Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion

upgrade to SSD

<< < (2/3) > >>

Jibz:
I recently added an Intel SSD to a computer that was a few years old. There was some software for migrating Windows included (based on Acronis), but the old drive was partioned, and the software was unable to clone just one partition to the new drive, and insisted on fitting the entire 1 TB drive onto the 120 GB SSD and failed.

I ended up installing the free version of Macrium, and it copied the Windows partition including resizing and everything without any problems.

Carol Haynes:
Use a Partition tool to downsize your C: drive so that combined with the support partitions it is smaller than the SSD. If you have data on another user partition copy it to drive C: then use Windows 7 Backup to make a system of Drive C: and the support partitions (not any extra user partitions) to an external drive or DVDs. If you haven't got a Windows 7 original DVD let Backup create a recovery CD.

Install the SSD and then boot from the recovery CD and restore the image to the SSD.

Voila you are done

PS: Probably best to do any cleanups and defrags before you make the backup - give a cleaner start on the SSD and means you don't have to copy as much rubbish.

40hz:
^Alternatively, if you're not too loaded up - or are due for some major housecleaning - you could also just go with a clean OS plus apps install on the SSD and then use Microsoft's easy transfer utility to move your settings and data over.

Sometimes that's the best strategy when you can't or don't want to clone a partition - but you also have a lot on the drive - so you don't want to start over completely from scratch.

It's a good way to avoid bringing registry gremlins and other 'squirrels' over from the old drive too! :Thmbsup:

f0dder:
Do a reinstall.

And start by installing on a HDD (or a virtual machine image (on a HDD) - I prefer this approach myself, since I can keep using my physical machine while the VM guest reboots those countless times) with the partition size you expect using on the SSD - once you've got everything set up, defrag the filesystem, and clone it to the target SSD.

Also, be sure you have a very well planned backup strategy before you boot from the SSD. Unless you don't care about the data you put on it, you do need something that can painlessly handle continuous backup. (Genie Timeline had some really nice features, but in the end I gave up on it - story for another post. CrashPlan isn't nearly as sweet, but it does the job almost well enough).

tomos:
If cloning or using an image, wont the hidden boot (100MB) drive need to be copied as well ?

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page