The "New Buyers Guide"

[LordPerth]

Hey guys,

I am about to drop down for the "Patriot Torqx PFZ256GS25SSDRC" but I am new to the SSD realm. I have read a number of the threads here and am attempting to learn what I can before I buy but I was hoping everyone might be willing to help me with a first time buyers setup guide as well as a DO's and DONT's. I am buying for a clean install of WIN7 when it releases this month.

Thanks!

[chrisdglong]

Defrag Off
Super and prefetch off
Indexing off
Run it in IDE mode
Don't expect the write and read rates they claim on the package.

[earls]

Buy two smaller drives for a RAID 0 setup instead of one larger drive.

Verify your motherboard supports RAID. ;)

Probably won't be able to TRIM with RAID for at least six months. :(

[AGlobalThreatsK]

Check the firmware of the drive when you recieve it


Use HDTune: http://www.hdtune.com/

The firmware version is on the "Info" tab: http://www.hdtune.com/HDTune_Info.gif

If the firmware is outdated or doesn't support trim, update the firmware

Put the Torqx into the system you are going to use it in

Unplug all other hard drives, solid state drives, and usb flash drives

Insert Windows 7 disk and go through regular prompts to install onto the Torqx

When Windows 7 is done installing, you can plug the other drives back in if you unplugged any (With the pc off of course)

Disable indexing: Uncheck indexing from drive properties + disable indexing service
Disable system restore
Disable the pagefile if you don't use programs that require it (Or put pagefile on HDD or ramdisk)
Disable hibernation
Disable prefetch service
Disable Superfetch service
Disable Scheduled Defragmentation

Device Manager, + By Disk Drives, Right-click the SSD, Properties, Policies Tab
Confirm write-caching is on (power outage may cause loss of data..)
Check 2nd box for Advanced Performance

Type into cmd prompt:
fsutil behavior set disable8dot3 1
fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1

These are obviously just the recommended tweaks for the average SSD user. You do not HAVE to do any of these.

DON'T run any defragmenter on the SSD.

[LordPerth]

I may go ahead and opt for the raided option though I may stick to the larger drives (2 256gb). I know I can support this as I have been using a raid 1 until a few weeks ago. If I do the raid, do I need to change any of the processes listed above or does that all stay the same?

It is a little hard to tell but it seems like it might be implied that I should hook these drives up to the machine first, upgrade the firmware and then go ahead and break everything down to do the Win7 install? Otherwise I assume I can install everything then do a firmware update after win7 is up and operational? Obviously im not quite sure how involved the firmware update is...

From what I understand "wiper" is a needed utility that we have to run to clear out the drives from time to time in place of defrag? Without this (if it takes 6mo to become available) am I going to see steadily declining drive performance?

I apologize in advance if I sound like I have no idea what I am talking about.

thanks again!

[earls]

opt for the raided option though I may stick to the larger drives

shakes fist

change any of the processes listed above

No, it's a pretty concise list. I'm not sure there's any benefit to messing with the page file though.

hook these drives up to the machine first, upgrade the firmware and then go ahead and break everything down to do the Win7 install

YES!

can install everything then do a firmware update after win7 is up and operational

NO!

I going to see steadily declining drive performance?

I have been running two Warp.v2 32GB drives since Feb.09.

April 1st: http://www.doomforever.com/HDTunePostDefrag.png

Today: http://www.doomforever.com/HDTune6mo.jpg

[LordPerth]

This has been really helpful guys, thank you very much. I will definitely be taking advantage of your input.

At that rate earl I should be good for a few years worse case I imagine :)

[AGlobalThreatsK]

I'm not sure there's any benefit to messing with the page file though.

I've never been able to find any difference even in compatibility with the paging file on or off. I've used custom sizes in many situations, and never noticed any change at all. Like I said he doesn't HAVE to do any of those tweaks, I listed paging file on there because you shouldn't see a difference with or without but, but with it disabled you should be preventing some writes from going to the SSD, which is the goal of the provided tweaks.

earls I didn't know you were using warps too, I have 2 32GB Warps also but they're OS drives in indvidual systems and not raided together. I wanted to raid them together but when I got the 2nd one ready for use I already had the other installed and working for a server 2008 OS. Also have a 128GB Warp strictly for data transfers. These older drives are great too they just need a little more TLC since they don't support trim :)

http://deprived.krypt.com/PatriotWarpV2s.jpg

But since the original poster is buying a Torqx that supports Trim and has a 10 year warranty, he has nothing to worry about anyways :p

[LordPerth]

I placed the order today for 2 of the 256gb ssd's

Now that I am committed so it probably doesn't matter anyway you guys are going to back me up by saying I made a good choice here? No regrets... ?
Great drives, great performance and huge speed changes on your machines? They work well with Win7?

thanks again

[earls]

One of the best investments I made. :) I'm very happy like AK.

Granted, I didn't spend $1,400... :p

The one guy here was benching over 400MB/s with his Torqx RAID 0 setup. :O SSDs will only be getting better!

[chrisdglong]

I placed the order today for 2 of the 256gb ssd's

Now that I am committed so it probably doesn't matter anyway you guys are going to back me up by saying I made a good choice here? No regrets... ?
Great drives, great performance and huge speed changes on your machines? They work well with Win7?

thanks again

Work well on 7. I have 7 and two torqx working. Better performance then HDD's. Expensive, but great access times. The load times on games are lightning fast now. Windows fires up in 14 seconds... from the bios post. lol. Old drive took about 50 seconds.

[LordPerth]

Thanks Earl, that is good to hear. The $1400 is really your fault when it comes down to it ;)
I have been thinking about doing this for at least 6mo and decided win7 was a good time to jump the RAM to 8gigs and do something drastic to boost response times. I do vfx work and have been hitting some walls as far as performance.

You have been a big help.

Don't be surprised to see questions from me soon when I start installing the ssd's. :eek: