this, as it can be a real pain in XP (much easier to switch to AHCI in Windows 7 or 8).

 

[bigi]

...
Questions:

1: Will performance improve ?

2: Do I still have to worry about TRIM because of windows XP ?

3: Is the toolbox utility automated or can it be scheduled to run on its own?

Thanks.....

1. Yes
2. No TRIM, but you will get by fine.
3. Meh

The real questions to ask:

Will it run in AHCI?
Am I aware of alignment with SSDs?

 

[orion23]

1. Yes
2. No TRIM, but you will get by fine.
3. Meh

The real questions to ask:

Will it run in AHCI?
Am I aware of alignment with SSDs?

I was aware of it, but I haven't used one outside of XP yet.


Just got the Samsung 840 120GB and hopefully will get to do the upgrade this week

Thank you all for the support / help / suggestions

 

[tweakboy]

You need TRIM, to always keep its speeds. Not using it will slowly slowly drive gets slower. gl