SSD Woes need advice

[cloudswimmer 24]

Hi all,

 

Ok I just reinstalled FSX onto my Samsung 840 Pro SSD (not evo) I've had this SSD well over a year running with an Asus P8P67 Pro and Intel I2700k @ 4.8ghz. OS is Windows 7 X64 home edition. I have installed FSX a couple times on this SSD iin that time. So this third install a couple days ago went fine. I also installed all my PMDG stuff, Captain Sim heavies, and a few Carenado AC. Also installed all my A2A planes and then my whole suite of Reality XP kit. Last night I went to copy over some repaint files and the drive quit working in the middle of writing to it. It then disappeared from my computer. I rebooted and the drive was there again. I tried a flight in the NGX from PHNL to PHOG and everything went smooth. I then tried copying files over to it and the same thing, it crashed in the middle of writing to it and disappeared again from my computer. So I reboot and repeat that same flight no problem, then try again to copy files to it and poof its gone again. So I ordered another Samsung 840 Pro SSD to replace it which should be here in a few hours. So can I copy over this FSX install from this old drive (it sends date no problem) to the new SSD, or am I better off just uninstalling FSX and all my addons and starting with a fresh install of FSX on this new drive?

 

Chris

[Busdvr 1]

I had the same problem a few months ago. Turns out that the sata data cable connector was cracked and was working sporadically.   Very occasionally I will loose the SSD from the drive list in which case I have to do a cold boot. I just chaulk that up to a very old motherboard.  MSI P55.

 

Warren

[michelair 14]

Hello Chris,

 

I know that no one wants to do a fresh install, however if it was me I would and I am do a fresh install. I just ordered the new 512 Samsung 850 and I will do a fresh install. And here is why.

 

First, I want to make sure that I never have transfer or read/write or permission issues.

 

Second, I always install my add-ons in order as stated by other posts on Avsim, just search for them in the forums.

 

Third, make sure you contact support of payware add-ons to make sure when you install them again you don't have activation issues, PMDG for example.

 

Fourth, by adding just the add-ons you need to get the best experience while flying fsx will help FPS. Not installing stuff you never fly or sceneries you don't fly in always helps performance.

 

Fifth, you always gain experience from doing a fresh install. One might learn something thing new by doing a fresh install.

 

Six.. Best one yet, do a complete OS and FSX install if you have a dedicated Flying machine....  AND install your OS and FSX on their own separate SSD's if you can.

 

Well, not sure if I have helped but I have been doing this MS Flight Sim since its started and 20 plus years... and as of 2014, I still learn something new when I do a fresh install, and almost in every case my machine and FSX run better.. And I never have to wonder why something does not work after the fact when a CTD or some FSX error due to duplicating a HHD or SSD.

[cloudswimmer 24]

Yeah it can rock your whole flightsim world when this stuff starts acting up ehh. I suffered a catastrophic OS crash last week from a bad bios setting for my overclock, so pulled the system out from the cockpit and threw it up on the bench for a thorough cleaning before rebuilding the OS. I accidentally connected the OS SSD and FSX SSD to the Marvell controllers instead of the Intel Controllers and things have been a little weird ever since. So I guess its back out of the cockpit and up on the bench she goes arghh :( It would be real easy to just copy over FSX from the funk SSD to the new one since I'm only at 55gb so far on the FSX drive, but my gut instinct is telling me to start a new FSX install on it, but thats such a pain especially with having to get new reactivations for stuff from flight1 and PMDG, thats why I was thinking of copying over and wondering what others have done in similar situations.

 

This Samsung 840 Pro SSD has worked really well this past year or so. Ive heard of problems with the 840 Evo's, and am not clear on the Pro's reliability right now. I set my computer up via Nick N's FSX bible, he does mention problems with Samsung SSD and Intel Rapid Storage Transport drivers (of which I use) but I've never had a problem with it up till last night. I need my drive NOW if you know what I mean (FSX addict here) Before I had an OCZ Vector SSD which was suppose to be tge bees knees, but it crapped out completely after only 1 month of use. My other SSD's which are older Crucial M4's (one of which my OS is on, and the other 3 which house my scenery files) have been solid as a rock. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed this new Samsung 840 Pro works outta the box without having to wait for some kind of firmware update.

[JayBirdski 1]

Might be unrelated but I had a lot of boot issues with a Samsung on a new install not too long ago that magically went away after I installed the Samsung Magician software..

[idahosurge 2]

The first thing that I would do is remove the SSD's from the Marvel ports and put them back on the Intel ports.  If your FSX SSD is still acting up try a different SATA cable.

 

If it is still acting up hook up your new SSD and boot into Windows.  Copy everything from your old FSX SSD to your new one.  After everything is copied shut off your PC, but make sure that you look and remember what drive your old FSX SSD is.  As an example my OS is on C: FSX is on F: and my DVD is D:

 

Unplug your old FSX SSD and plug your new FSX SSD into the same SATA port the old one was plugged into.  Turn the PC back on.

 

Once in Windows click on the start button and in the run box type "disk management" make sure that "create and format hard disk partitions" is highlighted and hit enter.

 

In Disk Management select your new FSX SSD and then right click on it, then select "change drive letter and paths" change the drive letter of your new FSX SSD to the drive letter of your old FSX SSD, close everything and reboot, verify that your new FSX SSD has the same drive letter as your old FSX SSD and you should be good to go, no need to reinstall everything, but you will need to overwrite anything you tried to install/copy to your old FSX SSD that did not complete.

 

So in the end if I was doing this I would now have a new FSX SSD with the drive letter F: and this new FSX SSD would have everything copied to it from the old FSX SSD. 

 

You should not have to reinstall anything, but if for some reason this does not work then a complete uninstall/reinstall is what you would need to do at this point.

[cloudswimmer 24]

Yeah those Marvell ports were a mistake for sure. When I reconnected everything it had been a couple years since I built this box, so I mixed up what colors go to which controller in my head. It was only after the system was all put back together and running funky that I checked the manual and realized I had the two most important SSD's of the system on the Marvell's (my OS and FSX)

 

Still the Samsung 840 Pro on the Marvell controller was working fine, then just stopped accepting data being written to it. So what I did last night was completely uninstall FSX and all addons (except FS Build, REX, and FEX) and then cracked open the box and replaced the the old 840 with a new one, and took everything off the Marvell controllers. Now everything is running normal again.

 

So thanks for your advice and the others too!

[ryanbatc 13,018]

Is AHCI still enabled in the bios? That caused some issues for me with my SSD. After an OC fail bios reset.

 

Nm you fixed it good