Need to Replace SSD Drive - Options?

[bpatters69]

Hello All,

I have a 100GB SSD drive as my main drive. For the most part there is not much on the drive. I have Windows 7, MS Office 2010 and Rosetta Stone. I have a second drive which is 1TB (SATA) which is where I install most programs, store music, store pictures and data. I would have installed the Rosetta Stone on the 1 TB drive but Rosetta Stone does not allow you to choose a destination location. Rosetta takes up 2 - 3GB... Sigh.

Anyway, back to my dilemma. My SSD drive is 103GB and I have just under 7GB free. I just moved some stuff around to free up space. 7GB is probably enough and I might be able to remove some more stuff but it got me wondering how difficult it would be to splurge and to buy a 250GB or larger SSD and to replace the 103Gb SSD. Samsung has a couple of drives that are 250Mb and they cost $140 or less.

My motherboard is an ASROCK Z97 Extreme6.

I need help figuring out what my options are and what makes the most sense.

I could keep the existing SSD and install a new SSD, install Windows 7 on the new SSD. That way I would have two SSD drives and my 1TB as the 3rd drive. I like this option as I would not have to reinstall MS Office and it would not hurt to have a second drive with Windows 7 installed. That way if the new SSD failed, I could boot from the old SSD. It would be kind of a waste of drive space but with a new 250GB SSD, I don't really think it would be an issue.

I have heard about "ghosting" techniques whereby the information on one drive is copied and placed on a new drive. I could then use the new drive as my primary drive and provided the new drive booted without issue, I could format the old SSD and use it for whatever I wanted. Truthfully, I would probably just remove it as I have plenty of HD space on my 1TB. The new 250GB SSD would be more than enough for Windows 7 and MS Office. I like having Windows and MS Office on an SSD as the performance is much better. Another advantage would be that I do not have to reinstall Windows.

Anyone like either idea better? Other suggestions?

Thanks, Bill

 

[samuria]

Simple clone the old drive to the new one and remove the old drive and your good to go. Most drives come with software to clone it or you can use a free cloneing tool. You can allways put the old back if you needed to boot from it. With that you dont need to reisntall software

 

[bpatters69]

Thanks Samuria. I like simple.

So the steps would be:

1. Clone the old drive.
2. Install the new drive in an available SATA slot
3. Install the cloned contents on the new drive.
4. Remove the old drive
5. Connect the new drive to the same SATA port where the old drive was connected.
6. Sell the old drive on eBay (after I format it)

Done?

 

[Mellon Head]

The order should be:

1. Install the new drive in an available SATA slot
2. Clone the old drive to the new one. (only one step needed here)
3. Install the cloned contents on the new drive.
4. Remove the old drive
5. Connect the new drive to the same SATA port where the old drive was connected.
6. Sell the old drive on eBay (after I format it)

 

[bpatters69]

Excellent. Thanks... Sounds pretty straightforward.

 

[bpatters69]

As another thought... is there any downside to keeping the SSD I have? I know it is a bit of PITA but if I can keep 7GB free, I should be ok, no? I have 8GB of RAM on my computer so should I match the amount of RAM?

 

[bpatters69]

Here is the SSD I have:

OCZ ARC 100 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) ARC100-25SAT3-120G

My existing drive is only 100GB even though the latest models have either 240 or 480GB.

Here is one I am interested in buying:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147372

Any reason this one would not work? The name of the drive is SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 250GB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-75E250B/AM.

 

[pbcopter]

I have a few of those Samsung SSDs (850 EVO 250GB) they work great and I have had zero issues with them.

Edit: The OCZ drive you listed as your current drive is a 460GB SSD. Is this a typo?

 

[bpatters69]

PBCopter,

Ahh.. tricky... Newegg reused the URL. The URL I posted does link to my 120Gb drive when I am in my history but when I click on the link, I am taken to a 480Gb OCZ drive. Not sure how that happens. Anyway, here are the specs on my existing drive:

<li class="item"> 2.5" <li class="item"> 120GB <li class="item"> SATA III
The Samsung has the same specs. So it should work, no?

Thanks, Bill

 

[pbcopter]

Yes it should be fine. I had replaced an OCZ 120 GB drive with the Samsung with no issues and honestly I did not expected any.

Paul

 

[Megahertz07]

If the drive is working fine, there is no reason to replace the drive.
I have a 120G SSD with Win 7 (83G) and Linux (37G) and many programs on it and still a lot of free space (37%) on Windows Partition.
As I have a HDD, I moved C:\Users to D:\Users. In other words, C: is for OS and programs and D: is for data. I have the speed of a SSD and the space of a HDD.
If you wish to try, I can guide you.
This isn't a Samsung, but I have a Samsung and a PNY and I can't see any practical difference.
ADATA Ultimate SU700 2.5 ASU700SS-120GT-C - Newegg.com
PNY CS900 2.5 SSD7CS900-120-RB-Newegg.com

 

[bpatters69]

Ok. I bought the Samsung 250Gb SSD. It should be here on Thursday. I have Acronis Clone Disk on my computer so I figure I can use that to clone the contents of my existing SSD onto the new SSD.

Here are the steps per Mellon Head.

The order should be:

1. Install the new drive in an available SATA slot
2. Clone the old drive to the new one. (only one step needed here)
3. Install the cloned contents on the new drive.
4. Remove the old drive
5. Connect the new drive to the same SATA port where the old drive was connected.
6. Sell the old drive on eBay (after I format it)

I have a couple of questions. In order to format the contents of the old drive, don't I have to keep the old drive connected to the system? If I remove the drive, I cannot format it.

So the steps would be:

1. Install the new drive in an available SATA slot
2. Clone the old drive's contents to the new drive
3. Connect the new drive to the SATA port where the existing SSD is connected.
4. Connect the old drive to the SATA port where the new SSD was connected
5. Format the old drive
6. Remove the old drive
7. Sell old drive on eBay

When I start the PC after step 4, will the PC recognize that there are two SSD with an OS so will it ask me which drive to boot from? I want to say that the SATA port used by my existing SSD today is the primary SATA port which the PC uses for booting but I could be wrong. The port is SATA1 or something.

Thanks, Bill

 

[pbcopter]

After you make the clone, remove the old drive before you boot to the new SSD the first time. If you don't problems could occur. You can connect the old drive later to format it, etc.
When you reconnect the old drive, you should check that the boot order has the new SSD first.

 

[bpatters69]

Or as a simpler option, I can buy a $10 external SSD enclosure. I would then take the new drive, place it in the enclosure and clone the old SSDs contents to new SSD via the USB cable. Once the cloning is complete, I would install the new SSD in my PC and remove the old SSD. Hopefully the new PC will accept the new SSD and the final step will be to place the old SSD in the enclosure and wipe the contents of the old SSD drive.