OS clone onto SSD

[xander89]

Hey people.

So it was payday and i splashed out some money on my rig.....again . I got myself a nice 24 inch screen and a 120 corsair SSD.

ALthough it wouldn't be much bother at all to reinstall my OS, quite frankly i cant be assed. I was wondering how good are cloning programs like clonzilla? And would it just be quicker for me to reinstall my OS. I only redid it about a month ago so i dont really need anything on there.

Any advice would be great

 

[RGone]

I cannot begin to guess how many internet articles about HDD to SSD that there are on the net. Probably too, too many to count without letting g00gle make the tally.

IF your HDD setup is not running in AHCI mode and the partitions were not aligned, then the best answer is to do a clean install of Win 7 to the SSD (in AHCI mode) with the HDD completely unhooked from the computer.

Some how-to's seem to leave some steps undescribed, however I found one pretty darn complete article on how to clone HDD to SSD.

Pretty complete process description of HDD to SSD.

 

[Neuromancer]

Some imaging programs will do the alignment for you (I use a pay for play software called Image for DOS) but it lets you set alignment when cloning.

AHCI/RAID still needs to be set in BIOS first. And I always do a clean sweep of the OS before imaging. (CCleaner runs etc)

IF using a imaging software that does not support skipping pagefile and hiberfil shrink/eliminate them before cloning to save some time. 4-5 mouse clicks and a restart to save 5+ minutes of clone time is worth it IME)

 

[Oroka Sempai]

With a SSD and the OS on memory stick, you are looking at 10 mins... it is the other software that will slow you down

Im looking at a second Agility 3 to RAID with now that there seems to be a SSD price war going, seems almost all SSDs are on sale with MIRs.

 

[Neuromancer]

With a SSD and the OS on memory stick, you are looking at 10 mins... it is the other software that will slow you down

Im looking at a second Agility 3 to RAID with now that there seems to be a SSD price war going, seems almost all SSDs are on sale with MIRs.

My best time was 6 minutes 40 seconds from naked drives to desktop with windows 7.

But it was still 10 more hours to get all my drivers and apps instaleld and get all my settings back the way I like them.

But yeah I agree that reinstalling windows is probably the best bet. And I have trimmed down my "reinstall" times significantly by changing my usage habits.. Tehre is an app out there I forget teh name that will DL and install a dozen or more apps for you at once, wish I could remember the name of it...

 

[manu2b]

The OS on th rig I am typing on right now went from OCZ Vertex3 to Corsair f90 to CaviarBlack to Caviar Blue to Corsair f90 to caviar black to Corsair F90 again. Lol!

And no problem at all. Using Acronis True Image.

 

[xander89]

tbh there isnt much i am too bothered about keeping in terms of setup. I've been a bit slacak abotu organising this install as i knew that i would most likely be getting an SSD. Probs best to do a proper overhaul and just set it up the way i like it this time round.

 

[xander89]

Your thinking of ninite? Yet I use that to reinstall all the basics. Super useful program XD.

Tbh I can do a clean instal in next to no time now. All my drivers are kept up to date on my secondary for quick instal after a reformat. Seems imaging is more hassle than its worth tbh.

. thanks for the replies though guys

 

[manu2b]

I used Acronis quite a few times HDD to SSD to SSD to HDD...

It works perfectly (alignement included).

 

[xander89]

i might make an image for my SSD when its all nice and set up the way i want it. That might be useful later on. BUt i think it a fresh instal when going to a SSD is best tbh

 

[manu2b]

The OS on th rig I am typing on right now went from OCZ Vertex3 to Corsair f90 to CaviarBlack to Caviar Blue to Corsair f90 to caviar black to Corsair F90 again. Lol!

And no problem at all. Using Acronis True Image.

 

[xander89]

tbh there isnt much i am too bothered about keeping in terms of setup. I've been a bit slacak abotu organising this install as i knew that i would most likely be getting an SSD. Probs best to do a proper overhaul and just set it up the way i like it this time round.