SSD - Install and Transfer the Operating System

stormy13 said:

2. Powered down and disconnected the HDD and connected the SSD in its place.

Did you disconnect the HDD because hardware constraints would not accommodate both devices simultaneously,
or does the presence of the original HDD affect the integrity of the Boot CD image restore to the SSD ?
I have seen warnings that when a disk is cloned the original should be removed before booting up the new, but not seen such a warning when restoring an image to the new HDD.

Recently an SSD was added to my desktop and the BIOS Boot Order juggled to favor the SSD before the HDD, and Macrium PE Rescue CD restored the HDD image to the SSD.
The SSD booted O.K. as C:\ (and "old windows" on the HDD became G:\) but some aspects of Windows were defective so I finished up with a fresh installation of Windows.

Macrium never failed when restoring my HDD so I am puzzled by apparent corruption when putting the HDD image onto the SSD.
I am hoping that the problem was not due to my restored image including my own special reparse points that diverted things like the Firefox caches and the Comodo A.V. "spare" signature base to another HDD.
I intend to implement the same reparse points on the SSD - but carefully in-case it goes belly up again.

Regards
Alan

Did you disconnect the HDD

Disconnected as in removed both the power and SATA cables and put them on the SSD. The bios even cooperated by putting the SSD as the primary boot drive just like the HDD had been; then again the only thing that changed as far as the bios was concerned was the name of the drive. Also didn't have to change to AHCI as it has been running like that since I built the computer.

Haven't bothered to reconnect the old HDD as there is no need for it, and will likely wipe it and use it as the OS drive in my kids computer as it is a bit faster than the 250 GB that is in it now.

Actually I was wondering about the reason for disconnection, not the fact or the method.

My image restore was a partial success, whilst yours was a total success,
so I was thinking you might have simply had a physical necessity with a Laptop,
or you might have followed a recommendation I was not aware of,
and whether this could be the magic difference that caused a problem for my SSD.

Regards
Alan

Thanks, I thought there was no need to disconnect the HDD but when I saw Stormy's post I thought he might have known that it was better practice.

My son works in I.T. and early last year he installed Windows 7 with the 100 MB MSR on a desktop for me.
Previously I used XP on a Laptop and feel it is a bit early to risk trashing a new system :)
My Macrium images did (and still do) include the MSR with C:\ in each partition backup.
(I use a BAT script to easily select Full or DIFF or INC backups of preselected groups of partitions)

My system has some asymmetry.
It started with 4 GB.
Another 4 GB was was bought but the system failed to boot with any more than 6 GB installed.
After 5 or 6 shift and shuffle attempts it eventually booted with 8 GB.

Not related to the above but perhaps another hardware issue :-
a BIOS non-bootable GPT 600 GB HDD is and always has been seen by Partition Wizard as Disc 1
my bootable 1000 GB HDD is seen as Disc 2, and MSR is Primary; Active
My new SSD is seen as Disc 3, and MSR is Primary; Active&Boot

My BIOS Boot order is
Removable Flash Drive (Macrium Rescue)
CD/DVD
SSD
SamSung 1000 GB HDD

I am hoping that should the SSD fail to boot then the original C:\ on the 1000 GB HDD will automatically boot up.

Regards
Alan