Help a noob physically install a new SSD and migrate existing OS to it

[Remainxit]

Firstly, I'm a noob.

The end goal for me is to migrate my Windows 7 from a full 40gb SSD to a new 240gb drive. I do NOT want to do a fresh re-install of Windows (many games to install via Origin = trillions of gigs of downloads).

Please see pictures for my config. In essence: Asus P8Z68-V motherboard, 40gb SSD with Windows 7 installed + 1tb HDD for data only. I believe they're in RAID, not that I know what that means. And, in a box, waiting to be used, a 240gb SSD.

I may have mentioned it before, I'm a noob. So it should not come as a surprise to you that I failed at the first hurdle which was physically connecting the SSD. I naively disconnected the power and data cables from the HDD (it only has data on it) and plugged them in to the new SSD. With both SSDs connected, I hoped to effect the migration.

However upon reboot, the PC says I need to insert a proper boot media. So I restart and in the BIOS I select the 40gb SSD that has Windows on it. But it still doesn't boot and repeats the message that I need to insert proper boot media.

Feeling I'm about to break something, I put everything back in order before I cause irreversible damage.

So, help me please at least overcome this hurdle. Why isn't the PC booting off the 40gb SSD with Windows 7 installed when I haven't even touched that drive (in a physical sense)?.

Once that's done, I may return to these forums once I've also failed to clone my OS to the new drive and mess it all up, but that's phase 2.

I'm grateful for your answers.

http://imgur.com/xQNGVUb
http://imgur.com/kHcTsPl
http://imgur.com/lGbSDzm

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hi there, Remainxit.

Unfortunately, I have some bad news for you.
It seems like you had both drives connected to the motherboard, which lead to some of the system files of the OS (Windows) to be written on the hard drive, which is basically why you need to have both drives connected to the mobo in order to boot to Windows.
So, if this is the case you'll need a fresh install of Windows (this time with only the 240GB SSD connected to the motherboard during the installation process). But before you star the fresh install, change the SATA mode from RAID to AHCI.

Another option would be to try and clone the 40GB SSD and just the System Reserved partition from your HDD to the new 240GB SSD, but this is not guaranteed to work.

Please let me know if you have any questions.
Boogieman_WD

 

[Remainxit]

Hi there, Remainxit.

Unfortunately, I have some bad news for you.
It seems like you had both drives connected to the motherboard, which lead to some of the system files of the OS (Windows) to be written on the hard drive, which is basically why you need to have both drives connected to the mobo in order to boot to Windows.
So, if this is the case you'll need a fresh install of Windows (this time with only the 240GB SSD connected to the motherboard during the installation process). But before you star the fresh install, change the SATA mode from RAID to AHCI.

Another option would be to try and clone the 40GB SSD and just the System Reserved partition from your HDD to the new 240GB SSD, but this is not guaranteed to work.

Please let me know if you have any questions.
Boogieman_WD

Thanks Mr B. So, if I were to get hold of a spare data cable for the new SSD, could use that to connect it up? (I have a spare power cable as per the picture, but no spare data cable) Then it should boot up as I won't have unplugged the HDD... right?
I accept that it may not work to clone it, but I'm willing to give it a try.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Sure, If you have a free SATA port and the two SATA cables (data and power) you should be able to connect the new SSD along with the drives you have now and boot up to Windows. After that you can try what I've suggested. Although, the unfortunate thing is that most cloning programs always reformat the destination drive. This means that If you clone the 40GB SSD and then you try to clone the System Reserved partition, it will reformat the SSD and you'll lose the already cloned OS.

So perhaps it would be easier to restore Windows from a system image onto your 240GB SSD alone: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/7702/restoring-windows-7-from-an-image-backup/ In the beginning there are also links on how to create a system repair disk and a system image. Once you've done that on your new SSD and you make sure that you can boot to Windows properly without having the other drives connected to the motherboard it would mean that everything is OK. You can then reformat the small SSD and use it for something else and delete the system reserved partition from the HDD. However, as already mentioned, please make sure that everything is OK with the new installation first.

 

[Remainxit]

Sure, If you have a free SATA port and the two SATA cables (data and power) you should be able to connect the new SSD along with the drives you have now and boot up to Windows. After that you can try what I've suggested. Although, the unfortunate thing is that most cloning programs always reformat the destination drive. This means that If you clone the 40GB SSD and then you try to clone the System Reserved partition, it will reformat the SSD and you'll lose the already cloned OS.

So perhaps it would be easier to restore Windows from a system image onto your 240GB SSD alone: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/7702/restoring-windows-7-from-an-image-backup/ In the beginning there are also links on how to create a system repair disk and a system image. Once you've done that on your new SSD and you make sure that you can boot to Windows properly without having the other drives connected to the motherboard it would mean that everything is OK. You can then reformat the small SSD and use it for something else and delete the system reserved partition from the HDD. However, as already mentioned, please make sure that everything is OK with the new installation first.

Could you help me clarify one thing please - since the system reserved partition is on the 1tb HDD, why would I need to clone it?

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Well basically if you've cloned the small SSD over to the new SSD and you boot from the new SSD you should be able to boot to Windows since the rest of the system files would still be on the HDD. However, you have the chance to fix things up with the new drive and have your whole OS on it.
It's not a mandatory thing but this way if something goes wrong with the HDD at some point, you won't be able to boot to Windows just like when you've disconnected it earlier.

 

[Remainxit]

Well basically if you've cloned the small SSD over to the new SSD and you boot from the new SSD you should be able to boot to Windows since the rest of the system files would still be on the HDD. However, you have the chance to fix things up with the new drive and have your whole OS on it.
It's not a mandatory thing but this way if something goes wrong with the HDD at some point, you won't be able to boot to Windows just like when you've disconnected it earlier.

Ok, I see. Splendid. Thanks for your time. I think I'll go with your suggestion to make an image (which, if I understand correctly, when it is being restored on the new SSD, will ensure that this SSD is also bootable on its own without assistance from the HDD).

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Yup, that's right. You should be able to do that with a system repair disk by going with the options restore Windows from an image (which you can put on an external drive or flash drive or a different internal drive) I don't really remember, but I think you might not have to go with the repair disk if you have a Windows installation DVD/USB. If I remember correctly you should still be able to chose restore Win from an image from somewhere among the options. Anyway, the tutorial is pretty good so follow the instructions and please let me know how it goes once you're done.

 

[Remainxit]

So, I failed AGAIN at the first hurdle. I first changed RAID to AHCI but Windows refuses to start. Windows attempted to repair itself a couple of times and failed despite me switching RAID back on, and on the third time for some reason it finally worked.

So I thought, never mind AHCI for now, I'll just create the repair disk - that went well.

However, when I tried to create the system image, Windows only gives me the option of imaging ALL my drives (Windows + system reserved + HDD), which is all 1000 Gb. There's no possibility of selecting C: only. The new SSD is only 240 gb anyway. I guess that's because of RAID?

So, what next? (I guess if I have to install Win 7 fresh on the SSD I'll do that but I'd like to get to the bottom of this problem first).

EDIT

Apparently this was to be expected, one doesn't simply change RAID to AHCI in the BIOS without breaking Windows. http://www.overclock.net/t/1227636/how-to-change-sata-modes-after-windows-installation
So I plan to enable it properly as suggested in the link, would you agree?

 

[Remainxit]

Right, I seem to have finally cracked it.

The thing was to enable AHCI in Windows 7 via a few registry changes, THEN in the BIOS.

Once that was done, I had to look up the command prompt line which brought the system reserved partition onto C:. As it was on the D: drive, Windows wanted to create an image from C AND D. (well over 1TB image).

After that, I STILL couldn't do an image without backing up the entire drive D: (1 TB). After googling it turns out that I had a few applications installed on D: which used Windows services, and this apparently causes Windows to consider the D drive as a system drive.

So I uninstalled these applications, and FINALLY I could do an image of just the C drive.

Then when restoring the image to the new SSD, Windows couldn't find the image - turns out I had to have my external HDD (with the image on it) plugged in to a specific USB port on my PC - nobody could have told me that. I just found out by luck. Then it found the image, restored it, I extended the partition to its full capacity, plugged in the D drive and FINALLY I can download Windows 10 while it's still free.

Final thing to make sure is that it actually works (51% download so far), and that when I reinstall the applications I had to uninstall (Origin), my games will still work. But so far it's been an overall success.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Oh, I meant to write yesterday and probably forgot, for which I apologize. Basically when changing the SATA controller's mode you should make a registry edit, however, since RAID also includes AHCI, I assumed that you might not run into that issue. I'd say you've moved far from the noob status you've given yourself. Good job on the research and everything you've done!

As for the specific USB port... this is actually really really weird as I've experienced similar issues with USB devices, be it storage related or not and simply some devices should be connected to specific ports in order to work properly. I've even had cases when I plug a flash drive in a different port on a computer I've used it with for months and it will go an install it as if it was a new flash drive. I assume those kind of issues are either OS related or driver related problems.

About the games - most platforms (Steam, Battle.net, Origin) save your progress (however I'm not sure if that applies to every game) and once you install the app and log-in you should have no issues.

Cheers!

 

[Remainxit]

Oh, I meant to write yesterday and probably forgot, for which I apologize. Basically when changing the SATA controller's mode you should make a registry edit, however, since RAID also includes AHCI, I assumed that you might not run into that issue. I'd say you've moved far from the noob status you've given yourself. Good job on the research and everything you've done!

As for the specific USB port... this is actually really really weird as I've experienced similar issues with USB devices, be it storage related or not and simply some devices should be connected to specific ports in order to work properly. I've even had cases when I plug a flash drive in a different port on a computer I've used it with for months and it will go an install it as if it was a new flash drive. I assume those kind of issues are either OS related or driver related problems.

About the games - most platforms (Steam, Battle.net, Origin) save your progress (however I'm not sure if that applies to every game) and once you install the app and log-in you should have no issues.

Cheers!

No problem Mr B. So this has been quite an adventure and I think I agree that I am noob +1 at least now, having gained some XP points.

There were several hurdles to overcome, setting AHCI in the registry was one. The main problem after was creating the image, because Windows kept forcing the 1TB hdd into the image. I googled that problem and found the dos command to move the system reserved partition over to C: (it was on D. But even then it kept forcing D: into the image. It took me a while, but I found from Google that this was likely to be due to programs I had installed on D: which used Windows services. So I uninstalled them, and finally I was able to image C: only.

Then there was all that business about the USB port - really annoying that it was pure luck that I found out it had to be in a particular port., but at least I found it.

It wasn't over after restoring the image to the new drive (all other drives unplugged, thanks for the tip). I couldn't make the Windows 10 upgrade work! It failed at the stage where it connects to Windows Update.

I realised Windows Update for some reason was totally broken and was considering doing a clean wipe and re-install when I remembered (and this was my own fault) that some time ago, I had moved Windows Update installation files from C: to D: to save space, but that caused Windows Update to break. Thankfully upon restoring them to C:, it started working again. The installation completed and I now have Windows 10 on a spacious new SSD as was the plan.

Battlefield 4 wouldn't launch but a re-install of Origin fixed that. Other than that it's quite remarkable how it all works and all my stuff is where I left it.

So, thanks for your assistance!

 

[Boogieman_WD]

My assistance? I really appreciate it, but you really have to give yourself the credit. You've done basically everything all alone. That was a great job. It's actually really awesome how you've researched and dealt with everything. Keep up the good work!

Cheers!