Just got my SSD

[Randy Myers]

Ok, my 32 GB extreme arrived Friday.... was first a little upset that it came with no power, etc, but I found some extra ones with my Falcom extra wires, so i was off to the races.

 

I installed the drive, went into bios changed the sequence putting the Corsair first and having the system boot from DVD first.

 

Wham... Windows 7 installed like a charm... I then went about changing settings so that anything that writes frequently are removed from the SSD and relocated to my raptor; turned off swap file (don't need with 8 GB ram), and hybernate. Moved Outlook Pst, Windows temp, IE temp and desktop folders to a System folder I created on the Raptor. Of course re-directed each fucntion to these new folders.

 

Windows 7 is taking up about 10 GB and running like a champ. This is a really nice drive to use as a boot only OS drive. I still am looking forward to when trim or garbage collector is activated on my drive. I would prefer to move these folders back to then SSD for the possible speed gains.

[cybermaus]

Despite the fact it even made it to a sticky, moving everything that write frequently from the SSD to a Raptor is *not* a good idea:

 

So you buy an expensive drive that excels in random seek times, and subsequently you move those OS actions that would actually benefit most to a slower drive?

 

I suspect the reason people think they need to move temp files to a slow drive is because they fear either "performance degradation" or "lifetime reduction".

 

Well, even if there was performance degradation, your degraded SSD would still be as fast as your raptor. (But extreme series has trim, and the performance series has a good GC, so degradation is not even applicable).

 

And yes, repeated use will reduce lifetime, but this is also true for the mechanical raptor. Barring hard failures, expectations are your SSD will outlive your raptor easily.

 

What you did, and what many others do, sorry for putting it crudely, is shelling out a lot of cash for a fast car, and then keeping it in the garage for fear of scratching it. Come'on, dare to live, undo all the stuff you did, and enjoy the full speed: your SSD is equipped with scratch resistant paint!

[jimwillsher]

I suspect people don't read the stickies - I know I don't. They always show up in bold whether you've read them or not, so apathy takes over and I just skim past the stickies each time I visit the forum. This means I can easily miss a new sticky.

 

If they turned "normal" instead of bold when I'd read them, just like the normal posts, then I'd easily spot a new one.

 

Just my 2p.

 

 

 

Jim

 

Edit: other vBulletin installations, such as http://www.wilderssecurity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=88, correctly remove the bold once a sticky has been clicked. So I guess Corsair have hacked this board.

[Davyc]

@ cybermaus

 

Moving temp files and other files that *write* frequently to your SSD does not degrade performance to a noticeable degree in real world use; however, doing this (especially on a smaller capacity SSD) will lengthen the time before *write* degradation sets in and will extend the life of the drive. The one thing to remember is that the "life expectancy" of a SSD is only theoretical at the moment as they haven't been around long enough for any real time scales to be applied.

 

Also, it depends on what use a computer is put to - casual users probably won't need to apply many or any of the tweaks that someone who uses their computer on a daily basis for intense operations.

 

Once the *new* TRIM and GC firmwares have been released then perhaps all of the tweaks will become redundant and no longer relevant. So far, only the P-Series with the latest Samsung firmware has a performance recovery feature (G/C). The X-series has nothing as yet - no G/C and no TRIM even if some softwares report TRIM as a feature it's not there yet.

[JoeSchmuck]

Randy:

I started a thread asking why people are moving temp files off the SSD. In your specific situation, after you load all your apps, how much space you you have left on your 32GB drive? If you have 7GB (pulled out my rear) then why not leave the temp files on the SSD. If you are running out of space then I agree that the temp files might be better for you but that's your call. It's just such a large amount of money for simply booting windows faster.

 

But I'm glad your experience has been a positive one with your SSD and Windoze 7.

 

-Joe

[Randy Myers]

The reason I moved all the write frequently folders to the Raptor is because the extreme series does not have any trim or GC function at this time. I am not worried about the lifetime of the drive. I am fairly certain I will replace it far before that coimes into play. I was worried about the performance degregation over time. I think I stated that I want to move these folders back to the SSD after some type of GC system is put in place.

 

I currently have about 18 GB of free space on the SSD.

 

BTW I purchased the Corsair Extreme series drive after doing a lot of research and determining that it uses about the finiest controler available. From all the research I have done this appears to be the single most important aspect for performance. Also, there are Trim type functions out there for this type of controler so I assume it is only a matter of time before they are available for the Corsair, and yes, I agree it would be better to keep these temporary folders on the SSD. When a GC/Trim routine is in place I certainly will do just this.

[Grouik]

Randy :

 

I'm sorry, but I disagree with you about the fact that the X32 has no TRIM fonction.

I bought this SSD last week (like you), but have some problems to install Win XP SP3 (my config is too old to install Win 7 or Vista => see my yesterday post).

 

When using Gparted (0.5) last night to solve may problems, I used the 'hdparm -I /dev/sda' command in the terminal, and the result was a lot of very interresting data about this SSD, particulary the fact that this SSD has "TRIM supported" (not exactly the words, but it was clear !)

 

As i try to install XP, I shouldn't have the Trim, but whit Win 7, the function might be able, isn't it ?

[Davyc]

The thing to be aware of about your temp folders is to check them periodically as these "so-called" temp files often take up permanent residence on your drive and accumulate at a frightening rate.

 

The whole concept of "temporary files" is that they are created by an application either whilst installing or while the application is in use. Once installed or closed down the application is "supposed" to erase the files - but they don't. I clean my temp folders out every other day - just looking at my temp folder now there are over 100 items in there taking up 16.5GB of space; not a lot, but they are unecessary files that would otherwise be stealing my SSD blocks and doing nothing useful once the app's I use are closed down.

 

When I've been out and about fixing people's computers (part of my job) I ask them when they last cleaned their temp folders; answer - never. Going into them is like a horror movie .... gigabytes of space wasted on rubbish.

 

I agree that we have paid a premium for speed, but there are limitations within the hardware that require a certain amount of prudence as to what applications are allowed to write files that will inevitably cause performance degradation. In a way it's like allowing your refuse to accumulate and never put your bins out to be emptied lol.

 

With regards to the TRIM feature being recognised by certain applications, they often report wrongly and it has been stated by Corsair that the firmware running on their drives currently does NOT support TRIM - this is what everyone is waiting for. The P-Series with the most recent firmware has it's own controller based recovery feature.

 

BTW: Almost forgot to mention - you have two locations for temporary files (excluding the IE temp folder) one under your User Profiles (one for each user) and another under the Windows folder - make sure to check them both.

[Randy Myers]

I want to make an image of my OS drive that can be used to restore from DVD if/when I next have to rebuild. So far I am unsure as to which program offers this function and how they work. They all seem so vague. Programs that make some type of claim to this function that I own are, Windows 7 itself, Nero 9, Rosio CE 10, Norton Save and Restore 2.

 

Is anyone familure with any of these and know that they offer this ability?

[Dusan123456]

Hi Randy,

 

I have two P128s in a RAID0 and do not use any of the tweeks and about 6-7 weeks later I've seen no degradation of performance on this setup.Keeping system files on the boot drive will help you image that drive as well (for backups/system reloads,etc). I've used Acronis Home (current version is 2010) and have yet to be disappointed.It's come to the point that I've turned off the System Restore in Windows and just make a weekly backup image (my 89 Gb drive images to an external drive in 15-17 minutes).Or if I decide to mes with the system,I just make the image before I start and if things go badly,just re-apply my image. Great program!

[Ni3K]

I would agree with Dusan here too, as Acronis has good rep. Having said that, i hear Norton has very good image software, being a long time user of Ghost 2003, but for myself, i went the Paragon route this year.

 

I purchased the Paragon Disk Manager suite 2009 and find that the backups take no time at all and for the same price as Acronis you have far more functionality.

 

Windows 7 comes with its own backup utility which works fine but with far less functionality, ie it backs up what it sees and give u little choice what to back up, but works well.

 

My preference would be HERE but all are decent backup choices.:biggrin:

[Randy Myers]

From looking over all your suggestions I think there are a few that will work fine. I own Norton Save & Restore it is not and will not be compatable with Windows 7 :(.

 

I prefer not purchasing another program when I already own a few. I think it may be a matter of learning what I have.

 

I have found out that Nero BackItUp should do the trick and I know I have a copy of this that came with my latest upgrade from Nero. Maybe I will check this out prior to purchasing something else, again.

[RAM GUY]

I am sure as time progresses there will be updates to add support for Windows 7 for more of these utilities.

[JoeSchmuck]

Acronis! Been using it for many years.

 

It works this way for backups...

 

You can install Acronis (normal method) or boot from the disk, but I will discuss the normal installed version since it gives you much more.

 

Once the program is installed you can create a backup and save it to any location you want, network, second drive, external drive, even CD/DVD if you like. You can create schedules which I would suggest.

 

One of the biggest features of this besides super easy restorations is you can open an Acronis backup files like it's a windoze folder and maybe you needed to pull one document you deleted by accident, you just go get it from your last or pervious backups.

 

 

It works this way to restore...

 

You can use either the original disk (unless you by an online copy like myself) or you can create a restoration disk which is only a bootable disk, normally a CD-ROM. You will boot your computer from the CD. Acronis will give you a Normal or Safe option or to boot from Windoze. Choose Normal. Next the software will run and you select your backup file location (network, external drive, etc... and tell it if you want to restore the entire drive or certain parts.

 

The program works and I highly recommend it. Do Not buy an older version from someone, you could lose compatibility like SATA or networking. Buy it from Acronis if you can. $50 bucks is cheap for a high quality product. I had to upgrade all my copies when my office PCs were replaced with newer machines that used only SATA drives. The older Acronis (it was pretty old) didn't support SATA for restoration.

 

Verdict is in, Acronis.

[RAM GUY]

I would agree as an Acronics user it is one of the best utilities ATM for Disk cloning or backup used Ghost for years and still do on some of m old back ups but using Acronins on any thing Vista or newer.

[Randy Myers]

Ok, I researched some more on various solutions. Since I already own so many utilities and none seem to offer a perfect solutions; Nero 9 (I do not have BackItUp as I thought), Roxio CE 10 (??), Norton Save & Restore (not compatable), Everest (which I love I might add), etc. None seem to offer a good solution however. I downloaded Acronics and a couple others, but any that seemed decent were trial versions. I certainly do not want to use a trial version on my backups.

 

Since I already do an extreme job of backing up my files (i.e. any important file changes get manually backed up as soon as I am complete with them to both my MyBook and an ethernet network drive; such as one of my paintings file). I do not want to spend another $50 on a utility to image my boot drive so as to restore performance on my SSD occassionally.

 

With research I found out that Windows 7 has a much improved backup/imaging/restore utility built in. I can image my system to an external drive or span accross DVDs, create a boot DVD to restore my system from. It also allows you to choose which drives to "exclude" from the restore therefore allowing me to restore only the C: boot drive.

 

I tried this and it apperars to work. The boot DVD works wonderfully and all seemed to go as planned except I did not actually have it restore the C: drive. I stopped it just before that point.

 

Has anyone else tried this and what are your feelings about using the Windows 7 built in system.

 

Here is a link to a good article showing how the system works.

[RAM GUY]

The systems restore feature built in Windows 7 works great, but I have not used in that way only to back up and restore the system which works and has worked for me 100%.