bios setting and windows install when adding ssd to system

hi peeps. just got myself an ssd and i would like to use it as my boot/programs drive. i have read in the forum that port 0 on our laptops have some stability issues running SATA III, and would revert to SATA II at times. ssd will be at port 1 then.

currently, my system has a WD Scorpio Black, and the OS is installed on it. is there a way where i dont need to do a clean install of windows 7 on the ssd? say, using alienrespawn? i have already done a backup on a thumbdrive.

also, in my bios, the hdd settings are at RAID. do i need to change it to AHCI, like what i have been seeing in this forums? i do not want to run RAID. i just want to use the hdd as a secondary drive to store media.

i have been thinking of taking out the hdd, installing ssd in port 1. then plugging the usb and doing a respawn on the ssd. is that possible?

thank you in advance for and advice given. really appreciate it.

 

Personally i dont ever use the respwan Cd's since dell took over. your much better off doing a fresh clean install using an OEM disc, which are easy to get online.

your best bet if you dont want to do a clean install is to get Acronis,( again easliy downloaded) and clone the hdd. you can install the Spindle drive in port0 ( it probably already is), and then clone from that drive to the newly installed SSD.

as far as the BIOS, usually switching from One type of com controller to the other is a big nono, and will break your OS. however i have been seeing a lot of systems being able to switch to & from AHCI without issues. I would definitely switch it if your not worried about loosing data, which there is a small risk of happening.

 

There is a win7 cd that came with it in the box. I presume that is just for the os? I read a forumer's post on how ti set it up like before after doing clean install.

Also, if i were to do a clean install, will changing mode from raid to ahci break my os? Or is it fine to just leave it in raid? Any performance loss or gains by using raid or ahci?

Sorry if i sound noobish. Its my first attempt at adding an ssd to A hdd only system.

 

if your doing a "Clean install" there will be no OS to break. a clean install is formatting the hard drive and installing from scratch. if that is the way you want to go then no AHCI will not break anything. there is a nominal gain in rw times with AHCI wich normally wouldn't matter , but i would assume you want to get the MOST =)

I would recommend not using the disks that come with the machine. The Dell made OS is always clunky in my experience, and the drivers on the disk are usually outdated. its best to get an OEM disk or OEM download of what ever version of windows you have and install that and use the drivers downloaded from the dell site or the Manufacturers site. you will notice a difference in the build.

some people might say that it doesn't matter, but like i said i can only speak from experience.
but again, if your just installing windows from scratch, just change it to AHCI and get to installing windows