T43 SSD FAT32 or NTFS Windows XP

[digittante]

Returning again to report results:

My original setup was:

Original HDD: Hitachi 60Gb 7200rpm w/ 2 NTFS partitions C:BOOT\ and D:DATA\
ExpressCard slot: a Lexar ExpressCard 4Gig dedicated to ReadyBoost
PCMCIA slot: a Viking Interworks 32Bit adaptor & an aData 32Gig Compactflash for on-board backups of D:DATA\
System RAM = 2Gig

My new setup (similar principles but new hardware):
32G C:\BOOT drive: Transcend 32Gb SSD 2.5" IDE MLC
48G D:\DATA drive: FileMate USB + PCI-e Express card 48GB SSD Retail
32G E:\BACKUP drive: Viking Interworks 32Bit PCMCIA adaptor & an aData 32Gig Compactflash for on-board backups

All drives are encrypted via TrueCrypt at the system level (so they're unusable if removed, unless a password is known). This has caused a performance hit that HD Tune scores illustrate (like before based on 10 tests each:

DEVICE Avg X-fer rate
C:\BOOT 33.5mb/s
D:\DATA 105.2mb/s
E:\BACKUP 9.5mb/s <---CF drive

All previously mentioned tweaks are still in place (turn off Superfetch/ReadyBoost/Indexing, relocate Chrome Cache, etc). I even moved the entire C:\Users folder to the faster D:\DATA drive since I rely heavily on IMAP-based Outlook. That's now faster too. The CF card is clearly the weakest/slowest device, but that's only used by a scheduled background SyncToy job, so it doesn't impact overall usage. The Windows Experience Index remains at 3.7 like before, but it's the graphics capability holding it down. The hard-drive component of the test is up to 5.9. Overall, boot-up and app-starts are shorter, battery life is longer, system is quieter. If there was some way to boot this machine from the ExpressCard34 slot, it'd be a screamer.

In the final analysis, i'm satisfied with the increased responsive. It's been a worthwhile learning experience for $280 (including tax and shipping).

Happy to answer any other questions you might have.

[johnameigh]

Everyone, Thanks for all the great info!!!
digittante, I would really be grateful if you could post some i/o benchmarks on both of your ExpressCard SSD's and the PCMCIA/CF drive. CrystalDiskMark would good. What speed class is the CF card? Have you tried installing Win7 to the ExpressCard while booting through the OS drive. Maybe Windows would load enough drivers to see the ExpressCard?

Thanks for any reply!

[digittante]

Everyone, Thanks for all the great info!!!
digittante, I would really be grateful if you could post some i/o benchmarks on both of your ExpressCard SSD's and the PCMCIA/CF drive. CrystalDiskMark would good. What speed class is the CF card? Have you tried installing Win7 to the ExpressCard while booting through the OS drive. Maybe Windows would load enough drivers to see the ExpressCard?

Thanks for any reply!

Wish I could help, but I no longer have that laptop or the drives I installed on it. I'm now running Win7 Ultimate on a Lenovo e220s with internal SSD and HDD.

All the best,

digittante