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Post by mikkh on Jan 16, 2014 0:04:21 GMT
I decided to enable AHCI in my BIOS after reading a few articles on the benefits of using it, especially if you're thinking of going down the SSD route as I am. I already knew from the articles that Windows would either complain bitterly, refuse to boot or just generally misbehave on some (read most) already installed systems.
Linux is my default boot anyway, and it was with little surprise that it booted normally without me having to change a thing. It took a bit longer booting first time which I expected as it adjusted itself but subsequent boots are fine.
Windows (7) looked like it would load, but after showing me the initial loading logo, it went into the all too familiar sequence of start loading/ stop/ restart the system/ try again without ever succeeding.
Makes you wonder which is the OS that cost millions (probably billions) to develop and which is the free one !!
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Post by vikingken on Jan 16, 2014 3:41:53 GMT
I've been using SSD drives in both my Laptop and Mini Netbook for over a year now Mikk. Not really for the speed, the difference isn't very noticeable. My laptop got very hot with a mechanical drive, that was what caused me to spend the extra money. I cant speak for Linux, but both those machines running Windows 7 will blue screen if set to IDE. The BIOS set themselves to AHCI and I never really thought about it until now. I set them back to IDE just to see what would happen and it was BSOD.
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Post by jojo on Jan 16, 2014 12:05:38 GMT
I've recently bought my second SSD, because Vista didn't leave much room on 250Gb.
You do need to turn off a number of services, especially restore, defrag, paging file if you have enough RAM, (4Gb) and a few others. Partly because the repeated polling of the HD by Vista and higher both reduce the life of the SSD, they are also unnecessary since SSD is so fast anyway.
There are a few places on the web with advice, google SSD and your OS. But be careful, many of these like to talk like they are real experts. My experience is that, when people talk what seems to be gibberish, it's because it is. People to really understand a subject, can easily explain it so almost anyone can follow it. I was particularly disappointed by the forums in Crutial.com. Presumably, the people who run Crutial don't really care, because they certainly don't look at some of the garbage that is being offered by so called experts there.
Blackviper seems to know his stuff, admittedly, but he will simply list dozens of services which he says you can turn off, without actually telling you what happens when you do. But for a, SSD, defrag, system restore and paging file, (provided you have at least 4Gb of RAM), can be safely turned off
Once you do that, the improvements are noticeable, especially on programs which make repeated disc access.
However, when I got my second, initially I tried chaining it to the first, moving DOCs and such. Then I had a notion to try XP again. Actually, I read an article about it on the web.
It's a bit like taking off the roof rack, taking the big tool box out of the boot, leaving the wife and kids in the motorway service area and taking off with King Crimson at loud volume, in the middle of the night when the road is clear.
The space on my SSD, with a full XP install including all updated, but nothing else, was less than 7Gb!
My wife's computer uses Windows 7. I won't be interfering of course, but the start up, shut down times on that, even on those rare occasions when she doesn't have to wait from an endless update are so slow compared to XP.
I would still be prepared to try Linix, as I have been for at least 13 years now. But only when I know that it is actually going to work and not leave my system as a lump of useless metal, as a previous attempt had done.
Just saying. XP rules as far as I'm concerned.
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Post by mikkh on Jan 16, 2014 12:15:16 GMT
That's a basic flaw in how Windows works, I can solve my problem by re-installing Windows and it's no great hardship with a 15 minute or so install on Windows 7 (they finally catch up with what Linux has been doing for years).... but, I shouldn't have to.
Windows ability to cope with changed hardware remains very poor compared to Linux. I had a hard drive with Vector Linux and XP on it a while back and found myself with 7 machines all minus hard drives over the course of a few weeks. I'd already tested them with a live CD (Puppy)and knew they worked, but I decided to test them all further with that hard drive.
Result? Vector Linux worked on every machine, readjusting itself to the new hardware automatically and quickly. Windows XP worked on just one that had a similar motherboard/CPU/GPU combo that XP was originally installed on. After 3 or 4 reboots and missing driver installs that is.
Not really a fair test because of XP's age, but I'm pretty sure even Windows 7 wouldn't have had a 100% success rate like Linux did - in fact I know it wouldn't. I'll be generous and say maybe 50% at best.
It's not something most people have to worry about and Windows basic hardware checks are mostly testing for new licence opportunities rather than getting a machine to work I cynically suspect.
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Post by mikkh on Jan 16, 2014 12:54:03 GMT
Ah Jojo, if I had been put off by some early teething problems with Linux, I would still be a Windows slave now - but I saw it as a challenge and was determined not to lose.
Although there are dozens of different Linux versions to try, very few actually cut the mustard in long term use and that choice is getting smaller because Adobe stopped officially supporting Flash a while ago (finished at 11.2) This leaves Linux people wanting to play Flash based games etc in a bit of a pickle but luckily Google stepped in and supplied the latest Flash with their Chrome browser. So for me and many others, the first requirement of a modern Linux system is - does it come with Google Chrome or can I install it fairly painlessly if not.
There are currently only two 'distros' I would recommend for home use - Mint (as the acceptable face of the over hyped Ubuntu) and PCXlinuxOS (which I use) I'm against Ubuntu (and therefore Mint to a lesser extent) because of their ever increasing move towards propriety and close sourced software. So in effect there is only one I truly recommend really and although it doesn't come with Google Chrome as standard, it's just a couple of clicks away to get it installed
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Post by jojo on Jan 16, 2014 13:10:32 GMT
Yeah, guilty as charged. I do tend to give up easily, too often. I'd like to think I am persistent, of course, but the reality is I'm not. <embarrassed smile>
On the subject of XP, one thing I have discovered is that, generally, each driver needs to be downloaded as required.
A case in point is connecting XP to modern Broadband, through a superhub. As around the web and there are any number of suggestions, all of them wrong. The answer is to download the LAN driver, store on a pen drive and load in. Strangely, if the 135 or so updates from M$, on the last 9 or so, switched the LAN off again. So I did need to reload the driver a second time.
Again, in the context of XP, it is quite old and broadband at that time consisted of a rather wide rubber band of something like that.
I do understand your point about Linix and drivers. I'm not sure, but get the impression that Linux drivers are somewhat more generic, so there is less need to load a different one for each new piece of equipment. I may be wrong there.
Windows seems to need all of them, presumably so it can claim to be easy to use.
But back to SSDs. These are a new technology. It might make sense if we can pool some collective knowledge here, written in English rather than gibberish.. I have a feeling it will be needed. Especially since there seems to be a plethora of gibberish out there already.
I will also say that, in my reload, I haven't installed my book marks yet on Chrome. I did a Google for CIT. It found it immediately, and more than one listing. Suggests CIT is a known reliable support site at least.
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Post by mikkh on Jan 16, 2014 21:50:28 GMT
Well I know some people regard Google as the devils spawn almost, and don't want to trust them with their data - but I find signing in to my Gmail account and thus my synced favourites in Chrome a very valuable time saver. It also automatically installs any browser add-ons like AdBlock at the same time.
So on any machine Windows or Linux, I can simply sign in and I'm good to go in seconds.
And Linux drivers are only generic in the sense that it's just the driver and none of the bundled nonsense that bloats every Windows system. If you install a WI-FI driver in Windows, it will invariably also install a network manager, even though the inbuilt Windows manager is perfectly adequate for the job. An audio driver in Windows almost always comes with an unnecessary sound tweaker/manager and assorted other tools - none of it needed to produce sound from your speakers. Well you get the picture and there are generic families of drivers that cover several models anyway.
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