SSD upgrade, copy from old HDD

[enhanced08]

I just bought an Onyx SSD for my laptop and a second GB of ram. I threw the ram in and now need to figure out how to copy the hard drive to the SSD. The laptop can only have 1 HDD installed at a time. I have the tools to connect both the standard HDD and the SSD to my desktop computer via USB but am unsure if I can copy everything that way.

Any ideas as to how I can copy from one drive to the other?

Also note that the standard HDD has 2 partitions on it, The OS and a recovery partition. Ive never used one of these recovery partitions on any system. Maybe I can just use that and reinstall the OS to the new SSD? Ive only had the laptop for about a month so it doesnt need reinstalled but I also wont lose anything if that would be easier. Also the new SSD is 64GB, while the standard drive is 160GB. Its not full but will that cause any problems with copying?

 

[Dangman]

It's generally recommended to do a fresh install when using a SSD for optimal performance.

With the old HDD in, is there anyway you can create a recovery CD?

 

[enhanced08]

Im not sure. Ive never actually done the recovery option on a computer. I normally just wipe it clean and install an OEM OS. How does it normally work? Launch some program that burns the OS to a cd and then install as usual from the cd?

 

[drescherjm]

Launch some program that exists on some hidden partition that resets the hard drive to what it contained at the factory. Note that this will in most cases remove all of your data because it overwrites the partition directly with an image.

 

[enhanced08]

Ok, so I swapped HDDs again and started playing with the recovery partition. Opened the program and it wants to copy some files to a media (DVD, USB drive, etc). The laptop has no CD/DVD of any kind and my largest usb drive is 4GB. I do have a USB DVD/CD-RW drive but it only burns CDs, not DVDs. The program runs for a bit then tells me my flash drive isnt big enough....