Newbie to SSD's has newbie questions

[riffraff]

Hello everyone,

If possible I would like to use a SSD as my only drive. I understand that this is possible, load operating system and all.

Here are my newbie questions:

How will my bios 'see' this drive? What will it show as number of heads and cylinders?

Will Win XP defrag work on an SSD? Is it ever necessary to defrag an SSD?

This may be unknown but it may not be as I bet there are some real pro's here.
I use SecureStar Drive Crypt Plus Pack. This encrypts the entire hard drive not just files on the drive. Will DCPP work on an SSD?

I use Norton Ghost 10 to do periodic backups of my hard drive to protect my data.
Norton Ghost 10 works with XP but will it work on a SSD?

The drive I have my eye on is big coin to me(about $700.) but one of my hobbys is playing with computers. No one I have asked knows anything whatsoever about SSD's. I would definately be the first to play with one.

BTW I found this site in the latest issue of MAXIMUM PC. I have been a subscriber for about 5 years. Most of the stuff in the mag. is way over my abilities but I like to read about it anyway.

My primary reasons to want an SSD is to speed up the boot and shutdown times. How much of an effect should I expect on these with an SSD?

Thank You, Bester

[webmaster]

> How will my bios 'see' this drive? What will it show as number of heads and cylinders?

As a standard, bootable drive. Leave the drive settings in "auto" and you will not have to worry about heads, cylenders, etc.

> Will Win XP defrag work on an SSD? Is it ever necessary to defrag an SSD?

YES! Any hard disk utility will work with an SSD. Utilities don't know that they are operating on an SSD vs a hard disk.

> This may be unknown but it may not be as I bet there are some real pro's here.
I use SecureStar Drive Crypt Plus Pack. This encrypts the entire hard drive not just files on the drive. Will DCPP work on an SSD?

Yes. Same reason as answered above.

> I use Norton Ghost 10 to do periodic backups of my hard drive to protect my data.
Norton Ghost 10 works with XP but will it work on a SSD?

Absolutely!

The drive I have my eye on is big coin to me(about $700.) but one of my hobbys is playing with computers. No one I have asked knows anything whatsoever about SSD's. I would definately be the first to play with one.

SSDs are great! If you can install / replace a hard disk, you can install an SSD!

>BTW I found this site in the latest issue of MAXIMUM PC. I have been a subscriber for about 5 years. Most of the stuff in the mag. is way over my abilities but I like to read about it anyway.

Thanks for letting us know where you found out about us, and thanks for contributing to the forums!

> My primary reasons to want an SSD is to speed up the boot and shutdown times. How much of an effect should I expect on these with an SSD?

Depends on how you time it. 100% if you count just the Windows loading process. From actually pressing the power switch, many things happen related to the BIOS before Windows loads, so from power button pressing, about 25% faster maybe.

Once you are in Windows, I've seen some apps, such as Photoshop CS2 load 100% faster vs on a 10,000RPM Raptor. Microsoft Flight Simulator X Demo loads in 4 seconds on my MTRON SSD compared to my Raptor! So I'm not comparing an SSD to an AVERAGE hard drive. I'm comparing to the best and FASTEST hard drive.

If you need a drive that writes fast, check out the Memoright brand. Their drives are the fastest writing drives on the planet. Over 100MB/s sustained WRITE!

> Thank You, Bester

YOUR WELCOME, AND THANK YOU!

[riffraff]

Thank You Admin for the quick reply.

Bester