XP on SSD flash drive?

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Can XP install on an SSD flash drive? or does it not have the drivers,

can it only install on a regular hard disk?
 
wrote in message

news:aa6fr599lqvun00eck8dsakm2j5bts7urs@4ax.com...

> Can XP install on an SSD flash drive? or does it not have the drivers,

> can it only install on a regular hard disk?



You would not want to. Compared to magnetic disks, flash disks are very

slow. They also have a limit of less than 1,000 rewrite cycles, thus wearing

out in no time at all.
 
"Pegasus [MVP]" wrote in message

news:ee576r30KHA.4548@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

>

>

> wrote in message

> news:aa6fr599lqvun00eck8dsakm2j5bts7urs@4ax.com...

>> Can XP install on an SSD flash drive? or does it not have the

>> drivers,

>> can it only install on a regular hard disk?

>

> You would not want to. Compared to magnetic disks, flash disks

> are very slow. They also have a limit of less than 1,000

> rewrite cycles, thus wearing out in no time at all.

==

From Wikipedia:



A USB flash drive consists of flash memory data storage device

integrated with a USB (Universal Serial Bus) 1.1 or 2.0

interface. USB flash drives are typically removable and

rewritable, much smaller than a floppy disk, and most weigh less

than 30 g (1 oz).[1] Storage capacities in 2010 can be as large

as 256 GB[2] with steady improvements in size and price per

capacity. Some allow 1 million write or erase cycles[3][4] and

have a 10-year data retention cycle.



======



The write or erase cycles stated are somewhat more than your

figures but still one wouldn't want the OS on a flash drive.

==
 
npx@no.spam wrote:

> Can XP install on an SSD flash drive? or does it not have the drivers,

> can it only install on a regular hard disk?



If you find the right web site, there are all sorts of little bits

of trivia, about optimizing the OS for use with an SSD (not all the

suggestions are absolutely necessary, but some of them make good

sense). For one thing, you want to disable the updating of "last accessed"

information, as that cuts down on nuisance writes to the drive. The drive

may benefit from partition re-alignment. The default choice of starting

at sector 63, is not good for the new 4K sector hard drives (so-called

"Advanced Format") or for SSD drives (SSDs may be handling data internally,

in 128KB blocks).



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIM



http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?48309 (Partition-alignment)



http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?43460-Making-XP-pro-SSD-friendly



If you want good drive life, get one with SLC flash memory, as it

is supposed to last about 10x longer than MLC. MLC is cheaper. Wear

leveling ensures that the blocks get closer to equal numbers

of write cycles to them. Some drives will have a rating, such as

"you can write 20MB/sec of data to this drive, for the next 5 years",

to indicate what drive life can be expected.



You will immediately be able to use your new SATA SSD with the

OS, since to the OS, it looks like a hard drive. Some of the more

modern OSes, recognize the device is an SSD and have software

tuned for it. With WinXP, it is just going to think it is a

regular drive. By using all that tuning crap, you improve

the behavior of your new drive, with respect to the older OS.



Particularly annoying with SSDs, is the drop in performance

associated with their handling of used and free blocks. Some

pathological usage patterns, can cause the drive to slow right

down. There are yet more articles about this, and how to fix it.



New vs Used SSD Performance

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2738/13



Understanding and Choosing the Best SSD

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2829/1



If you get anything from this exercise, it'll be lots of

research and added links to your bookmarks file.



Have fun,

Paul
 
wrote in message

news:aa6fr599lqvun00eck8dsakm2j5bts7urs@4ax.com...

> Can XP install on an SSD flash drive? or does it not have the drivers,

> can it only install on a regular hard disk?





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive



Look at Microsoft Windows and exFAT
 
In news:eZnAhx30KHA.5828@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl,

Doug W. typed:

> "Pegasus [MVP]" wrote in message

> news:ee576r30KHA.4548@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

>>

>>

>> wrote in message

>> news:aa6fr599lqvun00eck8dsakm2j5bts7urs@4ax.com...

>>> Can XP install on an SSD flash drive? or does it not have

>>> the drivers,

>>> can it only install on a regular hard disk?

>>

>> You would not want to. Compared to magnetic disks, flash

>> disks are very slow. They also have a limit of less than

>> 1,000 rewrite cycles, thus wearing out in no time at all.

> ==

> From Wikipedia:

>

> A USB flash drive consists of flash memory data storage

> device integrated with a USB (Universal Serial Bus) 1.1 or

> 2.0 interface. USB flash drives are typically removable and

> rewritable, much smaller than a floppy disk, and most weigh

> less than 30 g (1 oz).[1] Storage capacities in 2010 can be

> as large as 256 GB[2] with steady improvements in size and

> price per capacity. Some allow 1 million write or erase

> cycles[3][4] and have a 10-year data retention cycle.

>

> ======

>

> The write or erase cycles stated are somewhat more than your

> figures but still one wouldn't want the OS on a flash

> drive. ==



I dont' think a million cycles would take long when you

consider that the registry is constantly being read and

written to even when the computer is thought to be idle.

Intuitively it feels like less than a year's worth of use. The

technology is moving fast though; it's interesting to follow

it.



HTH,



Twayne`
 
On Sat, 3 Apr 2010 16:24:02 -0600, "Doug W." wrote:





I have a Toshiba 16GB Flash drive, use it for daily backup one to three

times a day. I did not know nor did I take the time to find out more.

Now it really worry me, any idea how many rewrite before it fail?



Thanks



>A USB flash drive consists of flash memory data storage device

>integrated with a USB (Universal Serial Bus) 1.1 or 2.0

>interface. USB flash drives are typically removable and

>rewritable, much smaller than a floppy disk, and most weigh less

>than 30 g (1 oz).[1] Storage capacities in 2010 can be as large

>as 256 GB[2] with steady improvements in size and price per

>capacity. Some allow 1 million write or erase cycles[3][4] and

>have a 10-year data retention cycle.

>

>======

>

>The write or erase cycles stated are somewhat more than your

>figures but still one wouldn't want the OS on a flash drive.

>==

>

>
 
"dwn >" On Sat, 3 Apr 2010 16:24:02 -0600, "Doug W."

> wrote:

>

>

> I have a Toshiba 16GB Flash drive, use it for daily backup one

> to three

> times a day. I did not know nor did I take the time to find

> out more.

> Now it really worry me, any idea how many rewrite before it

> fail?

>

> Thanks

>

>>A USB flash drive consists of flash memory data storage device

>>integrated with a USB (Universal Serial Bus) 1.1 or 2.0

>>interface. USB flash drives are typically removable and

>>rewritable, much smaller than a floppy disk, and most weigh

>>less

>>than 30 g (1 oz).[1] Storage capacities in 2010 can be as

>>large

>>as 256 GB[2] with steady improvements in size and price per

>>capacity. Some allow 1 million write or erase cycles[3][4] and

>>have a 10-year data retention cycle.

>>

>>======

>>

>>The write or erase cycles stated are somewhat more than your

>>figures but still one wouldn't want the OS on a flash drive.

>>==

>>

>>[/color]

Perhaps with the prices dropping every year you could afford to

back-up to another flash drive as well for extra backup

insurance.



==
 
No because we don't encourage nor support people asking questions

which are considered to be for fun and not for serious computing.

OS should always be installed on a fixed hard disk so that it

doesn't move or taken away by unscrupulous people. If you want

something that can help you to access NTFS file system from which

you want to create a backup then I suggest download a Windows 7

recovery disk or Windows Vista recovery disks from here:









hth





npx@no.spam wrote:

>

> Can XP install on an SSD flash drive? or does it not have the drivers,

> can it only install on a regular hard disk?



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Copyright LD55ZRA 2010.
 
"dwn>" On Sat, 3 Apr 2010 16:24:02 -0600, "Doug W." wrote:

>

>

> I have a Toshiba 16GB Flash drive, use it for daily backup one to three

> times a day. I did not know nor did I take the time to find out more.

> Now it really worry me, any idea how many rewrite before it fail?

>

> Thanks

>[/color]

SNIP



>

No one can tell you that information.



A flash drive can fail the first time it is used or after many thousands of

cycles. I have one older 256 MB drive that has been written to at least

10,000 times with full erase or format over 100 times. Now, do I depend on

that drive to store non-recoverable data. Absolutely not. To depend on a

flash drive as a sole backup mechanism is flirting with disaster. You would

be better served to backup to a USB, Firewire or SATA external hard drive.

They are normally more dependable but, of course, they can fail also.
 
hp.com has two

programs that will

allow xp to install

on a flash drive.



one program formats

the drive and the other

creates a boot sector.



it's a fun project but

in my opinion when

I created a xp usb



it was basically not

useful and found a

better use for the

usb.



another consideration

that should be taken

into account is if your

machine can boot via

usb.



--



db·´¯`·...¸>

DatabaseBen, Retired Professional

- Systems Analyst

- Database Developer

- Accountancy

- Veteran of the Armed Forces

- Microsoft Partner

- @hotmail.com

~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen



>

>



wrote in message news:aa6fr599lqvun00eck8dsakm2j5bts7urs@4ax.com...

> Can XP install on an SSD flash drive? or does it not have the drivers,

> can it only install on a regular hard disk?
 
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