How do I clone HDD to Samsung 850 Evo SSD without SATA to USB cable?

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crawlver

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I do not have the SATA to USB connector, but I have extra SATA cables in my PC. How do I go about doing this with the Samsung migration software?

Do I need to connect the SSD to the SATA cables and set the boot order to HDD then SSD to use the software?

When do I set the type to AHCI or does the software do it automatically?

Would I need to format the SSD before attempting to clone?

There are a few threads about this but they don't seem to go into great detail on how to go about it. I just want to make sure I have all the steps correct!

Thanks,
Cameron

 
Solution
Boogieman_WD
You shouldn't have to format the SSD at all. The cloning process copies everything sector by sector and you should end up with the exact same partition and the exact same file system. Backup any important data which you might have before you start doing anything at all. After that set the SATA mode to AHCI and boot to Windows, sometimes this might require Windows to repair itself which would configure it for the new SATA mode. Once you've booted to Windows properly with AHCI SATA mode. Go ahead and start the cloning process.

Please keep me posted on your progress.
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Boogieman_WD

Boogieman_WD

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Hey there, Cameron.

The SATA to USB adapter is basically for convenience if you don't have other available SATA ports and/or cables (e.g. like it is with most laptops). Basically you can do the cloning process with the SSD connected directly to the motherboard via a standard SATA connection. About the AHCI, you'll have to set that from your BIOS/UEFI. This is the mode of your SATA controller. Here's a link to a pretty good tutorial on how to migrate your OS to an SSD: http://lifehacker.com/5837543/how-to-migrate-to-a-solid-state-drive-without-reinstalling-windows. Note that instead of using the suggested cloning software in the article, you can go with the one you already have, so this step is totally up to your personal preference.

Hope that helps. Please let me know if you have any questions whatsoever.
Boogieman_WD
 
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crawlver

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The article helped, but I still have a few questions. Do I need to format the SSD before cloning my HDD onto it? If I need to format the SSD, should I set the sata controller to AHCI first? Maybe I'm mistaken, and the software should do it for me?

Thanks,
Cameron
 
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Boogieman_WD

Boogieman_WD

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Jul 31, 2014
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You shouldn't have to format the SSD at all. The cloning process copies everything sector by sector and you should end up with the exact same partition and the exact same file system. Backup any important data which you might have before you start doing anything at all. After that set the SATA mode to AHCI and boot to Windows, sometimes this might require Windows to repair itself which would configure it for the new SATA mode. Once you've booted to Windows properly with AHCI SATA mode. Go ahead and start the cloning process.

Please keep me posted on your progress.
 
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Solution
C

crawlver

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Ah, okay, I see. So I should set my SATA controller to the AHCI mode before booting into Windows on my HDD to start the cloning process? If I'm understanding correctly.
 
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crawlver

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Like you warned in a previous reply, Windows might need to repair on startup. Well that was the case, but I wasn't sure if I should let it restore to a previous backup, since that would mess with the SATA controller right? Should I let it restore to a previous point? I cancelled the option to restore and just let it do its thing, but it ended up saying it couldn't fix anything. I do have the option to boot windows normally, but I'd assume it wouldn't boot into Windows at all if selected.

When I set my controller to AHCI mode, there was another option that appeared titled "OnChip Sata Port 4/5 Type" and it had the options of "IDE" or "Use SATA type". I'm thinkin that I need to set it to "use SATA type", correct?

Thanks,
Cameron
 
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crawlver

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My SSD is all up and working now! Thank you for the helpful tips Boogieman_WD.

The solution:

Since I initially installed Windows 7 in IDE mode, I needed to do a registry edit to change it to AHCI mode. I found that solution at this site: http://www.ithinkdiff.com/how-to-enable-ahci-in-windows-7-rc-after-installation/

After I messed around with the registry, I enabled AHCI in my BIOS and set "OnChip SATA Port 4/5 type" to "Use SATA type"

Windows booted up normally and downloaded the appropriate AHCI drivers, so then I needed to do a restart again to confirm these driver updates.

I then cleaned up any unwanted stuff on my HDD using tools like Disk Cleanup for Windows 7, then I Defragged my HDD using the Windows 7 Disk Defragment Tool. After this I popped in the software for Samsung Data Migration and installed it.

I followed the prompts and everything copied over nicely! Then I went to my BIOS and set my boot priority to the Samsung SSD.

Faster than ever now! Reformatted my old HDD for storage, too.

Hopefully this helps someone out there with the same questions as me!

-Cameron
 
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Boogieman_WD

Boogieman_WD

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You did pretty well there. Good job mate. I was hoping that you won't have to go for the registry edit, because it's never recommended to mess with the reg edit, but if everything worked out fine that's the important thing. I'd like to add up just one thing - go ahead and enable TRIM. There should be instructions on how to do that in the tutorial I posted in one of my previous posts. This is really important in order to get the most out of your SSD in terms of performance and life expectancy.

Cheers! :)
 
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