The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    [Help!] Installing to SSD from USB + Dell Datasafe

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by DeadEye, Jun 14, 2010.

  1. DeadEye

    DeadEye Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    1
    Messages:
    60
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Hi all,

    Just wondering if I'm mucking something up or what I'm trying to do is not feasible.

    I've got a new SSD drive for my brand new M11xR1. I've created a factory restore/backup image on USB from the factory HDD using Dell Datasafe Local, however when I try and install from the USB onto the SSD, it tells me it cannot be done and I need a HDD of at least 298GB.

    What gives? :<
     
    DeadEye, Jun 14, 2010
    #1
  2. mfractal

    mfractal T|I

    Reputations:
    1,948
    Messages:
    2,890
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    55
    couple of things.. your data probably was around 300gb thus the backup is of this size and you're trying to restore it to a smaller ssd.

    second - restoring from a backup is very not recommended. you might loose a lot of performance because of that. I'd install a fresh windows install on that ssd and then copy your old stuff to it manually.
     
    mfractal, Jun 14, 2010
    #2
  3. evil-the-crusade

    evil-the-crusade Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    18
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    And how do you install Windows in the new SSD?

    I thought you just had to copy your old HDD into your new SSD and you were good to go. Is there anywhere you can find a detailed explanation on how to do it?
     
    evil-the-crusade, Jun 14, 2010
    #3
  4. DeadEye

    DeadEye Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    1
    Messages:
    60
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Thanks for that - the backup was literally done straight off the factory install only with nil programs or anything installed.

    However I downloaded 'Wintoflash' and used that to get everything from the supplied recovery DVD onto USB and installed that way - she's flying now!
     
    DeadEye, Jun 14, 2010
    #4
  5. mfractal

    mfractal T|I

    Reputations:
    1,948
    Messages:
    2,890
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    55
    So my guess is that your hdd was 300 gigs right?
    It backed up an image of the drive and tried to restore it but the ssd is smaller. I am glad that you made it work. Just to make sure that you are all set-run crystal disk mark so we can see your ssd perfmance.

    Also check your SSD alignment using this tool:
    http://www.alex-is.de/PHP/fusion/downloads.php?cat_id=4&download_id=9

    and finally, visit the thread in my sig for some ssd specific os tweaks.

    Cheers
     
    mfractal, Jun 14, 2010
    #5