Transferring OS from HDD to SSD

handsman

Honorable
Nov 5, 2012
31
0
10,530
I currently have the following two hard drives installed:

Seagate ST2000DM001 Barracuda 7200RPM 2 TB SATA 6 GB/s NCQ 64 MB Cache 3.5 Internal Drive

Kingston HyperX 3K 120 GB SATA III 2.5-Inch 6.0 Gb/s Solid State Drive SH103S3/120G

When I was installing Windows 7 Home Premium, I was having issues installing it onto the SSD, so I just installed it onto the HDD.

It has been a few months now, and I really want to put my OS onto the SSD and use the HDD for files and such.

So my question is, how do I go about this? Should I just back up all my files to an external drive and then install the OS onto the SSD?

Thanks in advance!
 
Solution
*I recommend you PRINT THIS TO PAPER and read it carefully*

You can Google about CLONING and free software, but I had lots of success with a simple BACKUP/RESTORE of the C-Drive. I transferred from an HDD to an SSD in a laptop using Acronis True Image, Backup/Restore, with a USB HDD for the backup image file.

Pre-cloning/backup steps:
1. Attach the SSD and verify it works (format NTFS and run Checkdisk or other diagnostic tool)
2. Update the SSD firmware
3. Apply overprovisioning (ignore if too complicated)
4. Ensure the SSD has enough CAPACITY (you don't want to exceed 80% of USABLE space if not overprovisioned which is roughly 90GB)
5. Create a BOOT DVD if necessary (I did for both the Backup and Restore phase of Acronis True Image...
*I recommend you PRINT THIS TO PAPER and read it carefully*

You can Google about CLONING and free software, but I had lots of success with a simple BACKUP/RESTORE of the C-Drive. I transferred from an HDD to an SSD in a laptop using Acronis True Image, Backup/Restore, with a USB HDD for the backup image file.

Pre-cloning/backup steps:
1. Attach the SSD and verify it works (format NTFS and run Checkdisk or other diagnostic tool)
2. Update the SSD firmware
3. Apply overprovisioning (ignore if too complicated)
4. Ensure the SSD has enough CAPACITY (you don't want to exceed 80% of USABLE space if not overprovisioned which is roughly 90GB)
5. Create a BOOT DVD if necessary (I did for both the Backup and Restore phase of Acronis True Image. It's quite simple. However, if the DVD won't actually boot you may need to modify the BIOS so your Boot Order has the DVD drive first, not the hard drive.)

CLONING:
1. Install cloning software (or burn disk)
2. CLONE from HDD to SSD
3. REMOVE the HDD when powered down (and test SSD for several days)
4. Attach HDD again (change boot order to the SSD if the HDD is booted first in your BIOS)
5. After confirming the SSD is the boot drive, FORMAT the HDD
6. Make a BACKUP IMAGE of the SSD to the HDD

Backup/Restore method:
*Requires a THIRD drive (or the HDD to be partitioned):
1. Create a Backup IMAGE of the C-drive (to HDD#2 or parititon 2 on the HDD)
2. RESTORE the backup TO the SSD
3. Remove all HDD's
4. ... continue as per CLONING example above.

Backup/Restore software:
a) Windows 7 Backup: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html

b) Acronis True Image Freeware (if you have a Seagate or WD internal or external drive attached get the appropriate software. WD version for WD drives.
*Acronis TI has a CLONE feature. It didn't work for me, nor did two other cloning utilities on THREE different PC's. No idea why.

CLONING Software:
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/five-apps/five-free-and-reliable-cloning-tools/1507

**I'd consider CLONING first. All my attempts failed quickly, but if it works it's easier than the backup/restore.
 
Solution

therosses

Distinguished
Apr 24, 2013
3
0
18,510
I just printed out the below page 2 days ago and burned a Clonezilla ISO to disc. I clone my old Barracuda to a Velociraptor. Clonzilla worked flawlessly. The only place I got "stuck" was I couldn't boot with both drives plugged in because there was a conflict. After several tests of booting with each drive separately to ensure I had a good/working boot drive, I booted with just the Velociraptor plugged in. Then while the system was on, I plugged the Barracuda in and was able to blow away the volumes, recreate them, format them, and now I use it as a back up drive. Ensure your system supports hot-swappable drives.

http://www.howtogeek.com/57442/how-to-backup-and-resurrect-a-dead-or-dying-system-disk-with-clonezilla/