SSD not showing up.

[monkeymonk]

I've installed my m4 ssd and it shows up in the BIOS. I even updated the driver. When I click computer from the start menu it doesn't show up next to my other HDD. Will this be fixed once I use the cloning software I just ordered?

Side question: My HDD has 413 GB of data on it and the SSD has 256GB. Can I choose what I want it to clone or do I need to delete stuff from my HDD?

 

[rolli59]

You will have to go into disk management and allocate it http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/265764-32-guide-installed-disk-system

The data has to be smaller than the destination drive but it is recommended to do a clean install on the SSD with ACHI enabled in BIOS and your other disk disconnected. After that you can re connect the HDD and retrieve your DATA.

 

[RealBeast]

^ +1 for a clean re-install with AHCI enabled in your bios.

 

[monkeymonk]

You mean a clean install of the OS? Will I need the original OS disk to do this? If I uninstall my steam games will I lose game progress/mods when I reinstall? Can I reinstall steam games? Whats so special about AHCI?

 

[monkeymonk]

My cloning kit gets here in two days and I want to try this ssd out now. What do you think of allocating it before I clone it on thursday? Also that link is totally helpful thnx

 

[rolli59]

You mean a clean install of the OS? Will I need the original OS disk to do this? If I uninstall my steam games will I lose game progress/mods when I reinstall? Can I reinstall steam games? Whats so special about AHCI?

ACHI is transfer protocol to take advantage of the speed potential of a SATA connection. Steam games can be copied and pasted but Steam itself will need reinstall.

 

[RealBeast]

I generally clone to unallocated drives. First clone the SRP, then the OS partition.

It is simple to change from IDE to AHCI in Windows 7, it only takes a change of one registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci Click once on the msahci registry folder and double click the start key and change its value to 0, save it with an OK, and then reboot and during the reboot change the bios to AHCI. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

Also after the clone, check your drive alignment, as going HDD to SSD may result in it being off: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/113967-ssd-alignment.html

A clean install the first time to the SSD would be best despite all of the above info.

 

[monkeymonk]

Best answer selected by monkeymonk.

 

[monkeymonk]

I went with a clean install, but now I cannot boot from my SSD. Apparently I was supposed to install the OS with the old HDD removed. Found this out after 10 hours straight on my computer >.< I am going to open a new thread specifically about this problem.