Fresh install on a SSD

Hello everybody,

As I wait for my T410s with a 80GB intel SSD I've been researching whether I need to zero out the SSD before doing a clean install or if just the regular formatting when booting from disk is sufficient. This is what I've concluded so far.

• 
  If my SSD is a generation 1 SSD which does not support TRIM, it is a good idea to zero out the hard drive prior to a fresh install.

• 
  If my SSD is a G2 which does support TRIM, the regular formatting of the drive during the "boot from disk process" is sufficient (quick format)

• 
  Also prior to the fresh install it is a good idea to check if your SSD is running the latest firmware and if not upgrade it to the latest firmware (I guess this is a no brainer)

Does all this sound about right? Thanks in advance to everyone who chimes in.

 

From what I understand, G1 means you need to do a secure HDD erase in order to zero it out.

You also always do a quick format with SSDs.

If you want to have the best performance possible then yes you should zero it out if it's G1. But this adds a lot of writes to your drive that could reduce its lifetime.

Rest sounds right on.

 

aznguyphan,
Thanks for the confirmation. I was aware of the degradation of G1 SSD's from zeroing out but, thought it was a "neccessary evil."

 

Also generally, how long will it be before I realise a lag in a G1 SSD's performance due to the lack of trim?
Once I realize that it has slowed down, what are my options? From what I've read a regualr format is not gonna cut it. A zeroing out is neccessary again which means a fresh installation. That woud suck. But then again, a new version of windows would be most probably be out by then which would require a fresh install........

 

I think you worry too much. I have had a SSD for 14 months now; 6 without TRIM, 8 with TRIM. Never noticed a difference.

I didn't do a clean install, but rather imaged an existing HDD install directly onto a pre(quick!)-formatted SDD, then tweaked it from there.

My experience has been incredible at every stage but one - after a firmware upgrade (the TRIM-enabling firmware upgrade did not deal well with a pre-existing data partition, with re-placed data files periodically disappearing - yes, I had a full backup), and I was forced to just have one partition for both software and data.

I certainly would ensure you have latest firmware. Then create any extra partitions needed. Then, ideally, do a clean OS and program install, and copy data files over from backup - and re-store original settings for each program. But if not, you should be OK with just restoring an image - and tweaking a few OS settings.

 

intel G1 has a nice garbage collection so that even though it doesnt have trim, it still performs well.

you dont have to do a clean install everytime you want to clean out the ssd to get it back to its top performance. you can just create an image of the ssd, wipe it clean (full format), and then restore the image back on.

 

Thanks antskip. I had hoped that you would weigh in at some point since you seem to be the resident expert on SSD's on the Lenovo forum. You are most probably right. All my worrying maybe much ado about nothing. Its just that this is my first SSD equipped laptop that I am going to perform a clean install on and I want to get it right.

godbreath,
Thanks for the reassuarance. I am assuming you are speaking from experience.
I think I had read an article on engadget about a test done by PC perspective (I think) about how intel G1 drives slow down after a while. That is what prompted this wild hysteria/paranoia
In the same article they had also mentioned that this slow down levels off after a certain time and even then its still significantly faster than a regular HDD. But I chose to ignore that bit and instead create a thread and bombard you guys with questions
I just trust the opinion of all you guys and gals (real people) more.
Appreciate all the help NBR members!!!

 

I remember reading somewhere on this forum about having to disable auto recovery/restore/backup.... something along those lines and if not, this could lead to a slow down of the SSD. Anyone??

 

nevermind...found the answer. Turn system restore off. Apparently doesn't work well with TRIM. Wonder how this affects G1 SSD's without trim....

 

Honestly, System Restore shouldn't even exist. All it seems to do is help viruses.

 

I have been having System Restore on since day one (Early Feb), but I don't experience any slow down at all. Media wear indicator in INTEL's SSD Toolbox stay at score 99/100

 

When does the enabling/disabling of AHCI in BIOS come into play? DO we have to worry about this only if we are replacing a regular HDD with a SSD or does it come into play when we do a clean install on a SSD equipped machine as well?

 

Just a quick update to share my experience doing a fresh install on my T410s with an Intel G2 80GB SSD.
The windows 7 ultimate install went smooth and afterwards I was trying to find the best tweaks/optimizations to maintain my SSD and I found a really cool tool called SSDTweaker which pretty much does it all for you (some of you maybe already aware this). You still have to maually disable defrag after you run this program but all the rest is done for you. My WEI score for my hard drive is 7.6 and I think this program had a lot to do with it.

 

I love that forum! I just got done doing a fresh install so this will really come in handy! I was trying to remember the name of the site so "lo and behold" you brought it to me

Thanks miliranga!

 

thumbs up!
I did the same thing with a clean install.

The best advice I ever got on this forum concerning the T410s is to use Intel drivers and not the Lenovo ones. Made a huge difference to my laptop.

 

I am just glad I managed to contribute something to this forum after taking so much from it