How to migrate to SSD and upgrade to windows 8

[SpatiallyAware]

I have a laptop running win7. I would like to upgrade to SSD and install win8 without formatting.. I have a ton of special settings in outlook and special apps that make it very inconvenient to backup and do a proper format.

What's the best method for this? We have a drive imager here but I've heard that when they do straight hdd to ssd imaging with windows 7 it's not as fast as formatting and doing a full install. I'm wondering if win8 might handle this better. IE do a live upgrade to win8, then image the hdd to an ssd...

 

[MichaelD]

In W7 you can burn a recovery DVD. Being you have a full install you might need more than 1 DVD but that should work. Burn recovery DVD(s), install new SSD, boot into W7, choose recovery. That SHOULD work, but I'll let others chime in.

If you have access to Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image you can CLONE the HD, though that would mean some mounting the SSD in an external USB enclosure. Laptops are always a PITA when it comes time to replace the HD.

And it goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that you should BACKUP anything you can't live without BEFORE you start messing around with cloning and/or replacing hard drives. Don't be lazy or you'll regret it.