SSD - is it working or not?!

[neXib]

Hi guys,

 

I'll try to make this short but it probably won't be :) I have been working with pc's and hardware privately and professionally for 15 years so I thought this would be a piece of cake. I saw a guide for migrating your OS to an SSD, researched a bit and bought a Corsair 60GB Force type. Got the drive yesterday, started migrating and thus started a number of troubleshootings and problems.

 

1. If I use Paragon OS to SSD, I get Windows 7 migrated to the SSD filewise (I can see the space is used if I start up the software again) I get to the last step, which is reboot and set SSD as boot device. This never works, it always boots on my old drive. If I disconnect all drives but the SSD I get a Windows boot manager error saying a required device is missing (the device being the old boot HD). (could this be related to Windows 7 being OEM? I have seen MS say it's ok to install to new HD on same comp)

 

2. If I try to run the 1.1a or 2.0 force firmware updater it doesn't find my drive. It didn't when I had the intel software installed for the acpi drivers, and not for the ones Windows uses either, I tried both.

 

3. I tried just formatting the drive and I get it to show up as a normal drive then with a drive letter and all. It doesn't do that if I migrate to it, but that could be normal?! I really don't want to reinstall Windows 7 fresh to use the SSD.

 

4. The fact that the updater doesn't find it makes me unsure if it's faulty in some way. But I can see in the info on the drive that it has firmware 1.1 if that matters.

 

Any ideas how to solve this and/or find out if the SSD is faulty? It always shows up in BIOS, it always shows up as a device in Windows (just isn't accessible there if I don't format it there).

[Synbios]

Most likely the drive will show up in disk management under computer management (administrative tools). I'm assuming it's unallocated right now and yes it will not appear in My Computer until it is formatted, it will show up in the BIOS and device manager like how you have mentioned.

 

I'm not sure about Paragon, I suggest Acronis for imaging. Remember, you must image the boot sector, partition table, and MBR properly as well in order to boot from it. You may need to run a startup repair with the windows 7 installation disc in order to repair the MBR. Once you are confident the SSD has been imaged, I would remove the original HDD completely from the machine while repairing the setup, etc.

 

Attach the HDD afterwards and then you can format it and use it for storage or whatever you plan on doing. You can even just hotplug it after windows has booted if you're using AHCI. (and I think you meant AHCI drivers, not ACPI earlier).

 

With regards to the drive not being detected by the update tool, most likely it is because you have not right clicked the program and selected run as administrator. Even though your account may be "administrator" it is not the same, due to the way permissions are setup in windows 7. You should also remove all the partitions and make it so the drive appears as "unallocated" while performing the update, that may be help but try the administrator trick first. I would not continue with anything until the firmware 2.0 update is complete, then proceed with my recommendations for the imaging afterward.

[neXib]

Thanks, I didn't run it as administrator, that was a rookie mistake :)

 

I guess it's normal then, good news. I think I will try the Windows 7 repair as you suggest, because I looked in disk management and the use of the SSD drive seems to look correct, so it "should" be bootable. My worry is that it's not even trying to boot it, and just fails cause the other drive isn't there.

 

I installed my latest BIOS for the motherboard as well to be sure, but since it finds it and all I can't think of anything else.

 

I'll try with the 7 disc and just the SSD connected. Thanks for the pointers.

[Synbios]

Remember to unplug the HDD first before you run the startup repair.

 

When you're looking at the drive in disk management, check to see if the SSD has Boot on it.

 

It should have Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary, Active, and System. It may be different than the HDD that is booting.

[neXib]

It did have those, except boot I think, and yay, the repair (that probably adjusts the MBR stuff?) from the 7 disc fixed it. Booted up the migrated image on the SSD perfectly now.

 

Thanks :)

[Synbios]

Sure NP, yup certainly if your drive did not have Boot labeled in disk management that means it was missing the boot files which windows 7 startup repair can re-add.

 

Glad it's working now.