^ Concur with "But nothing beats a fresh install, free of years of accumulated crud"
I have NO problem with clonning a SSD -> SSD, But for going from HDD -> SSD, I ALWAYS do a clean install, this is a ONE time deal and worth the time!.
.. Clean install will:
.... Enable trim (windows 7)
.... Will properly align partition.
.... These two Items are always questionable in cloning HDD -> SSD.
In addition to setting the BIOS to AHCI, also make sure the SSD is the ONLY drive attached - disconnect the HDD when doing a clean install and reconnect AFTER windows is installed on the SSD.
After windows is installed, windows updates completed, drivers and programs loaded verify all is working good - then activate - and USE Windows backup to perform an image of your SSD (located in control Panel!! at any time and for what ever reason you will be able to restore your system to this state in 10 to 15 Min.
NO re-install OS, No wait to download and install windows updates, no reload drivers and programs. Just pop in a windows Installation disk (or use the "restore disk" that once the image is completed you will be prompted to make). Just select repair, restore from image and 10 min later you boot to the exact same state as when you created the image.