How and which SSD

[Zacny Krul]

Hi,
What SSD should I buy for my motherboard which is : MSI B85-G43 (MS-7816).
And which port should I use to install it? or what I need to do.

As I have already installed OS on my HDD, do I have to change anything in BIOS? and should I format my computer before installation of SSD and install Windows 7 on SSD or HDD?

 

[DHFF]

If the OS you are currently using is windows 7 or later then you will be fine. you wont need to reinstall or change anything in BIOS. you will just need cloning software like Acronis to copy the contents from your HDD to your SSD then just leave the SSD plugged in and remove the HDD. you will want to plug your SSD into a SATA3 port on the motherboard to get the most speed.

my recommendations for SSD would be either the Samsung 850 EVO or the OCZ vertex series. I have several vertex drives and they are great. I have two Samsung 850 drives but haven't used them yet but I have about 12 Samsung 840 SSDs that have run fantastic.

 

[Zacny Krul]

So I won't use my HDD anymore?

 

[boosted1g]

It is best to reinistall windows when switching to SSD. Many have just cloned their drives and it has worked.

I would suggest Samsung because first off they are great drives, and secondly they come with a drive copy tool.


If this is a desktop you will just plug the drive into one of the sata ports on the motherboard.
If this is a laptop you would need a usb to sata converter to clone the drive. If your laptop has USB 3.0 (the usb port will be blue) then get one that is usb 3.0 as it will be faster.


Either way you should switch the sata type in the bios to AHCI.
You can find instructions on how to do this in your motherboard manual.


If you going to clone your existing drive do the following steps:
Perform the registry change at this address: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976
Now go into bios and change your sata type to AHCI
Now you should be able to boot back into windows.
Once windows boots for you again, power off the computer
Plug the ssd drive in (sata port if desktop, use usb adapter if laptop) with the original hard drive in place, power back on and boot into windows.
Boot back into widows and run the Samsung Data Migration software that came with the SSD.
Once complete remove the old hard drive, plug the ssd drive into its sata port
If desktop then you may have to go into bios and make sure it is set as first boot device
Now boot up with your much faster SSD drive.
You can now plug the old hard drive into your computer, format it and use it as a second hard drive; or you could just set it aside as a backup.


If doing a full reinstall of windows:
If computer is a laptop Go to motherboard or computer makers website and download the AHCI/SATA driver for it.
While at the vendor's driver page download the lan, chipset, audio, vga/video driver and if it has it the wifi, Bluetooth, usb 3.0, sd card drivers.
If there is no driver on the site then the generic windows driver is fine and you can skip the step latter about loading additional drivers.
Copy drivers to a usb flash drive.
Remove old hard drive.
Install SSD drive.
Go into bios and set to AHCI under sata type
Begin windows installation
In the section where it asks you to select the hard disk to install windows to, there is a button that says load drivers, press it and navigate to the flash drive you saved the drivers on and select the AHCI driver.
You can now install windows.
Once finished installing windows you will need to install the rest of the drivers you downloaded

 

[boosted1g]

So I won't use my HDD anymore?

If your computer is a laptop, you only have 1 slot for a hard drive.
You can either get an external enclosure or if you don't need a dvd drive you can remove the drive and get a caddy that will allow you to put a hard drive in the slot.

For a desktop:
You can leave the hard drive plugged in and use it as a second drive.

Either way I highly advise you to reformat the drive once you have the SSD installed to avoid any confusion and to give you max space on the hard drive.

 

[Zacny Krul]

Thank you guys for your answers.
I have Desktop PC.

I would use one of yours recommendations and decide to buy: Samsung 850 EVO.
Do you think 120GB version would be enought?

And if I have understood it correctly, I have to download drivers for the SSD first and then install them within installation of OS.

 

[DHFF]

Honestly I dont think the drivers will be an issues. I have never had an issue with any version of windows reading any SSD. just load your OS per normal and it should be fine. your Drive will come with a disk that will have drivers and utilities that you can load after your system is up and running.

As for the size of the drive, that is up to you. a full installation of windows 7 will take up to 20 gigs depending on the version you are using. then it depends how many programs you have loaded. my main SSD is a 250GB and its 50% full. I keep the majority of my data files and games on separate drives.

 

[Zacny Krul]

Ok I understand, thank you for that.
Could you tell me how does it look when we delete files/program etc. on the SSD, should be used any special program just like HDDEraser or something like this or just normally delete programs as usually.
And I have read that when using SSD we should'nt do defragmentation on the disc.

And last question, do you think it would be ok if I will be using all the programs on this SSD driver, it won't take effect on the performance of it?

 

[DHFF]

You are correct that you should not run defrag on an SSD. Degragging has no effect because SSDs run very differntly then traditional hard drives. All degrag would do is wear the SSD down. running it by mistake once wont blow it up so dont panic but over the long term it would have a negitive impact.

Deleting on the other hand is normal. you just delete like you would on any other drive. if you need to erase the whole drive however you would not format it. your SSD will come with a utility to secure erase. or you could use Windows utilities to delete the partition.

Keeping all your programs on the SSD will in fact improve performance. anything loading off the SSD will respond much much faster as SSDs are typically 5x - 10x faster then a hard disk. The only down side to keeping everything on your SSD is that it will take up space thus you will need a larger drive and that could get expensive. For some, its worth the cost. I started out with a 120GB SSD and quickly ran out of room so I upgraded to a 250.

 

[boosted1g]

Don't defragment an SSD, that is correct.

You can just uninstall or delete as usual.

120 gb is fine for most users, check and see how much you are using on your current drive to get an idea. If you need a 250 gb drive they are only $40 more on average.

On the ssd you want to store your OS and programs. It is up to you if you want/need to put your personal files on the HDD or not.

If you can fit everything just fine on the SSD then I would put everything on the SSD and use the hard drive as a backup.
What I do is have a file backup once a week and do a full snapshot of the hard drive once a month. This ensures in the case of a drive failure or complete windows corruption that I can be back up and running in an hour or less.

 

[Zacny Krul]

Thank you very much for this answer!
I have ordered Samsung 850 EVO 250GB version.

I have read a lot of things already, setting up etc.
I could sound a bit like a noob, but I don't want to make any mistakes.

So basically, when I will receive my SSD I should take HDD out of my motherboard and plug SSD. Then boot from CD DRIVE to run Windows 7, (of course I have read also about changing some option, but I can't remember how was it called), so when I will boot Win7 from CD I will be able to install fresh installation of it on SSD which have been plugged into motherboard. Then after installation I will be able to plug HDD into port just by SSD, and then configure it in my Motherboard to set SSD as the main boot and HDD as the second one (if I named it correctly). Then on the fresh OS I will turn off defragmentation etc.. am I on the right track?