Cloning apps to handle SSDs?

[DeaconFrost]

Yes i know but you already know a couple of software that clones HDDs. And i have given oen also Ghost. But which will work for Windows 7 is something of a trial and error. If you are worried about SIDs, Windows Keys, MAC address, Computername (or anyone of of those). Sysprep with imagex i recon.

I was a huge Ghost supporter for about a decade, but it has really fallen off, unfortunately.

As for the list of things you mentioned, I wouldn't have any concerns or worries about anything on that list, given that the drive was going right back into the same system. I was cloning from one drive to another...not imaging and deploying. There's a big difference between the two. I'm not sure if you have some kind of personal stock on Sysprep, but I've used it thousands of times. I'm well aware of when it is needed, and this isn't one of those times. Sysprep is a great piece of software, but it's a hammer, and I'm dealing with socket wrenches.

 

[aem]

How about remove the SSD, image the machine which your choice of method with the current HDD, remove the HDD and replace it with the SSD and then reimage the machine with the captured image?

 

[DeaconFrost]

I am very confused, to be honest, as to why you seem to insist I make this a much more difficult process. Maybe we aren't understanding each other, so let me ask this question.

Why do you seem to be against the easiest method...of putting both drives in the system, booting from the .iso of the software I'm using...choosing the source drive, then choosing the target drive, and then clone the HDD to the SDD? I can do that in a matter of minutes, and then boot from the SSD. No need to pull drives...no need for Sysprep, etc.

Aside from wondering my above question, once again, it isn't about the process of getting the OS over to the SSD and making it bootable. That's the easy part. My questions were asking what software will, if any, reconfigure the OS for the SSD.

So, if I'm missing something, please say so. But I am at a loss as to why you keep derailing the thread by insisting I make the cloning process much more difficult than it is....rather than sticking to the topic at hand?

 

[DeaconFrost]

Okay, so I realize my above may have come across as being harsh, but I'm asking out of curiosity. Is there a reason that I'm missing that keeps you going back to me creating an image, rather than going direct from source drive to target?

 

[aem]

Why do you seem to be against the easiest method...of putting both drives in the system, booting from the .iso of the software I'm using...choosing the source drive, then choosing the target drive, and then clone the HDD to the SDD? I can do that in a matter of minutes, and then boot from the SSD. No need to pull drives...no need for Sysprep, etc.

I'm not against that method but personally i would not do it that way. The way i usually do is to image a HDD, dumping it onto a media and from that media i dump it onto another HDD (which often means another machine, or same machine with different or replaced HDD). This way might take a little more time but for me it's a more sured way. Also with the copied image (on an external media) it can be re-used and on the fly with other machine if needed, if you know what i mean.

Question about your method, what happen after clone it onto the SDD and after reboot to the SSD and it doesn't work? You original HDD is still on the system and what if it corrupts that HDD in a way no one knows, you are then in real trouble are you not?

 

[DeaconFrost]

I'm not against that method but personally i would not do it that way. The way i usually do is to image a HDD, dumping it onto a media and from that media i dump it onto another HDD (which often means another machine, or same machine with different or replaced HDD). This way might take a little more time but for me it's a more sured way. Also with the copied image (on an external media) it can be re-used and on the fly with other machine if needed, if you know what i mean.

Why would you assume it was the most safe way? Yes, an image can be re-used, but that's where you keep going off the topic. I'm not trying to make an image for deployment. I'm just cloning a drive to another. It's a one time process. You're over-complicating a simple job.

Question about your method, what happen after clone it onto the SDD and after reboot to the SSD and it doesn't work? You original HDD is still on the system and what if it corrupts that HDD in a way no one knows, you are then in real trouble are you not?

If you decided not to pay attention, I guess it is possible, but the entire point of choosing the source and target is to leave the source untouched, just in case the process would ever fail for some reason. You seem to be scared off of this method for some reason, maybe a bad experience or misinformation, but when you choose the source disk, it doesn't get altered or changed. Now, going by your previous comments, applying Sysprep to a drive will alter the source, so if something does go awry, you have now made changes to your source. That's taking more of a risk than my method.

 

[essenbe]

There is more of a chance of failure in restoring an image than in cloning. I have done both numerous times and have never had a clone fail or corrupt the source disk. The only risk in cloning is that the alignment of the SSD will be wrong, which is not a great risk as you still have the source disk and can re install on the SSD.

 

[aem]

If i have important data to keep i leave nothing to chance. If it means to take that extra time i'd do it.

Deaconfrost, you have already made up your mind so there is only one way forward and that's go ahead with your decision. I was only giving you an oppinion.

 

[preiius]

aem, you do understand that your method is just another version of cloning, without extra step to create image first. It seems you are the one who cannot let go that there are alternative methods that work just as well.

 

[DeaconFrost]

It isn't about opinions. If the source drive isn't touched, what is left to chance? Have you ever cloned directly before? It seems to me that you are assuming the data is moved from one drive to another, rather than copied. Images can be corrupt, which you often won't know until you attempt your restore. Doing the simple cloning not only is faster, but it leaves your original drive untouched. I'm a bit baffled why you keep pushing a method that involves more steps, more time, and more of a chance of error. If it works for you, great. I'm not out to change anyone's mind. But you also have to realize that it isn't the best method for what I was trying to accomplish, nor was it even relevant to the actual topic.

 

[whs]

I am somewhat amazed about this lengthy discussion. Moving the OS to the SSD is a piece of cake and Greg had linked my tutorial that explaines a couple of methods. But you had this additional question:

My questions were asking what software will, if any, reconfigure the OS for the SSD.

I am not sure I understand what you are looking for. There is no need to "reconfigure" anything apart from the AHCI settings - if that is what your prefer over IDE. The only other thing you want to do is to shut off Defrag because that is really useless and counterproductive for the SSD.

There are many tweaks that are described on the web, but I found that all of those are either useless, counterproductive (e.g. shutting off Superfetch) or messy. I would stay away from them.

If you have a space problem on the SSD, you can delete the hiberfile (the command is powercfg -h off) and reduce the size of the pagefile to 1GB. You should also move your user files to the HDD (and there are a couple of methods), but all system files should stay on the SSD.

 

[DeaconFrost]

I meant other SSD specific settings, like the alignment of the partition and TRIM being enabled. I know the in-OS options can be changed quickly, and I delete the hibernation file on all of my builds because I don't use it.

I also don't ever store any user created files on my system partition anyway, so I'm set there as well. The reason I created the thread was due to the tutorial, in which is suggested the use of Paragon because if it's ability to fully handle SSDs. That got me wondering of my usual choice of Partition Wizard could do it as well.

 

[whs]

Depending on how you transfer your OS (and possibly the 100MB active partition) you may have to take care of the alignment yourself. You do that best by predefining the partitons with Diskpart. But if you use e.g. the Paragon Migration Tool, everything is done for you automatically.