SSD - Install and Transfer the Operating System

Yes, I'm sure. My BIOS (which is quite a modern looking BIOS from my ASRock 970 Extreme4) has a line that lets you set priority for all your disks, so I set the SSD as first, then the HDD's, and another line that sets boots priority, where you can select between disks/DVD/USB. I set disks as first boot device, and it shows the SSD priority.

I'll see if I can take some pics tonight at home.

The one time I managed to boot from the SSD, I got that "bootmgr missing" message, so I guess my BIOS skips the SSD and takes the next in line: the HDD with windows.

Here are some pictures.

Confirm that the SSD 100mb System Reserved partition (if you have it) or Windows partition (if you don't) is Partition Marked Active then power down to unplug the other drives, boot into Win7 DVD or System Repair Disk to run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times until Win7 starts and is marked System Active.

You can then plug back in the other drives, making sure that the SSD remains set first HD to boot in BIOS setup. Trigger the other drives to boot using one-time BIOS Boot menu key.

If this fails, I would start over using Macrium Imaging - Windows 7 Help Forums
saving a backup image to HD. Then choosing Restore Image, delete the old SSD partitions and drag the System Reserved and Win7 partiitons to the SSD, adjusting C's size if necessary using the Properties link it will place below it. Once complete change the boot order to SSD and see if it starts. If not do the repairs above again.

If all fails, post back a screenshot of Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image with SSD attached.

@gregrocker: you ROCK indeed!

That link helped. I only had to set the new SSD partition to ACTIVE, reboot with the DVD, repair the installation (which apparently both windows partitions needed, the HDD one and the new SSD image), then I rebooted again, I got a BLACK screen with the choice of TWO identical names to boot (both were called "Windows 7" something, but I could not discern which one was the HDD and which the SSD partition, so I tried the first, it was the HDD. I should have taken a picture. Rebooted, go the black choice screen again, tried the second, and Eureka! SSD booted. SO FAST! I am so glad I bought that SSD now.

Some screens:
first one showing the OLD situation after I tried option 1.
second with option 2, and the SSD being renamed to C:, after reboot with some drivers being installed.

Thank you all!

PS: I think greg's post should be included into the OP somehow as a troubleshooter should things not work right off the bat, as was the case with me

gregrocker said:

Glad that worked for you. Having the new Win7 partition marked System means it is booting itself. However it is not marked Active now so Mark Partition Active

The partition is actually active, you just can't see it in the second screenshot

gregrocker said:

What I notice from the screenshots is that several data partitions are wrongly marked Active when only the OS partition should be. So mark the two wrongly Active data partitions Inactive: Partition - Mark as Inactive - Windows 7 Forums

Thanks, I'll do that!

gregrocker said:

Are you keeping the SSD Win7 partition small to include only the OS and programs, intending to link your User folders to the other partition there that's now empty? If so be aware that you can move the User folders to a slower HD because they benefit least from the SSD speed. Doing this makes the backup image smaller so that if Win7 ever becomes irreparably you can reimage C in 20 minutes while the data is safe and current in its own partition that's still linked to the OS. User Folders - Change Default Location

More of what works best is all here in Clean Reinstall Windows 7

Yes, all my documents, music, pictures etc are in seperate folders on another drive. Always have been.

gregrocker said:

It's really easier to manage data partitions when you do it with folders on one large partition rather than a bunch of smaller partitions that can quickly become too small.

Yeah, but I manage as it is now. Something I learned too late. But my partitions are large enough atm.

mjf said:

I wouldn't partition your SSD to have an OS partition much less than 100GB. You don't know what new installed programs you may want. At this stage it is easy to extend this OS partition a little. Too large an OS partition and you have undesirable large system images as mention in the previous post.

I'll see if I can enlarge it some more. I already added 10GB (the HDD win partition was 50GB, the SSD one is now 60GB, but it seems I could do with a little extra space)

mjf said:

It looks like you may be booting through one on your HDDs so I would disconnect all drives except the SSD and confirm that you can boot. If not then you have some more work to do.

I booted from the SSD as I posted before. see the second screenshot. But when I boot now, I still need to select the right windows bootlocation from the 2 currently installed. I imagine that will go away after I format my old HDD windows partition.

You can remove any ghost OS listings in msconfig>boot.

An easy way to move space between partitions, whether they are adjacent or not, is here: How to extend partition easily with Partition Wizard - video help.

gregrocker said:

You can remove any ghost OS listings in msconfig>boot.

An easy way to move space between partitions, whether they are adjacent or not, is here: How to extend partition easily with Partition Wizard - video help.

Ghost successfully removed :)
Downloaded MiniTool. I did it with the windows disk manager before, but this tool looks more precise. Thanks!