Moving Windows 7 to SSD

[KC]

Slickdeals listed a great deal of recertified Dell 8500s earlier this week and I picked one up.  It has both a 2 TB HD and a 256 GB SSD. To my surprise, Dell installed Windows 7 on the HD, not on the SSD. I've done some internet searches on how to move Windows 7 to the SSD, but many of the articles and posts were about 2 years old and some of the advice was contradictory. Has anyone done this recently and can recommend how to do it?

The HD only has about 50 GB on it now, so I don't have to worry about free space on the SSD for the move.

Thanks in advance for the help.

[Purge]

Easiest way:

Download Partition Assistant Home Edition.

It's free, and basically you:
install it
run the job wizard to copy one disk to another
resize the image during the job
then run the job
It will require a reboot so that it has system disk level access
then it moves it all over for you

Once it's done, you'll then need to:
reboot and change your drive boot order in the BIOS (or physically swap SATA cable ports on either the controller / mainboard, or the disks themselves)

Lastly, reformat your 2TB drive and mount it as D or as a subfolder off your new 256GB C drive.

Done!

[KC]

It turns out that others have received their computers and the OS is also installed on the HD instead of SSD. Someone in the Slickdeals forum were I found the deal posted the below advice.  Will this method work?

The most failproof way:

1. Open the case, unplug the power from the 2 TB hard disk
2. Boot up the PC with the Winodws Install DVD
3. Choose advanced install, format drive.
4. Install Windows onto the SSD drive
5. Turn off, reattach the 2TB HD
6. Boot up into the SSD Windows if it presents you two choices
7. Run disk management and delete boot partition on 2TB HD, create new volume, format.

More or less that. Dell are asshats for installing it on the slower non SSD drive.

[Teggy]

This the guide I used when I did it:

http://lifehacker.com/5837543/how-to-migrate-to-a-solid+state-drive-without-reinstalling-windows

There's a bunch of stuff in there about setting up the SSD like realigning it - I honestly don't understand the specifics of it, but I just followed the directions.

Even with the instructions I think I wound up having to do some googling for extra configuration because it initially wasn't looking to the right drive to boot up.

[Purge]

Seriously?

I gave you a twenty minute fix (where 19 of them is waiting for the disk to copy over) and no money, no hassle involved.

If you want to fresh-install, go for it, but I wouldn't call it failproof. If there are drivers that aren't easy to come by, you may not be in the best position. lifting and moving the partition, switching SATA ports and rebooting is the best.

If you want all the dell drivers etc - just use my instructions above. I've used them 4 times already. It's ridiculously easy. The only warning I have is that when you boot from the SSD from the first time, the drive will try to do the copy again, indicate it can't do it (since that was the condition of the original system drive you moved). Let it reboot, and you're done.


So :

Install software.
Tell software to move 2TB drive to 256GB drive
Tell it to execute.
Reboot.
Let it do the work.
power down.
Switch SATA cables
Power on - tries to boot the software again.
let it fail and reboot

TADA!

Windows (with all drivers) running from SSD.

You can now use windows to wipe out and repartition your SATA 2TB disk as you see fit.

[KC]

Seriously?

I gave you a twenty minute fix (where 19 of them is waiting for the disk to copy over) and no money, no hassle involved.

If you want to fresh-install, go for it, but I wouldn't call it failproof. If there are drivers that aren't easy to come by, you may not be in the best position. lifting and moving the partition, switching SATA ports and rebooting is the best.

If you want all the dell drivers etc - just use my instructions above. I've used them 4 times already. It's ridiculously easy. The only warning I have is that when you boot from the SSD from the first time, the drive will try to do the copy again, indicate it can't do it (since that was the condition of the original system drive you moved). Let it reboot, and you're done.


So :

Install software.
Tell software to move 2TB drive to 256GB drive
Tell it to execute.
Reboot.
Let it do the work.
power down.
Switch SATA cables
Power on - tries to boot the software again.
let it fail and reboot

TADA!

Windows (with all drivers) running from SSD.

You can now use windows to wipe out and repartition your SATA 2TB disk as you see fit.

Purge, I need your help. I downloaded the software and copied everything from the HD to the SSD. The I went into my BIOS and couldn't find the SSD in the options for the first boot priority. I let it reboot. I see that all the files are on both disks. I tried to reformat the HD, but got an error saying that I can't do this because Windows is running from this drive.  What am I missing here?

[Purge]

KC - you need to either change the boot order in the BIOS (you would anyways) or you should just power it off, open the box and switch the SATA cables from the back of the two different hard drives (it might be easier to trace them back to the mainboard and switch them there).

You could also boot into windows (off C drive).

Then go to start-run, and type in "msconfig"

There is a boot tab, and you can choose which disk to boot from.

If you do it this way rather than just swapping cables, your slow drive will still be the system partition (which is MS's f****ed up way of saying "the drive the system boots from") and the boot partition will be your SSD (which is MS's f****ed up way of saying "operating system drive).

I sent you a pm and I've just sent another with my phone number. You can text me, and I'll walk you through either method.

Don't format until you're sure.


TL;DR version:

1) Let's find the boot order in your BIOS
2) Let's switch the SATA cables cuz it's the next-easiest way
3) We could go with not changing your config, and have your system point to the 2TB, which then points to the SSD to start. It doesn't mean your SSD won't be C drive, but if your 2TB gets removed then it might piss off your PC (though a copy of your sole drive config IS copied to your SSD at this point).

Gimme a call / text / email.