OCZ vertex Turbo

[DHP]

Waiting for my new rig I'm looking at my actual SSD and I found that the write is a little slow any advice (i'm not even talking about the acess time)?
The SSD is aging a little so I wouldn'd be surprise that it's normaly functioning

I'm running on Windows xp 32bit, the SSD is on a sata 100

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/3585/sansreyh.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/27/sansreyh.png/)

http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/4659/sansreyz.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/848/sansreyz.png/)

[Mr Alpha]

You have several issues with you system:

The drive is in a degraded state
I suspect you haven't updated the frimware
The partition is misaligned (Windows XP will do that)
You are in IDE mode
Windows XP doesn't support TRIM (you need Windows 7 for that)


There are two way you can deal with this. The first is

Copy everything of value off the drive
Secure erase it (this will wipe everything)
Update the firmware
Switch you motherboard to AHCI mode (provided it supports it)
Install Windows 7

If you don't want to go the Windows 7 route you will have to:

Copy everything of value off the drive
Secure erase it
Update the firmware
Switch you motherboard to AHCI mode
Use another computer to partition it with the proper alignment
Get the AHCI drivers on something you can access with during Windows XP setup
Install Windows XP onto the partition you prepared using the AHCI drivers for your motherboard

The first option is better than the second, but the second is far better than nothing.

[ChanceCoats123]

+1. I smell a mis-aligned drive combined with a no-TRIM supporting operating system. That will give horrible performance 100% of the time.

As a reference point, my aligned, TRIM'ed 60Gb Vertex (Generation 1) in Win 7 gets 200+ sustained read and 140+ sustained write. Your drive should be over 300 read and over 200 write.

[DHP]

That's some very good answer thank you for it.

But how do you see all of this @Mr Alpha ? is it just common error or do you see it on the benchmark ?

[ChanceCoats123]

It's misaligned because XP doesn't align the partitions during install. It's not TRIM'ed because XP doesn't support that option. ;)

[DHP]

I do not wish to go toward the W7
Secure the data I want to keep (got it)
Update the firmware (is that it ? http://www.ocztechnology.com/ssd_tools/OCZ_Vertex,_Agility,_Vertex_Turbo,_Vertex_EX,_Soli d_2/ )
Switch you motherboard to AHCI mode (I have a A8N-SLI Deluxe, don't believe it has this feature... but if you could help me on this one )
Use another computer to partition it with the proper alignment (What do you mean ?)
Get the AHCI drivers on something you can access with during Windows XP setup (I guess I won't get this since I can't enable AHCI)
Install Windows XP onto the partition you prepared using the AHCI drivers for your motherboard (? ?)


Edit: can I aligned the partition on Windows xp ?

I would also like to ad the fact that I don't have the instal Cd of Windows xp (4 years later no wonder...) so it's hard to do a clean install for me

[ChanceCoats123]

If you don't do a reinstall, there is nothing you can do about the poor performance. :shrug: The alignment is one of the most important parts, and it can only be done before the OS is installed. Not to mention that if you don't use Win 7, eventually your performance will be right back where it was after a bit of time because of not having TRIM.

[DHP]

Is there any tutorial for a clean install for xp 32bit sp3 ?
Will I need the key I have used for the first installation ?

[SMOKEU]

1. It's pretty simple to reinstall Windows. Just backup all your important data, put the CD/DVD into your optical drive, set your BIOS to boot from CD/DVD and follow the instructions.

2. You will need the key from the previous installation.

[Psykoikonov]

To align the sdd's partition before installing you could use a Windows Vista or 7 recovery disc which has a tool called diskpart on it. Here's a link (http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/wiki/index.php?title=How_to_set_up_Windows_on_a_VERTEX) to an OCz guide which shows a method to align the ssd before installing XP (about middle of the page).

[Neuromancer]

Certain imaging tools will align the partitions for you as well. I know Image for DOS does (its not free) When setting it up you can pick a 2 KiB offset. IE delete restore points and stuff you wont use clean all temps folders and stuff.. make an image of the OS. Secure erase drive and image it back.

Bit for Bit imaging software will put the OS back in degraded state with bad alignment.

[5er driver]

I bought a Vertex early in 2009 and flashed it to a Turbo a couple of months ago. Reads & writes are a bit faster after the upgrade flash. Nice of OCZ to offer something like this.

[chawks2]

I use Paragon's alignment tool (http://www.techno360.in/paragon-alignment-tool-free/) which works excellent on XP/Vista/7. :thup:

[DHP]

Ok thank's everyone

@chawks: do you have to reinstall windows also with this tool ?

[DHP]

I'm coming back on this subject .
I found my windows xp installation CD and I'll be able to do a clean install soon !

I didn't quite understand the part where I have to allign the partition on another computer, could someone light me up on this ? Do i need to do this before installing the OS ?

Do I have to update the firmware before or after the installation and/or before or after the alignement ?

Edit: Is this the secure erase ? http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=649711

[Mr Alpha]

I didn't quite understand the part where I have to allign the partition on another computer, could someone light me up on this ? Do i need to do this before installing the OS ? You don't have to do it on another computer. It is merely the easiest way. The problem is that Windows XP installer will not align the partition properly. You either create the partition properly beforehand on another computer or suing some bootable media. Or you can use the Paragon Alignment Tool mentioned earlier to align the partition after the fact.

Do I have to update the firmware before or after the installation and/or before or after the alignement ?Best to do it before you put anything on the SSD just in case something goes wrong you won't need to redo anything.

Edit: Is this the secure erase ? http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=649711Yes.

[DHP]

You don't have to do it on another computer. It is merely the easiest way. The problem is that Windows XP installer will not align the partition properly. You either create the partition properly beforehand on another computer or suing some bootable media. Or you can use the Paragon Alignment Tool mentioned earlier to align the partition after the fact.


Is this after installation ?

Edit: I have been looking at different forum/post and they all say the same thing to update to 1.6 you have to go to 1.5 first and before 1.5 you have to go to 1.4 and so on.... but how do I know wich firmware do I have ? :/
Re-Edit : Found it

[DHP]

Hi everyone I wish to give you my latest input on the matter,

I have my new rig so I went to W7 as well, then I updated my SSD to the latest firmware with the partition align and here is the improvement I have been getting


Before
http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/3585/sansreyh.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/27/sansreyh.png/)
http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/4659/sansreyz.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/848/sansreyz.png/)

After
http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/1372/sansrerh.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/822/sansrerh.png/)

[Mr Alpha]

Now that's a clear improvement.

[Neuromancer]

Great improvement :)