SSD OS and software help

[nrm123]

Hey all, i'm sure you've had this question many times before ive had a search and cant find anything. Ive just bought a 240GB SSD on the Amazon Black Friday deals, I understand there are better but it was a spare of the moment thing. What i want it for is OS booting and games.

My question is how can i install my OS and Games onto the SSD (software codes only have 1 use). Ive looked at cloning but i only want the Operating System, Games and Sony Vegas etc. Reinstalling the OS would mean losing everything (lost Microsoft office disk/key not spending another £80 for it).

This is probably simple for you but because i've never used an SSD before i dont know the easiest answer. any help would be much appreciated, thanks

p.s. i will be an active member on these forums not here just for an answer then disappear like a lot of people do.

 

[americanbrian]

Take out your current drive completely.

Install a fresh OS onto the SSD.

Reconnect your old HDD.

The applications installed on it will still work. (assuming you don't change OS version). You will not need to re-install office. just create a shortcut to it on your desktop.

Your welcome...

 

[nrm123]

Ive got Win7 Home Premium installed but only got a copy of Win7 pro..thats going to throw a wobbly isnt it?

 

[americanbrian]

so long as they are both 32 bit or 64-bit. not one of each...

 

[nrm123]

thanks for your help. when i recieve it ill try it out just need to find a good bit of software to transfer steam data over so games will work off SSD

 

[kyoco]

hey, you can use system migration software to mirgrate your os to your new SSD. there are two excellent tools on the market that you can use: Paragon and AOMEI Partition Assistant. you can also refer to this post, which gives detailed inforamtion about them. http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/migrate-system-to-solid-state-disk-by-two-known-software

 

[jemm]

You will not lose anything on your HDD, no worry!

Just disconnect the HDD cables, then install the OS into the SSD -- set it to AHCI and make it your primary boot driver.

When you finish the installation, reconnect the HDD cables, and you will see everything is still there to include the old OS.

Then you can transfer some files, programs, or just use them from there.

 

[nrm123]

You will not lose anything on your HDD, no worry!

Just disconnect the HDD cables, then install the OS into the SSD -- set it to AHCI and make it your primary boot driver.

When you finish the installation, reconnect the HDD cables, and you will see everything is still there to include the old OS.

Then you can transfer some files, programs, or just use them from there.

Done the install...wow its fast! I can access my HDD and all of the files on there but how can i move over the programs so that they work on the SSD. When i copied Microsoft Office onto the desktop of SSD and try running Word it says 'This action is only valid for products that are currently installed'. Ive tried moving the program files into the program files folder on the SSD that didnt work.

 

[nrm123]

just went to install drivers for my graphics card and it came up saying 'Do you want to make changes..' refering to the drivers already on the HDD so it is picking each other up just not letting me use the programs. Steam is fine i can just reinstall and Mklink the files over but i dont have another copy of Office or Vegas

 

[RedRock]

You never mentioned the make and model of your new drive. If Samsung use their data migration software to clone the drives. It was done in minutes for me. Steam fired right up like nothing had happened. I had to uninstall and reinstall video drivers to get my big screen working again other than that it is all good. I use HDMI to connect the big screen to the computer for games don't know if that had anything to do with it but it was an easy fix so no big.

 

[jemm]

You may have to do some cleaning up in your HDD. You can uninstall duplicate programs and files you do not need anymore, or those that causing conflicts with the SSD.

In order to move programs you have to check it out with the software provided within your SSD, and see what it is able to accomplish -- it depends upon your SSD software.

Useful SSD Articles http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/270102-14-useful-articles-part

 

[nrm123]

You never mentioned the make and model of your new drive. If Samsung use their data migration software to clone the drives. It was done in minutes for me. Steam fired right up like nothing had happened. I had to uninstall and reinstall video drivers to get my big screen working again other than that it is all good. I use HDMI to connect the big screen to the computer for games don't know if that had anything to do with it but it was an easy fix so no big.

Its a Kingston SSDNow200V 240GB SSD. No software came with it. Was you able to pick what you wanted to migrate? or did it select everything? I only want certain things over on my SSD and keep HDD as data storage. If i cant get what i want over i will see if i can find 100gb to lose on the HDD clone it then wipe HDD then move files to it but thats a lot of hassle if i can just move what i want

 

[nrm123]

You may have to do some cleaning up in your HDD. You can uninstall duplicate programs and files you do not need anymore, or those that causing conflicts with the SSD.

In order to move programs you have to check it out with the software provided within your SSD, and see what it is able to accomplish -- it depends upon your SSD software.

Useful SSD Articles http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/270102-14-useful-articles-part

Thanks, at least i know when building a new system in a few years to install OS on SSD in the first place. No software came with SSD

 

[nrm123]

Ive got Acronis True Image but its not the activated version so i cant actually do anything, will that allow me to select the programs i want to move?

 

[jemm]

If you main concern is the games, I am quite sure they will be kept on Steam, so perhaps you won´t need to re-install them.

 

[nrm123]

If you main concern is the games, I am quite sure they will be kept on Steam, so perhaps you won´t need to re-install them.

just installed steam..all my games are there just need to install them again! ive got open office which opens my old files, not the same but they work! hopefully this will be ok thanks, just wish id have a day off work when i could sort it out!

 

[nrm123]

just realised id installed a 32bit version of Windows 7 and i used to have 64bit. My system can handle 64 so i will reinstall

 

[jemm]

64 bits is the way to go!