[whood886]

ok so i finished my build like 6 months ago and was thinking maybe about upgrading to a ssd . i have 2 500gb Samsung hard drives set up in raid 0. my start up time is around 30 to 40 seconds and i was just curious would there be any logical reason to move up to a ssd and could i move my current os from my hard drives to a ssd without having to do a fresh install? any advice?

 

[Cyrious]

Depending on the size of the SSD and the OS partition on the raid, it may be possible to do a clone of the OS partition off the raid array to the SSD, and then use the raid drives for storage. however, it would be better off for you to simply fresh install on the SSD, transfer everything over from the old install to the new, and wipe the old install.

Boot times should be significantly decreased to the 15-20 second range, if that. most programs will open much faster. Move your page file to the HDDs, it will rape the SSD lifespan if left on it.

 

[AyeYo]

Imaging the OS over can be quite a hassle and create problems. I know it's a pain in the bum to do a fresh install and set everything up as you like it, reinstall programs, etc. but it's very worth it.

As for the logic of switching.... your rig is already overkill, why not make it more overkill? This is OCN, after all.

 

[Robilar]

I went from a pair of velociraptors in RAID 0 (the fastest non SCSI drives available) to a 128 GB SSD and was very impressed with the overall performance increase.

 

[Frosty88]

Well, about three months ago, I was in the same position as you. I had 2 7200.12's in raid 0, short stroked to 300 GB. They were fast but my boot times were about the same as a single 7200.12 (30 seconds or so). I've since upgraded to a Kingston SSD (a relatively cheap SSD) and my initial thoughts were "Whoa, this is fast". I mean, the SSD has transfer rates close to that of my RAID setup but the access times are nothing in comparison. The general speed of tasks (opening applications, browsing through files, etc.) was well worth the upgrade, IMO.

Oh, my boot time now is about 15 seconds, woohoo!

As a note, you'll really notice the SSD's performance if you just do a fresh install.

 

[whood886]

is it hard to do one and to move stuff over and what should i leave on that old hard drives?

 

[AyeYo]

How did you get Windows on there in the first place?

What I did is left my old HD untouched. If anything were to go wrong with my SSD, I could simply change the boot order and boot into my old Windows install like nothing ever happened.

All storage type stuff like my movies, pictures, video, etc. are all still on the old HD. I simply linked to them all with shortcuts and save new files into those same folders on the old HD. Again, were anything to happen, I could boot the old install without having lost anything important.

 

[Nick7269]

Quote:

Originally Posted by whood886 i've never done a fresh install is it hard to do one and to move stuff over and what should i leave on that old hard drives?

Hard to do, No.....time consuming reloading and updating everything yes.

I would leave everything on the old hard drives until after loading OS on the new drive.

 

[whood886]

haha i meant is there anything you have to do besides drop the disk in and install like its new?

 

[AyeYo]

Nope. You might have to load AHCI drivers during the install, but nothing beyond that.

 

[Nick7269]

Quote:

Originally Posted by whood886 haha i meant is there anything you have to do besides drop the disk in and install like its new?

If it was me, I would unplug all drives but the new one. Then install. After install plug old drives back in, and change boot order.