Why so many different m4 versions?

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Solution
ubercake
When you get into picking and choosing, you're going to complicate things.

How much space is used on your current drive? If you're under 256GB, it's an easy clone using the clone wizard (make sure you check the '4k alignment...' box if the software has this as an option): Clone from the HDD to the target SSD, remove the old HDD from the system and boot to the new SSD.

Now if your current used space exceeds the capacity of the new drive...
Does steam allow saving game data to "the cloud"? What I'm getting at is the easiest and most pain free way to migrate to the new SSD as your boot drive is to prepare your old drive to make it so the data you want on the new drive fits using the simple cloning wizard. You may have to change your...
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There is an Apricorn HDD to SSD disk migration kit marketed for laptops, but it also works on desktops no problem. It runs around $20:

http://www.apricorn.com/products/notebook-hard-drive-upgrade-kits/sata-wire.html

If the disk drive your OS is currently on has less used space than the capacity of the new SSD, it's just a matter of running the clone wizard (remember to check the 4K alignment box when going from an HDD source to an SDD target) in EZ Gig II.
 
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I got the M4 with the Transfer Kit which just turned out to be a sata to usb cable and a small software package I plugged the SSD in with the usb cable ran the software took my old drive out popped my ssd in and was good to go. since then i have been using that cable to back my ssd up to an old notebook drive using the same software and I also recovered once from a bad software install using this method. The Software provided I believe was called EZ GIG
 
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Hello,

The differences are:

Some come with migration kits, there is also a 9.5mm version as well as a 7mm version. The 7mm version is meant for laptops with only thin space available - whereas the 9.5mm ones are for the "regular" sized SSD's.

Also - as they continue to create the M4 - they upgrade/change the parts so it cost less for them but gives similar/same performance. This is the same for pretty much anyhardware during its life span.

Although you still can use the 7mm or 9.5 mm versions in either deskop or laptop - i currently have the 7mm slim version in my desktop.
 
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This is the same Apricorn kit I mentioned above. Really effective and easy to use.
 
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Well guess I'm going to need a cloning kit then. Currently newegg is selling the hyperx 3k for 330 and it has an upgrade kit included that's only 30 dollars more if you account for the kit being included. I could possibly call up new and have them change my order right now. What do you guys think? I'm not sure how to tell how much space my steam games are taking up but I basically want my games and my OS on this ssd. Will the cloning kit allow me to chose what I want cloned? Or will it just try to do the whole thing?
 
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When you get into picking and choosing, you're going to complicate things.

How much space is used on your current drive? If you're under 256GB, it's an easy clone using the clone wizard (make sure you check the '4k alignment...' box if the software has this as an option): Clone from the HDD to the target SSD, remove the old HDD from the system and boot to the new SSD.

Now if your current used space exceeds the capacity of the new drive...
Does steam allow saving game data to "the cloud"? What I'm getting at is the easiest and most pain free way to migrate to the new SSD as your boot drive is to prepare your old drive to make it so the data you want on the new drive fits using the simple cloning wizard. You may have to change your Steam install drive to the HDD if your new drive cannot accommodate all of the games.
 
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Solution
I am using 413 Gb on a 1TB drive right now. I don't really know how to look into what is using up this space I am sure I can get rid of some crap. I do plan on buying more games in the future though so I hope it will fit on the ssd. I remember someone saying that you that all your steam games are kept in one folder and you can't separate them. I would like to at least have skyrim and a few others on there that I use the most often.
Not sure about the cloud thing you are talking about, I'm looking into it.
 
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You can also use what's called MK links to install steam games on your extra HDD.

An MK link basically allows you to install stuff on your HDD - however it will look like its on your SSD.

There's actually an excellent guidehere on the forum:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/283791-32-people-mklink

Actually i think there's an even better one somewhere. Anyways....as long as your careful with it - it should be good to use.
 
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If you want to straight up clone the drive to the new SSD (what I'd recommend), you'll want to remove enough apps and data to make the used space on the HDD less than that of the SSD.

Then, once everything left is moved to the SSD, you can reinstall the apps you want to re-install on the SSD.

Also, regarding Steam, all steam games install to the directory where you choose to install the steam client itself. The crappiest thing about Steam is the fact that you can't control where the games get installed. Because your Steam game library will continue to grow (possibly beyond the capacity of your new SSD), I'd actually uninstall everything Steam before cloning to the SSD and re-install it to the HDD after you clone the OS and everything to the new SSD. You'll have to redownload and reinstall. It sucks.

For your other data (videos, pics, music)... You might move these off to external drives or burn them to DVDs and then remove them before the clone as well.

You have almost 200GB you need to free up if you don't want to have to do a fresh install of the OS and everything.

How much space is being used by games?
 
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I dont know how much space is used by steam, I don't know how to find out sadly. I have 200 gb in old files from when I had to reinstall my OS. I saved them incase I could retrieve anything from it. I don't know how so they have just sat there. I'll probably just delete them.

If I reinstall my games from steam will I lose progress or mods? Why uninstall steam whats the advantage?

Some other guys said to do a "clean reinstall" with ACHI. Whats the advantage of this?
 
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You may already have your disk mode set to AHCI.

If you don't, there are benefits to running in this mode even with a standard HDD. You can change the mode before you clone with no issue if you follow the instructions in the MS knowledge base:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

Go to the 'Fix it myself section' and follow the instructions. Even though you're not fixing anything, this is what you do to switch disk modes in Windows. After you do this, you go into your BIOS and change the disk modes of each of your motherboards disk controllers to AHCI.

Just note, you'll need to change the settings in Windows first, then restart, go into the BIOS and change the setting for the disk controller(s).

About the Steam saved game info... there's probably something on Steam that let's you know how to save your save game data when you update or buy a new PC.

Also, I recommend putting Steam and the Steam games on the HDD because it is larger and your game library will continue to grow. You don't want it limited by the size of your SSD. At some point in time, in the next few years, the drive capacities of SSDs will increase and you'll be able to affordably swap out the large HDD for a large SSD.

Cloning works so well, you don't need to do a clean re-install. Here's what I recommend for best results:
1) Free up the disk space so your HDD can fit on your SSD. Your HDD needs to be less than the capacity of the new drive for sure. I would shoot for 220GB because we know all hard drives have far less capacity than they advertise. The 256GB M4 I'm currently using has a real capacity of 238GB. You need to get your HDD down to 220GB or less, so you have some swap space on the new SSD after the clone.

Delete unnecessary data and save the stuff you want to CD/DVD, external drives or some removable storage.

2) Change your disk mode to AHCI prior to the clone on all disk controllers on your motherboard ( http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976 )
3) Restart Windows, go into the BIOS, and change the disk mode for your disk controllers to AHCI.
4) Clone the HDD to the SSD using the kit - Don't forget to check the '4K alignment...' box
5) Remove the old HDD and make sure you can boot to the SSD and everything is working fine.
6) Format the HDD for use as a data/app drive. You can use the kit to do this... just hook the HDD to a USB port with the sata-wire. It will load as a removable storage device. Format it using 'quick format' then install it internally.
7) Figure out the saved game data issue with Steam and save your games to the appropriate place.
8) Uninstall the steam client from the SSD.
9) Install the Steam client on the HDD.
 
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I changed it to AHCI. In the process it asked me to verify my OS. This forced me to look for my windows 7 disk, which I found. How many times can I reinstall this?
The reason I ask is because my OS and steam games only take up 160 GB combined. My HDD has 228 GB used right now. I know that all the extra space is probably stuff I don't use, but it's a headache to go through.
So mabye if I just totally reinstall my OS and the few apps I use on the SSD it would save me the time of going through all my crap on the HDD.
If you don't recommend this then I will have to call my uncle and have him help me go through all my crap. I definitely don't want to leave it at 228GB thats not very much wiggle room.
 
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