Windows 7 Installation on SSD, current, definitive guide?

[BBMW]

I have a box full of components about to be put together. After that, I'll need to do the Win 7 install. Of course I have an SSD system drive and magnetic data drive.

I'm looking for the definitive, and current, guide to doing this installation, and optimizing the configuration. It's not that I can't find anything, I'm finding a bit too much. I figured Anand might have put something out, but a few quick searches of the main site didn't turn it up.

If sure someone here has links to their favorate DIY pages. Please post them.

Thanks.

 

[postmark]

Put the dvd in and boot to it. If you have an intel board you probably want the sata controller in ahci. Install the intel rst driver if you don't want the ms one, then install. W7 will set everything up correctly. And its best to not have the magnetic drive plugged in during install, that way windows won't accidentally put the 100mb partition on it

 

[jhansman]

Well, you can always start here:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2069761

Also: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/70822-ssd-tweaks-optimizations-windows-7-a.html

As noted above, you probably don't want your spinner connected until after you complete your install and configuration. If the install only sees your SSD, that's the resource that will get used. BTW, set your BIOS to AHCI before you start your install; much easier and Windows will install the appropriate drivers right off.

 

[FishAk]

If your motherboard doesn't support BitLocker, or if you prefer open source encryption to proprietary-no one knows if there's a backdoor- encryption, then the 100MB system partition isn't required.

To keep the full install on a single partition, start the install with only the SSD plugged in. Stop the install after 20-30 seconds, which will result in a couple partitions that are properly aligned.

Boot to your favorite Live CD with a partition tool, delete all but the first small partition, then extend it to include the full disk. Next, install Windows 7 to the pre-made partition.

Once the install is complete, you can boot to the Live CD again, shrink the Windows partition and create another if desired.