SSD Installation and Features

Mathig Nihilcek · July 9, 2015

I forgot to purchase a 2.5 inch to 3.5 inch adaptor for my Solid State Drive. I've purchased one, but temporarily, I've just "placed" the SSD on top of a cage, and hooked it up. I started my computer up, and it didn't immidiately explode, but I was wondering if this carries dangerous risks for the SSD over-heating or something, or if it is fine. I figure placing it on top of the rack is no different from screwing it on(obviously if it gets loose and jiggles around or falls down somewhere, that'd be bad. However, I'm careful with moving the PC, and it isn't a HDD, so it shouln't mind being loose... right?), and in fact it allows more airflow (of which there is plenty) to cool it off. Therefore, there shouldn't be any issue with not actually using an adapter... My question is, am I wrong in any of this?

Secondly, I looked at my motherboard booklet to find a couple neat little features. Some features seem... questionable, whether or not I should use them. My main objective is performance over a six year period. At absolute most I'd like it to last twelve years. (for resale) Data stability is not an issue, for the most part. I've recorded myself using my PC on average 8 hours a day long term.

1: RAID settings... I have a hard-drive and a SSD. I know I don't want RAID 1, which will run at the speed of the hard-drive with the storage space of the SSD. (worst of both worlds). I thought I wanted RAID 0, which would be running the storages in series, but then my motherboard manual says the storage space is the size of the smallest storage multiplied by the number of storages. What I want is to use both of the storages separately, at their appropriate speeds. So, do I not use RAID? Is there anything special I have to do to install that feature?

2: EZ Setup modes... My motherboard comes with a number of EZ Setup modes that offer cool sounding features, but I am also curious what those do to the product life of my components. I've heard SSD's break if you overwrite them too much. (I'm likely to clock 20-40 thousand hours on the computer, before I trash it) My motherboard is a GIGABYTE G1 GAMING GA Z97X-GAMING 5.

a: EZ Smart Response claims to use my SSD as a cache for my hard-drive. I think that means it'll store data on my SSD for faster use before moving it to the hard-drive. This would mean much faster and smoother computing, but I get the feeling it would absolutely destroy my SSD. Am I correct?

b: EZ Rapid Start seems to claim to store the operating system on the SSD, resulting in faster boot times. Is this what it actually is supposed to do?

c: In general, what should / shouldn't go on the SSD? Am I correct in thinking that if I write to my SSD less than 17 Gigs a day, it should last 12 years?(I have a Samsung SSD 850 EVO, which has a 5 year or 75TBW warranty)

Thanks!

saunders1991 · July 10, 2015

Install your OS on the SSD, use the hard drive for large storage (Games, Videos, ect.) I wouldn't worry about writing to the SSD either, real world tests show that SSDs will still last a really long time with 24/7 writes even. Only use raid 0 with identical drives, and never with hard drives, only SSDs, also keep in mind if anything goes wrong you lose all data on both (All drives if using more than 2) drives permanently.

Mathig Nihilcek · July 10, 2015

Install your OS on the SSD, use the hard drive for large storage (Games, Videos, ect.) I wouldn't worry about writing to the SSD either, real world tests show that SSDs will still last a really long time with 24/7 writes even. Only use raid 0 with identical drives, and never with hard drives, only SSDs, also keep in mind if anything goes wrong you lose all data on both (All drives if using more than 2) drives permanently.

That doesn't answer anything. It doesn't tell me whether or not I need an actual adapter for a SSD, or if I can just set it on some flat surface. It doesn't answer whether or not there is some special feature I need to install to use my two hard-drives in series. It doesn't answer whether the EZ Smart response or EZ Rapid Start would be effective long term utilizations of the SSD. It also doesn't answer the general question of what I should or shouldn't put on the SSD. Finally, I know for a fact what you claim is incorrect. The whole point of using RAID is if anything goes wrong with one drive, you still have data on one drive.

mattrunyon · July 10, 2015

That doesn't answer anything. It doesn't tell me whether or not I need an actual adapter for a SSD, or if I can just set it on some flat surface. It doesn't answer whether or not there is some special feature I need to install to use my two hard-drives in series. It doesn't answer whether the EZ Smart response or EZ Rapid Start would be effective long term utilizations of the SSD. It also doesn't answer the general question of what I should or shouldn't put on the SSD. Finally, I know for a fact what you claim is incorrect. The whole point of using RAID is if anything goes wrong with one drive, you still have data on one drive.

He did answer a few of your questions.

You don't NEED a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter for the SSD, but it's not a bad thing to have one. It will prevent the drive from moving around if you move or transport the PC, but it's not necessary for a SSD since it isn't a mechanical drive like a HDD.

There is no special feature to enable, to have both drives operate independently. Install the OS to your SSD and then (if using Windows) right click computer, click "Manage", and click disk management to format and assign a drive letter to the HDD. Chances are the HDD already has a drive letter or will give a pop up asking if you want to assign it one upon first boot.

I've never used EZ Smart Response or EZ Rapid Start. It appears EZ Smart Response is just an easier setup for Intel's Smart Response Technology. See more about that at http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/smart-response-technology.html. It looks like it analyzes what files and applications you use most and puts them on the SSD for faster access. It also finds what files benefit from having faster access and moves them there. I just manage my files between the drives myself and I think this utility may have been aimed more towards small SSDs to boost HDD performance (it was introduced like 2 CPU generations ago when SSDs were more expensive).

EZ Rapid Start is a setup tool for Intel Rapid Start Technology which you can find out more about at https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/what-is-intel-rapid-start-technology. It is used for coming out of deep sleep mode to get back your system faster. It seems like hibernation mode to me, but it says it's faster. On a SSD, it's really not going to save you any time I bet. It says get up and running from deep sleep in about 6 seconds. That's about what it takes from hibernation mode for my SSD and a full boot is about 10 seconds.

What he said about RAID 0 is correct. There is no redundancy in RAID 0, only performance increase. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_RAID_levels#RAID_0 for more info on RAID 0. RAID is best used with identical drives and if you don't know what RAID is for or what you're doing with RAID, then chances are RAID isn't for you. So you don't need to bother with RAID.

I don't think you should worry so much about the SSD lasting 12 years. In 12 years time, that SSD will probably be a snail compared to whatever new storage they come out with. It will also be vastly undersized as bigger SSDs come out for cheaper prices (Samsung announced a 2TB SSD recently).

SSDs are generally where you should install your OS, programs, and games. I save most files to my HDD because they're not big files. If you do video editing work, I would store the footage on the SSD while editing and then offload it to the HDD (or delete) when you're done.

Mathig Nihilcek · July 10, 2015

He did answer a few of your questions.

You don't NEED a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter for the SSD, but it's not a bad thing to have one. It will prevent the drive from moving around if you move or transport the PC, but it's not necessary for a SSD since it isn't a mechanical drive like a HDD.

There is no special feature to enable, to have both drives operate independently. Install the OS to your SSD and then (if using Windows) right click computer, click "Manage", and click disk management to format and assign a drive letter to the HDD. Chances are the HDD already has a drive letter or will give a pop up asking if you want to assign it one upon first boot.

I've never used EZ Smart Response or EZ Rapid Start. It appears EZ Smart Response is just an easier setup for Intel's Smart Response Technology. See more about that at http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/smart-response-technology.html. It looks like it analyzes what files and applications you use most and puts them on the SSD for faster access. It also finds what files benefit from having faster access and moves them there. I just manage my files between the drives myself and I think this utility may have been aimed more towards small SSDs to boost HDD performance (it was introduced like 2 CPU generations ago when SSDs were more expensive).

EZ Rapid Start is a setup tool for Intel Rapid Start Technology which you can find out more about at https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/what-is-intel-rapid-start-technology. It is used for coming out of deep sleep mode to get back your system faster. It seems like hibernation mode to me, but it says it's faster. On a SSD, it's really not going to save you any time I bet. It says get up and running from deep sleep in about 6 seconds. That's about what it takes from hibernation mode for my SSD and a full boot is about 10 seconds.

What he said about RAID 0 is correct. There is no redundancy in RAID 0, only performance increase. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_RAID_levels#RAID_0 for more info on RAID 0. RAID is best used with identical drives and if you don't know what RAID is for or what you're doing with RAID, then chances are RAID isn't for you. So you don't need to bother with RAID.

I don't think you should worry so much about the SSD lasting 12 years. In 12 years time, that SSD will probably be a snail compared to whatever new storage they come out with. It will also be vastly undersized as bigger SSDs come out for cheaper prices (Samsung announced a 2TB SSD recently).

SSDs are generally where you should install your OS, programs, and games. I save most files to my HDD because they're not big files. If you do video editing work, I would store the footage on the SSD while editing and then offload it to the HDD (or delete) when you're done.