Noob initial cloning question

[Jones0610]

I did read the sticky threads and looked in the forum for an answer. If it's here, I didn't see it.

 

This is a basic Corsair SSD installation question.

 

I'm planning on upgrading an older Pentium 4 PC to boot off of an SSD. If this exercise works out I will probably start converting everything to run off of an SSD.

 

Typically, when I need to replace a boot drive, I use Clonezilla which works great if the target drive is equal to or larger than the source HDD. In this test case, the SSD will be considerably smaller than the HDD it will be replacing.

 

Wondering if the Corsairs come with any sort of cloning or backup/restore software. I understand that the Samsung Pro line does. For a variety of reasons, I'd prefer to go with a Corsair product.

 

I did read the backup/restore procedure in this forum which I guess would work ok but that seems like a very convoluted process compared to just firing up a cloning tool.

 

I'm also somewhat concerned about the many threads I've seen on here regarding degraded SSD performance over time that seems to require backing up the SSD, erasing it and then restoring the backup. This gives the impression that SSD technology is not yet quite stable enough to convert to (hence my desire to do this test to see for myself how well SSDs work).

 

I'd be very appreciative of any feedback especially from anyone who does this sort of thing all the time.

[Toasted]

Corsair doesn't have any backup/restore software unless you buy the Notebook upgrade kits.

 

If you are going to run Windows XP on the drive, the SSD performance may degrade over time due to XP's support for SSDs and lack of TRIM. It's recommended that you install a newer OS e.g. Windows 7 or Windows 8.

 

If you are going to install Windows XP, Make sure you manually align the partition before installing the OS.

[Jones0610]

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

 

I guess a follow up question would be:

 

Are there any installation instructions provided for customers who are purchasing Corsair SSDs for the purpose of upgrading existing systems or are Corsair SSDs only appropriate for PCs if you plan on doing a clean install.... and apparently just clean installs on win7/8?

 

I have zero interest in going the Win 8 route. And since MS continues to punitively price Win7, if I am forced to leave XP, it will most likely to be Ubuntu that I go to. I'm guessing that Corsair SSDs may not cleanly install and operate on *NIX, yes?

 

I keep reading that SSDs are the wave of the future but your feedback indicates that this is not the case (especially since the future of DIY PCs is highly questionable).

[Toasted]

There isn't instructions for customers but you can Google some tutorials to migrate the OS to an SSD.

 

I'm not 100% sure on this but it should work fine with Linux. The only bad thing i can think of is when there's a SSD firmware update, you'll need a Windows PC with AHCI enabled. As the only current available FW updater is only Windows based.

 

 

SSDs have benefits over a normal mechanical drives (faster speeds, no moving parts, lightweight, etc), The Windows 7/8 installer does automatically align the partition on the SSD so you don't need to do it manually.

[RAM GUY]

I would suggest adding the system that you plan on install it on as a second HDD and quick format it with a 4096 Allocation to align the partition then I would suggest using HD Clone to image the drive over as it is compatible with SSD's.