Looking into upgrading to an SSD, could use some advice :D

KENDAWG2000 · Mar 30, 2015

Hello tom'sHardware, feel like I'm all over the place this week on the forums with questions. I was looking into possibly upgrading my OS HDD to an SSD.
Currently I am rocking a 2tb HDD which stores my games/pictures and OS.
I was looking into getting this - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820721108&cm_re=240gb_ssd-_-20-721-108-_-Product
I have heard this is a good SSD and is recommended by many.
Now my questions:
Is this a good SSD?
& What program would be good to use to migrate the data over to the new SSD while still keeping my games and other junk on my HDD?
I saw JayZTwoCents use Acronis True HDD, but want to hear what you guys think.

Thanks again Guys!
Forum never disappoints

-Ken

ronintexas · Mar 30, 2015

I have 6 PC's at home - 4 of them are running SSDs - all of them are Samsung 840 EVO 128GB or 850 EVO 128GB. The 850 is faster, but the "big difference" in performance is Windows boots in 3.8 seconds instead of 4.5 seconds (Windows 8.1). Take a look at your Windows folder, the program files folder and program files (x86) folder - these are the items that will gain the most speed - and on all of my installs - I am using between 60 and 80GB of the 128GB.

Samsung ships with their own migration software - but I have found that a fresh install always works best in high performance machines.

spooky2th · Mar 30, 2015

That Kingston SSD is an average SSD. But will be a large improvement over your current HDD. I use a paid for, Acronis True Image for cloning. There are plenty of free cloning apps that you can download.

This one is decent:
http://clonezilla.org/

Do a clone, not a backup or image.

KENDAWG2000 · Mar 30, 2015

ronintexas :

Ok & as much as I would like to do a clean install. I am just trying for a simple like transfer. So I could still see a good performance increase on times / speed but at the same time not have to redo everything from scratch.
Ty though. Ik the samsung ones are good. Ill have to look at some of those too before I make my purchase.
Thanks!

KENDAWG2000 · Mar 30, 2015

spooky2th :

Ok thank you for the response.
So is Acronis worth buying or should I just try a free program?
And would you agree with ronintexas, that a samsung 840 or 850 evo would be better to buy for a little bit more money compared to the kingston?
Like this one - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147372&cm_re=samsung_ssd-_-20-147-372-_-Product

LordConrad · Mar 31, 2015

I like the Samsung 850 EVO as the best drive for price/performance/capacity. I have used Acronis True Image several times to image a hard disk and write the image to an SSD, and it worked perfectly every time.

spooky2th · Mar 31, 2015

The Samsung 850 evo is one of the best ssd's. The 840 evo had some problems with the firmware but it should be resolved now. You can download a free version of Acronis Clone app from the Samsung website. But it will only work with a Samsung ssd.

Milky_Building · Mar 31, 2015

Samsung 850 Evo or 850 Pro. Best for the $$$.

KENDAWG2000 · Mar 31, 2015

LordConrad :

Okay ty!

KENDAWG2000 · Mar 31, 2015

spooky2th :

Okay sounds good. The 850 EVO is $110 on Newegg so looks like something I might be getting my hands on quite soon. Thanks again for the help!

KENDAWG2000 · Mar 31, 2015

Milky_Building :

Okay thanks!

spooky2th · Mar 31, 2015

KENDAWG2000 :

Don't forget to download the Samsung Magician software too. It is a great bonus with a Samsung SSD. There is an option you can try that will give you speeds of a M.2 device. Have fun checking it all out.

KENDAWG2000 · Mar 31, 2015

spooky2th :

KENDAWG2000 :

Don't forget to download the Samsung Magician software too. It is a great bonus with a Samsung SSD. There is an option you can try that will give you speeds of a M.2 device. Have fun checking it all out.

Okay ty. I am sure I will be back before I make the final purchase for some other question I come upon. Ty for the help

KENDAWG2000 · Mar 31, 2015

spooky2th :

Actually One more question if you don't mind, after copying over the data on the drive to the SSD and booting from the SSD, should I delete all the other stuff from the other drive besides my games and such that I choose to keep?

USAFRet · Mar 31, 2015

KENDAWG2000 :

spooky2th :

Actually One more question if you don't mind, after copying over the data on the drive to the SSD and booting from the SSD, should I delete all the other stuff from the other drive besides my games and such that I choose to keep?

Ideally, you want to copy those files elsewhere first, then wipe that HDD, then copy back what you want.
Why? A lot of things may be suck in that original Windows install on the HDD. You can (probably) get to it from the new drive, but it will be far more of a pain.

EDIT: 'suck' = 'stuck'

spooky2th · Mar 31, 2015

+1 USAFRet

KENDAWG2000 · Mar 31, 2015

USAFRet :

KENDAWG2000 :

Ideally, you want to copy those files elsewhere first, then wipe that HDD, then copy back what you want.
Why? A lot of things may be suck in that original Windows install on the HDD. You can (probably) get to it from the new drive, but it will be far more of a pain.

EDIT: 'suck' = 'stuck'

So just to clarify, copy all except like my games files to my SSD
copy game files to another location,
WIPE HDD then copy game files back to HDD
Is that correct? Sorry if it seems self explanatory, just doing a thousand other things atm.

USAFRet · Mar 31, 2015

KENDAWG2000 :

USAFRet :

So just to clarify, copy all except like my games files to my SSD
copy game files to another location,
WIPE HDD then copy game files back to HDD
Is that correct? Sorry if it seems self explanatory, just doing a thousand other things atm.

Let's back up a sec...
Are you doing a fresh install, or cloning from the old drive to new?

KENDAWG2000 · Mar 31, 2015

USAFRet :

KENDAWG2000 :

USAFRet :

So just to clarify, copy all except like my games files to my SSD
copy game files to another location,
WIPE HDD then copy game files back to HDD
Is that correct? Sorry if it seems self explanatory, just doing a thousand other things atm.

Let's back up a sec...
Are you doing a fresh install, or cloning from the old drive to new?

Okay okay,
I wanted to get a 250gb SSD for my main boot drive.
I was planning on putting my programs and windows OS on the SSD while keeping my games and other space consuming files on my current 2tb hard drive.
I was looking at cloning my HDD stuff to a SSD just for a sort of easy upgrade that could improve some speeds Ext.

USAFRet · Mar 31, 2015

KENDAWG2000 :

USAFRet :

KENDAWG2000 :

Let's back up a sec...
Are you doing a fresh install, or cloning from the old drive to new?

Okay okay,
I wanted to get a 250gb SSD for my main boot drive.
I was planning on putting my programs and windows OS on the SSD while keeping my games and other space consuming files on my current 2tb hard drive.
I was looking at cloning my HDD stuff to a SSD just for a sort of easy upgrade that could improve some speeds Ext.

How much space is consumed on your current HDD? If over ~200GB, cloning is not an option. Unless you reduce that to below 200GB.

If you want to do a fresh install on the new SSD, no problem.

legendkiller2 · Mar 31, 2015

If you have enough money then go for Samsung 850 PRO. Best SSD at the moment in my opinion. Or the EVO(a bit less performance than the pro but still a king). Do not buy any cloning software.
Use this and you won't regret it http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm
I have used it a week ago after getting a new SSD. Just click on clone then select your HDD as the source and the SSD as the destination and do the clone.

KENDAWG2000 · Mar 31, 2015

USAFRet :

KENDAWG2000 :

USAFRet :

Okay okay,
I wanted to get a 250gb SSD for my main boot drive.
I was planning on putting my programs and windows OS on the SSD while keeping my games and other space consuming files on my current 2tb hard drive.
I was looking at cloning my HDD stuff to a SSD just for a sort of easy upgrade that could improve some speeds Ext.

How much space is consumed on your current HDD? If over ~200GB, cloning is not an option. Unless you reduce that to below 200GB.

If you want to do a fresh install on the new SSD, no problem.

Yeah I have about 1tb of the 2tb used :/ Most of it are games and like other files like photos and such.
So what should I do?
If I do a clean install, could I still transfer over my non-game programs? Kinda don't want to redo my whole PC again.
And then how would I isolate my games on my current HDD?

KENDAWG2000 · Mar 31, 2015

legendkiller2 :

Ok ty!

spooky2th · Apr 1, 2015

Just do a clean install and then you can install your hdd into another sata port after drivers and etc are installed and your comp is running right. You change your Documents so that it will link to the documents on your HDD where your games are. Can do the same with the other folders too, so as to keep from filling up the SSD.

Make sure that only the SSD is installed when windows is installed. Windows will install boot file on other drives if there are any installed. Your Windows activation number should work since you are using the same MB. You can delete windows files and other stuff that is no longer needed on that old HDD.

KENDAWG2000 · Apr 1, 2015

spooky2th :

Okay, now, is there anyway to move my programs over to the SSD from the HDD? Or would this require me to re install everything onto the SSD manually?

Looking into upgrading to an SSD, could use some advice :D

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