Using an SSD as a system disk (Win7 x64)

[Involute]

I'm running Win7 x64 with 2 600GB HDDs configured as a RAID 1. They're partitioned as a C: and D: drive, with my OS and apps on C:. I'd like to boost my performance by adding an SSD and moving all the stuff on C: to it. I've already bought and installed the a Corsair V128 and it works fine, but I haven't performed the transfer because I have the following questions:

 

1. I use Acronis True Image Home 2011 for my backups. If I do a complete system backup of my C: drive with it, will it be sufficient to simply restore that archive to the V128 to get everything I need over there (I know there's more to the transfer than that (see below); I'm just talking about the raw move of the files)?

 

2. Do I need to do a sector-by-sector backup first?

 

3. Do I need to worry about sector alignment?

 

4. Should I set the V128's partition to Active before or after the transfer?

 

5. How do I change the V128's drive letter to C: without screwing up my system? It seems to me there always has to be a C: drive somewhere for my apps and OS to run, so I can't change the old C: partition to something else before setting the V128 to C:, because I'd momentarily be without a C: drive. On the other hand, if I change the V128 to C: first, I'll momentarily have two C: drives.

 

6. Anything else I'm not thinking of? Seems like there should be a tutorial on this somewhere on the tubes, but I haven't found one. I'm hoping I can pull this off without having to do a clean install of Windows and everything else.

 

Thanks for your help.

[RAM GUY]

DO NOT EVER DO a Sector copy with SSD's, just use the default image of your current C partition to the SSD drive is all you should have to do, but before you install the SSD as a second HDD then quick format it in Windows 7 it will align it for you. If you are using any other version of Windows quick format with 4K Allocation will align the drive properly just remember to delete the partition before you image the drive.

[Involute]

Thanks, Ram Guy. Can you please address items 4. and 5. in my initial post? Also, you lost me when you said, "just remember to delete the partition before you image the drive." Which partition and which drive?

[Synbios]

You cannot have two C: drives momentarily. You also cannot get rid of the system drive. After you image the disk, unplug the original disk and your new drive will be the C drive. Then plug back in the original disk and you can assign it a new letter.

 

With regards to RAM GUY's post he's saying you should partition the drive on the SSD first in order to align it, but delete the partition so that it is unallocated before you restore the image.

[Involute]

Thanks, Synbios.

 

1. If I delete the SSD partition, how do I make it an active partition and an MBR disk? I thought I needed to do that for it to be bootable.

 

2. Under Computer Management/Disk Management, I can "Delete Volume" but I can't find an option for deleting a partition. Same thing?

 

3. When you say, "unplug the original disk and your new drive will be the C drive," do you mean shutdown, unplug the drive, reboot, confirm everything's OK, shutdown, plug the drive back in, reboot, done? If so, is it sufficient to turn the old drive off/on in BIOS during reboot, which is easier than opening the chassis?

[Synbios]

1. You should format the SSD using the desired allocation size and then simply delete the partition so that the drive says that it is unallocated, when you restore the image using Acronis, it will restore the drive's contents and MBR even if the drive is unallocated and it should be fine.

 

2. I believe it should be the same thing in your scenario, if you want to format the drive from within Windows rather than formatting it during a 'windows 7 installation procedure' I don't think there will be a difference.

 

3. Yeah it should be sufficient to turn the old drive off in the BIOS, when you boot windows using the new drive (which should have the same image as the old drive) then it should be your C drive. Then if you reboot, enable the old drive, and load up windows again (making sure to boot from the SSD obviously), the old drive will be detected in windows and should have a new drive letter, from there you can change it to whatever you want to and then format it if you want to use it as a storage drive.

[Involute]

If I delete the partition, my clone software doesn't recognize the drive, so I have no way to clone to it. I've also discovered the s/w (Acronis True Image Home 2011) only clones complete disks, not single partitions. Since the SSD is smaller than the complete disk, I need something that will let me clone just a partition. Any suggestions?

[Synbios]

Yes Acronis will only restore the complete disk, because it takes a copy of the MBR, but you can still make a backup of only one partition. You will need to shrink the original volume in disk management and then make a backup of only the partition that you want along with the MBR. You can still do this with Acronis (I have done it).

 

Acronis can then restore the partition and MBR to the new ssd, you may have to run a disk repair in windows installation after this procedure because the MBR will be erroneous. This is going to happen no matter what program you use for the cloning I'm pretty sure. Because even if you cloned only the partition, you would not have the proper MBR. Unless you know MBR enough to go in with advanced tools and take only the part that you want, but that is rather complicated.

 

In general cloning tools act this way because you need to clone the MBR as well and not just the data or else it would be useless. If this sounds too complicated (it's not and it is very feasible) you should check with Acronis for support so they can help you get it working the way you want to, or just scrap the whole idea of cloning and start out with a fresh install.