M4400 SSD windows XP 64 bit installation procedure

Hello everyone,

I have just ordered my M4400 with an 128gb ssd disk. I already have official windows XP 64 bit so i didn't order an operating system. My question is as follows:

1. with the SSD disk will i be able to install windows on my own? Am i going to need an extra driver like with the SATA drives?

2. if yes how will i be able to load it during the install? will i need nlite or similar software to create a windows installation cd?

3. Has anybody done it and knows the actual procedure? any other recomendations for the installation? Are there any tricks apart from installing the drivers in the order mentioned in the dell site?

4. Finally can i partition the SSD disk through the windows setup like with normal HDs?

Thank you all in advance for your time!!

 

To XP, an SSD will look as if it was an HDD (except for the perforrmance). You will not need anything more than you would if you were using an HDD. But with Windows operating systems older than Vista, you might want to change the alignment on the SSD to improve performance. See: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=350177

 

Hi thanks for the fast reply! My experience with Vaio is that if the disk has a sata interface then you need to have an extra driver to load during windows setup. This does not happen with IDE disks. do you know anything about this? thanks!

 

You could simply set the SATA operation mode to "ATA" In the BIOS so you don't need any drivers for installing XP.

You can then install the drivers after you installed the operating system, and change SATA operation back to "AHCI" (or "IRRT", in case you know what that is - it won't give you any performance boosts).

 

1. Installation Windows on a good SSD should be no different from installing Windows on a regular HDD. Everything you would do on an HDD install applies to an SSD install, including the usual ATA/SATA shenanigans.

2. See above post.

3. Been there, done that. I did everything as I would with a standard installation. The SSD in your M4400 is a good SSD and should not need partition alignment.

4. See 1.

 

ok . thank you all very much for your help. i am going to try it and get back in case of any problems. thanks a lot

 

It may not need it, but it would improve performance the sane way. I wouldn't like having brakes on my drive.

 

Do you have Vista at all? How much memory does your system have? XP was designed originally on a 32-bit basis, while Vista was designed for 64-bit. If you have 4GB or less, stick with XP 32-bit, while if you have >4GB, I would go for Vista 64-bit.

 

Hy

I'm now with the same situation but I suppose to have understood correct that xp64 is based on w2003 server and w2003 as vista don't need alignement.

only xp32 need it.