Plextor PX-AG128M6e used as a boot drive on a GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3

[zedorda]

The problem is when I try and install windows 7 after I select custom install and it displays the drives and partitions available. Since I don't need a driver the drive is there and easily selectable but when I do. I get a little message saying it couldn't make or locate a system partition for installation. Never seen that one before. So I am stomped and hoped someone here might have an answer for me or even better a solution so I can use the drive as intended. Because atm I am just using it as a games drive. The speeds are awesome so far @ 612 MB/s burst 463 MB/s avg.

 

[bambiboom]

The problem is when I try and install windows 7 after I select custom install and it displays the drives and partitions available. Since I don't need a driver the drive is there and easily selectable but when I do. I get a little message saying it couldn't make or locate a system partition for installation. Never seen that one before. So I am stomped and hoped someone here might have an answer for me or even better a solution so I can use the drive as intended. Because atm I am just using it as a games drive. The speeds are awesome so far @ 612 MB/s burst 463 MB/s avg.

zedorda,

I may not be understanding the situation as it seems that you're saying you've measured the drive speed but you're also trying to install Windows on it. That is, you're already running an OS on that system. If that's the case, Windows will only install to the currently working C:\ drive and the PX128 must not be on the SATA 0 port.

The access time and transfer rates are so fantastic on PCIE SSD's, :my thought is to place the OS, programs and games in one partition on the PX. and make the whole thing the C:\ drive. Data files archive, recordings,etc can go on a large,mech'l drive on SATA 1 or if you need very fast access, a RAID 0 or better yet a RAID 10.

If your C:\ drive is quite small- say 60-70GB, since the PX is 128GB, you could have a second partition for active data files. I have a 480GB SSD with a 170GB C:\ (132GB used) and 290GB active files partition for working files and a a 1TB mech'l drive for everything else.


1. Connect the PX. to the current system or in another system.

2. Download EaseUs Partition Master Free and install

3. Run Partition Master and create whatever partitions you'd like on the PX. The first partition will be the C:/ drive and you can decide on the size by right clicking on Properties in Win Explorer on the current C:\ and adding an overhead- say 20-25%, This will containing the OS , programs, and games. As the Px is 128GB, you may as well use the whole drive for C:\.

> Be aware that you set up the various tasks in Partition Master and then press "Apply" to make them run. Do only one or two operation at a time.

4. Make each unallocated space "Allocated" or "Create volume"

5. Format each partition.

6. Set the future C: drive as "Primary". Don't worry about the drive letters, this will be set automatically when installing Windows.

7. Set the Primary partition as "Active". You'll be warned that you can only have one active partition on a system at a time, but go ahead.

8. As I've never used a PCIe boot drive, I'm not sure about the location of the additional drives and setting the boot order in BIOS. It may simplify the setup to have only the Plextor installed until everything is going and then determine if the mech'l drives will be going on SATA 0 or 1, etc. My idea is that the system may look for the boot drive to be on SATA 0 so if there's nothing there, the PX will become the only partition visible to load C:\ Possibly over cautious, but the BOOT oroder in BIOs is probably set to look fro either an Optical drive or USB device first and then to whatever drive is on SATA 0.Before installing the PX, look into the proper settings of the boot order and set accordingly.

9. Install the PX in the new system in the PCIe slot.

10. Load the Windows install disk and install Windows. the first, active partition will automatically be called C:\ or "OS".

That should provide very good results. I think PCIe SSD's drives and M.2 are the future and hope to try one next time.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

HP z420, Xeon E5-1620 (4-core @ 3.6 / 3.8GHZ) > 24GB DDR3 ECC 1600> Quadro K2200 (4GB), Intel 730 480GB / WD Black 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > Windows 7 Professional 64 > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) < Passmark Rating= 4402 Disk=4498

Dell Precision T5500 > Xeon X5680 ( 6-core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz), 24GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro 4000 (2GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > Windows 7 Professional 64 > HP 2711x (1920 X 1080) < Passmark Rating= 3340 Disk= 2234

 

[zedorda]

To give alittle more information. I have ATM windows 7 running on my 1TB Hybrid Seagate Drive which is C:\ with my games on 2 logical SSD Raid-0 arrays D:\,E:\ with a 500GB traditional spinning disc F:\ for misc. backup.

I am adding the Plextor PCIe M.2 to move my OS to and speed up boot times plus max out the windows experience score to 7.9 across the board. Well after fiddling with setup from disconnecting all my drives to switching to AHCI from RAID nothing would let Windows 7 install to it. Every time it would display the message that it couldn't make or locate a system partition. This was from boot up on a USB drive since I don't run any optical drives.

Well on a random try I stuck the USB stick in while I was booted into my original windows 7 install and gave it a try that way. And sure enough after it downloaded the what it called "current/updated install files" it rebooted, I pulled the USB stick out and we were off and running installing a second instance of windows 7 on the same machine in dual boot one on C:\ and the other on I:\.

So now I am going about resetting everything on the new install so I can wipe out the windows.old junk. Now boot times are crazy fast.

 

[bambiboom]

To give alittle more information. I have ATM windows 7 running on my 1TB Hybrid Seagate Drive which is C:\ with my games on 2 logical SSD Raid-0 arrays D:\,E:\ with a 500GB traditional spinning disc F:\ for misc. backup.

I am adding the Plextor PCIe M.2 to move my OS to and speed up boot times plus max out the windows experience score to 7.9 across the board. Well after fiddling with setup from disconnecting all my drives to switching to AHCI from RAID nothing would let Windows 7 install to it. Every time it would display the message that it couldn't make or locate a system partition. This was from boot up on a USB drive since I don't run any optical drives.

Well on a random try I stuck the USB stick in while I was booted into my original windows 7 install and gave it a try that way. And sure enough after it downloaded the what it called "current/updated install files" it rebooted, I pulled the USB stick out and we were off and running installing a second instance of windows 7 on the same machine in dual boot one on C:\ and the other on I:\.

So now I am going about resetting everything on the new install so I can wipe out the windows.old junk. Now boot times are crazy fast.

zedorda,

I'm very pleased to see that's it's working out. After writing earlier, I remembered reading that there are special settings to enable boot from PCIe and the system has to be booted before that can be set, which sounds like what happened when booting from the USB. In effect, the system has to have the drivers loaded before it can see a PCIe boot drive. I think this sequence occurs when changing to PCIe RAID controller cards like LSI and Adaptec.

Good job- a sophisticated disk subsystem with amazing disk figures and helps confirm the idea that direct injection PCIe SSD -especially M.2 are the way to go. > Learned something.

Cheers,

BambiBoom