How do I swap to an OS SSD?

C

c3k

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Sep 8, 2007
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Folks,

I'm looking for a bit of help here. I've got 2 500Gb hard-drives, C & D. I've got my Vista64 and all my apps on the C drive. My D drive is my backup.

I want to get one of the 80Gb Intel SSD's and dedicate that as my OS drive. I would then use my 2 500Gb drives as a Raid 0 array for all my apps. (I'll probably toss in a 1 Tb drive as a backup).

Here's my question: how do I do that?

Thanks!
Ken
 
It sounds as if you want to move your current OS over. That would require you to reduce your used space on the 500GB drive down to around 60-70GB so that it will fit on the intel drive, obviously. You would then need to select a drive imaging software and create an image of your current OS drive. Restore it to the SSD.

Although that is an option, I would strongly suggest you do a clean installation to the SSD instead. The documents, videos, music and other user folders can be remapped to the HDD also. You'll still get the snappy OS feeling just from having the OS on the drive.

Jason
 
You could just back up your stuff and spend a few hours getting a clean copy of everything on the SSD. It really can't be that much work to get back whatever you have.
 
So what is the benefit of doing a clean install to a SSD? I just used xxcopy to clone my existing OS drive to my SSD and it has been working fine. This was for Windows XP.
 
dydx said:
So what is the benefit of doing a clean install to a SSD? I just used xxcopy to clone my existing OS drive to my SSD and it has been working fine. This was for Windows XP.
Click to expand...


Self satisfaction. lol. I enjoy getting a clean copy, because my drive with my OS always gets mucked up with tons of random movies, programs, files, etc. I treat it like a spring cleaning, change to start fresh and be organized better.
 
StealthXtreme4 said:
Self satisfaction. lol. I enjoy getting a clean copy, because my drive with my OS always gets mucked up with tons of random movies, programs, files, etc. I treat it like a spring cleaning, change to start fresh and be organized better.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Clean install ftw.
 
Guys, this is very helpful. I have Acronis 2010 installed on the machine in question, so that makes life a lot easier.

Warning: total newb question! How do I know which files I can take off the C drive to get it down to under the 80Gb SSD size? Meaning, I can obviously move "Ken's Worm Collection Pictures" over to the D drive, but there've got to be some critical windows stuff that needs to stay on C. How do I know which ones are needed for the OS to run? (That makes the fresh install seem simpler. It will be a major PITA to reinstall all my programs, but I'll know that the OS is installed correctly.)

Thanks for the help!
Ken
 
If you decide on a clean install, here's what I do (in fact I usually do this once a year or so even without installing a new drive):

-- using my "data backup" routine, I make sure everything is fully backed up (usually I do this twice, just in case); I only backup all of my data files, not everything (this takes some careful analysis, to make sure all of the right stuff is backed up)

-- install and / or format primary hard drive

-- install OS, update OS and drivers (this usually takes a few rounds)

-- install apps, configure everything as appropriate

-- restore data files

The hardest part of this is the "data backup" process. But this is worthwhile work, since this can become part of your backup routine (you are doing regular backups, correct?). Even if you're doing full disk backups, having a "data backup" is useful (quicker, would be appropriate for Web backups or lower capacity disks, etc).

Doing this once or so a year, I know everything is as fresh and clean and compact as it can be.

Cliff
 
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