SSD How should I install it?

Sam Russell

I bought a Samsung SSD and am going to install but it suggests all sorts of warning about it. I currently have Windows 8.1 and a 1.8 Terabyte HDD, with 73 GB used. The SSD is a 840EVO 120 GB.

I am concerned by things like limited rights, and other warnings.

Need I worry?

Also, should I backup and then delete my data files and after the installation restore them to the HDD?

I assume the Samsung software will set up the SSD as a boot drive with the full operating system on it.

.

ressem

In short, the migration software will do it's best to recreate your system onto the new disk.

But yes, you should back up your files, no you shouldn't delete them from the old drive.

If windows 8.1 was supplied on the hard drive of the PC by the manufacturer, i.e you don't have a CD, then you'll want to also create a recovery bootable 8GB USB key in case you need to repair/ reinstall it in the future, as the samsung tool will likely ignore any recovery tool partition. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-IE/windows-8/create-usb-recovery-drive.


The Samsung Data Migration manual is available at.

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/downloads/software/Samsung_SSD_Data_Migration_User_Manual_ENG_v27.pdf

Sam Russell

There is a recovery partition on the HDD.

I think I want the Win 8.1 to be operated from the SSD together with the applications, but the data to be on the HDD.

It suggests that I do not defrag the SSD drive, and that I do not need to have virtual memory as I have 8Gb of Ram. Is that right?

Currently Defrag is set to run weekly (by default) so I should turn that off, and disable the virtual memory.

I assume this is because of the limited life of the SSD (which was news to me).

ressem

Ok,
since it's a PC with room for multiple disks, you should be OK to clone windows onto the SSD. Then swap the connecting sata cables to ensure that the SSD version of windows boots first.

Since you have 2 disks, re configuring the virtual memory to be on the old drive, removing from the SSD might be an idea.

Defrag should be disabled on the SSD.
But with win 8.1, there are built-in optimisations for SSDs that you'll want to enable in it's place.
This is done by running "winsat" as administrator.

When you have the SSD fitted,
Bring up an admin command prompt by right-clicking in the bottom left corner of the screen and choosing it from the menu.
Enter "winsat formal -v" and hit enter

This will change the defrag into a trim, which is better for ssd performance.

Sam Russell

Thank you for that. I'll try and install in the next day or so and post back.

jca

ressem wrote: »

Ok,
since it's a PC with room for multiple disks, you should be OK to clone windows onto the SSD. Then swap the connecting sata cables to ensure that the SSD version of windows boots first.

Since you have 2 disks, re configuring the virtual memory to be on the old drive, removing from the SSD might be an idea.

Defrag should be disabled on the SSD.
But with win 8.1, there are built-in optimisations for SSDs that you'll want to enable in it's place.
This is done by running "winsat" as administrator.

When you have the SSD fitted,
Bring up a admin command prompt by right-clicking in the bottom left corner of the screen and choosing it from the menu.
Enter "winsat formal -v" and click OK

This will change the defrag into a trim, which is better for ssd performance.

Sorry to hijack your thread but can I use the winsat -v command with my hybrid drive?

ressem

It runs on everything.

It is run for most of us when installing Windows the first time to fill in the computer benchmark values. It disables services like readyboost if it thinks they are not necessary.

But it is likely not to change anything for a hybrid disk, especially if windows was freshly installed on this disk.

In Sam Russell's case he should run it the second time to update the values for his new cloned disk of a different type.

jca

ressem wrote: »

It runs on everything.

It is run for most of us when installing Windows the first time to fill in the computer benchmark values. It disables services like readyboost if it thinks they are not necessary.

But it is likely not to change anything for a hybrid disk, especially if windows was freshly installed on this disk.

In Sam Russell's case he should run it the second time to update the values for his new cloned disk of a different type.

Thanks for that, the computer came with Win 8.1 which I upgraded to Win 10 trial so it should be fine.

coylemj

ressem wrote: »

Since you have 2 disks, re configuring the virtual memory to be on the old drive, removing from the SSD might be an idea.

OP will have almost 50GB free on the SSD drive, why would he use the old drive for paging when it will be considerably slower than the SSD? But if he has 8GB of RAM he might be as well off to disable paging altogether.

ressem

If the page file ever happens to be needed, then it'll be available, without a restart, without causing software to crash. If it's not needed then it'll remain at the start size.

Microsoft recommend having the pagefile on the ssd as reads exceed writes 40 to 1, and on the C: drive to allow full error records to be generated in the case of a crash.

The manufacturers of SSDs state that a home user is unlikely to eat up all many write cycles using a page file.

Time will tell. I've seem some bugs and updates (on very rare occasions) send the pagefile mad on a machine with 16GB. Depends on Sam Russell's priorities.
Speed vs stretching the life of the device.

Sam Russell

My priority is to have the computer start/restart quickly. Speed as such during normal running is adequate as it is - Intel i5 @ 3.2GHz, 8gbyte mem, so plenty of horse power. The SSD is to speed up the disk operations, but I'm not doing gaming or such.