Win7 on SSD - best practises?

[crossy]

Hi folks, I'm going to reinstall my tower PC with Windows7 (Pro 64bit) and have decided to splurge and get an OCZ Vertex 2E SSD as a boot drive, (with apps and data on a Seagate Barracuda HDD).

What I'm looking for is any advice (links welcome) to advice on how to best do that. I think I've got enough information like enabling AHCI and disabling all those "helpful" things on Win7 that are designed for HDDs, so it's layout and tips I think I'm looking for ...

I'll need to move the default location for the Users home directories (because I definitely don't want those on scarce SSD space). Any tip as to how to do this - best to install a small "admin" user on the SSD to start with and then regedit the default location for the real users before setting them up, or use some install switch/process to make sure no user has a homedir on the SSD? With my XP system I relocated all users after they were defined, but before the many MB of their data got recovered.

App locations are the other bugbear - again I definitely don't want games etc to go to the SSD, but are the system utility progs (like McAfee AV in my case) okay to go on there? Is it worth doing the reg hack to move the default location, or just relocate the ones that will relocate? With my current WinXP system it's the latter method I use (because it's the safest and most straightforward) and my 16GB C: got nearly used up because some apps don't allow the redirect, and others put the main payload where I said, and other stuff in C: There seems to be some discussion whether changing the default may break other stuff in Win7.

Lastly, I was planning to image the SSD at regular intervals (using Paragon Drive Backup) to another HDD - in case the SSD fails. Any reason why I shouldn't do this (figure that the SSD is small and very fast, so the imaging operation shouldn't take an uncomfortably long time)?

Sorry if this sounds like the words of a lazy n00b - I'm quite happy to do the research, but there seems to be a lot of conflicting advice out there.

Ta, Bob
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[kalniel]

and disabling all those "helpful" things on Win7 that are designed for HDDs

No need. Win 7 does that all for you. Just plug in and go.

I'll need to move the default location for the Users home directories (because I definitely don't want those on scarce SSD space). Any tip as to how to do this

Shift+drag users folder to the new drive. Windows 7 will do all the rest for you.

App locations are the other bugbear - again I definitely don't want games etc to go to the SSD, but are the system utility progs (like McAfee AV in my case) okay to go on there?

Yes, and well worth it IMHO. Apps are quite small really.

Lastly, I was planning to image the SSD at regular intervals (using Paragon Drive Backup) to another HDD - in case the SSD fails. Any reason why I shouldn't do this (figure that the SSD is small and very fast, so the imaging operation shouldn't take an uncomfortably long time)?

I use the built in win 7 system image backup to automatically image the SSD weekly and it works a treat. No reason not to do it at all.

Basically, Windows 7 does just about everything for you.

[dangel]

Just to echo Kalniel - leave it alone for the most part because the W7 team did all the heavy lifting for you. I've got all my apps and userdata on the SSD (because I want that to be accelerated too, obvious large data like photos/videos/music can go elsewhere but libraries take care of this) and my games on mechanical disks. A SSD is in theory more reliable - because the only thing that wears out are writes. Once the disk reaches the end of it's life everything should remain readable, unlike a HDD which basically dies completely. All drives need backups regardless though.

Avoid 'snake oil' guides claiming superior knowledge on Windows 7 - unless you completely understand what something is for and how it works then trust in the default setting. Really W7 requires very little tweaking - this goes for SSDs too as it was designed to use them.

[Ciber]

As well as agreeing with the above, my advice from my experience would be to keep most things in the standard place, C: in this case your SSD. I've found that moving stuff from there normally ends up being a pain in the bum later when I upgrade one of the drives or tinker with something that means the drive letters get moved.

This might mean you need a bigger SSD than you were planning. I first bought a 60gb SSD and moved things from C: so as not to fill it up and wear it out. This quickly seemed less than optimal. 60gb is definitely too small IMO. Whats the point of having a fast silent drive if nothing is on it and you still have to hear a clanky hard drive grinding away. On the other hand I've never found myself thinking in hindsight I should have got a smaller drive.

If you want good advice on setting up windows 7, tweakguides is good: http://www.tweakguides.com/TGTC.html

[crossy]

Thanks All!

I was anticipating some "digging under the hood" - but from the sound of it, I'm going to have an easy time of things. That'll be a nice change...

I signed up to the Win7RC and got to say I was impressed - so much so that I put in a pre-order for 7Pro when it came out - last year. Unfortunately the PC I've got atm isn't "man" enough to suit, so I've had to wait until now to upgrade to something more likely to do it justice.

I bunged on a Win7HP install for my eldest kid last year, and she's been raving about it ever since. Meanwhile I've stuck with my Linux laptop as my "main" PC and the Windows box has been (old) games only. Be nice to get something a bit more modern and do a lot of clearing out on the old box!

Again, thanks for all the replies.