How should I use my new SSD drive?
- by jasondavis
I just built a new PC the other day.
Specs...
Processor: Intel i7-930 quad core CPU
CPU Cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212
Motherboard: AsRock X58 Extreme 3
RAM/Memory: 6gb G-Skill tripple channel DDR3 memory (3 sticks of 2gb planning to get another kit to make it 12gb total soon)
Operating System Hard drive: Intel X25-M 80GB Mainstream SATA2 Solid State Drive
Video Cards: 2 XFX ATI Redeon HD 4650 cards to run 3-4 monitors
Case: Lian Li PC-B10 Midtower case
Power Supply: Antec TruePower New TP-750 Blue 750W
Operating System Windows 7 Pro 64bit
Not sure if the specs are helpful at all but I posted them just in case.
So I got everything put together and running great so far but I need some advice/ideas/help/tips.
I got the SSD drive in hopes of using it strictly for my windows 7 install along with all my other programs I install. I am then going to get another drive or 2 just for data (video,music,photos, etc).
So my plan is to just install the new data drives and then in windows 7 I will change my "My documents" "My Music" "My Video" "MY Photos" library's to be located on the data drives instead of the OS SSD drive.
I would ultimately like to install all my programs with my windows install on the SSD drive and then create an IMAGE of the drive and then 6 months down the road if things are sluggish I can just wipe the drive and restore my IMAGE with all my programs and settings in tact still.
So here are some questions now.
1)
How can I verify that TRIM is working on my new SSD?
2)
Is there anything above that I missed that I should be doing? I think I once read that there is a page file or some sort of file that windows changes a lot and that it should be moved off f an SSD an onto my data drives. DOes anyone know what I might of heard? If you do can you explain the pros and cons of doing such a thing as well as how to possibly?
3)
Any tips or advice to get the best performance from all this, I built a pretty nice system and I just want to make it stay that way as long as I can.