I had access to a 64GB SSD so decided to use it on a Dell Mini 10 netbook (Atom processor and 1GB RAM) I was working on that had a dead hard drive. I will be installing Windows 8 Developer Preview and also Windows 7 Professional.

Windows 8 Developer Preview took 32 minutes and 38 seconds and did successfully install, but when booting up the system would not display a desktop or anything because of some graphics issue, just a black screen. The black screen where you would expect something is going to happen but never does. I passed this OS up rather than troubleshoot it. Its a “Preview” anyways, not even Beta.

Windows 7 took 33 minutes and 42 seconds (about the same time) and installed with a default resolution of 800 by 600 until all Windows updates were applied, guess I can see why W8 didnt like it. There was a slight lag in clicking on things but tolerable, once any caching occurred that disappeared and the environment behavior felt normal. I did a single read/write test which I felt took a bit longer than it should have. The manufacturer R/W specs for the drive are 220 Read and 100 Write, not very impressive by any means.

In all honesty, the PNY 64GB SSD did not impress me in any way during installation, booting or read write test in Windows. Not being able to afford a more expensive SSD I’ll have to wait. I was just doing this for my own purpose anyways.