Upgrade to SSD question

[Vdub90]

Hello. Currently I'm running a raid 0 configuration on an Asus Maximus III Formula board with Windows 7. I'd like to upgrade to an SSD to be used as a boot drive. My question is can I use a single SSD with my current raid set up? Is there anything special I need to to, or can I just plug the drive in and everything will work?

Also should I install a new copy of 7 on the SSD then erase it off the raid? Or can I plug in the SSD go into windows and move 7 over to the the SSD (is that even possible?). If I have to go the route of erasing it off the raid, will that mess up the programs I have on the raid?

Thanks.

[MarkOne]

You have a nice motherboard and a nice question too. and quite on time I say something also this morning in another post about some concern using raid with SSD. At least the interaction the Intel raid bios can have on them

Let see what our expert have to say

Originally Posted by Vdub90

.Or can I plug in the SSD go into windows and move 7 over to the the SSD (is that even possible?).Thanks.

to this want I can say no. You way better to do a fresh install on it. SSD use different way to deal with the allocation of the files on them.....it's the most I can go on it, AkG is far better than me to explain it

[Vdub90]

Thanks for the reply. I would definetly do a fresh install of 7 on the SSD. If I set the SSD as boot, would the version of 7 on the raid mess with anything?

[AkG]

If you are doing a fresh install...which I would. I would unplug the RAID'ed drives...heck ALL hard drives but the SSD to make sure windows doesnt install anything important unto one of the other drives. Would really suck if when you break you raid (for example) and the OS no longer works. Thats how I do it, regardless of SSD or HDD is the drive being installed to. Plenty of time afterwards to add back the raid afterwards ;)

[Vdub90]

Originally Posted by AkG

If you are doing a fresh install...which I would. I would unplug the RAID'ed drives...heck ALL hard drives but the SSD to make sure windows doesnt install anything important unto one of the other drives. Would really suck if when you break you raid (for example) and the OS no longer works. Thats how I do it, regardless of SSD or HDD is the drive being installed to. Plenty of time afterwards to add back the raid afterwards ;)

Thanks. So if I unplug the raided disks, and install on the ssd. When I plug the raided disks back in they will still be recognized as a raid and the ssd seperate?

I have installed 7 about 4 times now, and I just want to cover all the bases that I won't end up losing all my data again. Re-installing all my programs,games in particular, damn you Wow. lol.

[chriskwarren]

Originally Posted by Vdub90

Thanks. So if I unplug the raided disks, and install on the ssd. When I plug the raided disks back in they will still be recognized as a raid and the ssd seperate?

I have installed 7 about 4 times now, and I just want to cover all the bases that I won't end up losing all my data again. Re-installing all my programs,games in particular, damn you Wow. lol.

SSD will be worth it. Make sure you get a SSD that supports TRIM, update the firmware if required, and then as mentioned, do a fresh install with Windows 7.

Which SSD supports TRIM? Pick some in your price range and post on here and the real experts (not me) will help you pretty quickly.

[AkG]

Originally Posted by Vdub90

Thanks. So if I unplug the raided disks, and install on the ssd. When I plug the raided disks back in they will still be recognized as a raid and the ssd seperate?

I have installed 7 about 4 times now, and I just want to cover all the bases that I won't end up losing all my data again. Re-installing all my programs,games in particular, damn you Wow. lol.

Cant see why that wont work. BUT it has been a loooooong time since I ran software Raid for data only storage (as C drive level of importance I always back up multiple times via Acronis!). Someone else might be able to answer that better than I can. But if I was really worried about the data, I would make an image of it with acronis and back that up to my NAS, external enclosure, another hdd or even to DVDs. Then you would be sure the data is safe come hell or high water ;)

[Vdub90]

Originally Posted by AkG

Cant see why that wont work. BUT it has been a loooooong time since I ran software Raid for data only storage (as C drive level of importance I always back up multiple times via Acronis!). Someone else might be able to answer that better than I can. But if I was really worried about the data, I would make an image of it with acronis and back that up to my NAS, external enclosure, another hdd or even to DVDs. Then you would be sure the data is safe come hell or high water ;)

I'm not to worried about the data. I've done it a bunch of times before just takes a while sorting through getting all my programs loaded again more of a pain than anything.

I was thinking one of these 2 for the drive
NCIX.com - Buy Intel X25-M 80GB 34NM Postville 2.5IN SSD SATA Solid State Disk Flash Drive - SSDSA2MH080G2C1 In Canada.
NCIX.com - Buy G.SKILL Falcon II 128GB Indilinx Eco 2.5IN SATA2 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD W/ 64MB Buffer - FM-25S2I-128GBF2 In Canada.

[gingerbee]

out of those ssd i would pick the first one

[AkG]

The X25M gen 2 by a WIDE margin would be my first pick IF 80GB's is enough room for you. The X25m gen 2 is a enthusiast grade / "flagship" model. The F2 is a more mid tier model.

[MarkOne]

Originally Posted by AkG

The X25M gen 2 by a WIDE margin would be my first pick IF 80GB's is enough room for you. The X25m gen 2 is a enthusiast grade / "flagship" model. The F2 is a more mid tier model.

I use 37 - 45 gb on my X25M, and I have not make special effort to reduce it, Office and Photoshop ( not the swap ) are on it. My main problem is the personal folder, quite pain to move the stuff to an other drive since Vista , and those are the one you write and erase quite often. I will like to move the desktop to an other drive for the same reasons

[Vdub90]

I think what I may do is get rid of the raid all together. The drives I'm currently using for the raid are 5+years old and the raid would be for storage anyway. For the price I see hd at I will just pick up a new one to use as storage. I would like the extra 40Gb that the F2 offers, but I could probably get away with 80gb, is the Intel one really that much superior? If it's only slightly and my programs will open .2 secs faster than the F2, I'd rather have the extra room.

So I'm thinking
Boot Drive:
ThisNCIX.com - Buy Intel X25-M 80GB 34NM Postville 2.5IN SSD SATA Solid State Disk Flash Drive - SSDSA2MH080G2C1 In Canada.
OrNCIX.com - Buy G.SKILL Falcon II 128GB Indilinx Eco 2.5IN SATA2 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD W/ 64MB Buffer - FM-25S2I-128GBF2 In Canada.

With this as a storage drive:
NCIX.com - Buy Western Digital WD1001FALS Caviar Black 1TB SATA2 7200RPM 4.2MS 32MB 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM - WD1001FALS In Canada.

With that in mind, is 40gb worth the extra $64? Is the Intel drive that superior? My other thought is that when the drives come down more in price I would like to raid the SSD. So with that should I go for the Intel as later on the 80gb would turn into 160gb?

Thanks, for all your help!

[AkG]

G2 is a much beefier SSD. Even one with only half its channels filled (like the EOL'ed SSDNow V 40GB) it is FAST in small 4k read and writes. A full speed X25 g2 is a beast. If this was a question of the X25M g2 or a Falcon 1, Torqx or Vertex....Id say go with which ever fits your needs best, but a mid grade vs high grade is a tougher call. Where this will be your first SSD, you may not notice the difference as either will be OMFG fast.

If it helps.....(IIRC) someone here on HWC has a N.I.B. or like new Falcon 2 128gb for sale for like 320 shipped. /whistle

[Vdub90]

Thanks again for all the help. I'll go with the Intel drive.

[MarkOne]

Originally Posted by Vdub90

I think what I may do is get rid of the raid all together. .

not a bad idea. I always try to find the simplest solution that make me not lost too much performance. I don't play with larges multimedia files, I need fast access to my stuff. SSD fix a part of it.. I'm thinking to put an other SSD for the gaming program, ( 250gb ) some have told me the map load is quite faster, since I game only 1 hour on Saturday nigh, don't want loose time I will use my HD only for storage, stuff you don't use often. and for that it's more easy to throws an other 2tb , than rebuild a raid ( with also an other 2tb in my server as duplicate, quite easy with WHS )