Question How to correctly (fresh) instal Win10 on a BRAND NEW (unformatted) SSD (Kingston NVME 2TB)

thomas81br

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Oct 3, 2014
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Hi

I currently have windows 7 on some Samsung 500 GB SSD (850 evo?)

I bought and already physically installed (additional) SSD - brand new - Kingston 2TB NVME (Kingston KC3000 2048GB, SKC3000D/2048G). I did NOT format or in any other sense "touched" the new SSD in my current windows 7 (so i dont even see it among the drives). I want to instal fresh Win 10 on this new SSD (kingston) and i want to do it "correctly".

I will be installing the windows 10 from an USB stick, with some up-to-date instalation of windows 10 that i plan to download beforehand (from my current windows 7 running system) from the microsoft website. Couple of questions:

1) Before Installing Win10 on my new Kingston SSD, i DEFINITELLY should unplug the old Samsung SSD (with current windows 7) from the motherboard SATA connector...? ( i can leave the power sata connector in place (its hard to reach))?

2) I can LEAVE all other of my HDDs (4 magnetic standard HDDs) connected during the process of Win 10 instalation on my new SSD...? (I dont see a reason why i should disconnect them, although people online sometimes say you should) (none of the 4 magnetic HDDs has or had any windows instalation on them ever)

3) The "pre-instalation" wizard of the Win 10 installer (from the USB stick) will let me format and partion the brand new untouched SSD Kingston drive before the instalation of the win 10 itself, correct? Cause the Kingston SSD is currently NOT formatted or partioned etc.
I would like to make 2 partions 1) 565 GB (give or take) for the system (C:); and secondly - 1 300 GB for my work related files (E:). I can do this from the USB stick "pre-instal wizard". Correct ? ( I do not have to format, partion or whatever the new SSD from my current windows 7 OS enviroment beforehand...?)

4) What "format" should i choose...? I assume NTFS for both partions...? What about MBR vs GPT, which one should i choose for System and Work partions...?

Thank you
 

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
1| Power down your platform, disconnect any and or all drives except for the one you intend to install the OS on.
3| Your installer will show you where you'd want to install the OS. If the Kingston drive has nothing of value on it, you can wipe it clean and then install the OS onto it.
4| The installer will do it for you, you don't need to make your file system.
 

thomas81br

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BTW i have a new SSD drive that i will be installing windows 10 on. Its not formatted yet. Im planning to format/partition the C system partition to approximately 565 GB. Im planning to have Windows 10 and my programs on that drive, nothing else... 565 GB should be plenty enough space for this ussage (system+programs), correct?

Also, i know that each memory "cell" of an SSD has limited times you can write to it, before it goes bad (dead)... AFIK ssds have some function that ensures that each new byte of data is written to a new cell, that way, every cell of the SSD is written to, before any old one is overwritten. This basically distributes the written data EQUALLY all over the SSD (in order to prolong the life of the ssd). My question is simple - does this even/uniform/equal distribution of data all over the SSD respect partitioning...? If i create a partition that has only 50 GB for example (or those 565 GB of mine, but lets take an example of 50GB). And i write and overwrite the 50GB again and again and again... Are those 50 GB still distributed all over the drive, or basically are those 50GB written in particular small part of the SSD only and thus those memory cells degrade fruther and further (and much faster than the rest of the drive)...
My hope is that this uniform data distribution ignores the partitions and writes the data still uniformly all over the drive... Correct...?
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
BTW i have a new SSD drive that i will be installing windows 10 on. Its not formatted yet. Im planning to format/partition the C system partition to approximately 565 GB. Im planning to have Windows 10 and my programs on that drive, nothing else... 565 GB should be plenty enough space for this ussage (system+programs), correct?

Also, i know that each memory "cell" of an SSD has limited times you can write to it, before it goes bad (dead)... AFIK ssds have some function that ensures that each new byte of data is written to a new cell, that way, every cell of the SSD is written to, before any old one is overwritten. This basically distributes the written data EQUALLY all over the SSD (in order to prolong the life of the ssd). My question is simple - does this even/uniform/equal distribution of data all over the SSD respect partitioning...? If i create a partition that has only 50 GB for example (or those 565 GB of mine, but lets take an example of 50GB). And i write and overwrite the 50GB again and again and again... Are those 50 GB still distributed all over the drive, or basically are those 50GB written in particular small part of the SSD only and thus those memory cells degrade fruther and further (and much faster than the rest of the drive)...
My hope is that this uniform data distribution ignores the partitions and writes the data still uniformly all over the drive... Correct...?
'Partitions' on an SSD are simply logical representation. The actual data is spread all over the chips and cells.
Unlike an HDD, a partitions are not a discreet walled off spaces.

But....why partition it at all?
What size/make/model is this drive?
 
Im planning to have Windows 10 and my programs on that drive, nothing else... 565 GB should be plenty enough space for this ussage (system+programs), correct?

You alone are the best judge of how much space is needed for Windows and your desired programs.

I don't need more than 100 gb. You might need 300 or 3000. Windows alone doesn't take over 30.

There's no over-riding reason to split the drive into multiple partitions at all. It is personal preference. If you split it, you take the risk of incorrectly estimating how much space to devote to each partition. You could easily end up with "plenty" of space, but its on the wrong partition...which can be a problem.

Another option is to use 2 distinct drives....one for Windows and applications; another for personal data files.

Regardless, I wouldn't worry about splitting the drive during the install process. Let Windows do it's thing....it will put nearly everything on C. After the PC is up and running, you can later shrink C and make a D or E partition if you think that would be ideal for whatever reason.
 

thomas81br

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'Partitions' on an SSD are simply logical representation. The actual data is spread all over the chips and cells.
Unlike an HDD, a partitions are not a discreet walled off spaces.

But....why partition it at all?
What size/make/model is this drive?

Thanks, so i dont have to worry about "un-uniform" wear...? Even if i made only 1 GB partition and wrote 100 GB into it over and over again, those 100 GB will spread equally all over the SSD space/capacity (2 TB), and not just that one 1 GB partition... Correct? So i dont have to worry about "accelerated" wear of the SSD due to too many (and/or) too small partitions...?

Im planning 2 partitions on the SSD (and not just 1) because i want my current "work files partition" to move onto this new SSD ( i currently have it on a much slower traditional magnetic HDD). The "Work partition is labeled "E:\" and i want it to remain "E:\", thats why i need 2 partitions on the new SSD ("C:\" for standard OS system+ programs and "E:\" for work files). I need to keep the "E:\" letter because i have MANY work files (hundreds) that have various path dependcies to "E:\" and i do no want to go through each file and correct/change the path dependencies... thats why :)
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Thanks, so i dont have to worry about "un-uniform" wear...? Even if i made only 1 GB partition and wrote 100 GB into it over and over again, those 100 GB will spread equally all over the SSD space/capacity (2 TB), and not just that one 1 GB partition... Correct? So i dont have to worry about "accelerated" wear of the SSD due to too many (and/or) too small partitions...?

Im planning 2 partitions on the SSD (and not just 1) because i want my current "work files partition" to move onto this new SSD ( i currently have it on a much slower traditional magnetic HDD). The "Work partition is labeled "E:\" and i want it to remain "E:\", thats why i need 2 partitions on the new SSD ("C:\" for standard OS system+ programs and "E:\" for work files). I need to keep the "E:\" letter because i have MANY work files (hundreds) that have various path dependcies to "E:\" and i do no want to go through each file and correct/change the path dependencies... thats why :)
Correct.
The drive firmware shuffle data around between the cells, for wear leveling.

Your path dependencies to the E drive won't really be applicable once you reinstall all your applications.
I mean, you can recreate them, but what your current applications will be wiped out once you reinstall the OS and the relevant applications.