[tompc]

Originally Posted by nextel2010

In RE: replacing STEC with non-usb (Crucial) SSD

Next, the disk alignment (optional, but recommended). Since you don't have a usb port, the easiest way is to use a Vista recovery disk (yes, you use it even if you plan to use XP as your OS), but you'll need to have an external usb optical drive for this (as you'll see later, it's a necessity throughout these processes). The advantage is that you don't need to use another computer. You can get a Vista disk ISO and instructions here: http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum ... ostcount=3

After that, you can finish by either loading XP manually, using the Dell-supplied XP CD's, or restoring your Dell-installed OS image (which you saved before, right?). (*) I've read that you can restore with Acronis (I guess they have a bootable CD from which you can start up their software). Otherwise, you'll need to build a PE disk, boot off it, and then restore the OS using other software. For previously stated reasons, I recommend DriveImageXML. Links and information for the latter is here: http://www.runtime.org/peb.htm (Follow the links to build a Bart PE disk & add the DriveImage plugin). I've built a PE disk once before, and it was an involved experience.

As an aside, I would recommend doing a manual re-install from the Dell-supplied XP disks. All you need are the OS and drivers. You can choose whether or not you want to install any of the other Dell software. Also, it'll save the hassles of the restore, and theoretically, your system is still new anyway, so there's no data or other software to save.

Thanks for the VERY helpful comments. I need to read up on the alignment process, but it sounds like backing up the original drive isn't really necessary since Dell supplies the XP CD and drivers. If that's true, can I just replace the SSD and boot the XP disk and re-install (excepting the alignment)?

As for speed, I've seen the comments about r/w times, but honestly, this is a mini, not an Alienware. If I need higher performance, my Dell 1720 is just fine. For browsing the web and other lowly tasks, why do I really care if I have the fasted drive, except for perhaps those rare occasions when I have to install something.

Priceswise, it's hard to beat the $245 Sam's special with a 2gb Crucial memory upgrade and 32Gb SSD, which puts me at about $375 total.

Thanks again for your very thorough response!

[nextel2010]

re: Crucial SSD replacement

As a precaution, I would make an image backup of the Dell-installed OS anyway, just in case the manual installation process doesn't go smoothly and you get tired of troubleshooting.

If you're going to go the manual route, it's a fairly painless process to load the OS and drivers from the supplied disks. I had to install each driver manually (maybe there's provisions for batch-loading them, but I was in a rush preparing the mini 9 for my daughter who was leaving soon). A hint: Installing the drivers was an easy process, but I was stuck with an exclamation mark for an "unknown device" in Device Manager. Apparently, it relates to an application (Battery Meter/Wireless Switch application) which needed to be installed. See upgraded-linux-to-xp-unknown-device-t2479s100.html. When I next see the mini 9, I'll install this application and it should clear the device.

Additional thoughts on the Dell-installed software: they're actually not as bad as what i've seen with other laptops. The programs are functional, and you can delete (via the Control Panel) what you don't need. I did remove the McAfee antivir and replaced it with AVG. If you absolutely know what you want in a clean install and how to implement it, go that way. Otherwise, the OS as it comes isn't as full of the bloat/crapware that Sony (for example) loads onto their machines.

I still think that even if you don't need an Alienware-level machine, a write spec of 15Mb/s vs. 44 Mb/s is substantial, especially considering (1) random small-write performance is already the Achilles Heel of MLC SSD's, (2) it's being used for a system drive, and will therefore be subject to frequent small random writes, and (3) even the RunCore's 44Mb/s in itself is already a middling spec. for an OS SSD.

In addition to the aforementioned partition alignment, there are ways to improve any MLC SSD (installing MS SteadyState, using a ramdisk, disabling OS functions which are optimized for HDD's but hurt SSD's, etc.), but they go beyond the scope of this thread.

[Matt Dawson]

Just another reminder guys the Crucial SSD is the exact and I mean exact same product as the MyDigitalSSD. It is made by Phison in TW with Toshiba chips. Look up the old posts on it you will see it is not usable in the Dell mini 9 with XP some people posted it was bearable with Linux on it.

Matt

[somms]

Originally Posted by Matt Dawson

Just another reminder guys the Crucial SSD is the exact and I mean exact same product as the MyDigitalSSD. It is made by Phison in TW with Toshiba chips. Look up the old posts on it you will see it is not usable in the Dell mini 9 with XP some people posted it was bearable with Linux on it.

Matt

Thanks for the heads up! There are already a couple horror stories about the Crucial SSD here in the forums!

[tompc]

Originally Posted by Matt Dawson

Just another reminder guys the Crucial SSD is the exact and I mean exact same product as the MyDigitalSSD. It is made by Phison in TW with Toshiba chips. Look up the old posts on it you will see it is not usable in the Dell mini 9 with XP some people posted it was bearable with Linux on it.

Matt

This is the only comment I could find about the MyDigitalSSD, which seems to indicate that while the drive didn't show up correctly in the HDD portion of the BIOS, it was a selectable, bootable device with XP:
http://mydellmini.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 6385#p6385

[Matt Dawson]

I just searched and there are 28 hits on the keyword MyDigitalSSD. The SLC version of the MyDigitalSSD was not bad and really imporved the random read and write scores. But the cost was outragious and the Runcore drives are faster in all aspects.

Matt

[csnplt]

Hi,

My mini 9 is coming tomorrow; I got it back when it fell to $199 for one day only, and couldn't resist! I only got the 4 GB Ubuntu model, as I was expecting to upgrade the drive once I got it. However, the mydigitaldiscount site has no more stock of runcores for now, and I don't know of anyone else who sells Runcores. I don't want to try eBay or Craigslist, either.

So is there any other legitimate place to buy runcores? And does anyone know how long I will have to wait before they get more stock?

Thanks in advance.

[gospeed.racer]

Is there a reason not to use eBay? I just bought my 32gb runcore there and its on the way right now. Same price as MDD after Live cashback, but IN STOCK. No bidding or anything, just a buy-it-now of $139.99 with an instant $11.20 back in your account. Good deal IMO.

[lswartz]

Originally Posted by holmes4

You misunderstand the text. The Mini version of the RunCore SSD does have a slave USB port, meaning that it can be connected with the supplied cable as a USB hard drive, making cloning easy. What it doesn't do is serve as a USB master inside the Mini allowing other devices to connect to it.

Thanks for the correction on this. I'm still pretty green on this & maybe should have stayed in the lurking mode. My mini 9 is not due until the 30th.

[minuteman]

Just my 2 cents... I installed my new 64gb runcore today. I used Acronis TI Home 2009 on my windows 7 os mini 9. Running Acronis was hit and miss as it did not want to install then it did not want to run i Windows 7 for me. I restarted the cloning process about 6 times until finally it just worked. I didn't do anything different, it just worked. Now my cloned OS and files are running fine in my 64gb runcore.

Next, dual booting with OS X...stay tuned. :mrgreen: