Swapping a secondary HDD to SSD where Programs have been installed

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Clarney

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Apr 24, 2016
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Hello, first time poster here,
Sometime ago I changed my primary HDD to a 480GB SSD using Acronis image, everything worked fine. I then formatted the old HDD and used it as a secondary drive and have been installing progams to that drive so as not to consume too much space on the primary SSD (I have swapped SSDs twice actually, as the original one was only a 120GB, hence the use of HDD as somwhere to install programs).

My question is:
Can I safely assume that I can create an image of the secondary HDD and populate a new SSD with that image, and the system recognise the new SSD as if it had been there all along?

I assume that I may have to ensure the letter of the drive is the same as the existing HDD?

Obviously the aim of this exercise is to increase boot time and maybe program execution when running.

Would appreciate any constructive feedback, thank you.
 
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ArtPog

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Sep 17, 2014
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Well, I'll try to make my response "constructive". Why would I (or anyone else for that matter) desire otherwise? Naturally there are never any guarantees in these situations you understand.

Presumably your intention is to clone the contents of your secondary HDD to a SSD. So there's no OS involved in this disk-cloning (or disk-imaging?) operation. Since a clone is a clone is a clone, there should be no problem in the system detecting the contents of the cloned data residing on the SSD. The likelihood is you will not need to assign a drive letter to the cloned drive; the OS should handle that aspect without a problem. However should a problem arise in this area it would be a simple enough process to assign an appropriate drive letter via Disk Management.

BTW, I wouldn't think the "aim of this exercise is to INCREASE BOOT TIME and maybe PROGRAM EXECUTION when running". You do desire the opposite of this, do you not?

 
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Clarney

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I appreciate the constructive feedback (in the past I have experienced disdain from posters who, having greater knowledge, mock those who are looking to learn).

My main concern, is that the HDD has programs installed on it, which are obviously accessed whilst Windows is booting up, so my prime concern is that there could be an issue, but I believe that if the drive letter is correct, as when the software was installed, then the cloned SSD will have no problems.

Was hoping just to confirm this.

My assumption on the increase on boot time relates to the initiation of Windows accessing installed programs on the HDD, which I hope would be drastically reduced with the advent of installing the SSD.
 
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Legion93

Legion93

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Changing program file locations usually involves editing the registry, which if you are not too sure how is not recommended to play around with. If you want to access already installed applications on your HD from the SSD then best bet is to just reinstall them there. Otherwise, keep the applications you don't usually use on your HD and large applications like games too. I would just use the SSD as boot drive and keep my core files/programs there.

The problem is you want to move program applications/software rather than simple files like documents, pictures etc. Cloning the drive wouldn't work for applications. Simply changing the drive letter on your SSD so it matches the HD wouldn't work because the program files are still stored on your HD.
 
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ArtPog

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Utilizing a SSD as a secondary drive should result in faster access of programs/data as compared with a HDD. I'm not sure whether I would characterize this as a "drastic" speedup, however. These things are always in the eyes of the beholder.

I'm not a gamer but my gaming friends tell me that while there's a decided speedup involving the loading of games with a SSD vis-a-vis HDD, they ordinarily see no comparable speed increase in actual game-playing.
 
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Clarney

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Legion 93, I don't plan on changing the program locations, if it's a clone, and I am swapping the HDD out for the SSD with all the same files present, I assume, all paths would appear the same as they were on the HDD, Apart from the the drive letter, why would the registry believe that anything is different?

I'm not sure I understand your statement about the files still being stored on the HD(D), when I've cloned them onto the SSD and the HDD will no longer be present, at least not until I end up reformatting it and using it as a tertiary drive.?

 
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Clarney

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Apr 24, 2016
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ArtPog, I'm not sure I'd agree that it is in the eye of the beholder, as in the computing world there are few things that cannot be measured resulting in hard results. I would agree that the change may not be drastically different, but given the differences between the read/write speed of 5400rpm HDD and an SSD, I believe they would be significant. Which is most definitely preferential.

My rig is 7 years old, using 1366 slot and a 1st gen 920 i7 processor on a Asus P6T Deluxe v2 mobo, it has been an incredibly stable set-up and I have tweaked it with a primary SSD, 750Ti GPU and more recently given it a new home in a Corsair 540 case, which it seems quite comfortable in. I'm not really into gaming these days, so don't require a high end system.

I appreciate your response and am enjoying the discussion.
 
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Clarney

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Apr 24, 2016
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I just thought I would post back to inform any interested party, that I successfully cloned and replaced my secondary HDD with a new SSD.

Just a change of the Drive letter to that of the original HDD, and booting as if no change had taken place.

There is a minor increase in boot time and a notable change in execution times, and a distinct lack of a whirring and clicking hard drive.

Programs stored on the secondary executing fine.
 
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ziqkimi

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Jan 31, 2018
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Clarney said:
I just thought I would post back to inform any interested party, that I successfully cloned and replaced my secondary HDD with a new SSD.

Just a change of the Drive letter to that of the original HDD, and booting as if no change had taken place.

There is a minor increase in boot time and a notable change in execution times, and a distinct lack of a whirring and clicking hard drive.

Programs stored on the secondary executing fine.
Click to expand...


I know I am late...but actually I wanted to replace my HDD to SSD as well (secondary storage, no OS involves). SO you just copy all HDD contents into SSD and change the drive letter right...?
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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ziqkimi said:
I know I am late...but actually I wanted to replace my HDD to SSD as well (secondary storage, no OS involves). SO you just copy all HDD contents into SSD and change the drive letter right...?
Click to expand...
If it is a secondary drive, yes.
Just copy the contents, keeping the folder structure.
Swap drive letters around so that the new drive has the same drive letter as the old one did.

And please don't dredge up old threads.
 
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