New SSD Migration

[mojorisin23]

Ok... so i installed a new SSD 480gb in my rig that already had a 2TB w windows and a 300mb with games. I installed windows 7 on the SSD, updated the bios to ACHI and made the SSD the primary.

However, this is where things went awry. win 7 loads up but it assigned my ssd as H, the other two HDDs as F and G, and C as "reserved". All the prgrams on the 2TB (old primary) do not work when i load up via the SSD. however, if i restart, enter bios, change the boot order to the 2TB first, it loads up just as before.

i want the SSD to have windows and games on it, while everyhting else off the old drives. Can i just drag and drop the games from one HDD to SDD or do i have to reinstall? also, all the minor programs (VLC, Adobe, and other productivity software) doesn't work as well. Do i need to resintall all of it??

lastly, i load up via the old 2TB, move some files onto a memory key, and then restart via ssd, but the memory key isnt recognized by the usb. why?

i thought it would be plug n play.

Sorry so long and THANKS for any help!!

 

[mojorisin23]

Do i clone the 2TB drive to the SSD?

 

[kenrivers]

The cloning bit depends on the size of the SSD and how much space is used on the HDD. You can't clone if the the space used on the HDD exceeds the space available on the SSD. Keep in mind that at least 10% of the SSD space should be reserved for over provisioning (helps the drive last longer).

Some games, as you mentioned in another thread, will work but programs such as the ones you mentioned will need to be reinstalled. When you installed Windows on the SSD were the other drives attached? If yes, I suggest you disconnect all drives excpet the SSD and do a clean install of Windows 7 on the SSD. Shut down the computer after Windows 7 has been installed and only then do you reconnect the old drives.

 

[mojorisin23]

No... only the SSD was attached. I then installed several drivers (motherboard, graphics, windows updates,...etc) and then rebooted with the other two HDDs attached.

Its strange though, the drive with the old win7 is the drive with the problems that don't work. however, the other drive that was a slave drive in both instances, works fine. thats why i'm questioning.

Also, the old HDD still has win7 on it. Is there anything to gain by removing it? or can i keep it in case the SSD fails?

As for cloning, there is enough space on the SSD for everything on the HDD, however, the HDD also has an old win 7 like i mentioned and some other stuff i dont want. can you pick and choose what goes over or you have to clone everything?

also the USB issue is disturbing... why would that be the case?

thanks for the help!

 

[slowhands95128]

No... only the SSD was attached. I then installed several drivers (motherboard, graphics, windows updates,...etc) and then rebooted with the other two HDDs attached.

Its strange though, the drive with the old win7 is the drive with the problems that don't work. however, the other drive that was a slave drive in both instances, works fine. thats why i'm questioning.

Also, the old HDD still has win7 on it. Is there anything to gain by removing it? or can i keep it in case the SSD fails?

As for cloning, there is enough space on the SSD for everything on the HDD, however, the HDD also has an old win 7 like i mentioned and some other stuff i dont want. can you pick and choose what goes over or you have to clone everything?

also the USB issue is disturbing... why would that be the case?

thanks for the help!

Some thoughts:

AHCI: I had boot problems when I used Setup to configure my new SSD in AHCI, mixed with old hard drives which were set up as RAID. So I used RAID on the SSD to match the HD mode. Anyway, it works, and works well, so I'm gonna leave it alone. Having mixed modes may cause the problems you mention in hardware. Or it may be that Windows loads the correct driver for AHCI, which is wrong for your big hard drive.

Boot Priority: To make sure I booted from SSD, I picked that in BIOS setup as my option. Among hard drives BIOS showed the SSD and my old HD, and I chose SSD for boot priority. I also put the SSD on the SATA0 cable and moved the HD to SATA1 cable and the DVDs to SATA2 and SATA3. I'm not sure that did anything, but it couldn't hurt. Fiddling with your cables might make the drive letters be the way you want. I'm not sure.

Drag and Drop Software? No, you can't drag and drop programs from the HD to SSD; you must reinstall them on the SSD, and incidentally you may not be able to delete them from your old HD with Windows. Windows does not let you do that to the old Program Files and Program Files x86 files, even if they are never used. There is probably some "Trusted Installer" software that will delete them. I suspect IObit or Revo Uninstallers would work. But I'd just leave it in case the SSD goes south.

CLONING: It is probably easier and cleaner to reinstall your software to your new SSD, rather than to clone it. However there are cases where cloning is necessary. For instance, if you don't have the disks for some software, then cloning is the way.

It is a quirk of technology that SSDs work faster if they are not too full. Cloning will copy the space you used in a HD partition to the new SSD, not the total capacity of the partition. Even so, try to keep your SSD well under 3/4 full for best speed. Before you clone, delete all the junk on the old HD partition. Use ccleaner or similar. Uninstall any software you don't need. That way the SSD will be less full and work faster. Now if your scrubbed partition on the HD is bootable, and a good deal smaller than the SSD, clone it. People here like Macrium Reflect for that.