Problem With My SSD?

T

Thomas

New Member
Hi,

I just completed my first build yesterday...

MB: ASRock Z77 OC Formula
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core
SSD: SanDisk Extreme SDSSDX-240G-G25 2.5" 240GB SATA III
HDD: Western Digital WD VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX 600GB 10000 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"

So anyway, if I remember correctly, I had a bit of trouble the first few attempts at installing Windows 7. The "Starting Windows" screen would freeze and I had to press the reset button a few times before it worked. The installation worked after that and there were no problems with any reboots after that. I had only installed Windows 7 on the SSD though so I later tried to follow this tutorial to put the HDD to use. The "Starting Windows" screen kept freezing.

I tried that at least 15 times then I gave up for the night. About 12 hours later I tried again and it installed without a problem. This time, however, the freezing would now happen on bootup and not just when installing. I disconnected the HDD to see if that would fix the problem. It didn't so I disconnected the SDD and using only the HDD, I reinstalled Windows and it's working without a problem (but slower without the SSD).

Does anybody have any ideas what the problem is? It looks like there's some compatibility problem here. But when just running from the HDD, the SSD still shows up in "My Computer" and reads and writes seem to be working so I don't think it's a problem with the SSD alone.
 
Did you install Windows on the SSD with the HDD connected too? You don't want to do that. Install Windows with just the SSD connected, and then once Windows has installed, plug in your HDD.

Is the SSD plugged into a SATA 6GB/s port and the HDD a 3GB/s port?
 
I am a bit confused. You said the ssd was disconnected, installed windows on the normal HDD however you can still see ssd in my computer.
How did you disconnect the ssd?

Do you have any other storage devices attached to the PC?
 
Thank you for your responses.

Yeah I did install Windows with both connected but I thought that's what I needed to do in order to relocate the user folders onto the HDD during installation. Perhaps I can find a way to do it after the installation though...

Both are connected to SATA 6GB/s ports.

So after I installed Windows on the HDD, I reconnected the SSD (while making sure I still booted from the HDD) to see if it would freeze anything even when it's not the boot device but it didn't.

To disconnect the SSD or HDD, I would remove the SATA cable from the back of the SSD or HDD, leaving the power cable connected.

I just have the SSD, HDD and CD drive connected to the MB. There's also an e-SATA connection from the front panel connected there as well.


Well I can try another install with the HDD disconnected completely but first I want to see if I can find a way to relocate the user files after the installation.
 
How do you mean 'relocate user files'? Just copy them back onto the SSD once the HDD is connected?
 
I said I was using this tutorial:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...reate-move-during-windows-7-installation.html

I want the programs, etc. and Windows installed on the SSD with the Users and ProgramData folders on the HDD. I found this which looks just like the tutorial I linked to earlier but what I don't understand is when you should connect the HDD. Should I open Audit Mode, shut down and connect the HDD and then boot back up again (hopefully into Audit Mode again) and then run the xml script to relocate the folders? Windows' files would have been saved onto the SSD by then so it may not cause problems.
 
Why do you want the user data on the other disk?

If you have two hard drives in your system, disconnect one when installing Windows Vista or 7, otherwise Windows put the System Reserve on the other disk and you get all kinds of problems if it does that, and it is only fixed by a reformat of both drives and a reinstall of Windows.

There should be a way to do what you want to do once Windows has installed, but I've never done it before.
 
I have a lot of files which would put the SSD over capacity and I want the SSD to last longer with less writes, anyway.

So I just disconnected the HDD and attempted to install windows with only the SSD connected but now the problem with the "Starting Windows" screen freezing is back.
 
Your install was corrupted somehow when using Audit mode. Plus your initial effort involved installing 7 to ssd, then trying to transfer the User folders to hdd afterwards. For what you want to do, it has to be done during 7 install while the ssd and hdd are connected.

Before we get started, familiarize yourself a bit with this and this

Solution:

1 - Make sure you have SET UP BIOS correctly.

2 - Using whatever method SanDisk recommends, erase the ssd. (at the same time you can make sure you have the latest firmware)

3 - Since both the ssd and hdd are connected, you want to make sure the "System Reserve" partition (if you want it) is installed on the ssd, so do that manually before you install 7. See the PARTITIONS section and use option B.

4 - Setting up administrator account, moving Users/Program Files/Program Files (x86), can be done during W7 installation. Option 1 You can prep your hdd at #5. If you only want your User folders to be installed on the hdd, then just move that one.
 
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Okay so I'm not sure exactly how to update the SSD's firmware but this looks like something I'll need. Do I install that on the computer in order to update the firmware? I installed it on another computer but it looks like it needs to be installed on the computer with the SSD.
 
Thomas said:
Okay so I'm not sure exactly how to update the SSD's firmware but this looks like something I'll need. Do I install that on the computer in order to update the firmware? I installed it on another computer but it looks like it needs to be installed on the computer with the SSD.
Click to expand...
You might already have the latest FW since the newest was released Oct 17, 2012.

Put the latest toolkit on a flash drive and use it to erase and check if your FW version is R211. If not you might want to update it because it looks like it brings improvements.
There are several links there. Including a "How to" video.
------------------
And like said, instead of using the drivers/utilities/etc that came on any other component disc, get the latest ones directly from the manufacturer's website. Check your mb's BIOS version and update it if it isn't 1.80
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z77%20OC%20Formula/?cat=Download
 
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Alright so I updated the bios to 1.80 from 1.00 and I updated the SSD to the firmware released in October. I started installing Windows with only the SSD connected. I got to audit mode and shut down in order to connect the HDD and when I started the system again, it froze at the "Starting Windows" screen. So it's like the SSD and HDD are fine but not when they are connected together. Is there anything else I can update? I could try using different SATA cables but the ones currently in use are already brand new so I don't know if that would help.
 
You can't shut down / connect the hdd / then restart. Whether your using Audit Mode or the other method linked as Option 1 in the post ^ above, both the ssd AND the hdd need to be connected before you boot to the dvd installer, and stay connected.

Edit: If you want to just do a regular install of the os to the ssd, afterwards you can still change where the User and Public folder data is stored. Doing it this way, you could have only the ssd connected. Then once your up and running you can shut down, disconnect power, and connect the hard drive.
Redirect a folder to a new location - Windows - Microsoft
 
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Okay I could try that but is there a way to have the SSD and HDD connected at the same time during the installation AND make sure the System Reserve files don't get saved to the HDD?
 
Yup. Like this.
Benny Boy said:
3 - Since both the ssd and hdd are connected, you want to make sure the "System Reserve" partition (if you want it) is installed on the ssd, so do that manually before you install 7. See the PARTITIONS section and use option B.
Click to expand...
Setup and Manage SSD
If your not dual booting, or if you want to make it the defualt 100mb, go ahead.
 
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