Installing my SSD, How do I move Windows 7?

[QingGuy]

I took advice from this forum and purchased a SSD that I'm installing today along with my Ceton card. Once installed how do I move Windows 7 OS to the SSD? I apologize if this topic has been covered, I did a couple of searches and didn't find anything. Also, anything else that I should move to the SSD? Thanks in advance.

[richard1980]

The best way is to do a fresh install. If you can't do a fresh install for whatever reason (such as having copy protected recordings), you can do everything manually. First you'll want to ensure that your OS partition on the HDD is smaller than the SSD, then create a partition image of you OS partition from the HDD and restore it to the SSD. Use a reputable program such as Acronis True Image so that sector alignment will be correct. Once you get the partition imaged to the SSD and boot into Windows, disable defrag (for the SSD only), superfetch/prefetch, and ReadyBoost.

Either way, you'll also want to switch from IDE mode to AHCI mode in BIOS. If you are doing a fresh install, do this before installing the OS. If you are imaging the OS partition, you'll have to apply a registry edit before you change to AHCI mode. For instructions, see here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976.

As for what to put on the SSD....everything you can. However, you don't want to use the SSD for things that do a lot of writing and erasing...such as recorded TV. So be sure to go into WMC and change the recording drive to the HDD. Also, if you use PlayOn or vmcPlayIt, see here: http://thegreenbutton.tv/forums/viewtop ... 268#p14268. Start with Barnabas1969's first post on page 2 and go through the end of the thread.

[QingGuy]

I spoke with one of the techs at my company and he said I could install the SSD, do a new install of Windows 7 on the SSD, run it for a few days off the SSD and if everything seems good delete the original installation of Windows 7. Anyone tried this?

I found this method and two of the options look pretty good 1 first then 3 if one fails. 2 Scares the hell out of me and I don't understand how that would move my OS to a SSD - http://www.winsupersite.com/article/win ... dia-128512 I have a Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade Media CD for #1 and if that fails I'll do a new install to the SDD and then I guess I just delete the old OS . . . right? Damn I'm feeling over my head . . .

[richard1980]

The article you linked describes how to do a clean installation of Windows 7 using the upgrade version (as opposed to a full version of W7). It does not describe how to move the OS from HDD to SSD.

[QingGuy]

This is a nightmare, 2.5 hours in and I still can't get the SSD installed in my case grrrrrrrr

[Beradon]

Unfortunately moving an OS only from one hard drive to another would introduce more problems than its worth if you intend on leaving your programs installed on the other hard drive. To the point that I'm not sure if its even possible.

So this leaves you with two options:

Option1: Install everything fresh, install the OS and whatever you choose on the SSD and leave the HDD in or not for additional storage (your choice if you dont need the space)

Option2: If your HDD install with all your programs is not too large you can image the drive and copy it over to the SSD and flat out replace the HDD. (Or after ensuring everything is working as you intend, format the HDD and leave it in as additional storage like option 1)

There are a number of drive imaging tools you can use. I use Macrium Reflect because its free, but its not the most straightforward to use unfortunately.

[erkotz]

Most drive imaging software does not handle sector alignment properly - I would discourage you from using it.
If you do, I believe that TRIM needs to be manually enabled once you clone the drive.

[barnabas1969]

Acronis True Image handles alignment just fine. I verified this personally. Run the Windows Experience Index thingy after installing the SSD and moving your O/S... and it will automatically update your system to handle the SSD. I verified this personally as well. Easy stuff.

Now, erkotz, how about that macroblocking issue?

[richard1980]

I can also vouch for Acronis True Image's ability to properly align the sectors. But the WEI thing is something new to me. What all does it do?

[barnabas1969]

I don't remember the details about the WEI, but when your system drive performance is over a certain score, Windows automatically treats the drive like an SSD... defrag is disabled on that drive, and several registry entries are changed to improve performance and be compatible with the SSD.

When I upgraded my SSD in the HTPC, I moved the old SSD to my desktop computer to replace the old HDD in that machine. I was going to change all the registry entries manually. I read an article on OCZ's site that detailed all the changes. Before I made any changes to the registry, I was trying to figure out how to disable the automatic defragging that Windows does, and I came across an article that said to run the WEI thing. I ran it, and the registry settings were magically changed... and the drive was removed from the list of drives in the defrag utility. Apparently, the WEI doesn't just analyze your computer... it actually changes stuff.

[richard1980]

Well that's interesting...I never knew. Thanks!

[rbmorse]

Most drive imaging software does not handle sector alignment properly - I would discourage you from using it.
If you do, I believe that TRIM needs to be manually enabled once you clone the drive.

I don't know about most drive imaging software, but Acronis, Macrium and Paragon all do proper alignment.

Actually, Windows 7 will do proper alignment IF you let the Windows 7 installer partition and format the SSD, or use Windows 7's diskmgmt.msc utility to create and format the partition on the SSD prior to installing Windows 7. Windows 7 will not correct an improper alignment on a partition created by XP or earlier version of Windows.

WIndows 7 automagically recognizes the presence of an SSD. One does not need to do anything to enable TRIM on Windows 7, if the drive itself is TRIM enabled, as long as the disk controller is running in the SATA as AHCI or SATA as RAID modes. In fact, Windows 7 always sends TRIM commands to all drives all the time if the drive controller is set to use the AHCI command protocol. The commands are ignored if the device is not TRIM enabled. This can behavior can be disabled but the overhead is so small that it's not worth spelunking the registry to change the settings.

TRIM requires the system drive controller to be set to use the AHCI or RAID mode. If Windows 7 is installed with the disk controller in SATA as IDE mode the AHCI drivers will be copied onto the system drive (msahci), but they will not be loaded when the operating system starts the machine. In this case there is a registry setting that MUST BE CHANGED to enable the AHCI or RAID mode and the system BIOS settings for the controller mode must also be changed. I can't for the life of me remember what the registry change is, but any search engine should return useful results against the term "enable AHCI mode in Windows 7 after installation."

If the disk controller is set to AHCI or RAID mode at the time Windows 7 installed, the installer will enable the AHCI drivers automatically.

[richard1980]

Actually, TRIM works in both AHCI and IDE mode in Windows 7. AHCI is not required, but in my experience, AHCI has overall better system performance than IDE mode. IIRC, certain controllers require the Microsoft AHCI driver for TRIM to work properly in AHCI mode.

[barnabas1969]

RIchard is correct. TRIM works with IDE or AHCI, but AHCI gives a little better performance. Also, TRIM does NOT work in RAID, unless you have an Intel storage controller and are running the correct version of the Intel RST driver. I know for a fact that TRIM does not work in RAID with an AMD storage controller.

I'm not sure if TRIM is always enabled on all types of drives. Something about that doesn't sound right. But, as I wrote earlier, after making an image of your old HDD with Acronis, and then restoring the image to the new SSD... just run the Windows Experience Index. It will set everything correctly. Windows bases its decision of whether to treat a drive like an SSD based on the WEI score for disk performance.