Noob with SSD install

[MattMayhem]

So I've never had an SSD, or more than 1 harddrive installed at once on my PC.

A friend of mine just upgraded his 64GB to a 128GB, so he's giving me his 64GB SSD.

I was wondering what I;ll have to do to install it? I know how to physically install one, I just have no idea how to get it up & running.

Will I have to install windows to it? Will this involve me wiping my current HDD?

I was hoping I could just unplug my current HDD, and basically do a clean install of windows onto the SSD, and then once that's done I could pop my HDD back in & everything would work, is this possible?

 

[notherdude]

Do you want a clean install or to re-use your existing install? A clean install will involve re-installing all of your programs. If clean then just hook up the SSD like you would another SATA hard drive but make sure it is on your fastest SATA ports (either SATA 2 or SATA 3 depending on your motherboard) and make sure your SATA is configured for AHCI in your BIOS.

But you can clone your existing HDD/install to your new drive if you wish to avoid having to re-install Windows.

 

[geofelt]

Your plan is good.
Disconnect your hard drive and install windows on the ssd. It is just another sata drive to windows.
If your hard drive was connected, the install will want to put a hidden recovery partition on it and that complicates things.
When you later connect the hdd, all your files will still be available to you. You can delete the old windows files.
Your apps will need to be reinstalled because the registry info is no longer there.

If, by chance, your ssd is large enough to hold the os and stuff from your hard drive, you could clone the hdd to the ssd.
Intel and Samsung have clone utilities that work with their ssd's.

 

[Entomber]

I would personally be leery of getting a secondhand SSD, you have no way of knowing how much wear has been put on it. But if you want to, your hunch is correct: unplug your HDD, perform a clean install of Windows on your SSD (you can keep the same license), then shut down your computer and plug your HDD in as well.

To maximize space on your HDD, you could format it and start anew, but doing so is not strictly necessary.

 

[geofelt]

The ssd will have s.m.a.r.t statistics recorded on it showing the wear indicators.
There are apps to make the stats readable.

But... it would take many years of intensive usage to cause a problem in a non server environment.
Best yet... it is free
Enjoy the ssd, you will never go back.

 

[MattMayhem]

Thank you guys for all the help, I really do appreciate it. I wanted to clarify a few things I saw mentioned so here they are:

-Though the SSD is secondhand, this dude is a REALLY good friend of mine, and he literally only owned it for about 3-4 months before he upgraded, he even took a screenshot of the statistics screen for the SSD, and showed me it barely had like 2k hours on it. He also mentioned it is rated for 5 Million hours, so it still has plenty of life in it. Especially because he is a hardcore PC enthusiast, and really cares for his components.

-As far as "doing a clean install" and all that, I would MUCH rather NOT have to do that. I have had my PC a while, and I have like 200 GIGs of stuff on it, and I would absolutely HATE to reinstall it all. Not to mention I have no backup HDD atm (working on getting one though) so I would literally lose all my data if I reinstalled completely.

I had a question in regards to Geofelt. You mentioned I'd have to reinstall the apps, which apps do you mean? Like google chrome & such? Or games & the like?

Oh and one more, also directed towards what Geofelt said "You can delete the old windows files."
So once I have the OS installed on the SSD, and then I reconnect my HDD, I can then delete the entirety of the windows folders off of my HDD? And second part to that question, Would it cause any sort of interference if I left the Windows files installed on the HDD while still having them on the SSD?

I ask because I think I'd like to keep them on my HDD just as a "Backup" so I don't have to worry about windows reinstalls anytime soon.

 

[Y0GI]

Thank you guys for all the help, I really do appreciate it. I wanted to clarify a few things I saw mentioned so here they are:

-Though the SSD is secondhand, this dude is a REALLY good friend of mine, and he literally only owned it for about 3-4 months before he upgraded, he even took a screenshot of the statistics screen for the SSD, and showed me it barely had like 2k hours on it. He also mentioned it is rated for 5 Million hours, so it still has plenty of life in it. Especially because he is a hardcore PC enthusiast, and really cares for his components.

Unfortunately, you and your friend are looking at the wrong metric. The lifespan of an SSD is measured in "Total Terabytes Written". As far as hours are concerned, if the SSD does not see any read/write activity, it could last almost indefinitely.

-As far as "doing a clean install" and all that, I would MUCH rather NOT have to do that. I have had my PC a while, and I have like 200 GIGs of stuff on it, and I would absolutely HATE to reinstall it all. Not to mention I have no backup HDD atm (working on getting one though) so I would literally lose all my data if I reinstalled completely.

A 1 GB USB HDD only costs about $50-$60. You should make it a high priority to get one ASAP and start making backups!!

As far as your current 200 GB of stuff goes, you would not necessarily lose that with a clean install. Your programs and apps will have to be reinstalled but all of your existing data on the HDD will still be there and readily accessible.

I had a question in regards to Geofelt. You mentioned I'd have to reinstall the apps, which apps do you mean? Like google chrome & such? Or games & the like?

ALL programs would have to be reinstalled with a clean installation. The only exceptions are Steam/Origin games and some old 32 bit apps. For Steam/Origin you would reinstall the respective client on the SSD and then go into the settings and point the "Library" toward your games folder on the existing HDD. Google "Move Steam" and "Move Origin".

Oh and one more, also directed towards what Geofelt said "You can delete the old windows files."
So once I have the OS installed on the SSD, and then I reconnect my HDD, I can then delete the entirety of the windows folders off of my HDD? And second part to that question, Would it cause any sort of interference if I left the Windows files installed on the HDD while still having them on the SSD?

I ask because I think I'd like to keep them on my HDD just as a "Backup" so I don't have to worry about windows reinstalls anytime soon.

You can leave your old Windows installation on the existing HDD, as long as you disconnect the HDD during the clean install. I started out with the 1 TB Seagat HDD in my sig and later added the SSD using Samsung's "Data Migration" tool. I still have my old Windows installation on a hidden partition on my HDD, "just in case", but a more recent image of the SSD is a much better option, which I have also done.

As far as deleting the old Windows is concerned, AFAIK, the only way to do that is by formatting the old HDD from a bootable media, e.g. Windows install DVD or a bootable disk utility on an USB flash drive. Doing so will wipe out everything on the HDD. I don't believe that Windows will allow you to delete the old installation from within another Windows installation.

Another option is to just clone your existing Windows installation only to the new SSD. AFAIK, there is only one program which is capable of doing this - Paragon's "Migrate OS to SSD": http://www.paragon-software.com/technologies/components/migrate-OS-to-SSD/
This program retails for $19.95 but you may be able to find a $5 discount coupon floating around the 'net.

Yogi