Question Adding an SSD as the boot drive to an existing system

[BoomerD]

Not really sure where to put this.
As a result of building a new rig for myself and dismantling an older one, I now have a spare 256GB Toshiba SSD that I'd like to add to my wife's Dell as her boot drive. The system currently has a platter drive that has gotten slow as hell.
I DO NOT want to lose a single file, picture, document...ANYTHING in this PC...or I'll hear about it for years to come. (that's experience talking.)
If I put the SSD in the system, change the BIOS boot order, and install Windows 10 on it without removing the OS from the spinner...won't the two versions (both W-10) "fight" each other?
The ONLY thing I'd want to remove from the existing drive would be the OS.
I can't just clone that drive...1 TB won't fit into 256 GB.

Edit: changed drive to 256 from 240.

 

[BoomerD]

As long as you create an image occasionally, and back up the files often, the age of the drive shouldn't scare you.

But a new drive is nowhere near $150, especially since she doesn't need much space.

512GB for $26

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com

They also have a 256GB for $17:

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com

Just a couple of options, there are many 1TB drives for under $50 as well.

The $150 was a guess at the cost of a new 1TB HDD and 1TB SSD. Probably not quite that expensive...but close.

Compromise and go with a 500GB. I've used several of these in laptops over the years. $28.

PNY CS900 500GB 3D NAND 2.5" SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - (SSD7CS900-500-RB) https://a.co/d/1eEuUJN

No PNY for me ever again. They burned me once on a video card warranty. (good price though.)

I saw a 1TB Patriot SSD earlier for <$45 on Amazon...or a Crucial MX500 for $61.99. (I just paid $69.99 for the Crucial drive 2 weeks ago)

 

[igor_kavinski]

(It's in a Dell desktop, not a laptop and is about 8 years old)

It's very easy to convince her to replace that drive. The SMART parameters will already be showing that the drive is nearing or reached its end of life. Just download and install Speedfan and it will show you an easy to decipher graph of the various parameters and you will see that some of the parameter values are in the RED zone. Point the red values out to her and it should SCARE her enough for her data to let you invest some decent amount in replacing her PC's storage (unless her plan is to ignore it and blame you later when the HDD fails and loses all her data that she didn't want to care enough about to let you replace the storage in time).

I would recommend the MX500 or WD Blue SSD. You may even be able to put an M.2 SSD into her PC with a PCIe NVMe adapter. That will be faster and it gives you more options from other manufacturers (Corsair / Kingston /Solidigm / Hynix / Samsung etc.)

 

[WilliamM2]

The $150 was a guess at the cost of a new 1TB HDD and 1TB SSD. Probably not quite that expensive...but close.

Less than $100 actually. I would just use the the 1TB she has+ the 256 you already have, that's TWO backup drives. And get a new 500GB ssd for the OS for $27.

 

[tcsenter]

So did you DOO EET?

 

[solidsnake1298]

I've done exactly what you are asking about. I cloned a 500GB spinner to a 250GB SATA SSD. While I did get it to work properly, it was not simple and it was not straight forward. I've only done it once and it has been a several years so I can't remember the exact details. But there were extra steps I had to take. Including shrinking the partition on the HDD, but also the sector sizes were different (512KB sector HDD --> 4KB sector SSD) and that had to be addressed.

IMO, just start fresh on the SSD you have and migrate data and apps instead of cloning the drive.

 

[BoomerD]

So did you DOO EET?

Nope...not yet.

I have a brand new Crucial MX500 1TB SSD that I bought for storage in the new build.
According to the Crucial Storage Executive, there's a problem with it:

If I click on the S.M.A.R.T button, I get this:

After getting that, going back to System Info, I get this: (notice, the MX500 drive has vanished)

I've swapped numerous emails with Crucial support, and the gist of their replies is: " If SSD is working fine than no need to worry. " (that's from an actual email from them)

They just sent an email with a file to allow me to manually download the firmware update...that failed as well.

At this point, I think my best option is to return it to Amazon as defective.

 

[tcsenter]

They just sent an email with a file to allow me to manually download the firmware update...that failed as well.

Try to run the .exe by right-click and select Run as Administrator. I've had a firmware updater once that would error unless run so.

 

[BoomerD]

Try to run the .exe by right-click and select Run as Administrator. I've had a firmware updater once that would error unless run so.

The "Crucial Storage Executive" app recognized the file, showed a new, updated firmware, then crapped out.

When I try the manual firmware update shown (as per Crucial's instructions) I get this:

I've used Crucial RAM in my builds for more than 20 years...I'm pretty disappointed in how this has played out.

 

[In2Photos]

I had a 500GB MX500 crap out on me. It worked fine. My son shut his computer down. The next day it wouldn't boot. They replaced it under warranty. Only SSD I've had fail on me. I considered Crucial for other builds after that I just always found a better deal on a different drive.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Try hooking it up to a different SATA port and also change the SATA cable and use a different SATA power connector from the PSU (on a different cable if possible).

 

[BoomerD]

Try hooking it up to a different SATA port and also change the SATA cable and use a different SATA power connector from the PSU (on a different cable if possible).

I THINK I have one SATA 6GB cable left I could try. But it appears to work:

It's just that the firmware won't update...and it doesn't like the Crucial software.

 

[BoomerD]

I THINK I have one SATA 6GB cable left I could try. But it appears to work:

It's just that the firmware won't update...and it doesn't like the Crucial software.

Tried a new cable, tried a different SATA port on the mobo...no joy. It went back to Amazon. Now I have to find a comparably priced replacement. (<$70) I'm seeing a couple of Gen4 NVMe drives in that range...I still have one Gen 4.0x4 slot open. (and one Gen 3.0x4) They WOULD be considerably faster...

 

[Shmee]

I find that a lot of times, included drive software can be problematic. I have found this with Samsung Magician and the Crucial Software. Though if you cannot upgrade the firmware, that could be a problem, though, it might not be the fault of the drive.

For example, my brother in law bought an 1TB MX500 for an older gaming computer I gifted him, X58 based. I forget the exact issue we originally had, it might have been we tried to do a secure erase or sanitize or something on the drive after a Windows install fail or something, but then the drive wouldn't "clean" properly, and Windows had issues installing. I tried connecting it to another computer and upgrading firmware via the Crucial software, and that also failed. In the end, he contacted Crucial support, and they advised that he turn off some sort of performance optimization mode or something that he had turned on in the software. After that, the drive worked fine on the X58 computer. And yes, we were using AHCI mode.

 

[BoomerD]

I find that a lot of times, included drive software can be problematic. I have found this with Samsung Magician and the Crucial Software. Though if you cannot upgrade the firmware, that could be a problem, though, it might not be the fault of the drive.

For example, my brother in law bought an 1TB MX500 for an older gaming computer I gifted him, X58 based. I forget the exact issue we originally had, it might have been we tried to do a secure erase or sanitize or something on the drive after a Windows install fail or something, but then the drive wouldn't "clean" properly, and Windows had issues installing. I tried connecting it to another computer and upgrading firmware via the Crucial software, and that also failed. In the end, he contacted Crucial support, and they advised that he turn off some sort of performance optimization mode or something that he had turned on in the software. After that, the drive worked fine on the X58 computer. And yes, we were using AHCI mode.

I swapped emails with Crucial's tech support for over a week...they kept telling me that the pic I sent of the device manager (at their request) showed missing drivers.

As an update from our internal team, we would like to inform that you are missing a number of system drivers from the device manager screenshot that they provided to us. We would request you try to find out install all system drivers possible as there appears to be quite a few missing (this will be the items in device manager with yellow exclamation marks next to that).

here's a crop from the screenshot: (sorry about the crappy quality)

As you see, there isn't a single "Yellow exclamation point" are several "Yellow Exclamation Points" to be found. Somehow I missed them because they're so damned tiny.
I raised hell with the last email about it and got this reply:

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.

We would like to inform you that we again asked our concern team to have a look on it on priority basis. Once we received the update, we will notify you.

We are trying to resolve the issue so you don't need to face it again.

Please be rest assured.

IIRC, I bought my first Crucial RAM in the 90s. I used their RAM several times in builds for myself and others over the years. This has been a disappointing experience for me.
I'm going a different direction...with a different manufacturer.

 

[Shmee]

I swapped emails with Crucial's tech support for over a week...they kept telling me that the pic I sent of the device manager (at their request) showed missing drivers.

here's a crop from the screenshot: (sorry about the crappy quality)

As you see, there isn't a single "Yellow exclamation point" to be found. I raised hell with the last email about it and got this reply:

IIRC, I bought my first Crucial RAM in the 90s. I used their RAM several times in builds for myself and others over the years. This has been a disappointing experience for me.
I'm going a different direction...with a different manufacturer.

Well, not saying that this is necessarily the issue, but I do see missing drivers. So they aren't wrong about that. Under "other devices"

 

[igor_kavinski]

Still, it feels like they are giving the go-around. It would be more helpful if they indicate which device's driver needs to be installed for the firmware update to work.

 

[BoomerD]

Well, not saying that this is necessarily the issue, but I do see missing drivers. So they aren't wrong about that. Under "other devices"

Yeah, dammit...I missed that. I installed the "Intel GNA Scoring Accelerator" and it went away. (technically, I was right...not a single "Yellow Exclamation Point" TOTALLY WRONG...there are several of those tiny little "Yellow Exclamation Points" in the device manager...but that tiny little question mark under "other devices" I missed.)

 

[BoomerD]

Still, it feels like they are giving the go-around. It would be more helpful if they indicate which device's driver needs to be installed for the firmware update to work.

It took a lot of digging to figure out what was causing that "? Unknown Device" in Device Manager. Tried updating the Chipset drivers, the Intel Serial IO driver...finally stumbled onto a post on Reddit that mentioned the "Intel GNA Scoring Accelerator." Downloaded that from MSI and that fixed the problem. No idea (yet) what it is...
Intel says:

The purpose of Intel GNA is to offload the CPU during some computations. The primary intended usage (but not limited to) is the Automated Speech Recognition domain.

Note

• The Intel® NUC12DC/NUC12ED products only support Windows 11*.

 

[Shmee]

Looks like there are 5 devices with those yellow exclamation marks next to them. At least in the first device manager screenshot.

Also, if there are stubborn drivers that won't install, or you cannot find them etc, you might want to look into SDI Origin. Stands for Snappy Driver Installer. I wouldn't rely on it all the time, but it can be useful. I would recommend making restore points before using.

 

[BoomerD]

Looks like there are 5 devices with those yellow exclamation marks next to them. At least in the first device manager screenshot.

Also, if there are stubborn drivers that won't install, or you cannot find them etc, you might want to look into SDI Origin. Stands for Snappy Driver Installer. I wouldn't rely on it all the time, but it can be useful. I would recommend making restore points before using.

Every time I installed a new driver from MSI, I checked the device manager to see if it corrected the problem. Only the "Intel GNA Scoring Accelerator" actually seemed to do the trick. (although, in all honesty, each driver I installed COULD have fixed one or more of the 5 items in "other devices" and I missed it. Wouldn't be the first time my aging eyes have let me down.

I have to blow up that pic to even see the "tiny yellow exclamation points" clearly enough to realize what they are...

 

[In2Photos]

What do you have for "text size" in Windows? If it's at 100% maybe raise it to 125%? Should make things easier to see.

 

[tcsenter]

Did you check for "optional" updates under Windows Update? Any drivers that Windows Update has to offer will usually be there.

It doesn't look like any of those devices should have anything to do with the integrated storage subsystem. All the drives are being properly detected and recognized.

 

[tcsenter]

If you want try it, here is the latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver for the Intel SATA controller (AHCI or RAID) supporting 12th and 13th gen core processors. I don't think it has anything to do with this problem, but.....

Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (IRST) 19.5.1.1040

 

[BoomerD]

What do you have for "text size" in Windows? If it's at 100% maybe raise it to 125%? Should make things easier to see.

I think it's already at 125%...but it's on a 1440 monitor, so, as you see, the icons are TINY.

 

[BoomerD]

Did you check for "optional" updates under Windows Update? Any drivers that Windows Update has to offer will usually be there.

It doesn't look like any of those devices should have anything to do with the integrated storage subsystem. All the drives are being properly detected and recognized.

Yup. If I used Seagate's SeaTools, the drive's S.M.A.R.T. was readable. At this point, I don't know if the problem was the drive, the missing drivers (mentioned above), or the Crucial software...HOWEVER, fixing the missing drivers issue didn't solve the firmware error problem or their software not being able to access it...so...just made sense to return it.