The new Plextor M5S 128GB SSD arrived last Tuesday night, and I started on the installation the following day.
The new SSD replaced an aging and noisy Western Digital 74GB Raptor HDD. The system is now nice and quiet in comparison. I completed a clean installation of Windows 7 64-bit, to replace the previous 32-bit version. During the installation of Windows, I divided the SSD into two equal partitions. The WD HDD was completely removed, and I did not bother with a secondary HDD of any type. I'll be using the network for file storage, so I didn't have a need to increase local storage in the computer.
All went well, including getting all the needed updates. SP1 is installed, as well as IE9 (which I'll rarely use). I also downloaded and installed the latest NVIDIA driver for the aging GeForce 7600GT, along with MS Security Essentials (MSE) and CCleaner. Of course, I knocked out a few tweaks while I was at it. The "new" setup is
nice and fast. The boot up is much faster than previous.
I remain amazed at what an incredible difference in performance it is to upgrade from HHD to SSD. No doubt that a clean installation of Windows helps, but the system feels like a fresh computer build. The increase in performance is quite noticeable.
I'm done for the night and I will image the new setup first thing in the morning. Right now I need some zzz's.
If you've been holding back on upgrading your boot drive to SSD, you just don't know what you're missing.
Scuzzy; wow.