Formatting SSD

[Antaresting]

I'm building a new machine around a Gigabyte-x58-UD5 and want to install a RunCore SSD 128 GB SATA as primary drive. How do I format SSD in Windows 7 64bit? Can you help me with this?

Thank you.

 

[Antaresting]

Thanks for your response.
Does the formatting require any special settings in order to optimize the operation and speed of the solid state drive? That's the part that confuses me.

 

[sminlal]

When you install Windows you'll come to a screen that gives you a choice between "Upgrade" and "Custom (advanced)" install options. If you select the "Custom (advanced)" option then the very next screen will present you with a list of drives to install on.

If the entire SSD shows as "unallocated space", then simply selecting that drive and clicking the "Next" button will cause Windows to partition the entire drive and format it as NTFS before installing.

If the SSD already has partitions and you want to delete them so you can start from scratch, then click the "Drive options (advanced)" link in that window and additional options will appear that let you delete the existing partitions.

The installer and other disk tools in Windows 7 understand SSDs and will issue the appropriate commands. But make sure that your motherboard SATA controller is in "AHCI" mode and not "IDE emulation" mode before you start the install, since the new SSD commands such as "TRIM" are only supported in AHCI mode.

Suggestion: Disconnect all of your other drives before installing Windows on the SSD. Windows creates a small "System Reserved" partition that contains recovery tools - this is the actual boot partition. If Windows can find space on some other drive it will place the reserved partition there instead of on the SSD. Most people prefer that the drive that holds the OS is the boot drive, and disconnecting the other drives will ensure this is the case.

 

[Antaresting]

Thank you for a very helpful and complete description of what I can expect. I appreciate the insight and advice.

 

[Antaresting]

Best answer selected by Antaresting.

 

[jockey]

I am new to SSD's, and this "best answer" seems to me to be a "quick guide to converting to an SSD"
Any moderators want to sticky this?

 

[bodywise]

if you check some other threads you will see that in some cases windows will not properly reformat or partition an SSD drive. One suggestion involves a command line routine to successfully re-partition and format the drive for a successful installation or re-installation.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey