SSD precautions

[swopejs]

I'm getting ready to order a Sager NP9280, and I'm going to obtain some Patriot Torqx SSD's for RAID 0 on the syste. What kinds of things should I be aware of when installing Vista Ultimate x64 on the machine/SSD's? I saw a link in another area of this forum that talks about turning off all power saving features in the BIOS and OS. Also, I recall something about turning off scheduled disk tasks and modifying the pagefile location while searching on the internet - what else might I need to do? Thanks for your input.

[powerpack]

Say more? I can see why disk management tools would be disabled. Fragmentation not an issue with SSD's so no point. Also with finite writes why use for no benefit. The placement of pagefile is throwing me. I mean in so far as where you gonna put it? Are you switching to W7 when out? Trim feature looks as if has real potential for SSD's.

[Woody]

Best to turn off the page file with SSD unless you have a mechanical drive you can place it on. Just make sure you have enough RAM that it's not an issue (at least 4GB). Also disable hibernation. Both of these options will slow down your system and cause premature wear with an SSD. You should also disable automatic disk defragmentation in Vista.

If you can use Win 7 it would be better since it has the ability to automatically optimize for SSD installations (trim feature).

[swopejs]

I will have two SSD's (RAID 0) and one 7200 rpm drive (for storing backups) . . . so, with this setup, should I disable the pagefile or place it on the mechanical drive? I will be switching to W7 a couple of months after it hits the market.

[powerpack]

Woody's suggestion is viable both no pagefile (as long as no app issues) or using the mechanical drive.

In general disabling page not recommended. Woody's suggestion is to address write limits. Reasonable might be best for some.

Other suggestion use mechanical drive for pagefile. This is good because some apps seem to want a pagefile even if not needed. Photoshop comes to mind as one that crashes without for some. The mechanical does not have the write limitations of SSD's. If page file comes in use no pagefile cause crash, if HDD, much slower when needed.

I would use the HDD for pagefile to be safe.

[robamb2002]

If you are using a SSD there is very little reason to stick with Vista (actually I see little reason to stick with vista period :p)

I highly recomend switching to Win 7 as it will recognize if a system is using a SSD and optimize itself! When a solid state drive is present, Windows 7 will disable disk defragmentation, Superfetch, ReadyBoost, as well as boot and application launch prefetching. One of the more notable advancements in Windows 7 is support for the Trim command. The reason for the command deals strictly with the way that data is written to NAND memory. (Basically trim optimizes the read/writes to reduce wear, something vista and xp don't have)

*gloriously plagerized from Tom's Hardware :p*
plus, I'm speaking from experience. check out the HP dv2z in my sig

[powerpack]

Here is the link (http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3531&p=1) to my favorite source to plagiarize. Anandtech.