HDD to SSD

[radicalolly]

I got a SSD recently and I am going to move my C: drive contents onto it. I've already cleared out most of the rubbish out of the HDD and I have 60GB of data left on it (I cant be bothered to find the rest on the crap - i spent 6 hours digging around to get rid of the other 100GB). What would be the best way to transfer over onto the SSD? Also im aware that ill need to re-adjust the volume shadow copy if im going to make a back up and transfer over by restoring onto the SSD - should i do that before or after the switch? Is there any way that i can configure windows so that any download i make doesnt go onto the SSD but onto the HDD?

Any help is much appreciated

 

[radicalolly]

i dont have any more copies of W7

 

[LordConrad]

Just use a drive cloning tool like Acronis True Image. As long as the capacity of the SSD is larger than the amount of data on the hard drive you wish to clone, everything should work fine. I've done this on three different computers when installing a new SSD and never had any trouble.

 

[radicalolly]

Im cheap...free programs or not at all. Do you know any others?

 

[tomatthe]

As mentioned above do a clean install. There are many reasons to do this which a forum search will show most of them. If you have a legit copy of Win 7 you can install it on the same hardware, but you will need to call MS to reactivate it. Doing things the right way is worth it imo.

 

[radicalolly]

so i should i format the ssd put it in change the boot priority to the odd with the windows 7 disc in and reinstall that way? (ill disconnect the other drives to make sure they dont try to go to that). Is there anyway to change where the files will auto save to so that any new files dont go onto the C: drive but onto another specified one? I dont want to cram my ssd with crap files

 

[tomatthe]

Yep, lots of post on that exact question to. Personally I prefer to just right click on the folders I want to relocate and use Location option to move them. That only works with the user account Videos, Music, Pictures, Docs etc folders though.

 

[LordConrad]

Contrary to what others have said, there is no reason to go through the hassle of a fresh install, unless you want to. There are free cloning programs that will clone your hard drive to your SSD with very little effort. Doing a fresh install is good, but it is definitely not required for great SSD performance.

 

[leandrodafontoura]

Regarding ACHI mode....you may also set to RAID wich has all of ACHI features and more. Now you can TRIM and RAID on SSD, or maybe you want to RAID HDDs

The best way to move your data is cloning your data. There are excellent free programs, wich Ill tell you in a second. No need to fresh install at all.

Regarding saves/downloads, yes, you can configure to save to any HDD, I like the desktop, but its ok to set it to any other itnernal or external HDD

Now the cloning program: There is just one, Macrium Reflect Free. Its the best free cloning application. You can donwload it at cnet. Oh, and they have steb-by-step videos on youtube showing how to clone your drive

To conclude, Macrium Reflect also does backups. Unfortunatly, only full backups. In order to have incremental backups (wich is the only type of backup you should create), you will need to get the paid version of Macrium Reflect. So, in addition to Reflect, you may install EaseUs Todo, wich is the best free backup application (and includes incremental backups) Nevertheless, the paid version of Reflect may be worth it if you want 1 program to handle everything. Moreover, the interface of Reflect is way superior to Easeus Todo.

So the choice is yours, I suscefully transfer my hdds to ssd in both laptops and 2 desktops using Macrium Reflect. Have fun

 

[LordConrad]

anonymous1
After cloning each of thee SSDs I've installed, I checked the TRIM setting after booting to the SSD and found that Windows had already enabled it. As for auto defrag, turning it off was just one of the tweaks I made according to tecmo34's guide:
http://www.computing.net/howtos/show/solid-state-drive-ssd-tweaks-for-windows-7/552.html

 

[quesionboy]

hi, migrate the system partition from old HDD to New SSD becomes more and more popular, you could use some clone software to do this. and my answers in this thread (How do i transfer my windows 7 from a 100gb partition in a 2tb WD hdd to a 100gb I have mentioned some popular clone software. Hope this could help you.
BTW, I think this article could also give you some help.
Article about "Cloning Hard Drive Windows7 to New HDD by Reliable Cloning Software"

 

[RetiredChief]

Myself, this is a one time deal so I recommend the clean install.
The "cloning software" must enable trim as the image does not have it enabled and it must also align the partitions
Windows install will also create a 100 mb system partition, not sure how that is handle during cloning. lso the BEST method to really clean up that registry.

What I do:
.. DISCONNECT your HDD, connect only the SSD
.. Install windows - You can USE the same copy that created the install on your HDD and most likely will NOT even have to call MS. Do not partition/formate the SSD, Let windows install do it.
.. Once installation is done, Let windows do it's updates, load drivers, and load software.
.. Do a good test drive: verify no driver problems, no BSODs, system is stable.

NOW, Use windows FREE backup program to create a system image of your SSD. Put this onto the HDD root directory (I laso copy to my external backup HDD for added safety. For whatever reason you need to reinstall windows - insert Win 7 DVD select repair, repair from image and 10 Min latter you boot back to your Fresh, Day 1 windows 7 - Yes thats 10 Min (15 mins if you make a cup of coffee).

 

[bighandxyz]

You can always use DriveClone. It has a 14 days free trial, so just let the software do the work instead of having to deal with annoying copy and paste

http://www.farstone.com/software/drive-clone.php