Migrating contents of system drive (including WIN 7)

[mset]

I'm a fairly competent non-techie. My current setup:

WIN 7 64 Enterprise
WD Raptor 74GB as system drive (WD Caviar Black as data drive)
Asus P7H55-MLX mobo (not the greatest, I know)
i5 750 Quad core @ 2.67GHz
4 GB RAM

I wanted to upgrade my Ram to 8GB, upgrade my system drive to an SSD (Samsung 840) and add a video card for multi-monitor. I contacted someone to do it, and asked him if he would need my copy of WIN 7. He said 'No, I'll just image your current hard drive over to the new SSD'. The price was $200, which I felt was a bit high.

My question is - what program(s) can I use to try this myself? Is this Norton Ghost? I never mind paying for software when I use it, and I want this to be as easy as possible. Is there freeware I can use that is very well-established or should I pay for something?

I wasn't aware that WIN 7 could actually be transferred to another hard drive. Is this now a fairly straight-ahead process that a competent amateur could accomplish?

If so, do I install the new SSD drive into the existing computer and then transfer all the contents of the current system drive over to the SSD?

I'd love to give this a try. Any advice is appreciated here. I always come here first for this type of thing.

 

[Ketchup]

$200 is high, unless he is buying you some parts. You can do this yourself.

Ghost would work if you already have fairly recent copy, but you don't need to go out and buy one.

If you have the software that came with your WD hard drives, that should work fine for this. If you don't you can download it from their website and (IIRC) burn it to a CD.

After that the Samsung Magician will optimize your data for the drive.

 

[mset]

$200 is high, unless he is buying you some parts. You can do this yourself.

Good, I kind of thought so. I have all the parts here.

Ghost would work if you already have fairly recent copy, but you don't need to go out and buy one.

If you have the software that came with your WD hard drives, that should work fine for this. If you don't you can download it from their website and (IIRC) burn it to a CD.

After that the Samsung Magician will optimize your data for the drive.

Okay, thanks a lot. I don't have the software that came with the drives. I see that at the WD site, they provide Acronis TI, but they say 'This will help you migrate your data to a new WD drive'.

http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119&wdc_lang=en

Will this work if I'm migrating to a Samsung drive?

I see that the SSD has the Data Migration software. So this process involves installing and invoking the WD software first, then the process gets turned over to the Data Migration program?

Sorry, I know this probably seems like spoon feeding, but I want a really clear idea of what is involved and what kinds of problems can arise. I don't have the time to do lots of web searches/forum posts in case something goes wrong. It seems like you are describing a two-step process.

 

[mset]

Hmm... as a total noob, I didn't read the packaging on the Samsung 840 SSD. It says it has the Data Migration software, and the Samsung website says

The Samsung Data Migration software is designed to help users quickly,
easily, and safely migrate all of their dataincluding their current
operating system, application software, and user data from their
existing storage device (e.g. HDD) to their new Samsung SSD

http://www.samsung.com/global/busin...SSD_Data_Migration_User_Manual_English_v2.pdf

Would this not be exactly what I need to do? I'm not quite clear on what I might need the WD software for...

 

[Ketchup]

Hmm... as a total noob, I didn't read the packaging on the Samsung 840 SSD. It says it has the Data Migration software, and the Samsung website says

The Samsung Data Migration software is designed to help users quickly,
easily, and safely migrate all of their dataincluding their current
operating system, application software, and user data from their
existing storage device (e.g. HDD) to their new Samsung SSD

http://www.samsung.com/global/busin...SSD_Data_Migration_User_Manual_English_v2.pdf

Would this not be exactly what I need to do? I'm not quite clear on what I might need the WD software for...

Yeah, that should work well. It might place the data better for your SSD. Either way, the Magician will take care of this after the fact. The WD page is just an Acronis product with the WD name, so either should work fine. I would go with the Samsung though, I just didn't know what all software they had.

 

[mset]

Yeah, that should work well. It might place the data better for your SSD. Either way, the Magician will take care of this after the fact. The WD page is just an Acronis product with the WD name, so either should work fine. I would go with the Samsung though, I just didn't know what all software they had.

Got it, thanks. I have installed the software and the drive, just about to launch the Data Migration software and give it a try.

Thanks again for taking the time to point out the s/w that comes with the drive.

 

[paul878]

That is 2-3 hours of work (including traveling) if everything goes smoothly, $200 is not a lot of money.

 

[Ketchup]

That is 2-3 hours of work (including traveling) if everything goes smoothly, $200 is not a lot of money.

Including traveling? Do you mean money wise or including the time to travel? If the latter, is there something you're not tell us? lol.

As just a computer guy, I would probably be satisfied with $150 max. None of the work is difficult, and the only thing time-consuming would be the HD copy process. Considering the board has SATA 3 and would be going from a small raptor to an SSD, even that process wouldn't be what I consider long.

 

[mset]

That is 2-3 hours of work (including traveling) if everything goes smoothly, $200 is not a lot of money.

Travelling? Actually, the deal was for me to drop the rig off at his shop. I assume that's normally the way it works?

As just a computer guy, I would probably be satisfied with $150 max. None of the work is difficult, and the only thing time-consuming would be the HD copy process.

I just finished the process. Cloned the drive, removed the old system drive, had to play around in the BIOS for a few minutes before I figured out how to set the boot order, and I am currently running the new SSD which has apparently been cloned perfectly! Total time for cloing was 17 minutes, entire process was 25 minutes. I know this stuff is routine for you guys but for people like us, this is kind of a kick : )

I will now power down and try to install the new 2 x 4 GB sticks of RAM and the video card. I think I'll do one at a time.

Thanks again, ketchup

 

[Ketchup]

Travelling? Actually, the deal was for me to drop the rig off at his shop. I assume that's normally the way it works?
I just finished the process, cloned the drive, removed the old system drive, had to play around in the BIOS for a few minutes before I figured out how to set the boot order, and I am currently running the new SSD which has apparently been cloned perfectly! Total time for cloing was 17 minutes, entire process was 25 minutes. I know this stuff is routine for you guys but for people like us, this is kind of a kick : )

I will now power down and try to install the new 2 x 4 GB sticks of RAM and the video card. I think I'll do one at a time.

Thanks again, ketchup

That was 40 minutes post to post! Pretty darn cool. I knew you could do it!

 

[Ketchup]

Shops have to charge overhead and other costs, so that's a little more understandable. But you saved money, learned stuff in the process, and will be finished in about the time you would have taken it to the shop and back.

That's a win win win in my book.

 

[mset]

Shops have to charge overhead and other costs, so that's a little more understandable. But you saved money, learned stuff in the process, and will be finished in about the time you would have taken it to the shop and back.

Absolutely, a great experience. I powered the rig down and installed the RAM and it showed up with no problem. Unfortunately, it seems that this mobo does not have an extra slot for the other video card.

I now recall what happened - I have a Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3P

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3437#ov

which was the mobo in this rig when I had it built. At one point, I had to RMA it. I got another local tech to put in this cheap Asus board as an interim measure and I just never re-installed the Gigabyte one!

So... next, I can take on the task of rebuilding the rig with this Gigabyte mobo. I need my extra monitor back for sure.

Thanks again!

 

[pete1229]

I did this when I upgraded my Win 7 laptop from an HDD to an SSD. I just used the free home edition of Easus Todo backup. I cloned the HDD onto the SDD before I physically installed it into the laptop and I was up and running in about 1 hour.