29 replies to this topic

[Midnight Mick]

I'd like to make the jump to a SSD and after having read up on it a bit & reading some reviews I've come away more confused than before!

I currently have 3 questions:

• Is it true that a sata 3 SSD is backward compatible with a sata 2 motherboard (obviously there will be a speed difference).
  
• Reliability - Which drive offers the best. I originally looked into the OZC Agility 3 but read several times about them being a bit flakey (unsure if true hence the question, so am also looking at the intel 520 series but am open to alternatives.
  
• Trim - is it enable by default on Windows 7 (clean install)?

Current system specs:

Operating system: Windows 7 Professional 64bit
Motherboard: MSI P35 Neo-F
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Memory: 2 x 2gb (ddr2)

I look forward to your replies.

[+devHead]

1. You should have no issues hooking a SATA 3 SSD to your SATA 2 connector, just like you said it won't be as fast as on a SATA 3 board.
2. I've found that Intel SSDs are very good for reliability. I've had mine for about a year now, and it's solid as a rock. My younger brother just bought an intel 256 GB drive and is very pleased with it.
3. Trim was enabled by default in my installation in Windows 7 and, of course, defragmenting was automatically turned off, along with SuperFetch. Such services are not needed on a SSD.

Enjoy! You'll be amazed at how fast your boot is and installation of Windows. I don't have a terribly fast machine, but installing Windows 7 64-bit from a Jumpdrive to my SSD took all of 10 minutes.

[playXray]

1) Completely true.
2) Not sure but the current gen drives are supposed to be much better than the old (pre SATA III) ones.
3) Yes, on a clean install. Not sure about upgrade (but that's only for wimps anyway).

[Xerax]

3) Yes, well It was for mine. And you'll be amazed at how fast everything boots. My Windows 8 boots from cold in under 3 seconds.

[+Chicane-UK]

I run a Crucial C300 on a SATA2 motherboard and it's absolutely fine. Go for it.. you won't regret it. The speed improvement is astonishing and whenever you go back to mechanical disks, you think something is broken!!

[neoraptor]

1. Not much of a difference for everyday usage between sata3 and sata2
2. Most new ssds are reliable - just upgrade the firmware to the latest one. I have ocz vertex 2 and 3
3. When you connect the ssd win7 will make the appropriate changes - disable defrag, enable trim etc...

[ShiFteDReaLitY]

If there is a firmware upgrade, do it before you install windows on it etc. Most SSD's are reliable now, the OCZ Agility 3 is a good choice esp considering it's price. The reason most people have issues with the OCZ isthe Sandforce controller. I have a Corsair ForceGT and previously had a OCZ Agility 2 and have not had any issues with sandforce based drives. But if the "flakyness" people have reported bothers you get a non sandforced based SSD. Crucial, Samsung,some OCZ drives as well etc.

Also SATA 3 SSD are compatible with SATA 2 u will just be capped at SATA 2 speeds.

[Fourjays]

I've also been looking at upgrading to an SSD soon (my HDD feels like a major bottleneck on my Core i5 machine - loads of drive thrashing while the CPU sits there doing not very much) and have the same concerns regards reliability - there seem to be a lot of issues with Sandforce SSDs. How would you perform a firmware update on a new SSD pre-Windows?

Also, does anyone have any experience with the Seagate Momentus XT "hybrid" drives? Are they as close to an SSD as claimed or is an SSD the best bet?

[IceBreakerG]

Midnight Mick, on 27 March 2012 - 09:10, said:

1. Is it true that a sata 3 SSD is backward compatible with a sata 2 motherboard (obviously there will be a speed difference).

Yes this is true. The only difference is the speed decrease.

Midnight Mick, on 27 March 2012 - 09:10, said:

2. Reliability - Which drive offers the best. I originally looked into the OZC Agility 3 but read several times about them being a bit flakey (unsure if true hence the question, so am also looking at the intel 520 series but am open to alternatives.

I just put a 240GB OCZ Agility 3 in my MacBook Pro a few weeks ago. So far it's been very stable. No crashes or hiccups because of the drive. It's also very very fast (it's my first SSD, so I guess any of them would be really fast lol). I don't have any experience with other drives, but this one has been good for me. I'm also dual booting Windows 7 Ultimate in bootcamp as well, and both Windows 7 and OS X boot up in about 10secs or less.

Midnight Mick, on 27 March 2012 - 09:10, said:

3. Trim - is it enable by default on Windows 7 (clean install)?

Yes, Trim is enabled by default on Windows 7. For some reason, defrag wasn't on my machine (it was scheduled, but I'm not sure if it ever ran). Whenever you get your drive, I'd recommend using SSD Life to monitor the health of your drive. Hope this info helps.

[+Jdawg683]

Fourjays, on 27 March 2012 - 13:23, said:

I've also been looking at upgrading to an SSD soon (my HDD feels like a major bottleneck on my Core i5 machine - loads of drive thrashing while the CPU sits there doing not very much) and have the same concerns regards reliability - there seem to be a lot of issues with Sandforce SSDs. How would you perform a firmware update on a new SSD pre-Windows?

Also, does anyone have any experience with the Seagate Momentus XT "hybrid" drives? Are they as close to an SSD as claimed or is an SSD the best bet?

the concerns about reliability are generally nonsense. Intel had firmware reliability last year just like OCZ did. those issues are fixed. do not worry anymore. just buy what you like.

you can perform a firmware update by simply connecting the SSD to an unused SATA slot and boot w/ their DOS-based updater. I, however, tend to just install windows, then immediately flash w/i windows. it's easier and faster.

ive read a bit about the Momentus. They seem to be really good for caching frequently-used programs. i dont believe, however, that you'll get the same copy/read/write performance from day-to-day operations.

[ShiFteDReaLitY]

Fourjays, on 27 March 2012 - 13:23, said:

I've also been looking at upgrading to an SSD soon (my HDD feels like a major bottleneck on my Core i5 machine - loads of drive thrashing while the CPU sits there doing not very much) and have the same concerns regards reliability - there seem to be a lot of issues with Sandforce SSDs. How would you perform a firmware update on a new SSD pre-Windows?

Also, does anyone have any experience with the Seagate Momentus XT "hybrid" drives? Are they as close to an SSD as claimed or is an SSD the best bet?

You just plug in the SSD before you swap your old one and flash the firmware.


They aren't going to be as fast as a SSD they just help with booting really. As in the review after 3 boots, it starts the computer pretty quickly. Here is a review to help better:
http://www.hardwares...HDD-Review/1474

[Fourjays]

Jdawg683, on 27 March 2012 - 13:33, said:

the concerns about reliability are generally nonsense. Intel had firmware reliability last year just like OCZ did. those issues are fixed. do not worry anymore. just buy what you like.

you can perform a firmware update by simply connecting the SSD to an unused SATA slot and boot w/ their DOS-based updater. I, however, tend to just install windows, then immediately flash w/i windows. it's easier and faster.

ive read a bit about the Momentus. They seem to be really good for caching frequently-used programs. i dont believe, however, that you'll get the same copy/read/write performance from day-to-day operations.

ShiFteDReaLitY, on 27 March 2012 - 13:34, said:

You just plug in the SSD before you swap your old one and flash the firmware.


They aren't going to be as fast as a SSD they just help with booting really. As in the review after 3 boots, it starts the computer pretty quickly. Here is a review to help better:
http://www.hardwares...HDD-Review/1474

Thanks, you've put my mind at ease about it. :thumbup:

[ShiFteDReaLitY]

Just a comparison for some people wondering standard HDD vs a Sata 3 SSD. Keep in mind 4k reads is important for a windows boot drive a lot of the files are small random files. Comparing a Seagate 2tb (2 platter) and a 90GB Corsair Force GT.

[+patseguin]

I use Corsair SSD's in my new builds and find them to be the best. Trim is enabled by default provided that you are in AHCI mode in your BIOS and you load the proper drivers while installing Windows.

[+ViperAFK]

Fourjays, on 27 March 2012 - 13:23, said:

I've also been looking at upgrading to an SSD soon (my HDD feels like a major bottleneck on my Core i5 machine - loads of drive thrashing while the CPU sits there doing not very much) and have the same concerns regards reliability - there seem to be a lot of issues with Sandforce SSDs. How would you perform a firmware update on a new SSD pre-Windows?

Also, does anyone have any experience with the Seagate Momentus XT "hybrid" drives? Are they as close to an SSD as claimed or is an SSD the best bet?

I haven't used one of those drives (and I don't know how close of a comparison this is), but I have a somewhat similar setup with intel smart response. Win7 is installed on my regular 320gb hdd, and I'm using my older 64 gb vertex 2 as a cache for it. In most cases it feels just as fast as when I previously had windows just installed on the vertex 2. All my programs still open super fast, and boot is a good 10-15 seconds. Windows is immediately responsive and loaded on login.

I like this solution because:

I get a larger drive for my os install, and if I ever need to I can just drop in a new ssd for the cache drive.
You don't need a very expensive SSD for it, 20-64 gigs.