New SSD on the way... questions

[Malgor]

Okay,

Though I'm a nerd/geek when it comes to gaming and a long time ago I built my own computer, I really don't know a lot about how things work sometimes.

I 5-box wow and use ISboxer/Innerspace which I have absolutely loved. I recently got invited to the Beta and realized that there are going to be more zones where I could possibly lag in, especially all the underwater zones that I have fallen in love with while I've been questing there. I see it very doable leveling my team all at once. (I was probably slow since I was lost most of the time, but it took about 4 hours to go from 80-81 with no rest bonus.)

So I decided to get a SSD to put my wow on. I don't want to put Windows 7 on one for now, just my wow stuff.

This is the one I got: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167025 and I am hoping it's simple to install, since as mentioned before I may not totally understand what I'm doing. I've installed plenty of hardware and different parts before, but this is of course new to me.

40 gigs should be enough for wow, correct (my folder right now is about 20 gigs). If that goes well I might put StarCraft II on that drive too, but that's not as important as wow.

My only question really is - am I going to have any problems installing it? I mean is there anything special I will need to know that my not be listed in the instructions?

Remember, speak in small mono-syllable words, like I'm 10 years old (or maybe not since most 10 year olds can probably build their own computer these days).

Thanks,

Mal

Edit: Thought of another question - Is there any special way I should transfer my WoW folders to the new drive once installed? Or should I do a fresh install onto that drive?

[Sajuuk]

It's a 2.5 inch form facter drive, meaning it's smaller than your standard hard drive. Some people (I'm one) buy a 2.5-3.5 converter/enclosure to make it take up the same space as a normal hard drive. Other people just tape/velcro it somewhere out of the way. Cables and everything will work just fine.

As far as the wow folder goes...just copy your data folder to the SSD and use a symbolic link to it from your default wow directory. Be warned, sometimes this creates issues when patching (the symbolic link will get removed, for instance, but just recreate it).

Or just copy your entire directory over to the SSD, whichever works for you.

[ILikeTwins]

As Sajuuk said I just copied the wow folder over to the new drive once it was installed and set up the symbolic links. That way all the core wow files and addons would only require one copy instead of multiple.

Couple things to keep in mind:

make sure that you have a SATA II port for that drive. If your computer is older and just has first gen SATA it will still work but you won't get the same performance benefits.
with SSDs you want to make sure to try and keep around 20% space free on it so that the drive can organize the data. It can be complicated but basically if you have less than that it will start to slow down because it will have to do lots of reads and writes.
Have fun with the drive... SSDs are soooo fast :)

[Owltoid]

You don't need symbolic links if you're using ISBoxer. Everyone who can afford it should be using ISBoxer.

[Malgor]

Thanks for the replies.

I use IsBoxer.

My computer is about a year old now. Asus mb with an i7 processor. At work right now on my phone so can't look and see if I have a SATA ll port. But, I do know there are 2.5 inch slots on my full tower.

I'll post more once I get the new drive.

Thanks again,
Mal

[Malgor]

Here are the specs for my MB:

ASUS P6T SE Socket 1366 ATX Motherboard, Intel X58 Chipset, Supports Intel Core i7 CPU, 6.4GT/s QPI, Triple-channel DDR3, SATA RAID, CrossFireX, PCIe Gigabit LAN





Specifications:

CPU: Intel Socket 1366 Core i7 Processor Extreme Edition/Core i7 Processor Supports Intel Dynamic Speed Technology
Chipset: Intel X58 / ICH10R
System Bus: Up to 6400 MT/s ; Intel QuickPath Interconnection
Memory:
- 6 x DIMM, Max. 24 GB, DDR3 2000(O.C.)*/1866(O.C.)*/1800(O.C.)*/1600(O.C.)/1333/1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory
- Triple channel memory architecture
- Supports Intel Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
- *Hyper DIMM support is subject to the physical characteristics of individual CPUs.
- *Refer to www.asus.com (http://www.asus.com) or this user manual for the Memory QVL(Qualified Vendors Lidts).
Expansion Slots:
- 3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (at x16/x16/x4 mode)
- 1 x PCIe x1
- 2 x PCI
Multi-GPU Support: Supports ATI Quad-GPU CrossFireX Technology
Storage:
Southbridge:
- 6 xSATA 3 Gb/s ports
- Intel Matrix Storage Technology supports Support RAID 0,1,5,10
JMicron JMB363 PATA and SATA controller:
- 1 xUltraDMA 133/100/66 for up to 2 PATA devices
- 1 xExternal SATA 3Gb/s port (SATA On-the-Go)
- *Due to the Windows XP/ Vista limitation, the RAID array with the total capacity over 2TB cannot be set as a boot disk. A RAID array over 2TB can only be set as a data disk only. For more information, please refer to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946557/en-us
LAN: Realtek 8111C PCIe Gigabit LAN controller featuring AI NET2
Audio:
- Realtek ALC1200 8 -Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
- DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC
- Support Jack-Detection, Multi-Streaming, and Front Panel Jack-Retasking
- Coaxial / Optical S/PDIF out ports at back I/O
- ASUS Noise-Filtering
IEEE 1394: VIA VT6315N controller supports 2 x 1394a ports (one at mid-board; one at back panel)
USB: 12 USB 2.0 ports (6 ports at mid-board, 6 ports at back panel)
Back Panel I/O Ports:
- 1 x External SATA
- 1 x IEEE 1394a
- 1 x LAN(RJ45) port
- 6 x USB 2.0/1.1
- 8 -Channel Audio I/O
- 1 x PS/2 Keyboard (Purple)
- 1 x PS/2 mouse port (Green)
- 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Output
- 1 x Optical S/PDIF Output
Internal I/O Connectors:
- 3 x USB connectors support additional 6 USB ports
- 1 x IDE connector
- 6 x SATA connectors
- 1 x IEEE 1394a connector
- 1 x CPU Fan connector
- 2 x Chassis Fan connector
- 1 x Power Fan connector
- 1 x S/PDIF Out connector
- Front panel audio connector
- Chassis Intrusion connector
- CD audio in
- 24-pin ATX Power connector
- 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector
- System Panel(Q-Connector)
- 1 x Power on switch
BIOS:
- 16 Mb Flash ROM
- AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.3, ACPI 2.0a, Multi-language BIOS, ASUS EZ Flash 2, ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
Manageability: WfM 2.0,DMI 2.0,WOL by PME,WOR by PME,PXE
Accessories:
- User's manual
- 1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable
- 4 x SATA cable
- 2 in 1 Q-connector
- ASUS Q-Shield
Form Factor: ATX Form Factor, 12 inch x 9.6 inch ( 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm )
---------

So this means I guess I don't have a SATA II port or support? What does this mean for me? As I was spending time on my phone browsing through newegg.com and all the SSD that they have (10 pages worth) I saw that SATA II was the standard. I only saw two that were SATA I/II and a lot that were different forms of PCI or other types of solid state disks.

Are there adapters or a different way I can make this work. I should have just checked this all out before I ordered the SSD that I got, but they appeared to all be standard.

Remember I'm not a whizz at this stuff, so any help may mean I might have to send you a PM to get more information.

Thanks for reading all this,

Mal

It appears that the regular SATA will work though, just won't work as good as it could, but better then my regular drive?

[Ualaa]

I put my entire wow folder onto the SSD, and have it as a gaming drive only. Mine isn't anything fancy, but it is about twice as fast seek/access as my 10k rpm Raptor was/is.

I'm really looking at an Intel X-25m 160gb, which would be large enough for both the operating system and the gaming folder.

While you don't need Symbolic Links (for different video/sound settings) if you have IS Boxer (which does the same via virtual files), SSD's do have a finite number of times they can be written to. And the data folder changes very rarely, plus having that on an SSD is 95% of the gains you receive from the drive... things like the data from an addon (auctioneer etc) can change frequently, which while small is additional writes to the drive.

If you have an SSD, Windows 7 is recommended, since it supports the TRIM command, which greatly increases the potential life of an SSD. You'd probably want to run the drive in AHCI mode, which is quite a bit faster then the normal mode.

[alcattle]

http://http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=t4yhK6y9W9o7iQ9E&templete=2 Asus site


The motherboard supports the next-generation hard drives based on the Serial ATA (SATA) 3Gb/s storage specification, delivering enhanced scalability and doubling the bus bandwidth for high-speed data retrieval and saves. The external SATA port located at the back I/O provides smart setup and hot-plug functions. Easily backup photos, videos and other entertainment contents on external devices.
SATA 3.0 is SATA II

[Targ]

http://http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=t4yhK6y9W9o7iQ9E&templete=2 Asus site


SATA 3.0 is SATA II

That statement is incorrect.

"SATA 3.0" is an improper referral to SATA 6Gb/s
"SATA II" is an improper referral to SATA 3Gb/s

http://www.serialata.org/developers/naming_guidelines.asp

But to the OP's orginal question the drives are all SATA 3Gb/s and your ports are also.

[alcattle]

That statement is incorrect.

"SATA 3.0" is an improper referral to SATA 6Gb/s
"SATA II" is an improper referral to SATA 3Gb/s

http://www.serialata.org/developers/naming_guidelines.asp

But to the OP's orginal question the drives are all SATA 3Gb/s and your ports are also.
I saw that after I posted, I should have added the Gb/s. The OP does have the correct SATA to use the SSD

[Malgor]

Thanks, that makes sense and makes me feel good that I can use the SSD.