Re-Install Windows 8 Pro and Media Center

stringc

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Feb 13, 2013
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When I upgraded my Dell M1330 laptop with Windows 8 I decided to put it on a new Crucial V4 SSD. This initially worked great but I am now plagued with 100% disk activity and Crucial have advised the solution is to install the new version 25 firmware.

This means I will have to reinstall Windows 8 and the Media Centre.

I have the Windows 8 Upgrade DVD, so I assume this means I need to 1st install Windows 7 then run the upgrade wizard and then Windows 8. However I note that the product key was amended when the Media Center service was added, so do I just quote that product key or the one that came when I purchased the Windows 8 upgrade, then in the services, enable Media Center and quote the MC product key then.

I also have subscribed to Office 365 which will need to be reinstalled. Will that show as an additional installation or is it smart enough to see it is on the same laptop as the previous installation.

I am a little nervous in having to do this to solve my disk activity problem and am trying to foresee any problems that may occur.
 
Solution
Yeah those instructions are not very clear at all. Actually, they are really crappy. It sounds like the firmware update destroys the data on the SSD drive, but the last step says the following:

"13. When Windows successfully restarts, the firmware update process is complete."

The M4 instructions say it should NOT destroy your data if done properly and it too has the step 13 as above.

I would try updating the firmware as the instructions suggest and hope it doesn't wipe any data. But, be prepared to install everything again, starting with Windows 7 as per the recovery instructions that came with your laptop, and then install Windows 8 on top of it with the product key you have. You can get Office 365 again and reinstall it too...

stringc

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Feb 13, 2013
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This is what Crucial said

If you are running in AHCI mode and need to change it to IDE mode for the firmware update, you can leave the drive in IDE mode but I would recommend you change it back to AHCI. The reason for this is AHCI is more of a performance and features mode. Your drive will function better in this mode.

The total file size for the firmware upgrade is around 600KB so using a 1GB USB drive will be fine.

When you run the firmware update on the V4 drive, this wipes everything from the drive. This will mean that you will need to re-install Windows and your other programs and data. I would recommend that you make sure you back up everything on the SSD before you perform the update. Please accept my apologies about the instructions being a bit confusing at this step.

So it appears it will wipe the SSD
 

tigerg

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Feb 24, 2013
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That's weird. Where did you get this information from? If you have a link to where you got this, maybe we can read it to see for sure.
 

stringc

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Feb 13, 2013
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It was in an email reply from Crucial as the firmware instructions contradicted themselves. Having stated at the beginning of the instructions in red ink then repeated in step 1, 4 and 10 the drive will be wiped, at the end it said
After the firmware is updated in step 13 you state that When Windows successfully restarts the firmware update process is complete.

If you follow this link you will see the warning which is repeated in the pdf for the firmware installation instructions.

http://www.crucial.com/support/firmware.aspx.
 

tigerg

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Feb 24, 2013
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Yeah those instructions are not very clear at all. Actually, they are really crappy. It sounds like the firmware update destroys the data on the SSD drive, but the last step says the following:

"13. When Windows successfully restarts, the firmware update process is complete."

The M4 instructions say it should NOT destroy your data if done properly and it too has the step 13 as above.

I would try updating the firmware as the instructions suggest and hope it doesn't wipe any data. But, be prepared to install everything again, starting with Windows 7 as per the recovery instructions that came with your laptop, and then install Windows 8 on top of it with the product key you have. You can get Office 365 again and reinstall it too, just look up how to do all this before you start..... but hopefully you won't have to do any of this.

You might want to call Crucial and speak to someone and specifically ask about step 13 that I have quoted above. And tell them their documentation sucks!
 
Solution

stringc

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Feb 13, 2013
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Sounds like they copies the instructions from the M4 but added the bit about being destructive and forgot to amend step 13.

Just getting up courage plus doing backups and then I think I will go ahead.

Funny thing though the 100% activity is not all the time, sometimes I get a couple of hours normal use before it happens. But I know if I travel with the laptop and am relying on it then probably it will be a pain, so I must do it.

Thanks for your time it is much appreciated, especially when the official instructions have errors in them.