Migrating OS from one SSD to another

[Anonemous]

If I was going to restore a Win7 image from one SSD to another larger SSD (from another company) would there be additional steps required to align and would there be driver issues?

 

[razel]

No... smaller to larger is painless with the Win7 built-in backup.

 

[Anonemous]

No... smaller to larger is painless with the Win7 built-in backup.

So moving from an Intel drive to a non intel drive the drivers would not be an issue?

 

[Burner27]

So moving from an Intel drive to a non intel drive the drivers would not be an issue?

No issue here either. The chipset/IRST/AHCI drivers handle everything.

 

[razel]

No problem with different brands.

Since it's an Intel, I would try the cloning utility from Acronis that they provide and do a direct drive to drive clone. It will take less time than a backup-restore. Unless you wanted to create a backup of your stuff on a separate drive.

 

[Anonemous]

No issue here either. The chipset/IRST/AHCI drivers handle everything.

Nice, thanks.

 

[Anonemous]

No problem with different brands.

Since it's an Intel, I would try the cloning utility from Acronis that they provide and do a direct drive to drive clone. It will take less time than a backup-restore. Unless you wanted to create a backup of your stuff on a separate drive.

Going to copy from an Intel SSD that I have to RMA to another SSD that I recently got during the SSD sales. I'm not too familiar with using Acronis but I am familiar with Windows backup/restore.

 

[Burner27]

Arconis' clone disk feature is very easy and works well.

 

[loimlo]

Ya. Acronis is a lot easier to use than Windows built-in back/restore. Btw, I've migrated Win7 from Micron C300 to Intel 330 just a few days ago using Acronis disk clone feature.

 

[Anonemous]

Thanks guys. Now my next task is to move a Vista from an hdd (320Gb) to an SSD (160gb) would that be possible with restore/backup in Vista or should I do it with Acronis?

 

[cmdrdredd]

Thanks guys. Now my next task is to move a Vista from an hdd (320Gb) to an SSD (160gb) would that be possible with restore/backup in Vista or should I do it with Acronis?

Well, Acronis can do it but only if you select clone full disk which obviously won't fit. You need an aligned partition and you have to make sure your HDD is aligned before cloning it over. Apparently you can use gparted to realign the partition after you clone it over and then run a windows startup repair. A misaligned partition on an SSD causes a loss in performance. In a good case scenario the HDD is aligned and you don't have to any work. The alignment will be preserved during the clone.

To avoid all this you can fresh install windows if you are willing. Then you have no worries about having to align anything.

AS SSD can tell you if your partition is aligned. You can also check it through windows using the guide on this site http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/checking_ssd_alignment

 

[Rus2]

No problem with different brands.

Since it's an Intel, I would try the cloning utility from Acronis that they provide and do a direct drive to drive clone. It will take less time than a backup-restore. Unless you wanted to create a backup of your stuff on a separate drive.

Also there is EaseUS (the clone feature) and it works great for me to back up my SSD (after changes) to an HDD.

 

[VirtualLarry]

A misaligned partition on an SSD causes a loss in performance.

Not just a loss in performance. It increases the Write Amplification too, which leads to a shortened SSD lifespan.

 

[Anonemous]

Well, Acronis can do it but only if you select clone full disk which obviously won't fit. You need an aligned partition and you have to make sure your HDD is aligned before cloning it over. Apparently you can use gparted to realign the partition after you clone it over and then run a windows startup repair. A misaligned partition on an SSD causes a loss in performance. In a good case scenario the HDD is aligned and you don't have to any work. The alignment will be preserved during the clone.

To avoid all this you can fresh install windows if you are willing. Then you have no worries about having to align anything.

AS SSD can tell you if your partition is aligned. You can also check it through windows using the guide on this site http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/checking_ssd_alignment

Does the alignment only apply to the OS partition? Because from that link I checked my current SSD drive to see whether it was aligned. I have 2 partitions, 1 is 100MB and the second is 223.47GB (main partition where OS is). The second one is aligned since it's divisible by 4096 while the first one is not. Does that mean my drive is not aligned?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Does the alignment only apply to the OS partition? Because from that link I checked my current SSD drive to see whether it was aligned. I have 2 partitions, 1 is 100MB and the second is 223.47GB (main partition where OS is). The second one is aligned since it's divisible by 4096 while the first one is not. Does that mean my drive is not aligned?

Did you clone, or was that a fresh install?

Now I'm concerned, if Win7 isn't aligning both the boot partition, and the main partition, when you install it.

Because I use the workaround, to delete the main partition, after it creates both of them, and then extend the boot partition, and then format the boot partition, and then install to it.

That's what you have to do with Win7 to do a fresh install and not end up with two partitions.

Now I'm worried that my single partition may not be aligned.

 

[Anonemous]

Did you clone, or was that a fresh install?

Now I'm concerned, if Win7 isn't aligning both the boot partition, and the main partition, when you install it.

Because I use the workaround, to delete the main partition, after it creates both of them, and then extend the boot partition, and then format the boot partition, and then install to it.

That's what you have to do with Win7 to do a fresh install and not end up with two partitions.

Now I'm worried that my single partition may not be aligned.

Mine was a Win7 restore from another SSD. I just loaded up Windows 7 disk and did a repair and restored it onto the new SSD.

 

[Burner27]

Acronis handles the alignment issues without a problem

 

[DigitalWolf]

Does the alignment only apply to the OS partition? Because from that link I checked my current SSD drive to see whether it was aligned. I have 2 partitions, 1 is 100MB and the second is 223.47GB (main partition where OS is). The second one is aligned since it's divisible by 4096 while the first one is not. Does that mean my drive is not aligned?

I would assume you have a 100MB partition because you let Windows do its thing when you did your original install. By default Windows creates two partitions... one being 100MB.


*edit* In other words I wouldn't worry about alignment issues because you have this 100MB partition.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Acronis handles the alignment issues without a problem

I read on their forums that it only works if you do a full disk clone or backup. Maybe this is incorrect? I have not tried it.

I was worried about all of this so I just did a clean install on my ssd. It didn't take more than a couple hours to get everything back up except a few games.

 

[razel]

Good lord. Too much chin scratching. You will learn alot through mistakes and seriously it seems like to some of you are PC hobbists, so don't you enjoy doing it instead of thinking about it?

Back in 2009, not all drive utilities were alignment aware. In my experience some of them by default were, others weren't. Three years later, if you use the free cloning utility provided by the SSD manufacturer (if they have one) chances are it will be aligned.

Yes, if you are cloning from larger HDD to smaller SSD you are better off using Acronis instead of Vista backup. Vista's backup is NOT the same as Win7's backup. Win7 can do an image backup, but restoring to a smaller drive takes some massaging.

 

[corkyg]

The best use of Acronis is to create bootable media and use it. Then clone source to target using proportioaal. Size difference is not an issue. The cloned drive will boot right away - no restoration needed.

Acronis bootable media can be an optical disk or a flash memory device. I use both. Once prepared, it can be used on any of your computers.

 

[Anonemous]

Thanks guys will try the Vista -> Win7 migration once I get my drive back within a week or two.

The reason I didn't go with a clean install is that I only have a Win7 upgrade key available and not a full install. My reasoning was I could just upgrade vista with the key to Win7 on the old hdd first then when I reimage onto the SSD Win7 would be smart enough to figure everything out (alignment/Trim etc.).

 

[cmdrdredd]

Good lord. Too much chin scratching. You will learn alot through mistakes and seriously it seems like to some of you are PC hobbists, so don't you enjoy doing it instead of thinking about it?

Back in 2009, not all drive utilities were alignment aware. In my experience some of them by default were, others weren't. Three years later, if you use the free cloning utility provided by the SSD manufacturer (if they have one) chances are it will be aligned.

Yes, if you are cloning from larger HDD to smaller SSD you are better off using Acronis instead of Vista backup. Vista's backup is NOT the same as Win7's backup. Win7 can do an image backup, but restoring to a smaller drive takes some massaging.

I want things to work right the first time. I'm done just trying stuff then starting over again anyway.

 

[kbp]

Thanks guys will try the Vista -> Win7 migration once I get my drive back within a week or two.

The reason I didn't go with a clean install is that I only have a Win7 upgrade key available and not a full install. My reasoning was I could just upgrade vista with the key to Win7 on the old hdd first then when I reimage onto the SSD Win7 would be smart enough to figure everything out (alignment/Trim etc.).

Clean Install - Upgrade disk
Boot and install from disk.
Do not put license number in when prompted.
Do not auto initiate windows install license.

Once windows (clean install) has booted to windows screen - Re-Install from disk (in windows) this time put in OEM license code.
Now let it get all the updates and initialize license number.

You can now install everything else....software anti-virus....ect.

 

[Burner27]

I read on their forums that it only works if you do a full disk clone or backup. Maybe this is incorrect? I have not tried it.

I was worried about all of this so I just did a clean install on my ssd. It didn't take more than a couple hours to get everything back up except a few games.

Why wouldn't you do a full disk backup?