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new build. bad to do HD now, then SSD later?

D

Drayken

Junior Member
I am still figuring out what to buy for my build. Seems like the new SSD have some reliability issues. And I don't care to buy an "older" model. Would you recommend that I build my computer with a regular HD for the OS, and then at a later date, switch it over to a SSD? Can I simply use windows 7 backup program to make a full image of my drive, then put a SSD in there, and restore? Or do people find problems trying to do full restores? I wouldn't want to have to do a fresh install and install all my programs and such again.
 
I sincerely doubt you can use winBackup to do what you want. I used BootItNG to transfer a 32Gb win7 partition from HD to SSD the other week and had no problems whatsoever - speed aside, it's as if I did nothing at all.
 
I can confirm from experience that the built in Windows 7 backup will not let you restore a system image from an HDD to an SSD.
 
Macrium Reflect is free and will do the job easily.

The important thing is to set the disk to AHCI or RAID in BIOS before installing W7 on the HDD. W7 will properly align the partition(s) it installs to, and Macrium Reflect will preserve the alignment when you paste the image to the SSD.
 
FishAk said:
Macrium Reflect is free and will do the job easily.

The important thing is to set the disk to AHCI or RAID in BIOS before installing W7 on the HDD. W7 will properly align the partition(s) it installs to, and Macrium Reflect will preserve the alignment when you paste the image to the SSD.
Click to expand...

I don't quite follow. Why set it to RAID in the BIOS, if not using RAID? Sorry, could you elaborate a little more as to why to do this? And if I have option to do either AHCI or RAID, which should I choose? Is this so it allows me to switch HD??
 
RAID = AHCI

If the disk is set to RAID mode, you could switch the OS to a RAID array in the future with no penalty now, and no messing around then. If you know beyond doubt you will never use RAID for your OS, just set it to AHCI.
 
dguy6789 said:
I can confirm from experience that the built in Windows 7 backup will not let you restore a system image from an HDD to an SSD.
Click to expand...

I can confirm that it can. It's the size. It will not let you easily restore to a smaller drive. It takes massaging.
 
regardless of whether you can use imaging to make the switch, it is better to just see it as an opportunity for a clean install.

FishAk said:
RAID = AHCI

If the disk is set to RAID mode, you could switch the OS to a RAID array in the future with no penalty now, and no messing around then. If you know beyond doubt you will never use RAID for your OS, just set it to AHCI.
Click to expand...

yes
 
Not sure why youd do this... you'll kick yourself in the nuts 3 times a day for not getting the SSD the first time when you realize what you've been missing.
 
exdeath said:
Not sure why youd do this... you'll kick yourself in the nuts 3 times a day for not getting the SSD the first time when you realize what you've been missing.
Click to expand...

I am sure you're right, lol. I always have buyers remorse. I am just afraid of the reliability issues it seems many people are having at this time. And I have been advised to get the older SSD, but I hate to do that. I doubt I will be able to start all this for about a month, and as fast as this tech is moving, the reliability issues will probably be worked out by then with firmware at the very least? (I read alot about BSoD and the Sandbridge, I think that's what it is called)
 
Drayken said:
I am sure you're right, lol. I always have buyers remorse. I am just afraid of the reliability issues it seems many people are having at this time. And I have been advised to get the older SSD, but I hate to do that. I doubt I will be able to start all this for about a month, and as fast as this tech is moving, the reliability issues will probably be worked out by then with firmware at the very least? (I read alot about BSoD and the Sandbridge, I think that's what it is called)
Click to expand...

Keep backups and don't worry about it. Something most performance enthusiasts are already used to taking the risk with RAID0 Raptors and such anyway long before SSDs. Remaging a 10s of GB partition on a SSD at 250 MB/s takes a minute or two, assuming you have a source device that can sustain the same speed.
 
Remember that the performance difference between the 'slowest' SSD and the 'fastest' HDD is far, far greater than that between the 'fastest' and 'slowest' SSDs. Also remember that (Sandforce issues aside) an SSD is far more reliable than an HDD. Devour the articles Anand has written - AT is possibly the best source around for SSD-related stuff. I elected to avoid the Sandforce controller altogether and chose an Intel 510 series SSD. It's the bomb =)

Edit: Yeah, all these Sand* names _are_ confusing - you'd think the stuff was made from it or something!
 
marlinman said:
Remember that the performance difference between the 'slowest' SSD and the 'fastest' HDD is far, far greater than that between the 'fastest' and 'slowest' SSDs
Click to expand...

This is actually only the case if you exclude the slowest SSDs.
First gen Jmicron SSDs were slower then HDDs, and there have been a few other bad controllers which were only slightly faster than a spindle HDD.

However, if you look at only the quality SSDs, the ones recommended, then it would be somewhat true. But still there are exceptions. For example, whether you are comparing percent/factor increase (in which case it is true), or absolute increases (in which case it is false).

It also requires that you only look at random performance, not sequential performance.
 
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I've used The free version of Acronis that works with all Seagate and WD hard drives to clone to SSDs. I then align the partitions with GParted. Never had any issues with this approach.

I've had great luck with SSDs so far - bought about 10 of them between home and work. No problems with any of them, and these include drives from Intel, Samsung, OCZ, and Adata. I have not owned a Crucial drive, but I friend of mine has no problems with an M4 he bought.
 
Just defrag with defraggler and your HD will be almost as fast as SSD. jk jk. :biggrin:

There is a speed difference. Why people are saying do it now. Everything you do is instant,, goingi to control panel , instant. no loading of icons etc... apps launch in 0 seconds, except for spybot which takes a few seconds.. windows boot time is 35 seconds on avg.

Its fast, opening word or excel everything is Live Mail that my dad uses its fast. But for me stuff is fast too,, things open in 0 seconds, except few apps takes few seconds. boot time is not far off from 35 seconds.

That tells me a lot along with sluggish spybot. 7.5 on WEI btw. C300 my dads + 2600k ....
 
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