HHD to SSD, set-up and copy procedure (non-OS)

michaelst · 26 Jun 2014

I picked up a Seagate 600, 480gb SSD for very reasonable price ($179 after rebate) and am going to copy the contents of my older HHD. Like any good IT proefessional, I know the best way is to plan each step and confirm the process (peer review).

So, without further ado, here's the plan:

Current drive set up on MB:

Disk 0 - 120gb SSD (Windows 7) (Drive C)
Disk 1 - 500hb HHD (4 partitions) (Drives D, E, F, G)
Disk 3 - Optical drive (Drive Z)

Plan:
1. Connect new drive to Disk 2
2. Format and create 4 partitions of the same size as drive in Disk 1
3. Copy entire contents of each partition to the corresponding partition on the new SSD
4. Remove HHD from Disk 1, remove SSD from disk 2 and connect in Disk 1

Will Windows be smart enough to not hose up the drive letters?
Current Drive Letters on HHD - D, E, F, G
Projected SSD Drive letters after fromat and partition - H, I, J, K

After I disconnect the HHD, and plug the SSD into Disk 1 will Windows re-assign the drive letters back in sequence?

Is there a shorter way to do this without buying cloning software, that would create the partitions?

ignatzatsonic · 26 Jun 2014

Assuming the current D, E, F, and G are strictly data, I don't see any problem with your plan.

Let Windows assign whatever drive letters it wants to the new partitions on the SSD and then change them back to D, E, F, and G manually after you remove the current 500 GB drive.

I've never run into any drive letter issues worth noting. All I can ever recall having to do is temporarily assigning a letter late in the alphabet and then changing it back.

ICIT2LOL · 27 Jun 2014

My 2cents worth I would just clone it with Macrium - it doesn't get any simpler having done it many times upgrading my OS drive especially.
Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download

michaelst · 27 Jun 2014

Yep... that Macrum thing does look pretty easy. I assume cloning the disk includes re-creating the partitions in the new location, does it also resize to fit? The old disk was 500gb(465gb usable), the new one is 480gb (probably around 446gb usuable)

ICIT2LOL · 27 Jun 2014

I am not sure about the resizing but one thing I should have mentioned is any cloning I have done before one has to have a larger drive to clone to than where it is coming from. So if you has say a 500GGB spinner you cannot clone it to a 250GB SSD as what you are trying do is copy a 500GB "space" to a 250GB and it is not going to fit.

So for example if you want to clone a 120GB SSD then the recipient drive has to be at least 120GB

In retrospect I upgraded my 120GB SSD to a 250 SSD and the partitions were exactly the same as was one the drive I cloned however the main partition was actually larger.

michaelst · 27 Jun 2014

so... I shrunk one of the partitions to get under the 447gb space available on the new drive, and used Macrum Reflect free to clone the whole drive. Not the most intuitive interface, but easy enough that it was done in 42 minutes. I disconnected the old drive, re-connected the new one in Disk 1 and rebooted. I did have to change the drive letters to D, E, F and G, but that took all of 45 seconds.

Over all, it was a very successful project. Next up... imaging my 120gb SSD SATA 3 OS drive to the new 240gb SSD SATA 6 drive. I understand Paragon has an utility for $20 that is flawless and simple.

Thanks to everyone for your input.

ICIT2LOL · 27 Jun 2014

Michael why don't you just use the Macrium if you are imaging?? See this
Imaging with free Macrium

PS If I have misunderstood you there is a tutorial I cannot think of what it is called but you can use the image to replace onto the new drive what you want

michaelst · 27 Jun 2014

Does Macrum do the aligning and all that other stuff? If so.. yeah... that would be awesome as I already have it.. and it's FREE :)

michaelst · 27 Jun 2014

wow.. best $20 I've spent in a while. Two clicks and 19 minutes later, I'm up and flying on the new PNY Optimus. Windows Experience up to 7.8 (still on 32 bit).

amazing that 4 years ago, I spent over $300 on my Kingston 128gb SSD. Now, I have over 620gb of SSD, for less than $280, with a performance increase of at least 90%.

ICIT2LOL · 27 Jun 2014

About the aligning stuff Michael I don't know to be honest but some of the others like WHS who did that tutorial and Gregrocker plus quite a few others would know straight away. The only aligning I have done is that preparing the SSD for install by WHS
SSD Alignment < there are some interesting tutorials at the end of that one too.

Anyhow good to see that things are going well and the WEI mate I think is the best you are going to get the perfect score I think is nigh impossible.

Mine is the same by the by on my Ivy Bridge build running a Samsung EVO.

I know a friend told me recently that we can harass the heck out of the drive performance and he is right really I do use my Samsung Magician software to optimise it and get the latest firmware but in it's out of the box form it ran like stink!!LOL!! As for PNY I couldn't find any software on their site for doing what the Samsung software does.

Still happy and fast computing:)