Ivy Bridge w/mSATA and HDD swap to mSATA and SSD

[chrisholland03]

All --

I have a new Dell XPS15 Ivy Bridge, which came with a 750GB HDD and 32GB mSATA. Intel RST is currently turned on. I have a 64GB mSATA and a 512 GB Crucial SSD on hand and would like to install them.

My thought is to move the Recovery Partition (18GB) from the HDD to mSATA and use the balance of the mSATA to install Win7.

I have no experience with RST or mSATA drives and am worried about bricking the laptop. I also want to make sure that I have wiped the existing 32GB mSATA before removing it. I'm not sure what steps I need to take to achieve the desired results.

I know at some point, I've got to switch the mSATA to a 'regular' drive in the BIOS. I'm assuming also need drivers to do a clean windows install?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[satrow]

The whole point of SSD's is speed, it's better used for Windows and/or the most frequently used software than saving it for a 'maybe' use like a Recovery Partition (moving it would probably break any chance you might have of using it anyway, Dell boot/recovery and MBR settings are complex).

[chrisholland03]

Thanks for your help!

I'm not sure I fully understand what you're saying about SSDs and speed as it relates to what I'm trying to do. My understanding is that mSATA is just a small SSD - so in this case I'm moving from the factory mSATA and HDD to mSATA and SSD.

Since I'm removing the HDD with the Dell recovery partition on it, are you saying I'm better off transferring the recovery partition to the SDD instead of the mSATA? Or am I just better off not transferring the recovery partition at all?

Thanks again!

[satrow]

I'm saying that the recovery partition is likely to be dead weight if copied to an SSD (or mSATA), it probably won't work when/if needed anyway.

What's your intention, boot to the 64GB mSATA (Windows/System/Boot/Active drive) and use the (M4?) SSD as storage/programs?

Have you created the Dell Restore/Recovery discs or did you order them with the laptop?

SSD's run efficiently for longer the more free space they have, I consider 64GB the minimum for W7 unless you want to waste the time saved by using SSD's on rearranging files and folders frequently - as it is, you'll need to be very cautious where you install programs.

64GB SSD's are not as fast as 128 GB's, 256's are faster still, and 512's fastest. The 512GB SSD should be your Windows + programs drive for best overall performance.

[chrisholland03]

I understand now

Yes -- my thought was to use the 64GB mSATA as a Windows/System/Boot/Active drive and the m4 (good guess!) for data and programs.

With the new XPS, they just provide a drivers disk and the recovery partition -- no more creation of recovery disks. It's not I think between the drivers and an iso of Win7 I should be covered if the situation arises.

Thanks for your help!

[satrow]

Check Dell again for an option to buy a Recovery/install DVD, it's something they were offering a little while back during the ordering process, it costs, of course

A clean install to a full-drive single partition is best, try to keep free space on the 64GB System drive to around 20GB (tall order), with SSD's generally, reach ~85% full and they choke, System drives need a lot more leeway.