Moving from 2x350Gb HDD's to 1x 120Gb SSD & 1Tb Hdd WITHOUT full windows re install?

[Adam Noble]

Hi Guys and Gal's i need some input.

I have ready my new HDD & SSD waiting to be installed but i am in a bit of a tricky time frame with Uni work so instead of doing it right i am going to;

* Switch the primary HDD for the SSD (120GB SanDisk Ultra SSD G25) (pure OS and programs)

* Switch the secondary drive out for the 1Tb Drive (1TB SSUNG 2.5 SATA HN-M101MBB) (formatted to 100Gb, 400Gb and 500Gb Partitions)

I am going to do it right with a full windows re-install when i have a safe week to do it but for now what i was planning on doing was sticking the new drives in some caddys and cloning the OS onto the SSD and manually moving the remaining media (Moves, Pictures, Songs and Steam Games) onto the respective partitions then when all was fine an tested switching the drives and running some directory and location updates.

Is this possible? as i said this is just to get the new hardware running and tested and i will do a full re work closer to Christmas when my entire world does not depend on my R2 lol

[StamatisX]

I personally would make a fresh install. Always better to have a clean installation with the latest drivers. But if you have too many programs to install or it will take you too much time to configure them then you could use Acronis True Image (or do it for free the Unix way for free if you are familiar with it) to clone your HDD to your SSD, just make sure that the size doesn't exceed that of the SSD, plus keep in mind that for the longevity of your SSD it is best to leave at least 20% free space, so don't fill it up all the way.

[Adam Noble]

Thanks StamatisX, a full re-install is in the books but for now i just want to test the hardware out, so far i have the OS whittled down to around 30Gb ready for the cloning. My test clone of a 300gb onto a portable drive took around 19 hours but that was 300Gb onto 500gb so it is going to be quicker.....hopefully on another note i have tried to remove the primary drive and the little strip that allows for easy retraction has snapped and it is making it impossible to remove any easy way to do it without the strip?

[mw86]

Thanks StamatisX, a full re-install is in the books but for now i just want to test the hardware out, so far i have the OS whittled down to around 30Gb ready for the cloning. My test clone of a 300gb onto a portable drive took around 19 hours but that was 300Gb onto 500gb so it is going to be quicker.....hopefully on another note i have tried to remove the primary drive and the little strip that allows for easy retraction has snapped and it is making it impossible to remove any easy way to do it without the strip?

i'm sorry to hear that sounds like you need the cable replaced?

[StamatisX]

I had that strip snapped as well, but I could use my fingers to slide the caddy out (it require more effort though)

[Adam Noble]

Just managed to get it out, it seems that once the tag snapped a small amount of glue that holds the strip to the caddy then stuck the caddy to the frame :S had a go at removing the glue with a plastic pry tool but it snapped so had to use a metal one and it has scratched the crud out of my frame Anyway all went well and now my new SSD and HDD is installed and the difference is insane xD

[mw86]

Glad to hear the SSD's are blazing Adam...