SSD and using existing HD piggy back?

[Mrroguesr]

I am looking into buying a G.SKILL Sniper Gaming Series FM-25S2S-120GBSR 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) and still using my existing HD. And my Question is can I do this! I have a 1.5tb HD 32 meg cache. My Mobo is a M4N98TD-EVO! And I believe it's a SATA 2 Mobo. Is their a way to piggy back them both so I have access to the stuff I have on the 1.5tb HD while booted up on the SSD drive. Or in other words say I have a game on the HD and want to play it but I am booted up on the SSD will I still be able to access the games on the HD or do I have to put a separate OS on the SSD and load the games and OS on the SSD? I am just curious is to how that works! Because I know that an SSD boots much faster and games are better on it also and I would like to boost my WEI because my HD is the weakest link at 6 everything else is a 7.9!

Thank you

[realneil]

I have an SSD as the boot drive. (OS is loaded onto it)
Also, I use a 1TB WD Black for storage.
When I install a game, I change the drive letter during installation to the Storage drive's letter and keep the files there. This keeps the SSD from filling up.

The one or two games that I want to perform the best, I install directly to the SSD if there is room. 120GB is a good size for an OS and some additional programs too.

[Doctor_Death]

A 120GB is ok, but you would be better off with a 240GB if you can afford it

[realneil]

A 120GB is ok, but you would be better off with a 240GB if you can afford it

I agree,............get the largest one you can afford.

[Mrroguesr]

I have an SSD as the boot drive. (OS is loaded onto it)
Also, I use a 1TB WD Black for storage.
When I install a game, I change the drive letter during installation to the Storage drive's letter and keep the files there. This keeps the SSD from filling up.

The one or two games that I want to perform the best, I install directly to the SSD if there is room. 120GB is a good size for an OS and some additional programs too.

So I keep Drives separate and have a OS on each 1 right!

[realneil]

Nope, the OS resides on the SSD only.

[Mrroguesr]

Nope, the OS resides on the SSD only.

The SSD I am looking at now is this 1! 128GB Crucial m4 2.5" SSD with Data Transfer Kit Part Number: CT128M4SSD2CCA SpecsSustained Sequential Read: Up to 500 MB/s(SATA 6Gb/s)
Sustained Sequential Write: Up to 175 MB/s(SATA 6Gb/s)
4KB Random Read: Up to 45,000 IOPS
4KB Random Write: Up to 35,000 IOPS

Now if I clone the OS and a few other things to the SDD I can go ahead and wipe the 1.5tb HD and the OS will recognize the 1.5tb HD with a drive letter and or I tell the OS what the drive letter is right! Sorry for being so laymen! But when I do that and I have a game and I install it on the 1.5tb HD will I still be able to play it without it being on the physical SDD. Even though it will not be as fast but I can still play it right. Thats the reason I asked about having a OS on both drives. Some games really dont need that extra kick in the ass when others might.

[realneil]

Yes, install the OS to the SSD and make sure that the BIOS boots from that drive. Once you're booted into the OS, install Programs to the HDD to save space on the SSD. Performance will not take much of a hit this way.

I don't know about cloning your old drive to the SSD.
If you look at all of the files on your drive now, how much space do they take up? Is the size of all of your files larger, or smaller than the SSD you plan to buy? Will they all fit?

[Mrroguesr]

I have 1.23TB left on a 1.36TB drive so it should fit with some modification and deletion. And that's mostly due to the external HD I have also! I put all the pics and other software that I save on that HD that drive is 650gb by it self and the on board HD is well I guess 1.36TB. But I should be able to pick and choose what gets copied to the SSD drive when I transfer right? At least thats what I am thinking!

[realneil]

Cloning a drive means that you make an ~exact~ copy of the source drive, to another drive.
There is data transfer software that lets you pick and choose, (not cloning) but you'll probably have to reinstall all of your programs afterwards. (not worth it to do)

If it was me, I would clone the drive. Every major HDD maker provides free HDD cloning software on their support pages. So you don't have to pay extra for DATA transfer software when you buy the SSD.

After you clone the drive, change your motherboard's BIOS to ensure that it boots to the SSD and not the HDD anymore.

[Mrroguesr]

Yea the SSD comes with the data transfer software and the cable to do so bios stuff no sweat I got my 1055t OCed from 2.8ghz to 3.810ghz at 45c at normal use and 58c under load water cooled! So switching the boot priority is easy! And I learned all of that from the great folks like yourself here at PureOC! I'm going to order the SSD right now from Amazon for $105 and a mounting bracket for $ 7. You have been a huge help and If I have any problems I will get back with you and even if I dont I still will come back and tell how well it is or isnt working! Thanks realneil

[aryan51]

Yea the SSD comes with the data transfer software and the cable to do so bios stuff no sweat I got my 1055t OCed from 2.8ghz to 3.810ghz at 45c at normal use and 58c under load water cooled! So switching the boot priority is easy! And I learned all of that from the great folks like yourself here at PureOC! I'm going to order the SSD right now from Amazon for $105 and a mounting bracket for $ 7. You have been a huge help and If I have any problems I will get back with you and even if I dont I still will come back and tell how well it is or isnt working! Thanks realneil

your in the right place

[realneil]

Yea the SSD comes with the data transfer software and the cable to do so bios stuff no sweat I got my 1055t OCed from 2.8ghz to 3.810ghz at 45c at normal use and 58c under load water cooled! So switching the boot priority is easy! And I learned all of that from the great folks like yourself here at PureOC! I'm going to order the SSD right now from Amazon for $105 and a mounting bracket for $ 7. You have been a huge help and If I have any problems I will get back with you and even if I dont I still will come back and tell how well it is or isnt working! Thanks realneil

I'm glad to help.

[Mrroguesr]

I'm glad to help.

I have some more questions! Now when I go to hook up the SSD to my mother board I disconnet the HD and plug the SSD sata conector wire in to the where the HD was connected to right. I have the MOBO user guide here with me and it says I have 5 sata connectors! I can see them through the glass side panel on my case! Now if that is correct what I said up above where do I plug in the HD or what sata connector on the MOBO do I hook up the HD to or does it not matter which ever 1 is open. And I was looking at the user guide and I cannot see a power supply on the MOBO! But I do see a ATX power connectors(24 pineatxpwr, 8 pin eatx12v) is that where I would run a power lead from to power the SSD? and after I install win7 64 bit on the SSD and I have all files that I want on the HD taken off can I wipe the HD clean or do I still need to keep win 7 on the HD? And when I hook up the SSD in the bios do I need to change the (on chip sata type) to AHCI to take advantage of TRIM in win 7 and change boot priority to DVD to boot 1st.

[JamesLT3]

Will he get the full potential of the SSD with only SATA 3Gb/s on his mobo?

[Drdeath]

Cloning a drive means that you make an ~exact~ copy of the source drive, to another drive.
There is data transfer software that lets you pick and choose, (not cloning) but you'll probably have to reinstall all of your programs afterwards. (not worth it to do)

If it was me, I would clone the drive. Every major HDD maker provides free HDD cloning software on their support pages. So you don't have to pay extra for DATA transfer software when you buy the SSD.

After you clone the drive, change your motherboard's BIOS to ensure that it boots to the SSD and not the HDD anymore.

If you clone a drive Neil, you do not have to reinstall any programs