SSD problems on my G74S. HELP!

[ravincia]

I've got a corsair p128 that i've tried numerous times to shift my OS to for my G74S. Tried cloning, clean windows install, and even mounting the recovery partition on it! Didn't work at all. When i tried doing a clean install, the windows installation disc wouldn't even boot up (it booted with other HDDs and SSHs). The corsair ssd works fine as a secondary drive and all, but i want to put my OS there to make my windows faster (which is the point of getting SSDs, right?) I even sent it to the asus service center and they couldn't do it too! NEED HELP!!! I've searched online and i'm not sure if its due to compatibility issues, the firmware on the corsair p128 or is my G74S faulty? Help would be much appreciated. Also, if you could list any SSDs that are proven to be 100% compatible with the G74S that would be awesome. Thanks!

[gilbert]

Some people recommend Intel , but i been using Kingston hyper x 120gb 555mb/s read , 510mb/s write and its been working perfect i got it at frys's electronics for 135$ a while a go , have u tried using Acronis the demo http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...FQcFRQodKnFbyA I used it to get mine up and running its very easy and it gives you some cool options ........

[xeromist]

I suspect it may be using the boot sector on your other drive. Remove the regular drive so only the SSD is installed (in the same bay) and retry the Windows installation.

[BrodyBoy]

I suspect it may be using the boot sector on your other drive. Remove the regular drive so only the SSD is installed (in the same bay) and retry the Windows installation.

+1

Though there are certainly ways around the issues that can arise, just removing or disconnecting the 2nd HDD during a Windows install is an easy way to avoid some of these headaches.

[OmegaMan]

Here's what I did.

Plug your SSD in the second hard drive bay with the cable provided by Asus.

Then I had to get over Patriots website to get the firmware updater and new firmware as well, it's quite important to know that you should not try to flash your SSD's firmware with stuff you do want to keep. That's just in case that the firmware flash would delete all datas on your SSD.

Once the firmware update is done and verified to be updated properly, you can go to www.acronis.com and ask for a shareware copy of Acronis True Image home 2012. They'll send you a registration key for 30 days to the registered email you have with them.

You can now format your SSD drive in 4k clusters, that will prevent your SSD from slowing down the sequential read/write speed. Just have a look to your SSD specifications just in case it wouldn't be 4k, usually they're pretty much all working real fast with 4kb clusters. Install and use Acronis true Image home 2012 to clone your current boot hard drive to your SSD. (Acronis will reboot the system, then start cloning your hard drive to the selected spot, very important to make sure that you have enough space to move your datas around.)

After it's done, boot back in Windows and check if both drives are present, with the same data and all (usually just right clicking properties on the drive will tell you about the number of files and size). If it's all good, you can now turn off your G74sx, remove the battery, swap the drives from one bay to the other and watch the "magic" operate.

I was quite surprised to see how fast it is on bootup, loading applications, loading games and so on.

Just try to make sure you keep your Hard Drive unaltered, because some SSD drives tend to stop working after a certain ammount of time, and I don't know why. If you need the Hard drive to place some datas on, just make sure you do a Backup and a Startup disk... that's just in case of a malfunction.

Cheers

Take care.

[ravincia]

I suspect it may be using the boot sector on your other drive. Remove the regular drive so only the SSD is installed (in the same bay) and retry the Windows installation.

Did that, Asus did that, didnt work either.

[BrodyBoy]

Did that, Asus did that, didnt work either.

You're saying that, with that SSD installed, you can't even boot from the Windows installer CD?

[ravincia]

Yep. Windows installation disc didnt boot at all. I made sure the boot order was correct in the bios and all that. It only booted with other hdds and sshs. i dont have another ssd to test it with so i cant tell if its due to the ssd or that somethings wrong with the g74s

[BrodyBoy]

Yep. Windows installation disc didnt boot at all. I made sure the boot order was correct in the bios and all that. It only booted with other hdds and sshs. i dont have another ssd to test it with so i cant tell if its due to the ssd or that somethings wrong with the g74s

If it boots up with other disks installed, it sounds like it's the SSD. Do you have the SATA configuration set to AHCI? And the SSD is running the manufacturer's latest firmware?

(BTW, you don't need to set the boot device in the BIOS on the G74....just hit ESC at power-up and you'll get the boot menu.)

[ravincia]

If it boots up with other disks installed, it sounds like it's the SSD. Do you have the SATA configuration set to AHCI? And the SSD is running the manufacturer's latest firmware?

(BTW, you don't need to set the boot device in the BIOS on the G74....just hit ESC at power-up and you'll get the boot menu.)

Gonna check on the SATA config now. I have no idea how to check the p128's firmware (i'm not sure if my ssd's up to date or not). I went to the corsair forums and the only update seems to be to enable TRIM. Anyway, i tried to update it but all the guides i've seen are as complicating as hell (it tells me i have to make a DOS bootable usb and update it through the bios --> they dont have a simple program to run from windows).