Disk cloning software < well it will be easier if buy upgrade kit, they will bundle a software.
i duno other brands, but i have used Arcronis True Image cloning software, which bundled with Kingston SSD,
Very easy to used yet very advanced, can clone even if the destination disk is smaller than source disk(provided if the partition can still fit into the small destination disk).

8bit = 1 bytes,
hardware and software use different standard, i duno how to explain lol

eg you got a SATA 6Gbps SSD and connected to a SATA 6Gbps port, max transfer rate you can get on windows is ~600Mbytes/s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA#Revisions

SSD cache drive is managed by the caching software, if im correct, it will run out of space eventually, and the caching software will delete the rarely used data on the cache drive.

Solid State Cache usually has smaller capacity, its cheaper and meant for speed up the system which still using HDD.
If your SSD has larger capacity, eg 64GB, will be suitable to use as boot drive.

What do you mean by "cloning both"?
acronis can clone even if both SSD and HDD size are different.

tried copy 96GB <> 120GB <> 500GB HDD and Kingston SSD before, worked flawlessly.

This one i know, i mean the partition inside the 500GB harddisk, if the partition is smaller than 120GB then Acronis should be able to clone it

Windwows XP does not come with AHCI driver, W7 come with the microsoft one but performance isnt good compare to the native AMD/Intel AHCI.

Preinstall? plug your SSD into the SATA port, go to BIOS to set your SATA mode to AHCI, then install the Windows7 like usual, you can install the native AHCI driver later the w7 installation finished.

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Added on December 8, 2012, 8:10 pmThere is always a AHCI driver for windows xp too, can be downloaded from your mobo website or AMD/Intel website,
it's not like everyone in the world already abandoned Windows XP

This post has been edited by 1024kbps: Dec 8 2012, 08:10 PM

Plextor SSD comes with 5 years of warranty too. slightly cheaper than Vertex 4 and other brands iirc.
i got one inside my rig but benchmark result looked pretty weird because of lousy AMD chipset/driver

Buy SSD no need the best one lah, the "best bang for buck" is very important too, intel 335 selling 238 SGD currently, pretty cheap too, SanDisk 240GB also priced very reasonable but not good compare to intel one.

If the SSD you bought is advertised as Solid State Cache, the it can only be used as cache drive, and to be used only with special cache managing software, iirc. http://www.techspot.com/review/515-crucial...-ssd/page2.html
While normal SSD sold on most shop do not bundle with any software except backup and cloning utility.

Nitpicking a little bit
May be a little bit wrong bout those SSD benchmark info, ATTO by default use "compressible" data, but you can change the data test pattern by choosing "I/O comparison" > "test pattern > Random"
CrystalDiskMark by default use incompressible data, aka "Random" also can be changed by selecting from the > menu > file > test data > Random/0 fill/1 fill

yeap, in BIOS, re-install windows should be the last resort, if you read this first http://forums.vr-zone.com/troubleshooting-...ci-windows.html

Windows 7/8 comes with AHCI driver that works with both AMD and intel chipset, if you are adventurous enough, change the SATA mode to AHCI in BIOS without doing anything, windows will repair the startup problem for you, if you are lucky, after a few time of reboots, your SSD will be change to AHCI mode automatically, but this method is not recommended

your pc spec? under optimal condition, SATA 6gb/s SSD could achive ~500mb/s sequential read, and 4k 64 thread should be over 150mb/s if im correct. your result does not look right it seems.

Because without TRIM, SSD raid 0 performance will degrade over time.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/d...sd-raid0_2.html

SSD raid0 with TRIM support require z77 mobo(or possibly 7 series chipset)
which older x58 chipset doesnt support trim on SSD raid0.

Are you sure its not other hardware problem?
Like loose SATA power/data cable ect.
or if you connect too much HDD/SSDs by only using one cable(daisy-chain or modded cable) from psu, some of your drive may randomly drop-out too.
Did you tried to check the SMART status or event viewer? you may find some clues on it.

My pc isn't stable either, well sometime some of my USB devices may randomly disconnected itself, and i have to reconnect it manually, well USB ports on my mobo is almost fully occupied

Why dont just RMA it, or just buy new one to save the trouble/headache

HyperX SSD isnt that good, which also using Sandforce 2281 controller, really, im using one, now the performance looks like crap after several months of usage.
Too lazy to wipe the drive to restore its performance lol...

Top performer SSD = Samsung, OCZ, and Intel, thats all i could remember lol

Random or zero fill? Sandisk SSD use sf2281, which only look great if the benchmark tools use compressible data,
Random/incompressible = bleh

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Added on December 27, 2012, 12:02 pmSamsung 840 isnt any safer too
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6483/update-...40-pro-failures
And Crucial m4, read a few page and you will know we got a forumer with an unstable crucial SSD.

This post has been edited by 1024kbps: Dec 27 2012, 12:02 PM

Im using one right now, its pretty cheap compare to other 256GB SSD model iirc.
Flashing this SSD also pretty easy, compare to other brands.

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Added on December 28, 2012, 12:12 amyeap, thats the theoretical speed what SATA 6gb/s could achive , but you wont get that kind of speed because of the encoding, 600mb/s is correct after all, just check out the wikipedia and you will know.

This post has been edited by 1024kbps: Dec 28 2012, 12:12 AM

1. Run some SSD benchmark utility first, and compare it with some review sites to verify that your SSD is stil perform normally.

2. Make sure you dont have a lot of start-up programe enabled, a lot of them could increase the boot time significantly.

3. Make sure you have latest mobo chipset driver installed, or just latest AHCI driver from Intel and AMD.
Microsoft AHCI driver is fine but your SSD may not perform optimally.

4. Make sure your Windows is up to date, latest update/bug/hotfix from Microsoft usually will improve OS performance.

5. Make sure your CPU is not throttled, eg, running on power saving mode, or your CPU is overheating

6. Make sure your other storage devices is not dying, a dying HDD may cause boot up become slower.

Results appears to be normal, well, if your OS loads a few second slower, i guess its not really a big deal, compare to the problem im facing

And one more thing, well ppl might not agree with me: do not attempt to run SSD benchmark too often, it could kill the SSD performance.
Just tried ran HDTune a few times and saw the SSD performance dip from 500mb/s to 400mb/s in very short time

Those SSD firmware toolkit need AHCI mode to work, it does not work if your SATA mode is set to RAID/IDE.
So far i've tried Kingston and Plextor SSD firmware update program. non of them worked on RAID mode.

Just to add something"
RAID 0 two SSD on non-intel z77 chipset will suffer poor write performance overtime, because only intel z77 support Trim on Raid0 at the moment, if im correct.

LSI card are expensive, its just not worth the money imho, or just wait AMD release new chipset RAID driver with Trim support loh(not sure if just a wet dream)