Replacing my C drive with a SSD in windows 7

ignatzatsonic · 17 Mar 2014

The first and third pictures imply that you are trying to migrate from a 465 GB drive to a 1863 GB Western Digital hard drive.

Is that your intent? I thought you were buying a smallish SSD, around 120 GB? The third pic shows a "Disc 2" that appears to be a 120 GB drive, but nothing has been migrated to it.

You best clarify what you HOPED you were doing before you do anything else.

To what drive were you trying to migrate: smallish SSD shown as disk 2; or large regular Western Digital hard drive of about 1863 size, shown as disk 0? It appears you've done the latter.

What was previously on that big Western Digital "disk 0"?

trendy · 17 Mar 2014

I wish to copy the OS from the C drive to the newSSD The OS on the C drive is ony 55GB.Maybe I need to partition the C drive down to have the OS in a small partition.
Things are going a bit complicated here,Will start again tomorrow.
Thanks for your help.

ignatzatsonic · 17 Mar 2014

trendy said:

I wish to copy the OS from the C drive to the newSSD The OS on the C drive is ony 55GB.Maybe I need to partition the C drive down to have the OS in a small partition.
Things are going a bit complicated here,Will start again tomorrow.
Thanks for your help.

I have no idea what you've done, but you certainly haven't migrated anything to an SSD if those pictures are to be believed.

You've migrated (possibly) to a large traditional Western Digital hard drive.

The SSD is shown, but nothing is on it. You chose the wrong target, apparently.

You have to hope you didn't forever lose whatever was on that large WD drive previously.

I've never used that migrating application you are using. I use the other method involving diskpart and Macrium, which worried you too much I guess.

When migrating, I'd try to disconnect any drives that weren't involved in the process so you can't accidentally do what you appear to have done----migrate to the wrong drive.

You may or may not be in a bad jam. Best to wait to see what WHS advises.

It's a simple enough job, but your trepidation may be getting the best of you.

You could certainly re-do the procedure and be sure to choose the SSD as the target, not the large WD.

But your greater problem is that whatever WAS on that large WD may now be lost because you migrated to the wrong target.

whs · 17 Mar 2014

1. You have to change the BIOS boot order to boot from the SSD. On Power-on, keep tapping F12 (ESC for HP and Asus) until you get the boot menu. Highlight the SSD with the up/down keys and press Enter.

If that works, you may want to change the bootorder permanently by tapping F2 at power-on.

2. The question of the old C we'll discuss once you are up and running with the SSD.

trendy · 18 Mar 2014

1. You have to change the BIOS boot order to boot from the SSD. On Power-on, keep tapping F12 (ESC for HP and Asus) until you get the boot menu. Highlight the SSD with the up/down keys and press Enter.

If that works, you may want to change the bootorder permanently by tapping F2 at power-on.

2. The question of the old C we'll discuss once you are up and running with the SSD.

Well here we go again looks like it's come very close to then end of the project,I managed to get the Paragon program to work properly I downloaded some PDF info.So now the copy of C drive is now on the SSD drive.

Now do I change over from the Old C drive to the new SSD inside the tower or do I have to enter the bios to get the SSD to be C drive while its still in situ in the docking station?

Regarding the above,When I do get into bios can you give me some final info there please,If all is hunky dory I will send you a large bottle of your choice for putting up with all my questions,You have been very helpful indeed.
Don't think I would have done it without your help.

Thank You Very Much Once again.

Image of old C and new SSD.........

whs · 18 Mar 2014

The BIOS work is more difficult to explain because I cannot make snips and every BIOS is a bit different anyhow. But if you power-on the machine and keep tapping F2, the BIOS menu should come up. There you can only navigate with the up/dpwn, leftarrow/right arrow keys.

Navigate to the Boot tab and try to get into the boot sequence. You have to read what it says on the right of the screen. Your BIOS may differ from mine - most likely. Move the SSD into the second boot position (CD/DVD drive should be first). This is usually done with some function key - it should say on the right side which one.

And when you are done, don't forget to save it. On the bottom it says which F-key to use. Then exit and it should boot from the SSD. You would notice the difference to the HDD in the speed of the boot.

BTW: what do you plan to do with the 20GB of unallocated space on the SSD. You can make a new partition or add it to C or leave it as an unallocated reserve.

trendy · 18 Mar 2014

Thanks,Regarding you reply.Do I fit the SSD into pc before going into bios??

Or do it while the SSD is in the USB docking station ??
Thanks.

whs · 18 Mar 2014

Nah, once you are running from the SSD, you do the AHCI work. You can also do that 4 weeks later. As I said, you may not see much of a difference. I have a couple of systems where I never bothered to change it.

And the BIOS setting for the boot order you have to do when you want to boot from the SSD - either with the temporary boot order just for testing or the permanent boot order for good.

trendy · 18 Mar 2014

Nah, once you are running from the SSD, you do the AHCI work . You can also do that 4 weeks later. As I said, you may not see much of a difference. I have a couple of systems where I never bothered to change it.

And the BIOS setting for the boot order you have to do when you want to boot from the SSD - either with the temporary boot order just for testing or the permanent boot order for good.

Thanks wolfgang.
Well I fitted the SSd into the tower all went okay,In the bios part I pressed F9 and a screen came up with boot options I scrolled down to Hard disc then selected the SSD and all went okay pc fired up okay,But every time I restart I have to press F9 I didn't see a save option there just press enter it it started up.
Is there another option there to boot up from??.

Regarding the ( the AHCI) what should I do there??

David Looking good so far just a few small hitches.

whs · 18 Mar 2014

Bravo, you made it. At least we know now that the SSD is working.

F9 is apparently the temporary boot order setting in you system. They are all different - a real pain. But now you have to make the permanent setting. That is a bit more finagle. You most likely get into it with F2 at power-on - if not, see on the BIOS splash screen what it says. The details I described in post #56 - but that is only approximate because I am not familiar with your BIOS. You might have to read what's on the screens after you went to the boot tab.