recomend SSD

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

And the conclusion for Buzz is?

He can safely buy any decent brand SSD and let Windows take care of it?

Mileage will vary, so a hardware replacement guarantee of some sort of data backup strategy are recommended?

[buzz456]

I am resurrecting a long dormant thread just to show you all at what blinding speed I move sometimes. I just purchased a Samsung 850 and am going to install it this weekend. I plan to put my Steam folder over there to run TS2014. Will keep you all posted on results and hope all you gurus are standing by if I run into problems.

Any suggestions before I start are welcomed also.

[peterhayes]

Buzz
Just make sure you connect it to a correct SATA port ie SATA3 in this case.

This can happen on installation:
Because you have conventional system HDD all drives will be IDE mode connected.
SSD's are more efficient in AHCI mode but at this stage its not worth changing. Quite fiddly!
Ignore any BIOS message about it.

Use default NTSF settings for formatting the SSD


Follow the Steam method on how to transfer your steam installation and TS2014 to the new drive.
Good Luck!
PeterH

[buzz456]

Good thing you told me where to put the thing Peter. Mission complete. Report to follow later.

[buzz456]

All right I got this puppy all running. Loads the game much faster...................however I tried to run the verify cache and steam can't seem to find RW. Steam starts OK (I have it on the I drive which is the SSD) and lets me run RW with no problem however when I go to run the local cache verify it says it's on drive C. Any ideas how to convince it it's over on drive I?

[peterhayes]

Buzz
Open Steam right click on TS2014 choose "Local Files" what does it say under "browse Local Files" if that path is correct STEAM should be able to verify the integrity of the cache as it is pointing to the correct folder.
If not or if it still does not work you may have to "repair" steam eg https://support.steampowered.com/kb_art ... -EYON-2343
If you installed steam and TS2014 afresh I'm mystified why it can't verify the TS2014 files???
pH

[buzz456]

I did not install RW afresh because of all the stuff I have there. I didn't think that would be a problem.

[peterhayes]

Buzz
It is a "problem" - you need to "tell" STEAM where the new install is!!
The registry settings still point to the old drive!
This is how it is usually done: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_art ... -YUBN-8129
It should be repairable!
pH

[buzz456]

Re-installing Steam. Stand by Peter and thanks for the 'steerage'.

[Ericmopar]

AHCI mode is easy, and I'm using it.
You just need to install Intel's Rapid Storage Technology drivers. Yes, even if you don't use a Raid setup, a person should be using these drivers to enable AHCI control of their drives.
The exception I believe is AMD based motherboards. The Intel RST drivers don't do anything for those. Sorry AMD fanboys...

I've uninstalled my RST drivers to see what happens, and my PC gets "Clunky" for lack of a better term. It's not as snappy and the Intel RST drivers support other functions not available to Windows default drivers.

I've always taken my steam instal and copied it to the new drive. I then go to the desktop shortcut for Steam and open the properties. Then I highlight and type in the location of the new drive.
Usually what happens for me, is that Steam will fire up, then realize the drive got changed. Then it's always prompted me to "repair" the Steam install. It changes something to let the system know the new location of the Steam folder.
Then the games fires up normally after that.
Then it's a simple matter of changing the drive letter in the shortcuts for each game. Or simply right clicking on the shortcuts in the Steam window and telling them to create new shortcuts.

[buzz456]

Too late. I got her working. Did the old direct edit in the reg folder. Deleted Steam and then re-loaded it. All is fine now.
Thanks Peter. Everything works.

[peterhayes]

Eric

AHCI mode is easy, and I'm using it.
You just need to install Intel's Rapid Storage Technology drivers. Yes, even if you don't use a Raid setup, a person should be using these drivers to enable AHCI control of their drives.
The exception I believe is AMD based motherboards. The Intel RST drivers don't do anything for those. Sorry AMD fanboys...

I don't think it works like that - sorry! If you already have windows installed on an IDE drive Microsoft give precise instructions on how to change the registry to enable AHCI mode if windows is already installed on an IDE drive and you get an error message when you invoke AHCI mode. That's why I said it was fiddly. IMHO unless your system drive is on a SSD it will confer very few benefits changing to AHCI. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

Regards
pH

[peterhayes]

Buzz
great news!!
pH

[Ericmopar]

Eric

AHCI mode is easy, and I'm using it.
You just need to install Intel's Rapid Storage Technology drivers. Yes, even if you don't use a Raid setup, a person should be using these drivers to enable AHCI control of their drives.
The exception I believe is AMD based motherboards. The Intel RST drivers don't do anything for those. Sorry AMD fanboys...

I don't think it works like that - sorry! If you already have windows installed on an IDE drive Microsoft give precise instructions on how to change the registry to enable AHCI mode if windows is already installed on an IDE drive and you get an error message when you invoke AHCI mode. That's why I said it was fiddly. IMHO unless your system drive is on a SSD it will confer very few benefits changing to AHCI. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

Regards
pH

Interesting, I've never had that problem, but my last three PCs had AHCI selected in the BIOS by default. So when I Installed or reinstalled Windows 7 it must have installed to AHCI by default. IE Windows set things up automatically by installing some sort of basic AHCI drivers.
Anyhow, what I said about the Intel RST drivers was still true and it does enable some drive managing features not available to IDE rigs. A PC will run smoother in AHCI mode with the Intel drivers, than it will with the basic drivers that come with windows. It automatically manages SSD, HDD etc without intervention. It can tell if it needs garbage collecting, or if defragmentation should be disabled on one drive but not another (HDD).
AHCI is definitely the best way to run a rig now.

I take it Buzz has an older Mobo and PC.

All the newer PCs I've looked at have AHCI setups now, so they must have outdated IDE some time ago.

[peterhayes]

Eric
My set up was less than a year old (2013/14) when I installed my first SSD (not for the OS) so the mobo could be quite recent (unless it is a PC purchased with the OS on a SSD). With later system ie newer motherboards you get the new BIOS - UEFI and that makes quite a difference and it automatically installs AHCI when it detects SSDs.
On my oldest system the OS is on a conventional HDD and I still run all of the drives in IDE mode and as far as TS2014 is concerned I see little performance difference using IDE when compared to my newer systems which use UEFI and AHCI natively.

Not sure if Intel's RST does any good or not - I use the MSI/ASUS/Gigabyte equivalents already built into the mobo (as I understand it). It seems the benefits are seen mainly in RAID configurations and UEFI may have more of a "boost" on non-RAID independent drive systems. Again - not sure.
Ain't computers great!
pH