SSD Migration Questions (Dual-Boot Division)

[PGHammer]

Now that SSD pricing is relatively stable/sane, I'm taking another look at them, in particular the Samsung 840 non-Pro in 120GB and 250GB capacities (I like Samsung SSDs for reliability reasons, and the two non-Pros for *bang for buck* reasons - they are at least as fast as the old 820 SSDs while remaining under $1/GB, in either size).

However, I have several questions:

1. I currently dual-boot Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, and I have the ugly thought that Server 2012 (not Windows 8) holds the boot loader (Server 2012 was installed last). Can Windows 8 be migrated AND made bootable from within Samsung Magician, or is a reinstall necessary?

2. Can Samsung Magician do a *selective migration*? Preferably, I'd like to do a minimal migration, since a FULL migration is utterly impossible - my Windows 8 partition is WAY too large.

3. Can game services OTHER than Steam (Origin in particular) be migrated to an SSD? (My Origin folder is larger than my Steam folder, and holds most of the games that I play - if there are advantages in migrating it to an SSD, I want to take advantage of them.)

4. It is quite likely that the SSD add-in will be before I change CPU and motherboard (price reasons - even the larger SSD is cheaper than my planned CPU+motherboard) - would a re-migration/reinstall be needed afterward? (Chipset change is from G41 to Z77.)

 

[hotcrandel]

Now that SSD pricing is relatively stable/sane, I'm taking another look at them, in particular the Samsung 840 non-Pro in 120GB and 250GB capacities (I like Samsung SSDs for reliability reasons, and the two non-Pros for *bang for buck* reasons - they are at least as fast as the old 820 SSDs while remaining under $1/GB, in either size).

There have been lots of deals in the .70-.75 cents/gb range lately, too, just an FYI. Samsung is one of the best brands, but there are lots of others that are good, too.

1. I currently dual-boot Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, and I have the ugly thought that Server 2012 (not Windows 8) holds the boot loader (Server 2012 was installed last). Can Windows 8 be migrated AND made bootable from within Samsung Magician, or is a reinstall necessary?

I am guessing you mean you have both OS' installed on a single SSD. I'm sure you can "Migrate" it, and if you have too use the Win8 disk to repair the boot partition.
A reinstall will be cleaner, and probably have less issues down the road.

2. Can Samsung Magician do a *selective migration*? Preferably, I'd like to do a minimal migration, since a FULL migration is utterly impossible - my Windows 8 partition is WAY too large.

No idea. You can shrink a partition in disk management if you can clean stuff up.

3. Can game services OTHER than Steam (Origin in particular) be migrated to an SSD? (My Origin folder is larger than my Steam folder, and holds most of the games that I play - if there are advantages in migrating it to an SSD, I want to take advantage of them.)

Very easily. Steam has this feature built in (at installation time you can pick a different directory). Alternatively you can use softlinks (mklink /D) or steam mover. Origin you could solve with mklink as well. Overall its a bit messy, but it will work

4. It is quite likely that the SSD add-in will be before I change CPU and motherboard (price reasons - even the larger SSD is cheaper than my planned CPU+motherboard) - would a re-migration/reinstall be needed afterward? (Chipset change is from G41 to Z77.)

Win7/Win8 takes it pretty well moving between motherboards assuming the licensing allows it. It's not always perfect though, going from IDE to AHCI takes some futzing.

 

[PGHammer]

There have been lots of deals in the .70-.75 cents/gb range lately, too, just an FYI. Samsung is one of the best brands, but there are lots of others that are good, too.



I am guessing you mean you have both OS' installed on a single SSD. I'm sure you can "Migrate" it, and if you have too use the Win8 disk to repair the boot partition.
A reinstall will be cleaner, and probably have less issues down the road.



No idea. You can shrink a partition in disk management if you can clean stuff up.



Very easily. Steam has this feature built in (at installation time you can pick a different directory). Alternatively you can use softlinks (mklink /D) or steam mover. Origin you could solve with mklink as well. Overall its a bit messy, but it will work



Win7/Win8 takes it pretty well moving between motherboards assuming the licensing allows it. It's not always perfect though, going from IDE to AHCI takes some futzing.

1. No; they are on completely separate DRIVES - neither is on an SSD. (My issue is OS Loader, which includes the selection screen between them - installing it creates an Alphonse/Gaston situation, even between separate drives. Windows Server 2012 is on the smaller drive, and shows up first in OS Loader - if, as expected, it is actually the loader's default, that would mean that the Windows 8 drive is NOT bootable.)

2. That is indeed true about normal migration between motherboards, especially with the chipsets being of the same brand. My worry is that G41/ICH7, which is what I have now, doesn't support AHCI at all (it's one of those rather odd quirks in G4x), while it is Z77's default. Can Z77 even run an SSD in IDE mode?

 

[jonyyybe]

1. Can be repaired with win8 cd
2. no
3. don't no
4. sure it can run SSD in IDE mode; it's possible to be repaired the same with win8 cd when the win starts and have error and dosen't see all the drivers.