Quick question about ssd installation

[chrisbek]

This question has been asked probably a thousand times before but I just want to make sure I don't make a mistake and its done right.

I have this system here:

CPU - Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366
Motherboard - Asus Sabertooth X58
RAM - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series DDR3 1600MHz - PART #: F3-12800CL9T-12GBRL
Graphics Card - EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB 1024MB GDDR5 (01G-P3-1561-KR)
Power Supply - Corsair Professional Series HX850 Modular 850 Watt 80PLUS Silver Certified Power Supply (CMPSU-850HX)
Case - Cooler Master HAF X
HeatSink - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 4 Heat Pipes CPU Cooler
Generic CD/DVD Burner.




I am planning to install this SSD here: Corsair Force Series Sata 3 Solid State Drive 120 GB Part Number: CSSD-F120GB3-BK

I currently have the drive connected to the SSD Marvell Serial ATA 6.0 Gb/s (White Colored Connectors) on the Sabertooth X58.

First I need to know:


1) Is the SSD connected correctly. I have been told by some to connect it to the ICH10R Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s (Black Colored Connectors) instead first. After doing the install of Windows 7 to move it back to the Marvell Serial ATA 6.0 Gb/s.

I was told to do this because one person said they got 3 to 4 blue screens on their Sabertooth x58 when trying to install Windows on the Marvell Serial ATA 6.0 Gb/s connector. Only once this person connected their SSD to the ICH10R Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s they had no problems and simply switched the connectors back to Marvell Serial ATA 6.0 Gb/s after the installation was finished.

2) Other then going into the BIOS and ensuring AHCI mode is enabled before installation is there anything else I need to do before installing Windows 7 Professional 64 bit?

 

[RealBeast]

AHCI mode and the Intel SATA II controller will give you reliable good performance.

The Marvell 9128 controller has issues with many SandForce based SSDs. I would probably do the install on an Intel SATA II port and then see how it does on the Marvell port.

Just make a System Repair Disk after doing the install in case you need it to correct the srp data. And, IIRC the Marvell controller has a separate sata mode setting that you would need to set to AHCI.

 

[chrisbek]

Ok great I have the Corsair Force 3 connected to the Sata ICH10R Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s (Black Colored Connectors) SATA 1

I have set ACHI mode for both the Marvell Serial ATA 6.0 Gb/s and ICH10R Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s

The Bios correctly sees the FORCE 3.

I assume all that's left is to set the BIOS to boot to the CD first, pop my windows 7 professional 64bit disk in and let the installer go to work.


My last 2 questions are:

1) Is there anything else I need to do beyond this?

2) As for a System Repair Disk is this what you mean: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-CA/windows7/Create-a-system-repair-disc

If it is then should I make the System Repair Disk after I have all my drivers and programs installed (Games, Mobo Drivers, Graphics Card Drives, etc) or make it as soon as the installer has completed and I am in Windows 7?

 

[tomatthe]

I would keep a back of anything you put on that drive. Myself along with 30+ pages of post on the same thread on corsairs forums have had loads of issues with the force 3 drives. There are many post on here with people having issues as well. Personally I would not even consider them as a vendor if looking for an SSD.

That being said, seems like you've got everything in line to get going. Install Windows and hope you never see a bluescreen, and the drive last longer then 3 months.

 

[RealBeast]

Nope, you should be good to go.

Yes, make the repair disk after all drivers installed.

Knock on wood, no BSOD with Windows 7 in 40 or 50 machines built over several years so far.