Have I wasted my money on a my new SSD's?

[Kremo]

Basically, long story short i've bought two Kingston 120GB SSD for increased speed on my PC, but i've just realized I can't do a fresh install of windows, i've got atleast 1.1 TB of data on my PC at the moment and I can't back all of that up, also my internet speed is slow as hell and it takes me days to download games so i'm not willing to wipe my games clean either.

I would clone my OS but i've heard its risky business so i'm not sure, if I loose all my data i'm done for. So basically i've kind of wasted my money, my OS isn't going to run any faster and that sucks, should I just get a refund as I'm not too bothered about waiting for loading times in games, and atm my ssd's only seem like that's what they'd be used for, as I can't install my OS on them, so my PC will be just as slow.

If theres anyway around this that is safe and secure please let me know.
Thanks

 

[Spiritos]

Why not...because what often happens with a Windows install, the boot info ends up on the second drive.

That would be a first for me but it's still unclear to me if the OP wants to keep the HDD as a data drive or not. I assume so though, hence I'd suggest deleting the necessary OS folders the last time the OP is running the current OS (not that important to be honest when installing a fresh OS from a CD/USB but just to be sure), then connect all drives, change the boot order in the BIOS (not necessary either since a fresh install will let you choose the designated OS drive), then start the install of the new OS.

When the necessary OS folder on the HDD have been deleted the install won't recognize a former OS though and won't add "repair" as an option alongside a "new" install. It will ask on which of the 2 SSD's or HDD the new OS should be installed and that's it. The only way the OP could mess up an install is choosing the wrong disk and the only scenario where boot info can end up on a second drive.

The threads you mention about an OS not booting when removing a second disk surely must've been remapped/customized with relocation of data folders/page file/hybernation files etc. since no Windows since 98 installs boot info on a second drive without explicit permission of the user in and advanced mode of some Windows mod.

My PC has 3 SSD's, 3 HHD's (non raid) and a hubbed 15 external HDD's. Do you think I added 1 at a time? Or does it seem logical when someone assembles a PC, having only the OS disk attached, then adding others one by one later on? This is when Windows messes things up and I've never heard of this method and the most common and logical advice all builders on any forum will give you is to have your PC assemebled with all components before doing a fresh install.

But like I mentioned in my first response, this is a very odd (and humerous) thread. I shouldn't have gotten involved in the first place. OP: I'm sure you'll be fine one way or the other!

 

[madmatt30]

@spiritos - unfortunately windows 10 fresh installs can do exactly what USAFR described with no user prompt or interaction.

Whether it does or not seems to be more or less random but ypu are far far better only having a single drive installed before you install windows (unless of course you're running a raid 0 setup)

I did infct forget you can extend the windows 10 partition onto a second parrallel drive from within windows so kudos for that.

 

[sshort]

I can strectch my butcher a bit and get 2x 250GB, would that be just the same or nah?

What a confusing thread... and you seem to not have really thought thru your plan. My suggestion, step back and think about why want what you want, and then decide how to proceed. Honestly, you seem to be waffling all over the place and generally whimsical.

If at end of the day aesthetics are key, then I would order the best looking and cheapest SSDs you can find, mount them in your box so they look cool and call it good.

 

[ThalesSousa]

First of all, to everyone patronizing the OP.
His money, his needs, his choices, you have no business judging him for what he chose to do. So you can either shut up and try to help him or just go away, I'm sure 10 other people will probably know more than you do.


Now to the actual answer.
You could consider temporary cloud storage, but since your internet speed is slow, I don't think that's an option. Theoretically, you could just move your games to your SSDs using the Steam Mover, link below:
http://www.traynier.com/software/steammover

About the OS itself, that's hard, but you could just do a fresh install of Windows on one of the SSDs and dual boot. I don't know how frequently you're gonna use the data on your HDD, but if it's just old things you'd like to keep around I guess that could work.

 

[Yogi2367]

Might as well throw my 2 cents worth in here ... yes, it is possible to clone only your OS from the HDD to SSD. Acronis True Image will do that for you.
However, since I've never done one that way, I have no idea what issues will crop up when you try to run games installed to your HDD and your OS running on a new SSD.
Could be as simple as having to rerun the setup.exe files in each of the installed games, or could be considerably more difficult.
Regardless, it's an option.

As for aesthetics ... 2 x 4TB Samsung EVO 850's look friggin' awesome, and a stack of 8 of them is out of this world

 

[USAFRet]

Might as well throw my 2 cents worth in here ... yes, it is possible to clone only your OS from the HDD to SSD. Acronis True Image will do that for you.

I'd have to see a screencap of the window where it says that.
Either from actual use, or from the helpfile for that.

And then an actual working system, after having done it.

 

[Yogi2367]

Might as well throw my 2 cents worth in here ... yes, it is possible to clone only your OS from the HDD to SSD. Acronis True Image will do that for you.

I'd have to see a screencap of the window where it says that.
Either from actual use, or from the helpfile for that.

And then an actual working system, after having done it.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f341/Yogi2367/Acronis_zpsox0qnzlj.jpg

Like I said, I haven't tried it. It appears though that you would exclude everything except the OS directory and the hidden files.
As for experience, I use Acronis all the time. I like it much better than Samsung's Magician software.

 

[USAFRet]

Might as well throw my 2 cents worth in here ... yes, it is possible to clone only your OS from the HDD to SSD. Acronis True Image will do that for you.

I'd have to see a screencap of the window where it says that.
Either from actual use, or from the helpfile for that.

And then an actual working system, after having done it.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f341/Yogi2367/Acronis_zpsox0qnzlj.jpg

Like I said, I haven't tried it. It appears though that you would exclude everything except the OS directory and the hidden files.
As for experience, I use Acronis all the time. I like it much better than Samsung's Magician software.

"Exclude by files and folders"
There is much more to a Windows install than just the OS folder.

As said...I'd have to see that actually work.
Samsung Data Migration also allows you to leave off certain categories of files and folders.

My requirement for "clone the OS only":

A single 1TB drive.
A new, smaller drive. SSD maybe.
OS and all your applications, games, docs, whatever.
Install something
Click, click, exclude, include, whatever.
Run, wait until it is done.
Reboot.

The OS, and only the OS, ends up on the new drive.
All your 'applications/games/doc/whatever still exists on the original 1TB HDD
Run the OS (on the SSD), click App1(that still lives on the original drive, now the D drive), and it works.


I have never seen any cloning imaging application that does that.
I'd love for someone to prove me wrong.
(actual experience, not simply what the advertising junk says)

 

[Rich865]

USAFRet
15 minutes ago
Your correct it won't, to clone a drive it need's to be of the same size or larger to work correctly.
A "Macrium Reflect" user

 

[DaveQuito]

Go and download the microsoft media creation tool and make yourself a bootable windows 10 flashdrive.

I would get 2 250gb ssds and put them in raid 1 or 0. Install windows to the new raid volume and profit.

I can totally understand the whole aesthetic thing, but when it comes to SSDs bigger is better, also don't cheap out on them. you tend to get what you pay for in most cases.

 

[USAFRet]

I would get 2 250gb ssds and put them in raid 1 or 0. Install windows to the new raid volume and profit.

I have 2 x 250GB SSD's (among others), and I wouldn't. And haven't.

 

[RealBeast]

Agreed, no good reason to RAID SSDs.

And I too would like to see a tool that can clone only the OS. I see no way that the clone program would be able to change registry keys for installed programs that are not copied.

 

[RankoKohime]

...if I loose all my data i'm done for.

Then your data needs to NOT be on a single drive. Drives fail. Drives lie about their read error rates. (all drives have occasional read errors even when new) Data slowly goes corrupt on hard drives, just because of how densely-packed the data is, and because of ambient radiation. This is called bitrot. And the only thing that reliably protects against bitrot is ZFS, the filesystem used by FreeBSD and FreeNAS. (Among others, my Linux desktop is running ZFS as well)

On the other hand, maintaining data integrity is an expensive rabbit-hole. My FreeNAS build, $1,390.36

 

[DaveQuito]

Agreed, no good reason to RAID SSDs.

If you are worried about drive failure, I would use 2 ssds in RAID 1.
If you wanted max speed raid 0 will deliver that, as well as providing you a larger volume to store more data.

 

[USAFRet]

Agreed, no good reason to RAID SSDs.

If you are worried about drive failure, I would use 2 ssds in RAID 1.
If you wanted max speed raid 0 will deliver that, as well as providing you a larger volume to store more data.

RAID 1 - There are many other, easier, safer ways to safeguard your data.
RAID 0 - Of no use with SSD's in normal everyday use.
2 x 120GB drives in RAID 0 is no faster, and more expensive, than a single 250GB drive.
2 x 250GB drives in RAID 0 is no faster, and more expensive, than a single 500GB drive.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-raid-benchmark,3485.html

 

[DaveQuito]

Agreed, no good reason to RAID SSDs.

If you are worried about drive failure, I would use 2 ssds in RAID 1.
If you wanted max speed raid 0 will deliver that, as well as providing you a larger volume to store more data.

RAID 1 - There are many other, easier, safer ways to safeguard your data.
RAID 0 - Of no use with SSD's in normal everyday use.
2 x 120GB drives in RAID 0 is no faster, and more expensive, than a single 250GB drive.
2 x 250GB drives in RAID 0 is no faster, and more expensive, than a single 500GB drive.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-raid-benchmark,3485.html

Okay. I stand corrected on the performance issue. I like RAID 1 to safeguard my boot drive. If one drive fails, I can still boot and use the computer. Yes I know you can set up disk cloning tools.

I was just giving op options to explore for uses for his dual SSD needs.