Moving from HDD to SSD, from 32bit to 64bit

[madchanson]

Hi Guys,

I wanted to ask help on how should i go about changing from an hdd to an ssd as my system drive. I just learned that ssd's performs faster and better and i think i'd like to experience that.

My PC right now consists of MSI PH67S-C43 mobo, 1TB HDD, Intel i3-2100, 4GB ram, 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6670 and what I like to do is use an SSD as my primary drive and use the HDD for storage and such, is that even possible?

And since I'll be using SSD i think it's logical to use Win7 64bit instead of 32bit to be able to use more than 4GB ram. I checked on the Crucial system scanner and it said that my mobo is compatible upto 32GB ram. Should I max it to 32GB or 16GB would just be fine. Also, being in 64bit some programs and client games may not be compatible, is this something that I should be worried or concern about?

Thanks for reading my noob-ish inquiries and thank you in advance for your input.


~MadChanson

 

[Skylais]

Hi i don't know much myself but try this link, Migrating to SSD: Get yourself a new computer without getting one | How To - CNET

 

[Mark Phelps]

I have a similar situation in that I run the OS on an SSD and have a shared NTFS partition on my hard drive for data.

One thing you would need to do prior to the migration to the SSD is, if you have only one partition on your hard drive containing the OS, you would need to use Disk Management to shrink it to fit on the SSD.

Easiest way to do that is to connect an external drive and move any large data files to it. That should dramatically reduce the size of the OS partition.

As to how to migrate, I've done it a couple of different ways:
1) Use Macrium Reflect to do an image backup to an external drive, connect the SSD, "restore" the image to the SSD, reboot from the SSD.
2) Use a Paragon app to "migrate" the OS to a connected SSD, reboot from the SSD. The paragon app cost $20 last time I checked.

As to 64-bit compatibility, that really depends on the individual app. I run both 64-bit and 32-bit systems, and on the 64-bit system, I could reuse some of the previous 32-bit apps, while I had to switch over to 64-bit versions for others.

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Having more than 16 GB of RAM is usually just for show.

Afaik, only very old programs will refuse to run in a 64-bit system.

You cannot "upgrade" a 32-bit Windows and turn it in a 64-bit Windows. Need to reinstall from scratch.
Disconnect the hard drive when you do it.