improve windows7 start-up speed?

[ICIT2LOL]

Well I ran through Brinks tut and got rid of the transparency and slide controls and it has made a marked difference to my Sandy Bridge load time. Plus I ran autoruns and msconfig start up to cut down on the piddling stuff.

Similar tut in the Vista forum too made all the difference on my daughter in laws laptop.

 

[whs]

and virtually cloning everything onto the SSD.

That presumes that your SSD is as large as your HDD - which I doubt. And there is no point moving anything other than the C partition to the SSD.

Here is a little guide I made on how to move the OS to the SSD. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/149969-ssd-install-transfer-operating-system.html But if you want to make your life really easy, use the Paragon Migration tool that is mentioned in the tutorial. Then the OS transfer is a 2 click operation.

 

[stuartrozier]

hi whs,
I worked out that from the 1tb C-drive - I'm using 181gb, so will I need to find a ssd of the same capacity ?
thanks

 

[whs]

Well, I assume ou have the OS and data on your C drive. As first step I would move your data to a Data Partition (see this tutorial http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/72427-data-partition.html ). Now you have a lot less data on your C: partition and should be able to get away with a reltively small SSD (60 to 120GB).

Note that your user data should stay on the HDD anyhow. There is no real advantage putting it on the SSD plus it is an expensive proposition in view of the prices for large SSDs.

There is one additional problem you have to negotiate. The fact that your C: partition is 1TB is a problem if you image it with free Macrium and then want to restore it on the SSD. Free Macrium cannot adjust the partition size. However, free Paragon can do that. So if you want to move the OS with an image, I recommend free Paragon.

The easiest, of course, i to use the Paragon Migration Tool. If you are up to spending the $19.95, you can avoid a lot of trouble because the Migration Tool does everything for you with 2 clicks (alignment, Partition shrinking, OS setup for SSD, etc.)

 

[stuartrozier]

hi again -
I've read everyone's posts, thanks again for takin time out to repy. I'm going to start saving for a 256gb SSD, which is only about £320 uk pounds.
in the meantime of my saving the dosh, does anyone know of anything I could down on? I've eliminated all uneccessary programs at startup, uninstalled useless program's - defragged -....... ironically, when runnin the soluto program a few mins ago, it's now gone up to 4.14mins startup.
it's now increased in time! compared to my last 3mins something ! lol nightmare

 

[whs]

There is no need to go for a 256GB SSD - too expensive. Windows7 and a good selection of programs will fit into 30GBs. For that a 60GB SSD is ample. Big games need more space. But those can go on the HDD.

 

[stuartrozier]

ok cool, I'm a total amateur in this instance, but everything on the c drive, amounts to 180gb. so wouldn't I need a ssd of that capacity or higher ? forgive my ignorance,
stuart

 

[whs]

No Stuart. As I posted above, you first move all your user folders to a Data Partition freeing up the system partition. Then we'll see what else can be done. There are many levers.

 

[stuartrozier]

okey doke - I've yet to attempt all this... erm, so in advance, once I've transferred the user data etc onto the SSD, will the computer automatically know, to run, and pull the files from the new drive ? the SSD?
thanks again

 

[whs]

If you transfer the user folders as described in the video tutorial, the new location becomes the default location. That will stay even after you transferred the OS to an SSD.

Once you have moved the user folders, I suggest you run WinDirStat and post the resulting picture here. Then we can see what else can be done to reduce the OS partition data.

 

[gregrocker]

Why do you have at least 14 programs running at Startup based on the Soluto output? This sounds like a newly purchased computer which needs to Clean up factory bloatware

Enter msconfig>Startup and uncheck everything except AV, then after reboots enter msconfig>Services, Hide All MS Services, do that same. After several reboots check back to make sure nothing writes itself back in or turn it off in its Program Prefs or Uninstall it. You now have a clean boot.

If this doesn't improve Startup to an expected 20-40 seconds, use the tool which the Pro's use to trace Startup hangs; Gathering a Startup, Shutdown, Sleep, Hibernate, or Reboot Trace - Windows 7 Forums