SSD and M11X: Question

Hi guys!
I think im gonna buy a 64 gb ssd kingston.
What should i do in order to install the OS and the aw programs (alien fx, etc) on the new hdd? Its just like a big copypaste or am i missing something?

Thanks in advance and sorry for my bad english.

 

The 64gb Kingston I recently got came with the Acronis Cloning software.
It worked for me.

 

Glad to hear that
The only thing that pushes me back on this, is the 18 gb of win7+aw programs... how do you handle this?

 

Perhaps you should get an 80gb one... They are getting cheaper. Are you in a budget?

Just make you sure it has TRIM!

BTW I strongly suggest a fresh install.

 

You want the full performance, your best bet is a full install. Do not clone the drive. You can use a flash drive to install windows. Just find an OEM ISO for 64bit version of Home Premium.

 

Thanks for the answers ^^... also, what should i do to backup the drivers?

 

indexing is different from hdd to ssd, just do a fresh install and save urself heartache and fail

 

Cant the OP just use the Windows 7 disk that came with the M11x? That's what I was planning to do when I get my X-25M. Then just update drivers using the Dell Website?

 

Gotta have a CDROM drive to use the disk that came from Dell

 

i did a fresh install when i put in my intel 160g ssd but some drivers like the bluetooth for some reason didn't install how it should have

 

Sure hope my bluetooth works, gotta have it.

 

yeah, he can hook up an external cd/dvd drive and set bios to boot from it.

Psh, I hope mine works too.. and hopefulyl not like some other who have reported bluetooth overload with keyboard, mouse, headset >.> I'm sure that's a small isolated issue tho.. *crosses fingers


Getting mine today!

 

Let us know if you come across a trick or two to make it all work. I am getting mine end of the week I hope. Looking for it to go smoothly once it arrives. Feel the SSD power right away.

 

You can also just download the drivers to a USB Stick and then run them from there.

 

When I first got my Alienware M11x, I booted the machine up and uninstalled everything I didn't want. Soon afterwards, I decided to do a clean reformat instead, and boy was there a difference. If you want top performance from your computer, do a clean install from scratch instead of using the factory image.

I did not have an external optical drive. I installed Windows 7 Ultimate off of a USB key, using this guide below. You will need a computer with an optical drive and USB port, and a USB key that is 4GB or larger.
How To: Install Windows 7 from a USB Key! | Maximum PC

Once you complete the install, you need to install drivers. You can find them on Welcome to Dell Support --> Drivers and Downloads. Download these drivers onto another machine, and copy them over to your Alienware M11x after a clean reformat:

• Alienware - OSD Application
• Alienware - Command Center
• Dell - Custom Desktop Themes (optional)
• Audio - Realtec Driver - ALC665
• Chipset - Intel Driver - QS57 Express Chipset (for the R2)
• Chipset - JMicron Driver - JMB380 1394
• Chipset - JMicron JMB380C - Card Reader
• Input Device Drivers - Synaptics Touchpad
• Network - Atheros Driver - AR8132 LAN 10/100
• Network - Wireless 365 Bluetooth Module
• Network - Dell Wireless WLAN 1520 Half MiniCard
• SATA Drives - ST Microelectronics - DE351DL Free Fall Sensor
• Video - Intel Driver - Graphic Media Accelerator HD
• Video - nVidia Driver - Geforce GT335M (or use modded INF drivers)

 

Thanks kent, let me ask you tho, is the recovery disk that I received with the M11x a plain version of Windows 7, or is that also a pre-loaded disk of software and drivers? I have an external CDRom, so its a piece of cake to just use the recovery disk if that would work.

Thanks

 

The recovery disk that I had was just plain vanilla Windows 7. It didn't have any pre-loaded drivers or Alienware apps on it.

Just about the only things form the pre-loaded config that you should save are the Alienware wallpapers, user icons, and login screen background. Everything else (drivers, apps, etc) you can get from the Dell Support site or off of the internet somewhere.

 

That will be perfect then. I will just do that when my SSD arrives. Looking forward to the performance pop of the SSD.

 

+ rep for kent.
Thanks a lot, man!

 

hey kent, i was wondering what apps did you uninstall? and what website you found the apps on? i found it annoying that the pre-installed apps sorta lag my computer. im thinking about getting an ssd, but imma wait until the end of the year to purchase one. thanks man!

 

Well, I didn't uninstall apps, because it still resulted in poor performance. What I did was did a totally clean Windows 7, and installed apps on top of it. Most of the basic drivers I got off of the Dell Support site ( Welcome to Dell Support --> Drivers & Downloads).

What you might be interested in is what I *DIDN'T* install:

• Applications - Dell - Custom Desktop Themes (I didn't like them).
• BIOS - Alienware BIOS (since I already had the latest one)
• Communication - Wireless Broadband Drivers (since I didn't have a broadband card)
• Network - Intel Drivers - WiFi Link (since I don't have those cards)
• Network - Dell - Wireless WLAN 1520 Half MiniCard (I downloaded these, extracted these, but manually installed the drivers. I did not go through the Setup.exe program, since it installs a bunch of garbage)
• SATA Drives - Intel Rapid Storage Technology (useless)

I also went through msconfig, and chose not to start up any unnecessary startup applications. I also disabled AlienSense, the facial recognition login tool, because it consumes a bunch of resources. I also disabled the FAService from Windows Services, because it consumes a bunch of resources related to AlienSense.

Beyond that, you simply download and install the apps that you want off of the internet. Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, Avast! Free Antivirus, Java, Flash, Steam, WinRAR, and Foxit PDF Reader (*NEVER EVER* install Adobe Acrobat Reader. It is a piece of junk. Foxit PDF Reader FTW).

Beyond that

 

ooh i see, thanks man! i also have a couple of other questions. did you oc and have turboboost on while you were booting up? have you also tried 3dmark06 to check the benchmarks for your system?

thanks for the quick response btw.

 

Yes, I have TurboBoost set up. The core CPU clock speed is default - I am not overclocking.

And no, I never ran 3dmark06. The system is "fast enough" for the games I want to play on it (45-50fps on Left 4 Dead 2 at 1366x768, 2xAA/16xAF, all details set to max). So to me, a benchmarking tool doesn't really tell me anything I don't already know.

 

That is true. It is fast enough, but I was just annoyed at the junk I had in my computer. I was thinking about getting a SSD but it's too pricey at the moment. I also took a look at your cloning procedure using the docking system. Pretty good. Did you have to purchase Achronis to clone your hard drive?

 

I have switched to an SSD 3 times now.
The first time I ran the Acronis Software and it worked fine and all is well.

The 2nd time was on my M11x and first I cloned with the Acronis Software and played with it for a few days and then decided I had to see if I noticed a difference with a clean install too.
So I cleared the drive and installed 7 clean from the factory disc and like Kent I "Cherry Picked" the drivers I wanted and needed as well as the apps.

It turns out that some of the Alienware boot-screens and backgrounds are installed with the clean windows install but need registry switches to enable.

I have been running it this way for a week or so and I think it is faster but I did not record any benchmarks either as I just don't really care about them. It is more the seat of the pants feeling I am after and between the clean install and tweaking I did and the 8gb of Ram,I am satisfied to say the least.

Then I tried an SSD in my Toughbook CF-30 and discovered the hard way that I could not do a clean install though I tried too first with that one.
What a pain in the !

So I cleaned the drive,installed Vista Business from the factory image,did the 4 or 5 million retarded Vista updates to SP1 and then did the 7 upgrade.

This one seems to work fine but is slower feeling than the other 2 including the first one which runs Vista Business when I was done.

Go figure?

In my experience the SSD upgrade was well worth it each time. I think no matter which one you use it will feel so much faster than any hard drive that you will be pleasantly surprised.

Have fun
Ed

 

Hey Kent, is the Dell 1520, the normal card on the Rx2? I like your idea of manually installing the drivers, especially if you noticed issues with extra stuff loading up. Thanks

 

VegasJay - I believe that the Dell 1520 is the normal wireless card on the M11x R2. It is what I had in my system, and I ordered a Fast Track alienware M11x R2.

 

Hey Kent, finally got my SSD, was just wondering, did you leave the bios on AHCI for SATA? If so, I saw some chatter not to install the Intel SATA stuff, and use the MS drivers. Did you do anything beyond setting AHCI in the bios then just installing Win 7?

 

Also, just curious for Kent or other SSD users, what do you have in WIN7 device manager for IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers. I currently have two, ATA Channel 0 and Intel 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 6 Port SATA ACHI Controller -3B2f.

And just wondering if anyone knows of a good tool for checking Drive speeds?

Trying to make sure I get this SSD install right.

Thanks

 

Yes, leave it on AHCI for SATA, and do a clean install of Windows 7. This is important, because Windows 7 configures itself if it detects an SSD, and this only happens during a clean install.

Namely, make sure that the Disk Defragmenter service is Disabled once Windows 7 gets fully installed. Trying to defrag an SSD is a surefire way to shorten its life.

Don't worry about what shows up in Device Manager. If anything, just make sure you have downloaded and installed the latest chipset drivers for your motherboard. Using manufacturer drivers for the SATA controller, instead of the default Microsoft controllers, can mean a lot of difference.

As for benchmarking tools - I use a stopwatch? Sorry, I don't really benchmark much. I am only concerned if performance is "good enough" for what I need. And in those rare cases when I actually need to measure, I use a stopwatch. Benchmarks don't tell me any useful information, because they don't mirror real-world scenarios.

 

Thanks Kent, I knew about the defragmenter, I actually disabled the service right away.

So, the big key is to make sure I always have the latest Intel Chipset drivers, which according the the Dell Downloads, would be the QS57 Express Chipset?

I hear you on the benchmarking. Like I may have said earlier, I had read some people messing with device manager drivers and such and they noticed that they were decreasing the R/W speeds of the drive. So, I was just wondering, so I could kinda check once in awhile. I think someone mentioned Drive I/O? as a benchmarker.

Thanks again for your help.

 

Will this method work also? w/o the run command and probably faster How To Create Bootable Windows 7 USB To Install Windows 7 From USB Flash Drive (Using Windows 7 DVD/USB Tool)

 

Getting ready to do this tonight. Found a lot of useful information in this thread so I am bumping it to the top. Thanks!

 

Replaced my 160gb wd scorpio with a 120gb Vertex 2 ssd, installed windows by copying the files on the dell restore cd onto a external hdd, and booted it from that hdd. Installed drivers by attaching the old hdd to the laptop using a 2.5" sata enclosure, copying the wlan driver, installing it, and getting the rest from the dell website.

 

if your installing a ssd these OS tweaks are a MUST!!!!!!!!!!! i promise you
http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/474521-installing-ssd-tips-tricks-benchmarks.html

 

before tweaks


after tweaks

 

Thanks for posting these tweaks. I will get that completed tonight. The machine is flying but I haven't benchmarked yet.

 

benchmark b4 and after but i wouldn't do to many benchies on a ssd its just too precious.

Go to file and change it from random to oxoo to run the benchmarks, in crystaldiskmarkx64 that is.