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Finally got an SSD.. clone HDD or fresh install? - Page 2

post #31 of 43
1/16/13 at 7:03am
How long does it take to get past the POST screen? My older PC takes almost 30 seconds, so I'm not going to get an under 30 second boot time.
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post #32 of 43
1/16/13 at 8:47am
Thread Starter 
The POST times are about 30 secs... The another 20-30 secs for the desktop to finally show.
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post #33 of 43
1/16/13 at 8:33pm
Try running AS SSD to check if your aligned correctly. It will also give you an idea of what kind of speeds your getting. If your not running AHCI there's a fix from Microsoft on the net. Just search for it . If you find the right web page it will fix it for you and can reboot into AHCI mode. For alignment I use PartMagic I believe to fix it. It's a bootable Linux ISO. You just change your partition around a couple times and it fixes your alignment. Again I got it from guides on the net. Just search for fixing SSD alignment.
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post #34 of 43
1/17/13 at 9:03am
That ^

That is also why I prefer clean installs over clones.

They never let me down. Optimal performance everytime. Fresh installs are always faster.
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post #35 of 43
1/17/13 at 4:57pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post

That ^

That is also why I prefer clean installs over clones.

They never let me down. Optimal performance everytime. Fresh installs are always faster.


I hear ya I just really didn't want to install everything again.
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post #36 of 43
1/17/13 at 5:15pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by duff99 View Post

Try running AS SSD to check if your aligned correctly. It will also give you an idea of what kind of speeds your getting. If your not running AHCI there's a fix from Microsoft on the net. Just search for it . If you find the right web page it will fix it for you and can reboot into AHCI mode. For alignment I use PartMagic I believe to fix it. It's a bootable Linux ISO. You just change your partition around a couple times and it fixes your alignment. Again I got it from guides on the net. Just search for fixing SSD alignment.

Ran the acronis alignment tool and it said everything is aligned...
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post #37 of 43
1/17/13 at 7:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ascen5sion View Post

Ran the acronis alignment tool and it said everything is aligned...

Okay so run AS SSD and check your speeds. Make sure your running in AHCI mode. If everything looks good then just accept that you've got an older system and your not going to get much better.
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post #38 of 43
1/17/13 at 8:31pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by duff99 View Post

Okay so run AS SSD and check your speeds. Make sure your running in AHCI mode. If everything looks good then just accept that you've got an older system and your not going to get much better.


Is my system that old? I'm not running in AHCI. I need to read more about switching. When I did I was no longer about to boot up. It might be a couple of years old but still a very capable system IMO.
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post #39 of 43
1/17/13 at 9:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ascen5sion View Post

Is my system that old? I'm not running in AHCI. I need to read more about switching. When I did I was no longer about to boot up. It might be a couple of years old but still a very capable system IMO.

First off sorry if I offended you. I did say older, not old. In my mind at least there's a difference. I didn't start seeing those lighting fast boot times until the x77 generation boards. They are all faster than my older systems. Some are faster than others though. The fact is I doubt your board is running SATA 3 so you loose half your speed right there. Then you've got to take into account that that board just takes longer to post. Also with a clone you've accumulated things that are just going to add to the boot times. Welcome to Windows it happens to everybody. If you've ever had more than the most basic of installs that you never touch it's going to slow down. I believe that your system is still very capable. I've wondered over the years at what point we could just stop upgrading. When I started this it was a challenge to play HD video. Then the next challenge was HD audio. Now that's pretty simple. So I'm not knocking your machine I'm just telling you why it won't boot as fast as a Z77 system.

Go to this link in Internet Explorer. It's a Microsoft Knowledge base article. It will offer you an option to fix the AHCI issue. Once it runs reboot and change to AHCI mode. I've used it myself a couple of times so I know it works. Then get AS SSD and see what your drive is doing. It's free and only a couple of MB so why not.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976
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post #40 of 43
1/18/13 at 6:36am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by duff99 View Post

First off sorry if I offended you. I did say older, not old. In my mind at least there's a difference. I didn't start seeing those lighting fast boot times until the x77 generation boards. They are all faster than my older systems. Some are faster than others though. The fact is I doubt your board is running SATA 3 so you loose half your speed right there. Then you've got to take into account that that board just takes longer to post. Also with a clone you've accumulated things that are just going to add to the boot times. Welcome to Windows it happens to everybody. If you've ever had more than the most basic of installs that you never touch it's going to slow down. I believe that your system is still very capable. I've wondered over the years at what point we could just stop upgrading. When I started this it was a challenge to play HD video. Then the next challenge was HD audio. Now that's pretty simple. So I'm not knocking your machine I'm just telling you why it won't boot as fast as a Z77 system.

Go to this link in Internet Explorer. It's a Microsoft Knowledge base article. It will offer you an option to fix the AHCI issue. Once it runs reboot and change to AHCI mode. I've used it myself a couple of times so I know it works. Then get AS SSD and see what your drive is doing. It's free and only a couple of MB so why not.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976



I didn't take offense so no need to apologize smile.gif. I edited the registry and switched over to AHCI. My new boot times are right over 40 seconds. At this point I am happy and I'm sure I am getting the best I can out
of my current set up. Below are the before and after the IDE to AHCI switch.


Before







After

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post #41 of 43
1/18/13 at 8:10am
Glad to see you got it working. Those speeds look to be about as good as you'll see out of SATA II. 40 seconds isn't a bad boot time, especially if you said your post time is 25-30 seconds.
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post #42 of 43
1/18/13 at 9:01am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by duff99 View Post

Glad to see you got it working. Those speeds look to be about as good as you'll see out of SATA II. 40 seconds isn't a bad boot time, especially if you said your post time is 25-30 seconds.


Oh my post times are much quicker basically 10-15 seconds. I don't see the dual bios screen anymore. It's definitely faster. I really don't need more speed the pc is just for movies... But that itch for more will prob get me looking at sata3 boards. I really should be worrying about backing up my data by building a server before that though lol. It is an addiction for sure. Anyhow thanks for all the advice guys.
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post #43 of 43
1/19/13 at 9:43am
The easiest way I have found is to use Partition Wizard (free). Make a boot disc. It will copy your current drive partition and will format the SSD with proper alignment (it also has an alignment feature if necessary). Quick and clean, works perfectly. Only glitch I've ever had is to have to use the Windows repair on boot, but doesn't always happen.

Have also used Norton Ghost to install on a new drive which also works, but actually takes longer and you have to format the disk first anyway.
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