Solved Paragon Migrate OS to SSD

[truckinguy]

I have a Dell Notebook E6520. I want a to migrate the image from my HDD to a new SSD.
I want the easy way. I see Paragon Migrate OS to SSD does it and I'll buy it.
I wish I could just clone it like I do now for back up purposes with an extra media bay 2nd HDD. But it seems cloning isn't done much with SSD's.
So how can I do this. I read I have to change the settings in the Bios from Sata to ACHI. Do I do this before I hook up the SSD and run Paragon?
So much confusing info because of issues that I've been reading. Maybe I've been reading too much.

 

[LittleJay]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/61869-ahci-enable-windows-7-vista.html

Before cloning the OS over to your SSD, I would not only change the settings in Bios to ACHI mode, but also in Windows 7 as well. You can follow the steps in the above tutorial. Hope this helps.

 

[Mellon Head]

And before cloning, I would do a full backup of the OS drive. Just to be safe.

 

[MeOnMine]

Please check that Paragon will align the SSD.
Paragon in the last 2 years should.
There maybe a check to tick to align the SSD.
If not then How to align SSD partition with a free partition manager?

 

[theog]

How to clone your SATA drive to a SSD drive.
Solved How to Migrate OS to new Hard disk.

 

[truckinguy]

How to clone your SATA drive to a SSD drive.
Solved How to Migrate OS to new Hard disk.

Thanks for the replies.... I was afraid all of this would still be confusing. In the sticky above it doesn't really spell it out. Which 12 ? Why mention both free and buy?
Seems I'll have to keep reading before I try to do this. Yes I understand a full backup before hand. That's a given..
thanks

 

[essenbe]

Paragon will automatically align the SSD. I have an older version of Paragon and the newer version. Both will format, align and transfer the OS.

 

[whs]

I have used the Paragon migration tool many times. It is very simple. Just stick your SSD into another bay or an external USB enclosure. Paragon will recognize the SSD automatically and with 3 clicks you are done - takes about 20 minutes run time.

About AHCI you can worry once you run the system from the SSD - not during the cloning process. You have to, of course, change the BIOS boot sequence when you run the SSD from another Sata port than the original sytem HDD.

 

[truckinguy]

I have used the Paragon migration tool many times. It is very simple. Just stick your SSD into another bay or an external USB enclosure. Paragon will recognize the SSD automatically and with 3 clicks you are done - takes about 20 minutes run time.

About AHCI you can worry once you run the system from the SSD - not during the cloning process. You have to, of course, change the BIOS boot sequence when you run the SSD from another Sata port than the original sytem HDD.

Thanks...Which Paragon??? there are so many..I have win7 HDD in a notebook.

 

[essenbe]

Paragon Migrate OS to SSD, can you connect it with a USB cable?

 

[truckinguy]

Paragon Migrate OS to SSD, can you connect it with a USB cable?

Yes I have both a esata port and external encloser and a 2nd hdd bay to use. I clone now to my 2 hdd for backup use.

 

[whs]

Looks like you are in business. Use the link that Steve posted above.

 

[truckinguy]

One more question before I take the leap. I have a second HDD bay and use it for my storage but I also use it to clone my primary drive in case It fails I can remove my clone and install it for a primary. I know most of you use a backup program and don't clone but it's easiest for me and has worked well for me for over 10 years now.
Question is "would the clone from SSD to HDD be o.k. or will there be issues? Or should I have to figure out a system for backing up with images.

 

[essenbe]

The Paragon Migrate will work cloning to an SSD or a hard drive. It won't make ny difference to it. It will work well for what you want to do.

 

[truckinguy]

Thanks for the reply. To clarify this you think that once I get my SDD up and running I can clone it to a HDD and it be bootable and usable. What confuses me is there are changes made to migrate from HDD to SSD but wouldn't there be changes back to HDD as well?

 

[essenbe]

It will do it with no problem. From the Paragon Migrate description.

Paragon Migrate OS to SSD 3.0

The easiest OS migration to new Solid State Drives!

Ready to upgrade to a new Solid State Drive (SSD)? Paragon’s Migrate OS to SSD is just what you need. Our handy intuitive wizard performs fast and safe Windows migrations to new storage devices (HDD or SSD) and even downsizes to smaller capacity drives, thanks to advanced new data exclusion capabilities. You can transfer a live system with no impact to your work, and have your partitions automatically aligned in the process if needed.

 

[Kaktussoft]

Thanks for the reply. To clarify this you think that once I get my SDD up and running I can clone it to a HDD and it be bootable and usable. What confuses me is there are changes made to migrate from HDD to SSD but wouldn't there be changes back to HDD as well?

Exactly what changes are you refering to?

Automatic defragging is OFF on SSD and ON on HDD by default (win7 does that). And SSD should be aligned properly to NTFS cluster boundaries. How a HDD is aligned is irrelevant, but a clean win7 install will align it to 1MB boundary which is fine for SSD as well.

A migration from SSD to HDD or vice versa is just to same as from HDD to other HDD. It can be done by backup/restore or by cloning. Be sure the backup/restore software or cloning software can shrink/relocate partitions partition... otherwise it won't fit on a smaller disk of course.

 

[Kaktussoft]

From: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/149969-ssd-install-transfer-operating-system.html

Settings after the OS transfer

Disk Defragmentation makes no sense on an SSD. For a laptop, go into Services, navigate to Disk Defragmenter, right click on it and go to Properties. Here you set the service to Disabled.
For a desktop, you may want to disable defrag in the Disk Defragmenter and only for the SSD so that the remaining HDDs can still be defragmented.=> automatic defragging SSD is disabled by default. No extra actions needed

Note: As long as Defrag Service is turned off, you cannot shrink any partition. The partition shrink process requires the Defrag service. If you need to shrink a partition later, turn the Defragmentation Service temporarily on.

Hibernation File – most of us do not use Hibernation, but Sleep instead. But, the hiberfile takes precious space on your SSD – to the same tune as the size as your RAM. To get rid of it, run the following command in elevated Command Prompt: powercfg –h off. If you ever want it back, it is powercfg – h on.=>you decide yourself if you want the hibernation option. Totally unrelated to SDD (unless you need extra space on SSD)

Superfetch – many “experts” suggest to turn Superfetch off. I think that is not appropriate. Fetching a program or data from RAM is still a lot faster than fetching it from a disk – even from an SSD.=>use superfetch!

There are no other settings that are necessary. On the SSD forums you will find a lot of tweaks. I recommend you stay away from them.=>good advice
--------
All those settings are saved in backup/clone.

 

[truckinguy]

You spelled out some or all of the changes I've read about. I don't know what they are or how they affect what I want to do. It's above my pay grade so to speak. I know things have to be set up different for SSD then HDD so my concern was once I get a SSD in and established I'd like to keep cloning to a HDD I have. I may buy the Paragon program that does both Migrate and back up so I'm covered totally and in the end make it easier to do what I want.
I appreciate the replies and help.

Thanks for the reply. To clarify this you think that once I get my SDD up and running I can clone it to a HDD and it be bootable and usable. What confuses me is there are changes made to migrate from HDD to SSD but wouldn't there be changes back to HDD as well?

Exactly what changes are you refering to?

Automatic defragging is OFF on SSD and ON on HDD by default (win7 does that). And SSD should be aligned properly to NTFS cluster boundaries. How a HDD is aligned is irrelevant, but a clean win7 install will align it to 1MB boundary which is fine for SSD as well.

A migration from SSD to HDD or vice versa is just to same as from HDD to other HDD. It can be done by backup/restore or by cloning. Be sure the backup/restore software or cloning software can shrink/relocate partitions partition... otherwise it won't fit on a smaller disk of course.

 

[Kaktussoft]

As I wrote in previous post... there are no really neccesary changes to do.... except the alignment (is for speed).
With what software do you clone? And do you clone the whole disk, or just partition clones?