Noob help on SSDs

[Francesco2]

I'm in the process of buying a new storage device to replace my crappy Barracuda. At first... I was planning to wait for the fifth gen of Velociraptors (which should come this spring)... I wasn't very convinced about SSDs being the technology still very young.
Well SSDs prices dropped a little bit more recently and the new drives look good enough... so I changed my mind.

I did my homeworks and found out that Intel x25-m G2 is probably the way to go (gonna buy the 80gb one). Being nothing more than a noob regarding SSDs I have a few questions for the experts:


- Do you need a floppy with AHCI drivers for WinXP installation? Can I put the drivers directly into winXP Cd with nLite?

- Will I need to update the firmware on a x25-m G2 or the newer models come with updated firmaware out of the box? If a firmware update is needed.... can you do it after installing the OS (never had the need to update the firmware on a HD) or this is something which needs to be done before formatting the drive?

- Apart from manual TRIM on XP, are there any other differences between Win7 and WinXP for what concerns SSDs usage?

[jason4207]

- Do you need a floppy with AHCI drivers for WinXP installation? Can I put the drivers directly into winXP Cd with nLite?



Either way will work.

[amnios]

What about drive alignment on XP? Win 7 does this automatically.

[c627627]

Mechanical Drives are for storage, not for operating system partitions any more.

Consider OCZ Vertex and Agility but not most others.
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=637129

[c627627]

OCZ Agility Newegg Shell Shocker from 12:00 AM to 12:59 PM March 23 Tuesday. Sale only lasts until 1pm or while supplies last.

I would buy it if you need one now.

[Headstand]

I am hoping that is the 60GB for $129 after MIR again. Maybe even less this time?? :)

Good drive BTW, I have 2xRAID0 right now, going for at least 3.

[c627627]

Me, one 60 GB Agility right now and by Thanksgiving we'll see how many GBs we can get for $99, not buying any more until larger ones go south of $100 ;).

[nd4spdbh2]

What about drive alignment on XP? Win 7 does this automatically.

Yes please align the partition yourself on xp before installing.

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?48309-Partition-alignment-importance-under-Windows-XP-%2832-bit-and-64-bit%29..why-it-helps-with-stuttering-and-increases-drive-working-life.

[Francesco2]

Yes please align the partition yourself on xp before installing.

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?48309-Partition-alignment-importance-under-Windows-XP-%2832-bit-and-64-bit%29..why-it-helps-with-stuttering-and-increases-drive-working-life.

Interesting... didn't know anything about partition alignment :shock: guess I lived under a rock for a few years for what concerns storage.
Will certainly do it as soon as my SSD gets here. But is it needed for Intel SSDs too? I ask because the guide mentions Vertex, Agility and others but no Intel.

Out of curiosity... does it help on HDs too? Or is it just for SSDs?

[c627627]

It helps on all hard drives.

Agilty 60GB $164 - $40 rebate = $124 for the next few hours only, get it now:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227461&Tpk=N82E16820227461

[c627627]

It's back to $169 now but Amazon has a $129 sale, I think good today only:

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6448423