Partitioning an SSD

50Twuncle

I have ordered a Crucial 240Gb SSD and now am concerned about what partitions I need .....
Any thoughts / suggestions ?
I assume that no extra drivers are necessary for it - is it plug and play ?
I am reinstalling Windows 7 straight onto the SSD ..

Lum

Don't bother, just install windows straight onto it as a single partition.

The performance advantages of partitioning a hard drive, e.g. making sure windows is in the fastest part of the drive and making sure that OS fragmentation doesn't affect your data simply don't apply to an SSD.

As you are going with a fresh install of Windows 7, it will sort out the correct partition alignment for you automatically and tweak itself to work best with the SSD. Simply install the OS and run.

Also prepare to get frustrated at the slowness every time you are forced to use someone else's computer (e.g. at work) that still has a mechanical drive.

50Twuncle

Lum wrote: »

Don't bother, just install windows straight onto it as a single partition.

The performance advantages of partitioning a hard drive, e.g. making sure windows is in the fastest part of the drive and making sure that OS fragmentation doesn't affect your data simply don't apply to an SSD.

As you are going with a fresh install of Windows 7, it will sort out the correct partition alignment for you automatically and tweak itself to work best with the SSD. Simply install the OS and run.

Also prepare to get frustrated at the slowness every time you are forced to use someone else's computer (e.g. at work) that still has a mechanical drive.

What about drivers - will the BIOS recognise it as a drive ?

Lum

Yes it shows up just like any other hard drive, no drivers needed.

Put it in, install windows, forget about it, enjoy.

50Twuncle

Lum wrote: »

Yes it shows up just like any other hard drive, no drivers needed.

Put it in, install windows, forget about it, enjoy.

It should arrive on Monday ...

Lum

Have fun. I doubt you'll regret the purchase.

In all my years of upgrading and building PCs, and I've been doing it since the late 90s, getting an SSD was the single most effective upgrade I've ever done to a system, and mine is older and slower than the modern crop of drives.

Gratis

I have always partitioned my hard drives.

If you put your data in a separate partition it enables you to perform any surgery that becomes necessary to your system – even erase the entire volume and reinstall your system – with your data safely protected and uninvolved in the operation.

It also enables you to put more than one OS on your hard drive.

I'm writing this on a Mac. It has OS 10.8.4 ("Mountain Lion") in Partition 1, OS X 10.6.8 ("Snow Leopard") in Partition 2, Clouds and Libraries (e.g. iTunes) in Partition 3, Data in Partition 4 and Resources in Partition 5.

When OS 10.9 ("Mavericks") is released in a couple of months' time, all I'll need to do in order to perform a clean install is reformat Partition 1, leaving everything else safely in place.

The principle is the same for Windows.

esuhl

Gratis wrote: »

I have always partitioned my hard drives.

Me too. Not much point in having a hard drive otherwise -- it's the only way you can create a filesystem to save data!

Seriously, though, it makes backups easier if you separate the OS from your personal data... And maybe even separate very important frequently changing data onto one partition that you can back up daily/weekly), and less-important, not-so-frequently changing data (e.g. ripped CDs) that you might only need to back up every few months on another.

I_have_spoken

I am reinstalling Windows 7 straight onto the SSD

Make sure you enable AHCI mode in the BIOS (if available) to maximise the speed of the SSD.

I wouldn't partition a small drive like an SSD, just install Windows and apps on that and keep all your data on hard disk.

Gratis

I_have_spoken wrote: »

I wouldn't partition a small drive like an SSD, just install Windows and apps on that and keep all your data on hard disk.

Even if the OP is installing this in a laptop...?

I_have_spoken

Gratis wrote: »

Even if the OP is installing this in a laptop...?

Where does OP say that?