SSD shopping

**clifford_cooley** · clifford_cooley's Computer Specs

Article from Techspot, only time will tell if it comes true.

NAND flash expected to return to $1 per GB this year

Quote:

Market research firm iSuppli is projecting that NAND flash memory prices will drop to the $1 per gigabyte mark in the fourth quarter, this is after two years of inflated prices that have decelerated the adoption of solid state drives.

The analysts estimate that 1GB of 3-bit per cell (TLC) NAND flash memory will fall to $1.20 during the fourth quarter and possibly down to $1 by the end of the year. This contrasts with prices during 2009 that started at an average of 90 cents per gigabyte and continued to rise until hitting a peak in Q4 at over $2 per gigabyte.

faun · faun's Computer Specs

Quote:

Originally Posted by clifford_cooley

Article from Techspot, only time will tell if it comes true.

NAND flash expected to return to $1 per GB this year

sonofabitch! oh well, im sure ill be very happy with my velociraptor

faun · faun's Computer Specs

Quote:

Originally Posted by TorrentG

No need for that. Use Clonezilla to make a 1:1 copy from the old drive to the new. Set the new drive as the first boot device in bios. Easy, done.

this sounds ridiculously easy? surely it cant be THAT easy to mirror them? OS and all?

TorrentG · TorrentG's Computer Specs

Quote:

Originally Posted by faun

this sounds ridiculously easy? surely it cant be THAT easy to mirror them? OS and all?

Yes, that easy.

You'll be wanting to enable AHCI mode. So you can clone, boot to Windows (on new drive), edit the registry so AHCI works, then shutdown.

Boot to bios, change the mode to AHCI and then boot to Windows.

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Here is how to edit the registry before the shutdown and bios change:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

faun · faun's Computer Specs

Quote:

Originally Posted by TorrentG

Yes, that easy.

You'll be wanting to enable AHCI mode. So you can clone, boot to Windows (on new drive), edit the registry so AHCI works, then shutdown.

Boot to bios, change the mode to AHCI and then boot to Windows.

----

Here is how to edit the registry before the shutdown and bios change:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

thanks for all the info, am downloading clonezilla now. is there any chance you can give me a really cut down runthrough please? just like

bios change > clonezilla burnt on disc > boot > follow what instructions/do what

be much appreciated

TorrentG · TorrentG's Computer Specs

1) Boot to Clonezilla.

2) Use it to clone to the new drive.

3) Set bios so that the new drive is the first boot device. Save.

4) Boot to Windows.

5) Edit the registry as shown above.

6) Reboot to the bios. Set the SATA mode to AHCI.

7) Boot to Windows and enjoy.

faun · faun's Computer Specs

followed the instructions but it didnt work, am trying out a few different configurations now.

the problem occured right at the end, so BIOS is set to AHCI and the new HDD is mirrored to the old one. but i'm typing this on the old HDD as the new one wont boot. ive also had to repair startup when reattaching this old one, and im at a loss as to whats gone on, with either drive.

TorrentG · TorrentG's Computer Specs

It should have worked well for you. It's a tried and true method.

You say, "The problem occured"

Can you please be more descriptive? What happened that didn't allow Windows to boot? Was there any bsod?

---------

You can run without AHCI enabled, of course. It's not necessary but it is recommended, as long as the new hdd itself has NCQ support.

faun · faun's Computer Specs

Well since i dont have the back knowledge to understand why i needed to do what i did, im not sure what you need to know specifically.

basically, i finished all the steps above, so it IS a perfect mirror, at least, i have booted into the old drive now and can view the new one a la slave. its exactly the same size and contains the same folders etc. the only thing i cant check is wether an OS is on there.

booting with AHCI enabled renders BOTH drives unable to start - after bios and before splash is MEANT to appear, the screen stays black with a white flashing _ and will stay like that till i boot up again change bios back to IDE. booting with the NEW drive as #1 in IDE also results in this odd "hang".

that said, booting any setting with the new drive is impossible. it would seem, that despite being able to set the new drive as #1 and successfully booting before, it still has no capability to do it without the old drive attached.

TorrentG · TorrentG's Computer Specs

It sounds to me like you cloned a partition instead of the entire hdd. That's because of this:

"it still has no capability to do it without the old drive attached."

That means that the new drive doesn't have the system partition which contains the files necessary to boot. It works because the boot files are still on the original drive. Your bios went on to look for it there because the first boot device didn't have it.

Try the process from the start, again. When using Clonezilla, be sure to specify the full hard drive instead of only a partition.

Make sure all usb flash memory sticks are removed, if any.