A few questions about migrating to an SSD

[chuckle490]

CPU: AMD FX-8320 OC'd @ 4.2GHZ
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
GPU: MSI GTX 970 OC'd
MOBO: Gigabyte GA78LMT-USB3
PSU: EVGA Supernova 850G2
Memory: 2x4GB 1600MHz RAM
HDD: WD Blue 1 TB 7200 RPM
Optical Drive: LG CD/DVD
Case: NZXT Phantom 410
Cooling: 3 Exhaust & 2 Intake NZXT Case Fans
OS: Windows 8.1




I am planning on adding an ssd to my rig, in particular the Samsung 850 Pro 256 GB. I know that to maximize the performance from your ssd you want to have a fresh installation of your OS on it, but I am not nearly experienced enough to be able to do that. i have read that you only want to use a maximum of 75% storage on an ssd, to keep it from slowing down, so that would leave me with 192 GB to work with. My question is can I delete all games I do not want on my ssd, and back up all the files I do not want on the ssd to a flash drive, to make space so that I can use the cloning software that comes with the ssd? Do I want to delete programs such as cpu-z, prime95, and benchmarking software to later download onto my hdd? Is there a better way to go about migrating? Thanks for any and all help!

 

[digitaldoc]

A fresh install is really the way to go, and long term is the most likely to not leave you with problems that will be even more difficult to fix.

Yes, you do not want a HDD or SSD to be more than 75% full, and I target less than 50%.

If you really want to go the clone route, than yes, delete as much off the SSD, and it can be reinstalled later by downloading it.

 

[chuckle490]

How exactly would I make a fresh install of windows on the ssd without losing anything on my HDD, someone told me I could download an iso to a flash drive but I kind need more of a step by step guide on how to do that.

 

[g90814]

Moving your games to a data drive is defintitely the way to go. Smaller programs you shouldn't really bother.

You can check in the add/remove programs control panel how much space each application takes, and go from there.

Uninstall programs you don't need also.

You don't have to use the cloning software that comes with the SSD. I use Macrium Reflect (free version) and it does the job great. I love that you can do the clone while the system is running.

 

[chuckle490]

By data drive do you mean the ssd?

The main thing taking up space on my pc is music, like 140GB, so I plan on backing that up on to my ipod in disk mode then deleting it from my pc to clone and then putting it back on my pc using my ipod.

Have you ever compared an ssd that was a fresh OS install vs a cloned ssd?

 

[USAFRet]

One consideration you want to look at - how old is that current Windows install? If recent...cloning is not necessarily a bad idea.
6 months or more old? You probably have a lot of random junk in there. Failed or partial uninstalls, etc. Why drag all of that to a new SSD?

 

[chuckle490]

This install is from July, I would love to do a fresh install, I just don't know how to. Is there some sort of guide anyone could link me to?

 

[digitaldoc]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/installing-reinstalling-windows#1TC=windows-7

 

[chuckle490]

Thank you for all the help everyone!

 

[chuckle490]

Sorry for the double post, could I back up all my data onto an external hard drive, then reset my windows to factory, then clone the OS from the HDD to the SSD? Would that be a fairly optimal way to migrate?

 

[digitaldoc]

You can put the data on an external drive.

You would reset the drive to factory via a full format.

Then do the fresh install.


The other option would be to do the clone, but then it is direct, and all the data should migrate, so no need for the external drive first (except as insurance).

 

[hwc1954]

I cloned a four year old Win 7 install to a new SSD a couple weeks ago. No problems at all. The advantage of a fresh install is that you weed out some clutter. The disadvantage is weeks and weeks of updates and application and utility installs just to get back to a functioning system. I bet the updates on a re-install of Win 7 would take a month.

Six in one, half dozen in the other.

 

[digitaldoc]

I cloned a four year old Win 7 install to a new SSD a couple weeks ago. No problems at all. The advantage of a fresh install is that you weed out some clutter. The disadvantage is weeks and weeks of updates and application and utility installs just to get back to a functioning system. I bet the updates on a re-install of Win 7 would take a month.

Six in one, half dozen in the other.

I did a fresh install of Win 7-64 last month, and the updates took about 5 days. Definitely not a month, but it would also depend on the speed of your internet (mine is 18 Mbps).

 

[chuckle490]

What do you mean 5 days? Like 120 hours of downloading updates??

 

[hwc1954]

And how many day for Word, Excel, Power Point, Office, Adobe, Acrobat, iTunes, and other updates, all having to be installed from scratch from the discs and then updated. Then, you still have to one thorny problem of relocating all the libraries from the default C:/ drive to the D:/ drive.

I was completely up and running with everything in its new location within 24 hours after Amazon delivered my SSD. Of course, I had spent two days coming up with a game plan, moving stuff off the HDD I was cloning to the SSD (for a simple clone), making 24-hour old emergency backups of everything, etc.

I think you have to weigh the benefits of a fresh install and cleaning out a lot of junk with the amount of stuff you are going to have to reload from the original installation disks and update to get back to square one. If you system is stable and working well, cloning seems to be a valid option to me.

 

[USAFRet]

And how many day for Word, Excel, Power Point, Office, Adobe, Acrobat, iTunes, and other updates, all having to be installed from scratch from the discs and then updated. Then, you still have to one thorny problem of relocating all the libraries from the default C:/ drive to the D:/ drive.

For Windows updates, it takes a while, but you don't have to sit there and watch it. Just let it run overnight or while at school/work.

The Office suite installs in about 30 minutes. Then the updates for that come with regular Windows updates.
For your small utilities? ninite.com. A single install, with the most up to date version.
'Thorny problem' of relocating? Takes about 5 minutes.
Win 7 & 8: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1834397/ssd-redirecting-static-files.html
Win 8.1: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2024314/windows-redirecting-folders-drives.html

 

[Moonstick2]

I did a fresh install of Win 7-64 last month, and the updates took about 5 days. Definitely not a month, but it would also depend on the speed of your internet (mine is 18 Mbps).

5 days @ 18 Mbps ~ 950 GB.

Even running at an average of 10% of that connection speed, five days would mean almost a 100 GB download, or about several times the size of a Win7-64 install. Not sure I believe that.

SP1-64 was 1 GB at most...I'd be astounded if all the service packs and updates and the like came in anywhere near 10 GB let alone 100 GB. Even if they did total 10 GB, that would take less than five hours @ 5 Mbps.

 

[digitaldoc]

What do you mean 5 days? Like 120 hours of downloading updates??

No, 5 restarts, and the longest one was SP1 which took about an hour to download and run. The other days, the computer was on for 2-3 hours, but it was not downloading updates the whole time.