What to do? Setting up an Intel Gen 2 SSD with Windows 7

[thatsright]

I finally took the pluge and bought a Intel X25-M Gen 2 80GB SSD for my new Windows 7 setup. I will be installing Win 7 64-Bit O/S and a few apps on the SSD. I will then put most data and remaining apps on a new WD Caviar Black 1TB drive. So, after I update the firmware on the SSD, then what? A few questions:

1. Not really an option to update firmware on current system. Since the SSD drive is originaly designed for laptops, could I remove my current HD from my IBM T60 laptop, insert the Intel drive and then update the firmware this way?
2. I have heard talk of 'alignment' or aligning a SSD drive. What does the mean exactly? Do I have to do any of this?
4. When Win 7 formats the drive during setup, do I need to select a 'default sector size etc.
3. During Win 7 install, do I need to have AHCI in compatibility mode? Once the Install is finished, do I change SATA to another mode? I will also be installing a spindle SATA drive and a IDE PATA HD.
4. What will the Intel SSD Toolbox do for me? I just checked Intel's website and it is not downloadable at this time.

Can you guys think of any other items/tasks I did not cover above? What else is there to do?

 

[RollerBoySE]

I finally took the pluge and bought a Intel X25-M Gen 2 80GB SSD for my new Windows 7 setup. I will be installing Win 7 64-Bit O/S and a few apps on the SSD. I will then put most data and remaining apps on a new WD Caviar Black 1TB drive. So, after I update the firmware on the SSD, then what? A few questions:

1. Not really an option to update firmware on current system. Since the SSD drive is originaly designed for laptops, could I remove my current HD from my IBM T60 laptop, insert the Intel drive and then update the firmware this way?
2. I have heard talk of 'alignment' or aligning a SSD drive. What does the mean exactly? Do I have to do any of this?
4. When Win 7 formats the drive during setup, do I need to select a 'default sector size etc.
3. During Win 7 install, do I need to have AHCI in compatibility mode? Once the Install is finished, do I change SATA to another mode? I will also be installing a spindle SATA drive and a IDE PATA HD.
4. What will the Intel SSD Toolbox do for me? I just checked Intel's website and it is not downloadable at this time.

Can you guys think of any other items/tasks I did not cover above? What else is there to do?

1. I have done it on a T61, so I imagine it will work fine on a T60 too.

2. If you let the Windows 7 installation process handle the partioning and formatting of the drive the correct alignment will applied automatically.

3. Set the BIOS to AHCI before the OS installation and DO NOT change it afterwards. It's also a good idea to only have the system drive attached during the OS installation, attach the other drives afterwards.

4. If you are using Windows 7, and have a version of the firmware that supports TRIM (02HA or 02HD) installed before the OS installation (and use Microsofts default drivers that comes with Windows 7), there is no need to use the Toolbox at all.

 

[COPOHawk]

#1 - The SSD must be hooked in through the primary bus...not through an external enclosure. At least, that is how I had to do it.

Also...the firmware update is on a bootable CD. I would just do it as part of the Win 7 install...do the firmware update...then install Win 7 normally.

An SSD has a SATA interface, just like any other SATA drive...It is not a "laptop specific" drive. FYI...most (if not all) laptops use 2.5" SATA drives with the identical SATA connections as their 3.5" desktop counterparts.

HTH....Merry Christmas

 

[thatsright]

And from what I hear, after Windows 7 is installed, DO NOT install updated drivers for Intel Chipset for my mbob, correct? I hear if I do so it stops TRIM from working with Windows 7 and the drive.

 

[Thor86]

And from what I hear, after Windows 7 is installed, DO NOT install updated drivers for Intel Chipset for my mbob, correct? I hear if I do so it stops TRIM from working with Windows 7 and the drive.

Correct, but even if you do install the Intel iastor.sys driver in AHCI mode, you can uninstall it, and the msahci drivers will automatically install after a restart.

Intel should be releasing a Win7 iastor driver that will support TRIM eventually.

 

[railman]

1. Not really an option to update firmware on current system. Since the SSD drive is originaly designed for laptops, could I remove my current HD from my IBM T60 laptop, insert the Intel drive and then update the firmware this way?

You should not have a problem updating the frimware from your desktop PC. SSD's use standard SATA data and power connectors.

2. I have heard talk of 'alignment' or aligning a SSD drive. What does the mean exactly? Do I have to do any of this?

Win 7 default install will do a proper alignment for an SSD.

3. During Win 7 install, do I need to have AHCI in compatibility mode? Once the Install is finished, do I change SATA to another mode? I will also be installing a spindle SATA drive and a IDE PATA HD.

You can install in IDE mode. IDE mode is somewhat more compatible usually however if your board has a NVIDIA chipset then you probably want to be in AHCI mode. Choose either one but stick with that choice after install or else you will have to install drivers for both modes, not impossible or hard but necessary.

Since you are going to install a couple of HDD's take a look at this guide for optimizing an SSD and HDD for maximum performance.
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/howto_optimize_your_windows_profile_and_media_storage_ssd


4. What will the Intel SSD Toolbox do for me? I just checked Intel's website and it is not downloadable at this time.

The toolbox is for disk management and the latest version has a tool for SSD maintenence.

Once you do your install you can verify that TRIM is working by opening a command prompt and type:

fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify

Hit Enter, if you get a return of zero "0" then Trim is enabled, if you get a one "1" then TRIM is disabled. If Trim is disabled you can enable it doing this:
type- fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 0

You can query again to verify that TRIM is indeed enabled.

Hope this helps! Merry Christmas!