What is the easiest way to simple upgrade my ssd and hdd drive?

viggys · 18 Dec 2015

Hello all and thxs for reading this and hopefully answering this in a simple way. My friend built my pc about 3 yrs ago for gaming and my pc is getting alittle older for that now so i am upgrading some things. In addition to a new gpu i was going to upgrade my ssd from a 250gb to 500gb better model samsung. I figured while i was at it i would replace the 1tb hdd to a 2tb one. I originally thought i would just add the new ssd to the pc and do a raid array but after a lot of googling i found out that it was not the best thing to do because it's smaller and not as fast as the new one and i would actually not gain anything because it would be the speed and size of smaller one, at least that's what a few posters said. So i figured it would be easiest to just replace both drives and just put a system image on the new ssd. Again i was wrong according to a bunch of people nice enough to try and help people like me out who are looking for answers it does not work like that. So back to my question. I think i am better off just reinstalling my os or maybe even just switch from win 7 pro to win 10 and just do a manual backup on a external flash drive of my important things this way i can just start from scratch after windows installs with my driver cd and everything would work right. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

whs · 18 Dec 2015

You lost me - why would it not be possible to transfer the current system to the new drive. With the help of an image that should be a no-brainer.

viggys · 18 Dec 2015

Sorry if i lost you was not trying to complicate things was just looking for how to do it i found posts like this from our forum.
SSD - Install and Transfer the Operating System
Which kinda made it sound a little complicated to do. So is it possible to install a system image stored on a external or internal drive from a repair disk or install disk onto a new ssd?

whs · 18 Dec 2015

The tutorial you found is from me. I don't see what's complicated but maybe that's me only. And yes you can use an installation disc. But that would give you a new system with none of your stuff.

PS - you can always spend the $19.95 and use the Paragon program to do the transfer with 3 clicks.

viggys · 18 Dec 2015

Thank you again for taking the time to answer my question i do appreciate it. I realize that everyone here is trying to help. And i guess that is the way to do it then or a fresh install those are my choices. That's all i was trying to ask.

whs · 18 Dec 2015

There is no silver bullet. If you want to spend no money, you have to invest a bit more work. Else you need to open your wallet.

ThrashZone · 18 Dec 2015

Hi,
Paragon does have a money back policy if it doesn't work it was 14.99 at that time might still be
It didn't work for me but that was the external enclosures deal I believe but still got a refund
If it fails go the clean install route.

Layback Bear · 18 Dec 2015

Please post the exact tutorial that you used.
Lets see if where on the same page.

viggys · 18 Dec 2015

Thxs for taking the time out of your friday nite to help out a newb ; ). Still does not make sense to me why if i have a hdd with a system image on it i can't just do a system restore from a repair cd. I thought it could just reformat the new drive like that and put the image on new ssd i am replacing.

ignatzatsonic · 19 Dec 2015

viggys said:

Thxs for taking the time out of your friday nite to help out a newb ; ). Still does not make sense to me why if i have a hdd with a system image on it i can't just do a system restore from a repair cd. I thought it could just reformat the new drive like that and put the image on new ssd i am replacing.

You may be struggling over semantics or terminology?

IF, I say IF, you have made an "image" of Windows partitions and saved that image on some other drive, you CAN "restore" that image onto any other hard drive or SSD and end up with a bootable system that will be a replica of the original partitions included in the image--including applications, configurations, licensing info, and whatever else may be on the partitions included in the image.

To recover, you don't "put" the image file anywhere, nor do you copy it or move it. To recover from a disaster, a bad situation, or to just change to another HD or SSD, you must formally "restore" the image, using the program you used to make the image. By itself, before restoration, the image is just one huge file that is not bootable.

You don't format anything. The restoration process itself takes care of that automatically.

In the case of Macrium, you wouldn't use a "repair" disc. You would use "recovery" media made from within Macrium. That could be a burned disc or it could be a USB thumb drive. It has to be bootable. If not, you can't restore. So you need to confirm it will in fact boot your PC.

You use the term "system restore". That is normally used to refer to the built-in System Restore capability found in Windows. This is NOT the same as making and later restoring an image. The latter is a proper backup. The former is not.