Migrate or Fresh Install? HDD to SSD - Page 2

Seems like after. Late to the parade I guess. I posted that because I've used it a bunch of times like when upgrading Windows from 98 to XP. It allowed me to do a clean install and keep my settings. I think they called it the 'Files and Settings Transfer Wizard' back then.

If you don't do a clean install, Intel, Samsung, and probably some other makes have really handy tools you can downloard for their drives that go through all the items that should be adjusted in Windows, check them, list them, and give you the choice to fix them or not.

I think they all only work with the particular manufacturer's drive, but you should check and see if yours has such a tool available.

So, I've finally picked up an SSD for my main HTPC, and I'm concerned about losing the ability to play back all my "copy once" recorded TV too. Based on this, I want to avoid a fresh install, and do a migration. From reading some other threads, it sounds like using Windows' built-in backup and restore capability should work out for this...

My HTPC currently has a single 2TB hard drive. OS and programs are all stored on a separate (approx 50 GB) partition, which is the C drive. Then there is the little 100 MB system reserved block. The remainder of the drive is all filled with media (recorded TV, to be more precise).
So far I've created a system image on an external USB hard drive, which seems to contain the entire C drive partition's content plus the system reserved chunk. I have a Win7 installation USB flash drive I can use for the recovery (since my HTPC doesn't have an optical drive).

My main question is -- when I've installed the SSD, is it going to be as simple as booting up from the flash drive, telling windows to "repair" my installation, and pointing it to my external hard drive for the system image source and to the SSD for my destination? Do I need to unplug my hard drive's SATA cable before doing this, so the HTPC doesn't try to touch my good/functioning Windows install? Do I need to delete my C partition from the hard drive before doing all this?

My hope was to leave my hard drive untouched, as a sort of safety net, and only delete the C partition after I'm able to boot from the SSD and confirm my copy protection isn't borked. But I don't have a good feel for how that might affect drive lettering (the SSD wouldn't be able to be C since C would already be claimed). Please tell me I'm making this more complicated than it needs to be! Thanks!

This tutorial should get you through a migration pretty quick.

http://www.howtogeek.com/97242/how-to-migrate-windows-7-to-a-solid-state-drive/

Thanks - I ran across that article last night and will resort to using 3rd party software if absolutely required. Still holding out hope I can make it work with Windows internal utilities.

I did get the SSD installed and attempted to boot from my Win7 installation image flash drive. Even though I put it at #1 in the BIOS boot lineup, I still ended up booting from the hard drive instead. So my next plan is to try disconnecting the hard drive's SATA cable and trying again. Then I can attempt a recovery/repair installation first, and if that doesn't work, start over with a fresh installation. After that, I should be able to put the SSD at #1 in the BIOS boot lineup, and run from the SSD while keeping a redundant OS installation on my hard drive until I'm comfortable deleting it. At least, that's my hope.

So the migration didn't work using Win7 backup/restore. At first I was getting an error saying "the disk set as active in the BIOS is too small" (even though the OS partition I created a system image of was ~50GB and my SSD is 90GB). I figured out that seemed to be caused by the fact I had my USB drive as #1 in the boot order. But after shuffling the boot order around to put the SSD at #1 and re-trying, I got a new error saying "the parameter is incorrect" followed by some alphanumeric string.

So I gave up on that, and am now trying a clean install on the SSD. We'll see what happens when I plug the hard drive's SATA cable back in.

I think I've run into the same thing and in my case it had something to do with attempting the restore using a Win7 USB Install... I wondered if it was getting confused and trying to restore to the USB stick instead of the SSD... I found that pulling the USB stick containing Win7 Install at the last moment before the restore actually starts avoided that problem.

You're probably well into your fresh install by now though...

Who made the SSD and the HD? Many manufacturers offer a free version of Acronis (all I had to do to use the WD version was plug in an external WD drive).

NOW ya tell me! Seriously, though, this post helped me out a lot -- I have several WD external hard drives, and while none of them had the Acronis software on them, I did find the free download @ WD's website. I was able to successfully clone my OS partitions (plural since I'm including the "system reserved" chunk) over to the SSD. I am now booting from it, and things are working just like they did when I was running from the hard drive (except much snappier, of course).

Lessons learned?
1. Clean install of Win7 to the SSD resulted in DRM failure -- i.e. I could not play back my "copy once" recorded TV.
2. Even if the drive you want to boot from doesn't show up as a choice for the boot order menu in the BIOS, that doesn't mean you can't boot from it.
3. Putting the SSD on the SATA port that my hard drive used to be on seemed to help ensure booting to the SSD and not the hard drive (which still has its Windows install intact).
4. Backing up OS partitions to image, and then restoring to the SSD (using Acronis SW) resulted in success -- copy-protected recorded TV plays as it should.
5. Next time I do a build from scratch, it's getting an SSD right out of the chute (none of this migration nonsense!)

For what it's worth, the hard drive is a 2TB WD Green (extracted from an Elements USB external) and the SSD is a 90GB Kingston HyperX.

Correct - I was fortunate enough that the only change in my system was adding the SSD. All other hardware (most importantly, the motherboard) stayed the same.
What I found funny was that, in spite of keeping my hardware the same, a fresh install of Windows on the SSD still killed PlayReady. Even though I used the same copy of Windows/activation code, too.
In any case - best of luck with getting PlayReady working again after the motherboard change. It's too bad that we users who try to legitimately respect the content providers' wishes (by using "approved" WMC DVR functionality via CableCARD authentication) get screwed, while those users who pirate content won't ever have to worry about a hardware/software change breaking their ability to play the content... but I digress.

Just for future notice there are apps that will change your MAC address to anything you need as long as you're not going to use the original board, either on your network or to be safe, anywhere. I had to do it for an EDA license I used at work that stopped working when my original system went off lease because the license was tied to the MAC. I can't remember the app name at the moment but there are freeware versions.

This link was recently updated with the following comment:
"Wow. This article makes things way harder than they need be. I’m not sure if the folks at The Geek are aware of this, but Windows 7 is fully SSD aware. Fully. That means that awareness extends to the Windows 7 backup and restore utility and its built in disk image function. You can try and verify for yourself, but I promise that this is a true thing. What this means is that if you are migrating an existing Windows 7 installation from a standard hard disk to an SSD, you do NOT need Clonezilla or EaseUS Partition Manager, and you do NOT need to use diskpart to align the partitions. Really.

After reading this article I was filled with doubt about what I thought I knew, so I set about verifying that what I thought I knew was right. And here’s what I thought I knew (and have verified to be so.)

A Windows 7 system image generated by the Windows 7 backup and restore utility from a Windows 7 installation on a standard hard disk is properly aligned automatically when that image is used to migrate/restore the Windows 7 OS to a solid state disc. How did I verify this? Well, I checked the Dell Latitude E6500 that sits on my desk which was set up in exactly this way. Partitions are aligned properly. Then I called a friend for whom I had just a few weeks ago migrated an existing Windows 7 installation from a Western Digital Scorpio Black 320 gig drive to a Samsung 470 SSD just a few weeks ago and had him check the partition offset. It was perfect. (1048576.) And then I checked half a dozen assorted other laptops and desktops I had migrated from spinning hard disks to SSDs using Win 7′s own backup and restore generated system image and in each and every case the SSD was aligned properly.

If you have Win 7, you don’t need Clonezilla or EaseUS or Acronis or Ghost. All you need is Win 7. Boot with the Wi n 7 OS DVD or a recovery disc and restore the system image to the new drive. That’s it. Check for yourself.

The advice on things like defrag? Good advice, but you don’t need Defraggler or any third party software for that either. Win 7′s defrag consolidates free space. You can verify this by running Win 7′s defrag from as an admin from the command prompt. (CMD–>run as administrator) Run defrag /c /u /v

Yes, clear all the temp files. Disable hibernation. Reduce the swap file (but don’t turn it off completely.) Run Win 7′s defrag from the command prompt. Shrink the partition (if needed to make it fit on the new SSD.) Generate a system image on an external USB or eSATA (if your system supports booting with eSATA) drive. Install your SSD and restore the system image. That’s it."

It seems like the alternatives for migrating the operating system to a SSD is rapidly changing and getting easier. Current software migration aids include Aomei, Acronis and Paragon and if this comment is correct I may not even need these programs.

I am planning to use my new Black Friday purchased OCZ Vertex 4 128 GB SSD mainly to speed up booting my 2009 computer and I have been reading up.

I considered a fresh install from win 7 32 bit to win7 64 bit but it seemed the only advantage of 64 bit Win 7 for me was that I could use a larger than 3 TB drive as a boot drive and now I won't be doing that. While a fresh install would clean up a lot of accumulated junk it would also take a lot time, require preparation of outlook data, backing up internet favorites, preparation of my direct attached storage hardware raid device which stores media backups and my system backup and the reinstallation of many programs, (some of which require original software or codes that will be time consuming or difficult to get)

So, my question is, "Am I correct that the migration process has become simpler and more dependable than it was six months ago?" Is Windows 7 fully SSD aware or should I use Aomei Partition Assistant?