SSD setup tips and which programs to install?

[Cs342]

Hi guys,

I will be doing a clean install of Windows 7 on my Samsung 840 250GB SSD. I was wondering if there are any useful tweaks that will make the SSD more reliable/faster, such as Linus's tip about hibernation settings. I will be using a RAID 0 2TB  hard drive setup for music, videos, documents etc., so in my BIOS do I select RAID mode even if the SSD is not in RAID but the hard drives are?

 

Also, since it is not a 500GB SSD I will have to limit which programs I install on it. I was thinking of the following programs to put on the SSD:

Windows (obviously)

Browsers (is this a wise idea, since browsers will write to the drive which is bad for SSDs?)

Skype (again, the writing-to-drive issues)

Sony Vegas (not the actual media files, but just the program itself)

Music player such as MediaMonkey

Video player such as VLC

Dropbox

 

And on my RAID 0 hard drive setup I will install games, since they take up loads of space and will probably fill up my SSD very quickly. Is this the correct allocation or should I install some of the programs on the HDD/some games on the SSD etc?

[TheProfosist]

Yes there are some tweaks you can do with the samsung software. I showed them in another thread and even had screenshots try doing a search to find it, it was dealing with a 840 pro but it will all apply.

[PBaines]

On most newer motherboards there are TWO SATA chipsets, the normal onboard one and usually a marvel 3rd party chipset.

Refer to your manual to find out which slot is which if you do not all ready know.

 

You must have one chipset running the RAID for the 2TB drives, and the other running the AHCI for the SSD. MUST SET AS AHCI do not have it in IDE mode.

 

Games to go on your SSD (ie Steam), and install programs to your RAID setup.

 

So basically, the best performance increase you will get is by ensuring that your SSD is running in AHCI mode set in the BIOS.

Anything else that "increases" performance you will not notice..

[Cs342]

On most newer motherboards there are TWO SATA chipsets, the normal onboard one and usually a marvel 3rd party chipset.

Refer to your manual to find out which slot is which if you do not all ready know.

 

You must have one chipset running the RAID for the 2TB drives, and the other running the AHCI for the SSD. MUST SET AS AHCI do not have it in IDE mode.

 

Games to go on your SSD (ie Steam), and install programs to your RAID setup.

 

So basically, the best performance increase you will get is by ensuring that your SSD is running in AHCI mode set in the BIOS.

Anything else that "increases" performance you will not notice..

But I heard that the Intel controller is way faster than the Marvell one? Which controller should I put the SSD on and which should I put the hard drives on?

[fracking4oil]

Samsung Magician (download the latest from their website) will guide you through all the tweaks you'll need.

[silencerbob]

In windows, u can set your "my docs", "my videos" etc folders to another drive so they don't fill up your ssd. Right click the folder, hit properties and u can change its location.

[TheProfosist]

Yes there are some tweaks you can do with the samsung software. I showed them in another thread and even had screenshots try doing a search to find it, it was dealing with a 840 pro but it will all apply.

 

heres is the thread that I was talking about http://goo.gl/DJXLfc if you have any questions ask away.

 

 

But I heard that the Intel controller is way faster than the Marvell one? Which controller should I put the SSD on and which should I put the hard drives on?

 

yes the intel one is faster than the marvell one or most any extra one they throw on except LSI which is rare except for the workstation boards from ASUS and ASRock. I personally have had just horrible experiences with the marvell one multiple times, the worst was back on X58.

[TheProfosist]

Hi guys,

I will be doing a clean install of Windows 7 on my Samsung 840 250GB SSD. I was wondering if there are any useful tweaks that will make the SSD more reliable/faster, such as Linus's tip about hibernation settings. I will be using a RAID 0 2TB  hard drive setup for music, videos, documents etc., so in my BIOS do I select RAID mode even if the SSD is not in RAID but the hard drives are?

 

Also, since it is not a 500GB SSD I will have to limit which programs I install on it. I was thinking of the following programs to put on the SSD:

Windows (obviously)

Browsers (is this a wise idea, since browsers will write to the drive which is bad for SSDs?)

Skype (again, the writing-to-drive issues)

Sony Vegas (not the actual media files, but just the program itself)

Music player such as MediaMonkey

Video player such as VLC

Dropbox

 

And on my RAID 0 hard drive setup I will install games, since they take up loads of space and will probably fill up my SSD very quickly. Is this the correct allocation or should I install some of the programs on the HDD/some games on the SSD etc?

 

I hate quoting the OP for many reasons and its bad Forum etiquette but I found it as the easiest thing to do this time.

 

As to which mode you put your controller in in your BIOS that would be RAID since you want to use RAID0 for your 2 2TB HDDs the SSD is fine with that but you will need the proper intel drivers and the "F6" driver for setting up windows on a flash drive (not the one your install windows from). I would also advise against RAID0 for a storage drive as if either drive dies its all gone you would be far better off running RAID1 from a redundancy perspective and since its just storage you dont need the performance.

 

I would install all your programs on the SSD you have more than enough space, you would have probably been fine with a 120gb one with what you listed the on 2 big ones are windows and vegas. I only started having an issue with space on a 120gb when I had windows, office pro, visual studio, and Adobe CS along with a bunch of other programs.

 

Games do take up a bunch of space especially if you have a lot of them. if you dont have a lot or dont need them installed all at once I would install everything you need besides them and see how much space you have left then decide. If you do know your going to install all of your games on a different drive i would just install steam to the root of that to make things easier and that way nothing will get put on your OS SSD related to games.

 

Last think I would recommend Foobar for Audio and MPC-HC for Video instead of what you have chosen.