[Computer Illiterate] Can someone explain a few things about SSDs?

[cormag778]

Hey all, a friend of mine recently bought me an SSD because he knows i like to game, but i know very little about the exact way i can get my SSD to work. I built my desktop, but I received a bit of help. With that in mind, can someone help explain a few things.

1) When I install my SSD, should I install it as my primary storage device or use it as a backup/secondary drive?

2) Assuming I use it as a secondary device, do I need to copy my OS over? If so, how? The SSD given to me has a cloning tool on it, but seeing as I haven't installed the SSD yet, i don't know exactly what shape that will take. Also, my copy was originally windows 7 OEM before upgrading to windows 10. Would that make a diffference

3) In general, how do you select where you want what data to boot from?


Thanks all, i've tried to do research, but i found a lot of conflicting info.

 

[dexxterlab97]

First off just leave SSD as default settings (generally you should just plug it in like a flash drive). If you are asking for usage then most people use it to boot windows and games faster and have no intention of storing anything there that's why they have HDD (where HDD can act as a storage/backup)

You can use the software to clone your windows to SSD so that it will boot off from your SSD. USe the one provided should be OK. Just follow the instruction of the program and your win10 will be carried over. I had a Window8, upgraded to Win10 and clone it to my SSD. The original OS should not matter.

You just simply install software/games to the SSD and it will boot from it. There is no other way around. If you store some games it will start on SSD.

 

[USAFRet]

1. It should be the OS and application drive, however you get the OS there. Clone or clean install.
2. See #1
3. So, you have the OS and applications on this SSD. You can have other things on the old HDD.
We'll go into that later.

Questions:
1. What size is this drive?
2. How much total used space is on your current C drive?
3. How much of that is doc/music/funny cat video?
4. Is it a Samsung drive?
5. Does the system currently work to your satsifaction?

 

[cormag778]

1. It should be the OS and application drive, however you get the OS there. Clone or clean install.
2. See #1
3. So, you have the OS and applications on this SSD. You can have other things on the old HDD.
We'll go into that later.

Questions:
1. What size is this drive?
2. How much total used space is on your current C drive?
3. How much of that is doc/music/funny cat video?
4. Is it a Samsung drive?
5. Does the system currently work to your satsifaction?

1) 240 GB
2)1200 total, using 900
3) Good question, probably a lot more than it needs to be, i need to clean my computer out of old junk files
4) Kingston
5) Yea, but i have some long loading times starting up my desktop/some games. So I look forward to it.

 

[cormag778]

First off just leave SSD as default settings (generally you should just plug it in like a flash drive). If you are asking for usage then most people use it to boot windows and games faster and have no intention of storing anything there that's why they have HDD (where HDD can act as a storage/backup)

You can use the software to clone your windows to SSD so that it will boot off from your SSD. USe the one provided should be OK. Just follow the instruction of the program and your win10 will be carried over. I had a Window8, upgraded to Win10 and clone it to my SSD. The original OS should not matter.

You just simply install software/games to the SSD and it will boot from it. There is no other way around. If you store some games it will start on SSD.

thanks a ton!

 

[USAFRet]

1. It should be the OS and application drive, however you get the OS there. Clone or clean install.
2. See #1
3. So, you have the OS and applications on this SSD. You can have other things on the old HDD.
We'll go into that later.

Questions:
1. What size is this drive?
2. How much total used space is on your current C drive?
3. How much of that is doc/music/funny cat video?
4. Is it a Samsung drive?
5. Does the system currently work to your satsifaction?

1) 240 GB
2)1200 total, using 900
3) Good question, probably a lot more than it needs to be, i need to clean my computer out of old junk files
4) Kingston
5) Yea, but i have some long loading times starting up my desktop/some games. So I look forward to it.

Given that space usage, you can't clone the system over.
So you'd need to do a clean OS install on the SSD.

 

[dexxterlab97]

Is it me or I don't find cat videos funny. You have bad friend tbh. Kingston is known for their poor SSD quality.

 

[USAFRet]

Is it me or I don't find cat videos funny. You have bad friend tbh. Kingston is known for their poor SSD quality.

Only a couple of models of Kingston were substandard.
The V300, for instance.

 

[cormag778]

Is it me or I don't find cat videos funny. You have bad friend tbh. Kingston is known for their poor SSD quality.

Only a couple of models of Kingston were substandard.
The V300, for instance.

My friend is either didn't know that or is a troll, he got me the 300. I'll see if i can get him to return it.

 

[cormag778]

1. It should be the OS and application drive, however you get the OS there. Clone or clean install.
2. See #1
3. So, you have the OS and applications on this SSD. You can have other things on the old HDD.
We'll go into that later.

Questions:
1. What size is this drive?
2. How much total used space is on your current C drive?
3. How much of that is doc/music/funny cat video?
4. Is it a Samsung drive?
5. Does the system currently work to your satsifaction?

1) 240 GB
2)1200 total, using 900
3) Good question, probably a lot more than it needs to be, i need to clean my computer out of old junk files
4) Kingston
5) Yea, but i have some long loading times starting up my desktop/some games. So I look forward to it.

Given that space usage, you can't clone the system over.
So you'd need to do a clean OS install on the SSD.

Thanks again, so ended up getting a new SSD and I'm about to use windows creation tools to reinstall my OS to the new SSD. I've made backups, but could you answer a few more things about the switch?

I'll lose all my programs, correct?
Will the same happen to my personal information (documents etc) will i lose that as well?
When im recopying information over, how exactly do i choose what goes to my HDD and what goes onto my SSD?
Essentially i just want the SSD for booting and for running a few games with lots of loading and would prefer to keep the remainder of my stuff on the HDD (even though i acknowledge i may have to lose it all first before replacing it).

Thanks a ton!

 

[dexxterlab97]

You will need to backup important files. Since you installing fresh from SSD, HDD will remain untouched. You might want to remove some Recovery partitions there that was created when Windows boot in HDD.