Upgrading to SSD as soon as I get my M11x R3, questions.

I'll be receiving my machine fairly soon, and I'll be looking to drop a Crucial M4 256 GB SSD into that as soon as I do.

I've done a bit of research onto how to get the OS onto the SSD, and I gather that a clean install might be the best way through consensus. However I'm a complicated person who wants to do complicated things in a simple manner.

What I will do once I get the notebook is:

1. Create recovery USB through AlienRespawn.
2. Take out factory HDD (750 GB).
3. Install SSD (256 GB).
4. Enable AHCI in BIOS.
5. Restore. (See KurtH's post in this link: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...rive-aftermarket-drive-alienrespawn-q-14.html)
6. Profit.

I know that using AR to restore factory defaults to a smaller aftermarket drive will usually not work; that's why I found my answer on how to do so through that post I referenced. However there's still a lot of questions I have in my mind that may have been already answered in that thread but I might've failed to comprehend, so please bear with me guys. -_-

My questions:

1. Will doing this also restore all partitions (Recovery/OEM) on the SSD?
2. Will I be able to retain full AlienRespawn functionality on my SSD after doing this, meaning I have the means to restore my SSD to the factory image using the USB at any time?
3. As opposed to a clean install, will respawning to my new drive result in alignment issues (which up to now I don't really understand fully but have seen to be an issue whilst doing my research)?

Thanks all and happy holidays.

 

1. yes if the recovery USB wont mess all of that up as it did for my SSD and factory HDD... it wouldn't restore from the USB for me and ruined all the OEM recoveries... Had to make a clean copy, which at the time seemed like a pain, but was a way more time and nerve efficient way of doing things.

2.If it works, yes. If not, you're making a clean install... possibly without alienrespawn at all. anyways no big deal i found. alienrespawn sux d:

3.I got no idea about alignment issues, but sounds like its a HDD rather than SSD issue. anyways dunno never heard or had those.

 

You can use a desktop computer, and Slave your SSD 256gig and HDD 750gig that will come with your laptop.

After that process, you can clone the 750 gig to your 256gig and it should work.

If I were you though, I'd just use a traditional HDD. Reason is HDD are older technology, so they have less bugs and generally last longer. Most have built in free fall and impact protection so they will not damage.

SSD drives are like flash drives, they have no moving parts but if they fail there is NO WAY to fix them at all unless you know how to solder. They are newer technology, and they have bugs. I just want to forewarn you.

If you do a complete reinstall on your new SSD, you WILL NOT have the OEM or Recovery partition. I don't have it on my alienware because they mostly just collect viruses, if anything happens to my computers, I just clone the hard disk to a new one, wipe the old and toss it.
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If you do not take the above into consideration, and you just do a reinstall. DO NOT use the drivers off the disk, because they do not work. Use drivers from the Aleinware website.

 

Well thanks for both replies.

The reason I wanted to "preserve" the original partitions when I do switch over to the SSD is because the OCD in me would like to pretend the laptop came that way from the factory, retain all the features, correct drivers from the factory, etc. etc.

But doing more and more reading, it seems like people are saying in the amount of time you spend to clone, align, install, etc., you would be better off just making a clean install.

AT99Scorpion, your post actually made me think twice now about getting a SSD. I wonder, I will be using this laptop say, 70/30 in favor of play over work. As such it will be a replacement for an "oldtimer" that I have here, an Acer Aspire 6920G (long overdue upgrade I know).

Of course when I do this, I will also pass on that laptop to someone else, leaving me only with this. I have to admit I AM media intensive in that I like to download and watch movies, music, play games and all that and I know that the 256 GB SSD will not cut it over time. I was planning to just lug the 750 HDD around in an enclosure once I upgrade to the SSD and keep my apps on it whilst keeping media on the larger HDD.

The biggest draw of SSDs to me was when I purchased a MBA for my wife and I saw how the system booted to life in less than a minute and shut down in about 3 - 4 seconds, and normally I would have to wait for over a minute for my old Acer to boot. Was excited at the prospect of having a machine that would allow me to boot when I wanted and shut down at will, because I take long rides both to work and back.

Now I'm wondering if there's a need to do upgrade at all. >_< Damn my indecisiveness!

(Although I can see with my "future vision" that an upgrade to SSD is inevitable for me, I mght just hold out and see if making do with that 750 7200 RPM will work, and probably wait around for a good deal then, maybe 2012 will be the year that SSD prices will come down? Little bit off topic here but yeah...)

 

I'm lazy when it comes to my systems, and unlike some folk who seem to think they need to reinstall the entire OS every 6 months, I just look after mine and never had to reinstall. One thing I do do is to create clones of the drives every now and again, so I can replicate the system if I ever want to, such as if I brick it through meddling or want to change the HDD to SSD or another HDD.

I'd contest AT99Scorpion's comment - SSDs that brick will keep data in the last format it was in unless the drive physically bricks, but for HDDs, the same is true, where a physically broken disk can only be recovered in a clean room with a surface scan, so either way, you're shafted! Regular backups of data and clones of images will protect your data to a reasonable degree.

Onto cloning - discard that AlienRespawn rubbish... it causes as much problem as Dell's other backup software that mine shipped with. Just get some software off the web, such as Acronis TrueImage, or Paragon Backup & Restore and use that. Since SSDs are smaller, first, remove all the bloat off the drive - I like to keep a very clean version stored without any user data, games, etc. as well as one with the full gubbins or with just music and movies removed. You'll have to use a proper defragger to move the bits that Win7 puts at the end of partitions, remove the hiberfil.sys files, remove the backup files, etc. to allow your partition to shrink to a decent size. Create an image of that, create the bootable USB drive, then swap the SSD in, boot from the USB drive and restore the partition. Stretch it to use all the space. Done. And keep the image in case you brick your machine at any time and need to restore onto another drive!