new SSD: OCZ Agility2 60GB (Extended Capacity)

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: new SSD: OCZ Agility2 60GB (Extended Capacity)

Nice to see everything's running smoothly ProfJim!

[profJim]

Re: new SSD: OCZ Agility2 60GB (Extended Capacity)

The newest SSD came with firmware version 1.24 and the original SSD came with version 1.25. Connecting the second SSD as an additional drive in my win7 system, I used windows to format the new SSD using all available space. Checking with Paragon's Partition Alignment Tool showd that the new drive was 4K aligned.

I used the OCZToolbox_Release1.28 software to update the firmware to the new SSD within windows. A different procedure is required to update the firmware for an SSD boot drive outside of the windows environment.

Partition Alignment Tool v:2.0 (10.0.2.1651) worked fine when one partition at time was 4K aligned on the WD640 HDD. It failed to perform partition alignment when I tried to align all of the HDD partitions at the same time.

I've removed the Hiberfil.sys file from the boot drive and moved the 4GB pagefile.sys to the first partition on the hard drive and reduced the 4GB size to 2GB. Waking from SLEEP mode using the front case on/off switch is no problem.

Currently my SSD has 18.6GB of used space and 37.2GB of free space. I decided not to move the USERS folder to the hard drive because FireFox now loads 50 - 60 tabs in one third of time it took to load under w2k. I still might try to move the FireFox Cache folder to the hard drive once I figure out how to do this. FireFox is my primary browser.

My only complaint with win7 is that I haven't figured out how to search folders with multiple qualifiers such as *.zip and *.rar or using multiple partial file names.

Attached is an ATTO benchmark of the new SSD using queue depth = 4 and 10.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: new SSD: OCZ Agility2 60GB (Extended Capacity)

For Firefox Cache location, enter about:config

Then create a new String entry labeled "browser.cache.disk.parent_directory " and then set the location.

Benches look good man!

[profJim]

Re: new SSD: OCZ Agility2 60GB (Extended Capacity)

Thanks for the help, I'll give it a try.
Yep, the SSD performance is just a bit better than half-fast. ;)

***EDIT** I couldn't find about:config in the TOOLS --> OPTIONS menu.
When I typed about:config in the address bar and pressed the ENTER key, everything was okie-dokie.
Got a good chuckle with the This might void your warranty! message.
I went ahead and clicked on the I'll be careful, I promise! tab.

[kick]

Re: new SSD: OCZ Agility2 60GB (Extended Capacity)

Hey PJ,
Im wondering what is the reasoning on moving the pagefile to the slower disc?
Ive left mine on the ssd (2gb when I have 8gb dram in,4 Gb with 4 in)
I have the OS and WoW on the ssd leaves 13gb+ free.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: new SSD: OCZ Agility2 60GB (Extended Capacity)

Ya, sorry about not mentioning how to use about:config, just assumed you would know, sorry!

[profJim]

Re: new SSD: OCZ Agility2 60GB (Extended Capacity)

Apology accepted....
....this time only

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: new SSD: OCZ Agility2 60GB (Extended Capacity)

Thanks!

[profJim]

Re: new SSD: OCZ Agility2 60GB (Extended Capacity)

Kick,
My goal with the ssd boot drive is to maximize free space by moving files or folders to the hard drive where system performance won't be degraded. In most cases, moving the swapfile off of the ssd boot drive shouldn't negatively impact performance. This might not be true with extended gaming sessions, or if you are frequently doing extended audio or video encoding or using a high end graphics application to perform intensive image manipulation. My swapfile usage is usually below 50MB, even when I have many open applications.

My C:\TEMP and C:\TMP folders are now located on my hdd D: drive. Right now the D:\TempPoop folder size is 2.33GB from 16 January to today, 04 February. When I download very large files in FireFox, I often see a brief message that says something like "Moving data from D:\TempPoop to XXXXX", the selected location for the file. My default win7 file download location is D:\Downloads_Temp.

All of my applications are installed on the boot drive. The only exceptions are graphics demo/benchmark programs are all installed on my E: hard drive.

The attached Resource Meter image snapshot was taken while I was doing a full virus scan of my ssd boot drive. With my temp folders set to the D: drive, you can see that a large amount of disk writes were moved to the D: drive.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: new SSD: OCZ Agility2 60GB (Extended Capacity)

When you are done you can come and tweak my OS, thanks!

[profJim]

Re: new SSD: OCZ Agility2 60GB (Extended Capacity)

I'd be happy to tweak your OS, but I'm pretty sure that you've forgotten far more than I already know.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: new SSD: OCZ Agility2 60GB (Extended Capacity)

Haha, ya that is the problem!

I test so much stuff for other people, and run so many various configurations myself for various things I do, lately I've just plugged in the SSD used that day and that was that, no tweaks :(

[Darkje]

Re: new SSD: OCZ Agility2 60GB (Extended Capacity)

I'm using a 2gb ramdisk for temp, loging, browsercache etc. It beats even ssd in speed:
SSD ----------------------- RDD


The one I'm using is dataram ramdisk, it's free up to 4gb. If you have acronis for backup program you have to patch that first.

I've redirected the 'offending' directories using JunctionLinkMagic and the env. variables for changing temp ofcourse...


edit: in the image I was still using a 4gb ramdisk :), but reduced it to 2, so saving/loading it's image doesn't take too long...

[profJim]

Re: new SSD: OCZ Agility2 60GB (Extended Capacity)

WOW!!!
Great info.
I've downloaded the software and manual and will check it out.
I nominate Darkje to tweak Lsdme's OS.
I wonder what system performance would be like with the 32GB $15 licensed version running win7 under VM.
Maybe I'd never have to upgrade my P35 and EP45 systems.
Hey Darkje, you're full of it....that is, great information and suggestions.

[kick]

Re: new SSD: OCZ Agility2 60GB (Extended Capacity)

Ok i see where youre coming from,probably having as little data as possible on the ssd speeds up its performance also.
I also have a wd 1tb hdd but its the "green" type..ie slower.

I use it as dual boot (frombios).
I dont know if thats the correct term since its the same os on both discs but wotever.

The hdd (50 desktop icons) win7 is essentially unchanged except repartitioned to make spare space into backup drives etc.
The ssd is just win 7, 16 gb or so and WoW ,25gb or so + some other smaller progs anti virus etc etc.

I find the convenience of being able to switch to the bloated version of win 7 and back to the slim version as needed ,usefull.

I dont know if i could dump temp n swap files to the hdd and still maintain ability to boot from either ssd or hdd?,file duplicate..maybe i could use e or f on the hdd for the ssd os.

Either way the ssd has brought the largest noticeable performance increase in a couple of years and yeh im including all our overlocking in that.


The ram disk thing Ill check out.. hah I thought they were dead like 10 years ago ..there is allways the problem of data wipe if u get a pc lockup or power outage.

Ok enough waffle..