So I'm taking the plunge! My 2005 SATA-HDD is getting a bit old in the tooth and doesn't fit into my 2500k/560Ti system. I'm getting an SSD! I'm getting the Crucial M4 128 GB because I've heard it's very good despite being so cheap. I don't mind it being "slower" (lol) than some other SSDs, it's still an SSD for God's sake. So:
1. Is the Crucial M4 a good choice?
2. What should I think about after getting it? I've heard stuff like setting BIOS to AHCI, "garbage collection" (have no idea what that is), "overprovisioning" (no idea about that either) and other stuff that I don't know anything about. Could someone take me through it step-by-step or link to a set-up guide?
3. So it's 128 GB... not a lot. How do you guys cope? I plan on keeping Windows, all my programs and a few Steam games on it. I have an external HDD for storage. How does it work for you space-wise?
1. Yes.
2. First, update your SSD firmware. A new firmware was released just weeks ago.
http://www.crucial.com/support/firmware.aspx
You'll need a spare blank USB drive (~ 5 MB) or CD/DVD blank disk for the program as it runs in a mini linux environment before boot. On older computers (2007-2008 era), you may need to set your BIOS to PATA/IDE mode to detect and update the firmware.
There is a Windows updater, but I've never used it.
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Now for the OS:
If you want to clean install, that's considered the "easy" way. I find it inconvenient to reinstall everything. However, know that your current setup has be perfect as in AHCI is already turned on in
both the BIOS and Windows. Otherwise, if you change either, you'll have to change a value in the registry to fix a BSOD fix. You can read how to do that here:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=313676 It's an easy fix, but if you don't want to deal with it, just be sure to install Windows with AHCI turned on. I have no idea why people don't have that setup on default. Windows will still schedule defrag with a clean install.
Otherwise, read. Be sure to have an external hard drive to backup your current image and disconnect the SSD for this process.
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a. Defrag your hard drive one final time. Use a program like Auslogics Disk Defrag or Puran Defrag or JKdefrag or whatever your favorite free defrag is (I like the first two). Uninstall the defrag.
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b. Disable Windows built-in auto-system defrag. Prompt the run dialog (Windows Key R) and type: "dfrgui" without quotes. Alternatively, you can just type it in the Aero search menu. Click on the "Turn on schedule" button.
Uncheck the box. Hit OK. Close.
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c. Shrink the drive partition lower than 119 GB (~ 116-117 GB).
Run "diskmgmt.msc" without quotes. Shrink the main partition. Remember 1024 MB = 1GB.
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d. Use the Windows 7 image program and image your hard drive to an external. Launch the "Backup and Restore" either through Aero search or Control Panel.
Create a system image (on the left hand panel) to use the complete backup tool. Windows will ask you to point to a hard drive to save and will autocreate the directories.
This will take a while if you don't have a fast port (e.g. USB 3.0, SATA). Go do something else.
When completed, the tool will ask you if you want to create a startup disk for you to launch complete backup. If you have your Windows 7 installation disk, you don't need to do this step.
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e. Connect the SSD back and launch your Windows 7 installation disk or startup disk. For the installation disk, choose "Repair my computer" and follow the instructions to launch the complete image tool.
The tool will autodetect any attached drives and point to the latest image.
This will take some time.
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f. Check if the drive is aligned. Once you're back in Windows, time to see if your drive is aligned.
Launch msinfo32 through Aero search or the run menu. Under "Storage" is a section titled "Disks." Check the "Partition starting offset" numbers. Divide each number by 4096. If the result is a whole number, your partition is aligned.
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g. Reclaim remaining space (93% of 128 GB due to file system = ~ 119 GB) by launching disk management again (diskmgmt.msc). Expand the partition.
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h. Re-run Windows Experience assessment test. (Windows Key Pause or Right click computer properties). A disk score above 6.5 will disable superfetch and related processes.
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3. I don't store a lot of stuff. I use externals and a server to backup. Be sure to buy some externals soon as you never know what can happen to your current drive. Learning that the hard way is a tough lesson.
You can do additional things for your setup like disabling hibernation if you don't use it.
Launch command prompt in admin mode (Aero search: cmd then hold ctrl shift and press enter).
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