Computer Rebuild.

[#1]

My Windows 7 installation is in such a bad way that the time has come to rebuild it.
It has been my intention for a while to put one of these in the box as the system drive when rebuild time came around.
Never having installed an SSD before I am open to tips and tricks which will be warmly welcomed
I will not be cloning the old drive but it will be reconnected after the install.

[#2]

Crumbs that's more than what my whole PC cost.

[#3]

Set the BIOS to AHCI (rather than SATA) before you start.  But remember that if SATA is the default (as it probably is) then your computer will not start if the BIOS is reset to default values.

[#4]

Quote from: billnotben

Crumbs that's more than what my whole PC cost.

It's worth it if it makes this forum load faster

[#5]

It flaming won't
I just had a major problem trying to post with a single small image

[#6]

no point getting an ssd over 256gb use a normal hdd for storage of stuff you regularly access like games otherwise you will eat up the read/write cycles on your ssd and it will fail faster
large things like that are designed for people with no idea and too much cash or so-ho users with large databases that they require instant access to across a network from there server, it still kills the drive early but if its tax deductible who care ......

win7 complete with a Junction'd my documents folder based on a 2TB hdd (personally I use caviar black for the 5 yr guarantee) fits on a 250/256gb drive and that's with a massive amount of programs on it (I have separate drives each for steam/origin/mydoc's)  but don't go smaller than 250/256 or you risk problems in later times.
the only problem is you'll need to look up initialising the drive and using junctions if your not au fait with them
some links that should give you a few tips to get you started off
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/113967-ssd-alignment.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/149969-ssd-install-transfer-operating-system.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/278262-mklink-create-use-links-windows.html

[#7]

Oops!

[#8]

Can't help you with the rebuild but I recently got a ready built Pc with a 250 SSD'S and a 1TB hard drive.
There is Samsung magician which will help you with managing your SSD'S.
Windows 7 & Linux are on the SSD along with a couple of Other program's which are memory intensive, ie Onone software the rest is on the hard drive.
Well suited with this setup.
No matter how much stuff you put on the hard drive boot up time will always be around 30 seconds.

[#9]

The best info is here strat 
http://www.thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/optimization-guides/the-ssd-optimization-guide-2/

[#10]

Quote from: nanotm

no point getting an ssd over 256gb

Naturally for financial reasons I would prefer a smaller SSD but I don't want to get in the situation where the SSD is getting full and I need to upgrade to a larger drive.
Most of my data is on a separate conventional drive.
@rongtw Thanks for that info

[#11]

Don't put the swap file on the SSD.
Same goes for all those browser caches and all the other kinds of caches knocking around...
I bet you are not quite so keen now. 

[#12]

Oh...it will be done Foxy. That much is certain.

[#13]

I recently dug out a (working) 8 year old laptop with XP on it.
80GB disk 1.5GHz mono processor and 512MB of memory.
I just loaded a lightweight Linux (Debian LXDE) on it and it runs much faster than Windows ever did.

[#14]

Nantom is correct Strat , the largest SSD needed on the average PC is 256 -500 gig any more is just overkill.
i only have a 120gig i have win7 + programs + my game and is 70% full anything else is on my 1TB HD.
if you are worried about filling a smaller SSD than 1 gig you must have too many  programs 
a 500gig samsung 840 evo £180 depending where you shop

[#15]

I've got a 500 in one mbp and 250 in another.. the 250 seems a little small - especially if you want a reasonable amount of music on it.