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[rjm]

I will be installing my first SSD shortly.

Connecting this:
SanDisk Extreme 240GB 2.5IN SSD SATA3 SDSSDX-240G-G25 Solid State Drive
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=69895

to this:
ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe ATX LGA1155 Z77 DDR3 SLI 3PCI-E16 4PCI-E1 SATA3 DisplayPort USB3.0 Motherboard
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=69882

I am assuming the following:
- use 6 Gb/s SATA cable
- connect to 6 Gb/s port on Intel Z77 chipset
- initialize and format with Windows using default partition size
- 1 partition only (no need to split system and data into separate partitions)
- install O/S and apps just like I would for a regular HDD
- use default Windows page file
- copy data onto it just like I would a regular HDD
- never defrag
- backup frequency can be reduced compared to that for a HDD??

Are any of my assumptions wrong?

Is there anything else I should know?

[kensn]

Set the SATA to AHCI mode in the BIOS

Make sure TRIM is running

Disable defrag, Superfetch, prefetch, bootfetch and System restore.

You can look for other tweaks, but these are the ones that come to mind.

Ken

[glynor]

Make sure TRIM is running

Disable defrag, Superfetch, prefetch, bootfetch and System restore.

Windows 7 handles all of this automatically as long as the SSD is in AHCI mode.

First off, there is no real reason to turn off System Restore (which can come in handy).  Prefetch, Superfetch, and Bootfetch aren't the same things, and messing with them is almost always snake oil.  Windows 7 handles these all properly for a detected SSD (just like Defrag).  These tips only applied to the very first gen SSDs from way back in the day before TRIM (the original X-25M, for example).

Steps:

1. Install drive.  Connect it with a good SATA cable (there aren't really certifications for them, the ones that come with the ASUS board are nice).
2. Set the drive controller to AHCI or RAID mode in the BIOS (both work fine and are the same if you don't turn RAID on for a particular drive).
2a. Don't put your SSD in a RAID volume, as that'd disable TRIM (though maybe not with the latest Intel Storage Drivers, either way, don't do this, it is silly).
3. Install Windows 7.  If you clone an existing system over, make sure to use an SSD-aware cloning program (though this shouldn't matter for Windows 7, really, still best to make sure the drive is properly aligned).
4. Enjoy your new super-fast-feeling system.

[rjm]

Sorry, I am AHCI ignorant. When I turn AHCI on does it turn on for all the other SATA ports at the same time and will this cause any problems with my other 5 HDDs, 2 e-SATA HDDs, and 2 optical drives?

[glynor]

Sorry, I am AHCI ignorant. When I turn AHCI on does it turn on for all the other SATA ports at the same time and will this cause any problems with my other 5 HDDs and 2 optical drives?

When you turn on AHCI or RAID mode, it is a setting for the controller (the part on your motherboard, or in the CPU).  It applies to all of the ports "from" one controller.  You turn this on in the BIOS of your Motherboard (which on your ASUS is one of those fancy new graphical ones).

The default is usually "old-school emulation mode" to allow compatibility with really old operating systems, like Windows 95 and whatnot.  They might have actually changed this and enabled AHCI by default on the new ASUS Z77 boards.  I don't remember, but I vaguely remember being happy about something like this that they changed.

It should NOT impact the optical drives in your system, unless you got a really old crappy one (first SATA drive ever, for example).  I'm sure there are exceptions, but my SATA Optical drives all work fine with AHCI or RAID mode enabled.

AHCI vs RAID:

These are functionally the same.  RAID is a super-set of the AHCI mode.  It includes all the AHCI goodness, and enables RAID goodness too.  It does change which drivers are installed in Windows, though.  Since these drivers are required to access the drive, you can't (easily) switch from one to the other post-install (the drive is kinda needed even during boot).

* If you need to RAID some disks, even if not all of them on a particular controller, enable RAID mode.
* If you don't now need RAID, and don't expect to ever need RAID in the future, then enable AHCI mode (keep it simpler).
* Don't ever leave it set to Legacy/PATA emulation mode (usually the default).  Sometimes you need to switch it back to this temporarily in order to do a firmware update on the drive.  But you won't be able to boot to Windows that way (it'll bluescreen).

Other Tips:

Install the SSD boot volume on one of your two Intel-based 6G SATA ports.  Don't use it on one of the Marvel/ASMedia auxiliary ports.  They'll be more troublesome, especially with a boot volume (even though the ASMedia eSATA are well behaved, I still trust the Intel ones much more, and they perform better anyway).

[rjm]

Got it. Thanks. I'm good to go.

[kensn]

Is it Win 7 sp1 that does this automatically? My Original Win 7 (non sp1) did not turn off defrag.

Ken

[glynor]

Is it Win 7 sp1 that does this automatically? My Original Win 7 (non sp1) did not turn off defrag.

It almost always does when Windows detects the SSD (and, yes, since the RTM).  To be clear, it does not turn off the automatic Disk Defragmentation altogether, it simply de-selects the disk from the Select Disk mechanism.  Since SP1, it actually hides them.  This is mine right now:


Look Ma, no C drive!

Early SSDs were not always detected correctly, though, so it is worth checking.  I've never seen it miss one recently, but still...  Note: You do have to have AHCI or RAID mode enabled for the detection to work correctly.

[Jaguu]

As far as I can remember you cannot set AHCI mode in the bios and then restore a backup image that was taken in IDE mode. You will get a BSOD. You will have either:

a. Set AHCI mode in the bios and do a fresh Windows 7 install.

b. Keep IDE mode and restore your Windows 7 backup image on the SSD and afterwards set the AHCI mode in the registry, then reboot, then set the AHCI mode in the bios. If you google, you will find the exact instruction.

c. Set the AHCI mode in the registry on the old HDD, reboot, set the AHCI mode  in the bios, check that everything works properly, take a final image backup and restore this final image backup on the SSD.

Be aware: AHCI mode is not a requirement for SSD, you can run an SSD also in old IDE mode and also on a Sata II connector. You simply don't get the full speed.
 

[glynor]

- backup frequency can be reduced compared to that for a HDD??

Are any of my assumptions wrong?

Probably not this last one.

Technically, NAND fails Read-Only, meaning data-loss isn't a concern for wear-out of the NAND cells themselves.  However, the drive controllers (the chip in the SSD that controls that crazy array of NAND chips) are also prone to failure, and are far less well tested (the Sandforce controller in many of the current drives has only existed for about 18 months, for example).

If the drive controller fails, even if the "data" is on the NAND chips, you'd have to pay someone like DriveSavers to recover it for you.

Consider them to be roughly as reliable as a traditional hard drive.  In other words, trust but verify.

[glynor]

Be aware: AHCI mode is not a requirement for SSD, you can run an SSD also in old IDE mode and also on a Sata II connector. You simply don't get the full speed.

While technically true, the write performance cost can be substantial, since you won't get TRIM.  And, there's no reason NOT to enable AHCI, so...

It is best/easiest to set this mode before you install Windows.  If you need to do it afterwards, there are a variety of tricks you can do to pull it off, but it is easiest to just make sure it is set right first.

[rjm]

New lesson burned into my brain...

When powering up new system for first time, go into bios, set time/date, and turn AHCI on.

[glynor]

New lesson burned into my brain...

When powering up new system for first time, go into bios, set time/date, and turn AHCI on.

Also, set your RAM to the proper speed.  It'll auto-detect at the lowest possible speed, and you'll want to set it to the proper speed/voltage.  If you haven't bought anything, I'd look for cheap DDR3-1600 RAM that runs at 1.5v (or lower).  I've always had good luck with the GSkill sticks (particularly the Ripjaws with the stupid heat spreaders, but this part probably doesn't matter).  Mushkin and Corsair have also been good to me, though I've really had limited RAM problems in my time (a few bad Micron/Crucial sticks, one bad Kingston stick once, and a multitude of issues with OCZ stuff, but that was all way back in the day).

Other brands are almost certainly fine too, though.  DDR3 @ 1600 @ 1.5v.  That's what matters.  Memory speeds above 1600 on Ivy Bridge don't do much good.  Memory speeds below 1600 can hurt bit more, and the RAM isn't expensive, so get that.  Above 1600, they charge a big premium (usually), and it is almost never worth it if you aren't overclocking.  And if it only runs at 1600 @ more than 1.5v, then it is really lower-speed/quality RAM that they are relabeling as higher speed to trick the uninformed (all RAM will run faster if you pour more voltage in, but it'll reduce the lifespan and with modern Intel CPUs can also burn out the CPU too).

PS.  DDR speeds are marketed and sold using "semi-fake" marketing numbers for speeds.  DDR 1600 really means 800 MHz.  The term DDR itself means that the memory can transfer data on both the rising and the falling part of the cycle.  So, since an 800 MHz chip can transfer "twice" what a single-data-rate chip could at 800 MHz, they call them 1600 MHz chips.  I only mention this because some parts of the BIOS and some tools in Windows (like CPU-Z) may show it as 800 MHz, and some may list it as 1600 MHz.  These two numbers are equivalent.

[glynor]

This is irrelevant, but interesting, and I'm bored waiting for a download to finish.

There is also such a thing as QDR (quad data rate) SRAM.  However, QDR requires two separate memory clocks in order to keep reads and writes in sync (and prevent serious problems) which is more electrically complex.  A decade ago, everyone would have guessed that QDR would have been eventually adopted widely, but it has never happened because of the extra complexity required in the controller and electrical traces to maintain and sync these two separate clocks.

Instead, that's why we have dual-channel controllers.  DDR RAM, as I mentioned above, is able to transfer data on both the leading and falling edge of the clock cycle.  Imagine a sine wave on a chart.  DDR transfers data not at the peak of the wave (or the valley) but at the points where the wave crosses zero.  The biggest problem with DDR RAM is that it can only do the "doubling" magic if the operations requested on both the leading and falling "edge" of the RAM clock cycle are the same type (read or write).  If reads and writes are interleaved, then DDR has to wait for the next clock cycle and throughput is effectively halved.



So, instead of trying to transfer data four times per clock, what they do is add additional channels.  RAM Stick #1 operates in parallel to RAM Stick #2, and so it has the net effect of doubling the effective data rate again (which protects you in case of lots of interleaved read/write requests).  This also has a board trace cost, but it is lower overall than using QDR.

Some very high-end server and supercomputing platforms use QDR RAM, but nothing "regular world user" is likely to ever do so.

[rjm]

Also, set your RAM to the proper speed.

I bought:
Kingston KHX1600C10D3B1K2/16G 16GB Kit 2X8GB 1600MHz DDR3 240PIN DIMM CL10 1.5V $79

Not too late to change order if you think this was bad choice. I chose these because they were top seller and good price.

When you say set speed in bios, is it simply a matter of selecting 1600 or is something more complicated required? My eyes have glazed over when I've looked at bios ram settings in the past.

[glynor]

I bought:
Kingston KHX1600C10D3B1K2/16G 16GB Kit 2X8GB 1600MHz DDR3 240PIN DIMM CL10 1.5V $79

Not too late to change order if you think this was bad choice. I chose these because they were top seller and good price.

When you say set speed in bios, is it simply a matter of selecting 1600 or is something more complicated required? My eyes have glazed over when I've looked at ram setting in the bios in the past.

Nah.  I'm sure it'll be fine.  Kingston has good warranty support anyway, so don't worry about it.

And, as far as the BIOS, yep, pretty much.  You can also get into setting the Timings, if you care, but this has very limited benefits, and you can probably leave them at the auto-detected settings.

In the BIOS, you'll find a setting for DDR Speed (I'd have to reboot to look at what it is called specifically, but you'll find it, and if you don't, just yell).  It will be set to Auto (sometimes called "By SPD" which means using the chip on the RAM that tells the motherboard what speed it is).  Set this to either 1600 or 800 manually instead of Auto (I can't remember which number ASUS uses, but it'll be clearly one or the other depending on the choices available).  If it has a setting for XMP (aka eXtreme Memory Profile) turn that on too.

Then, find the voltage settings.  In there there will be a million esoteric voltage settings for everything on the board.  Leave them all set to Auto except the DDR controller, which you'll want to set to something close to 1.5v (it'll probably have increments like 1.5010v, just pick the closest).

I'd ignore the timings and leave them set to auto, but if you're really determined you can set these to whatever Kingston advertises for that RAM.

FYI: The reason this is necessary is that to make sure it can "play nice" on Auto with all the various (crappy) kinds of RAM out there, the motherboard vendors "play it safe" and are conservative when they read the SPD chip that tells them what speed to run the RAM.  It'll set the chips to the "just make it work" setting, not necessarily the "make it work like it should" setting.

No one returns boards when they see the memory running at the "wrong" speed.  They call the RAM maker and complain, and the RAM maker says "set it correctly in the BIOS" and the customer goes away.  If the motherboard vendors set the speeds aggressively automatically, then the boards won't boot at all with certain, flaky RAM (which might need 1.5130v instead of 1.5010v to run at the advertized speed) and then people get mad and RMA the motherboards.

[rjm]

Got it. Thanks.