Installing SSD, advice needed on complicated partitioning.

Is the System Reserved partition important for dual booting later? I'm leaning to putting it back first, since that's the normal situation.

Not really, It's main use is for Bitlocker encryption (in Ultimate).

Just a side note, if your apps and data are not going to be on the SSD, why are you using an SSD?

I agree for the apps. But for the user data I see little difference. I always put my user data on the spinner (matter of space) and never felt that this is a real disadvantage. The apps, however, load a lot faster from the SSD. But very big games may not fit.

If you have $200 to spend, there is a good Crucial 500GB SSD. That may fix the space problem, LOL

Amazon.com: Crucial MX100 512GB SATA 2.5" 7mm (with 9.5mm adapter) Internal Solid State Drive CT512MX100SSD1: Computers & Accessories

Considering that I paid $265 for my first 60GB SSD from OCZ in 2008, this is a bargain. Prices per GB went down tenfold in only a bit over 6 years.

240GB SSDs are also getting really cheap. I got a Crucial for $89 but the other day there was (I think a 240GB PNY) for $69. You could raid those.

doctore said:

Just a side note, if your apps and data are not going to be on the SSD, why are you using an SSD?

You are going to gain very little boot time, but the SSD will really shine if you use it for apps and data. Just something to consider.

p.s. when you clone c:, you can simply deactivate the old drive, so it's not bootable, but remains as a backup. You will lose ton of performance by having your apps and data on a completely separate drive, however, unlike your current situation, where they are just logical partitions.

Actually, a SSD will speed up boot time significantly. Except for really huge files, data reads and writes, why theoretically faster, won't be enough faster to justify the expense of having the data on a SSD. Programs and games will load faster but won't run any faster.

@ MCannon. It appears you may be using partitions to organize your data. If so, that is a very inefficient way to do so. Using folders in place of partitions is a far more efficient use of your storage space. I would suggest reducing the number of partitions you have. For example, if you can afford a big enough SSD, I would put your programs and OS on your C: drive; the drive should have only the System Reserved and the main partition unless you move the bootmgr to C:, in which case you would need only one partition for the whole drive. I's not necessary to have programs on a separate partition on the same drive. Larger programs that won't fit on the SSD (such games) can be put on a spinner. They can be kept in a folder on the spinner; there is no need for a separate partition.

Once you have moved or reinstalled your OS and programs onto the SSD, I would eliminate the current C: partition on Disk 2 and, if not needed for program overflow (now might be a good time to see how many programs you actually need), the E: partition, then expand the F: partition to fill the entire disk.

Having the test partition on disk 0 is fine if you will be using it frequently. Otherwise, you might be better off removing that partition and expanding G: to fill the disk. The test partition can be replaced with either a small inexpensive spinner installed internally (assuming you have the room) or a small external drive.

When determining the size of the SSD you need, you need to allow an extra empty 20-25% to avoid excessive writes during TRIM operations. doctore has some of his terminology and other info a bit confused. Overprovisioning is space set aside out of sight for replacing cells that do wear out from excessive writes. SSDs come already overprovisioned and there is rarely any need to add to that but you still need to leave 20-25% of the capacity empty. His advice to make sure auto-defrag is disable is spot on!