Hi all

 

I have just bought a 500GB Samsung 840 SSD and before I install I thought I would ask a couple of questions and see if you guys have any tips.

 

I plan on replacing my excisting HDD with the SSD and install the OS and FSX on the same SSD drive (FSX under C and not default location).

 

My PC is an i7 OC to 4.6ghz with 16GB RAM Asus P67 Sabertooth MB.

 

Questions

1. Which is best - fresh SSD install or clone install from org HDD.

 

2. Is it worth defragging HDD before cloning (if I clone HDD).

 

Any usefull help or tips would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Rich

 

PS.

Samsung SSD came from dabs.com and was £278 with £50 cash back - £228 for a 500GB SSD (inc install kit & software) was a good deal I thought.

1) No Need to defrag SSD... In fact I don't believe if you should even defrag at all.

 

2) See if you can get 128MB SSD for the OS and install FSX solely on the 500G SSD

 

3) Even 500G SSD is too little if you plan to have photosceneries like Mega scenery 2..so get a 2Gig HD for those types of sceneries

 

4) I believe Samsungs SSD are the best. So good for You.

 

5) I would go with Fresh install on the SSDs.

Thanks for your reply Manny

 

I plan on re-installing my 1TB HDD for the extra storage if I need it, I do plan on adding a 2nd SSD later ... Think my wife would not be happy if I spent nearly £500 on two FSX drives LOL.

 

Is there any benifit from installing the OS on its own SSD?

 

 

Is there any benifit from installing the OS on its own SSD?

 

Hardly imho. I had the OS (Win 7 64 bit) and FSX together on my very first SSD. Worked like a charm. When I bought a new computer I installed that 'old' SSD into the new one and added another SSD for FSX alone, mainly because the space was tight on the old one. I didn't notice any difference in performance. SSD's are quick.

 

To also answer your first questions:

 

1. I myself would certainly take the opportunity to install the OS all over again on your new SSD. Imho a fresh install is ALWAYS better then cloning and (old?) system! Since you are planning to use the SSD in your current PC you might try cloning it to save (a lot of) time. On a new pc I would NEVER ever clone an OS!!!

 

2. Defragging the HDD before cloning it is totally and utterly useless. And although you didn't talk about defragging the SSD: Manny was right when he said you should NEVER ever defrag an SSD!

 

About the space: 500 space is enormous. I have the OS on a 80 Gb SSD and still have 37 Gb free. I have FSX on a 120 SSD and still have 65 Gb free. I have to add though that I only install addons I actually use. And when I did fool around with photoscenery (didn't really like it) I installed that on my regular 1 Tb HD.

A fresh install of Win 7 on the SSD will align the sectors properly, giving you better performance.

 

If your cloning program has an option to align to SSD sectors, you can go that way too..

Thanks for the advice, edging towards fresh install, alot of work but think its the way to go, is rather spend the time and do it right the first time.

 

Thanks guys