Looking to Upgrade to a New SSD

Pantz · Mar 19, 2013

Hello everyone, i am about to take the plunge into the SSD era. i am looking at
Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5 inch SATA Solid State Drive: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

is that SSD drive suffecient for my OS and a few Programs IE Adobe PS and Office 2013 ?

I currently have a 1TB SATA 2 Hard drive, partitioned, into 3 (312G) partitions.
C:\ 312 Partition, with 46G,s of data (OS)

D:\ 309 partition, with 190G's of data, ( music, videos,games )

E:\ 309 Partition, with nothing on it

i have been reading up on the SSD's, and i think i will go with the clean install of Windows 7 X 64 Pro

if i back up or image or migrate (The 46G's of Data ) from my current OS ( winodws 7 X 64 Pro )
how difficult will it be to restore the 46 G's of data. from the 312 partition ?

i understand the the OS, data. or Partition should be smaller then the New SSD Size ?

any Suggestions welcomed
Thanks in Advance,

PS i have yet to order the SSD

Pauly · Mar 19, 2013

IMO 120GB will be plenty i personally am running 3 machines with 80GB drives and never nearly fill them
My home machine now has 45GB used on the C drive with 4 user accounts and a reasonable amount of programs installed (no games though)

Think thats quite a nice drive too from what i have heard but im no expert

Just remember to allow for pagefile (RAM size) and hiberfile if you use hibernation

whs · Mar 19, 2013

This is a good SSD and it will be plenty big. I run all my desktops on 60GB SSDs and never ran out of space (since 2008)- even with an additional virtual Linux partition on it.

You may want to have a look at this tutorial I made: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/149969-ssd-install-transfer-operating-system.html

Before you transfer your OS, you may want to do this: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/209885-bootmgr-move-c-easybcd.html

linnemeyerhere · Mar 19, 2013

I started with a Crucial 64gb and with my OS and a business suite of software I found that with the large MS updates the space was getting tight. Keep in mind that SSD's don't suffer constriction to the same degree a mechanical spinner does but it still made me upgrade to a 128gb and then eventually I've gone to a 256gb. I have (4) Crucials and (1) Samsung and (1) cheaper then dirt OCZ Vertex III. All my computers are running SSD's and I'll just tell you that it's transformational. IMHO I would say that 120-128 is the sweet spot but if you don't load too much software and or monitor placing some onto the spinner then a 60-64 will work fine. From what I've heard I would move to the Samsung Pro series if at all possible cost wise.

Pantz · Mar 19, 2013

Hello again, whats the Difference between the SSD i was looking to buy and this PRO version ?

Samsung 840 Series Pro 128GB 2.5 inch SATA Solid State Drive: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Phone Man · Mar 19, 2013

The 840 Pro version uses MLC chips while the 840 uses TLC chips.
MLC has 2 bits per cell.
TLC has 3 bits per cell.
Most consumer SSD are MLC but you will see more TLC in the future.
TLC is the newest way to get more data on the same number of chips and there by cut the cost.
In theory TLC will not last as long as it gets more use per chip and may reach its write limit faster. So it depends on your budget.

Jim

taylorig · Mar 19, 2013

The difference between the Pro and non-pro (Apart from price of course) is the speeds of both the drives. Which is why the price difference. But IOPS read/write speeds basically. To be honest there isn't a great deal between them unless you're the kind of person to be obsessed with benchmarks and such. Oh! And with the Pro version i believe you get 5 years warranty and 3 years on the basic one.

From what i have read is that if you do a quite a bit of video editing etc. Software that requires a lot of writing to the drive then it is advisable to go for the Pro version. Otherwise stick with the basic one if it just for your OS, Programs and may be a couple of games and such.

Just got myself a SanDisk 120GB Extreme one the other week and although many people don't mention them a great deal around forums (And i think this may be due to SanDisks returns) At under £70 for it, i can't say i am really fussed so long as i get a couple of years out of it. And i'm loving the speed it has added to my system

whs · Mar 19, 2013

I think Taylorig makes a good point. I have 7 SSDs of all kinds of manufacturers - the 2 oldest from 2008 (OCZ and Intel). They all work well. Even my Mushkin, a make that is never mentioned, is great. So I would go by best price. Watch the sales on Newegg. They sometimes have really sweet deals.

And don't get mesmerized by the data transfer rates. They mean very little for the OS. Also Sata II or Sata III makes very little difference. All that will play a role in a distant future when we use large SSDs to move massive amounts of data around. But the OS reads or writes very little data (except during the initial installation) and that data is mostly in small 4K blocks.

indianacarnie · Mar 19, 2013

The Pro series is a bit faster and has a longer warranty as mentioned. I too like the 128gb size. I installed a Crucial M4 that size a couple of months ago and am dancing in the street with the difference in my system. I DO keep most , but not all by ANY means,of my programs/app.'s on my second drive (a spinner) though. The linked tutorials from whs will prove a wealth of information for you and I highly suggest you check them out.

Pantz · Mar 19, 2013

Hello again i think i will stick with the NON PRO version
Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5 inch SATA Solid State Drive: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

And yes the PRO does come with a 5 Year warranty, but i think 3 years is quite good also,

i just reviewed the links WHS posted... looks a bit daunting

You may want to have a look at this tutorial I made: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...ng-system.html

Before you transfer your OS, you may want to do this: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...c-easybcd.html

but i just Reinstalled my OS due to a MB Upgrade .so it does not have much data on it .... 46Gigs OS and a few programs.

whs · Mar 19, 2013

It's not daunting - it's fun. If you reinstall your OS on the SSD, you can skip all that. The installer will take care of it. Still, there are a few tips you might want to observe - e.g. getting rid of the hiberfile and reducing the pagefile to 2GBs. That saves a lot of space if you have a lot of RAM (e.g. 14GB for 8GB of RAM)

And anyhow, if you want to be in the SSD world, it does not hurt to know as much as possible about SSDs. They are quite different from spinning disks in many aspects.

Phone Man · Mar 19, 2013

From your link on Amazon it shows the Samsung drive comes with a migration program which may help in setting up your SSD.

Jim

whs · Mar 19, 2013

Phone Man said:
From your link on Amazon it shows the Samsung drive comes with a migration program which may help in setting up your SSD.

Jim

Right, they seem to use the Paragon Migration Tool - or at least one that looks very similar. Maybe they got a license from Paragon. That is an excellent program. With 3 clicks your migration is done.

whs · Mar 19, 2013

Just one other piece of advice in case you do a new installation on the SSD: If you predefine an active alingned primary partition on the SSD covering the whole drive and install into that partition, the installer will not create the dreaded 100MB system partition but will put the bootmgr into C. That is a lot handier for later operations - e.g. imaging.

And, of course, I have a tutorial for that: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/113967-ssd-alignment.html?ltr=S

Pantz · Mar 19, 2013

Hello again, so if i do a clean install on the SSD ( which i will probably do ) Windows 7 DOES NOT create the So called " Dreaded 100 Megs " ? WHS thinks that i will not need the 100 megs, so if i have to do a recovery of Win 7...i cant ?

Thanks

whs · Mar 19, 2013

Pantz said:
Hello again, so if i do a clean install on the SSD ( which i will probably do ) Windows 7 DOES NOT create the So called " Dreaded 100 Megs " ? WHS thinks that i will not need the 100 megs, so if i have to do a recovery of Win 7...i cant ?

Thanks

If you install into a predefined active primary aligned partition (see tutorial how to set this up), then you will not get the 100MB system partition. The advantage is that, e.g. for imaging, you have to deal only with the C partition and it is easier for a restore - even to another disk.

I don't see what you mean with:

so if i have to do a recovery of Win 7...i cant ?

Pantz · Mar 19, 2013

Hello again please disregard last post
..I don't see what you mean with:

so if i have to do a recovery of Win 7...i cant ?

[/QUOTE]

Light bulb went on LOL

Pantz · Mar 19, 2013

Hello again so let me see if i understand this. once i get my New SSD. i can disconnect the current HD i have, install the new SSD, install a clean Windows 7, the SSD is now my new HD with Win 7 OS. attach my old drive back up,, and use the software that comes with the new SSD to migrate the DATA from the Old HD to the New SSD. dont mean to be a pain..... lol

whs · Mar 19, 2013

That's about right. You have to also change the boot order in the BIOS so that the SSD is second in line (the CD/DVD drive should always be first). Else your PC will not find the SSD and boot from the old system.

The user data I would leave on the HDD. From the SSD system, right click on Documents, Music, etc. and INCLUDE those into the respective libraries.

Even better, with your old system still in place, make an independent Data Partition, define a Documents, Music, etc. folder in that new partition and move your stuff there. Then it is not tied to your old system partition which you might want to delete one day anyhow. Then apply the INCLUDE to those folders.

Important: before you create a new partition on the HDD, make sure you have only 3 (or less) primary partitions on the HDD. Check in Disk Management.

Pantz · Mar 19, 2013

Hello again, Thanks WHS, i think i understand whats going on now .... lol trying to keep this as simple and painless as possible. i have read of some nightmares trying to move from mechanical to SSD

I think i will do it the way i said in previous post and adjust the boot order, my CD/ DVD is always the first boot device.

Yes i saw your Video WHS on how to move the Folders... i can handle that part....

I already have a Independent partition that is currently empty so i can create the folders there ? .

I think i got it now, once i order the SSD ( some time this week ) i will be on my way ...

Thanks for all the people who helped me understand what i need to do.

Thanks

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