Cloning HDD to SSD to avoid reinstalling OS - Any real disadvantages?

So I will be buying a Samsung 840 Pro 128Gb later today... However I'm not planning on spending an entire weekend re-installing drivers, software and tweaking everything the way I like... I bought the laptop this week so there is a fresh copy of Win7 installed.

I read about the possibility of installing the SSD without having to re-install Win7. Many people already did it so it is possible. However, did anybody ever noticed any difference in performance? I don't want to format everything again "just because it's safer that way", I would only do it if it's proved that there is performance loss by not doing that.

 

I cloned by 3 year old HDD to a brand new Samsung 840 and have not run into any problems or performance issues.

That being said, if the HDD is so new then it won't take forever to install everything fresh.

I can highly recommend acronis true image software to clone your disk if you go down that route.

 

Point: A clean install is needed at least once in the lifecycle of a new system - either plan to do it 'now', at your convenience or get surprised and do it at the most inconvenient time (sometime 'later': when it's even more complicated with a full drive, important data, deadlines, etc.).

Point: You will not spend a weekend re-installing the O/S and software on an SSD...

Point: A clean install gives you the choice of installing the latest drivers the manufacturer offers - without all the other trial/junk/bloatware you don't need bogging down a good system.


Install Windows in ~15 minutes:

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...25562-ssd-optical-bay-laptop.html#post9292763

(make sure to read the link provided in the link above).


Spend some extra $$ (now) and enjoy better responsiveness/performance over the course of your ownership (while giving your SSD's nand a huge break too).

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...lash-storage/725520-more-ram-faster-ssds.html



Point: A clean install allows you to setup your system for the future, separates your data from your O/S and Programs and virtually ensures that you will be investing/wasting time in this 'setup stage' at the minimum over the course of ownership:

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...arks-brands-news-advice-1065.html#post9292781


Hope I gave you something to think about?


Whatever you decide to do, you can do it fully knowing the consequences of your actions (in advance).


Good luck.

 

Nice post.

I put boldface on the most important part.

But when an OP starts off with ""just because it's safer that way", I would only do it if it's proved that there is performance loss by not doing that." then chances are that they'll have to learn the hard way.

It never seems to cross their mind that there's a good reason why so many people start threads on how to do a clean install, and a few even do informative threads on how to do it.

 

I can't guarantee there will be no performance drop. It depends on the program you use and the state of your os at the time of migration.
I have personally migrated 3 heavily used systems from hdds to ssds and have not noticed any real differences. Much of the issues related to doing so is due to operator error or using an unproven software suite.

In all 3 instances I had to use perfect disk to compact the hdd partitions.

I have successfully migrated using Intel system migration from a 1tb hdd to an Intel 320 120gb. Only minor tweaks were needed after which Intel ssd toolbox handled superbly. While the Intel migration is excellent you can only use it if you have an Intel drive.

The other two occasions were from 1tb hdds to plextor m5s 256gb. I tried windows image but it didn't work well so I got a copy of paragon migrate hdd to ssd. This also worked superbly without a problem. The system needed the usual disable defrag tweaks and it felt slightly weird for a few days but it reached almost fresh install performance after.

While I haven't migrated from hdd to ssd using Samsung drives. I have used the Samsung software to migrate from a plextor m5s to a 256gb Samsung 840 pro. I can vouch for the efficiency and stability of the program. Plus, the inbuilt Samsung magician handles most of the after migration tweaks pretty well.

 

While there are certain points made on clean installs, let's not forget the reliability of different cloning utilities vary. Avoid generalization.

If you'd ask me, the Samsung Data Migration utility licensed by Clonix is great. No hassle, doesn't break MBR etc, does the job swiftly.

Conversely, I've tried older revisions of Acronis which isn't that great. I've also tried Norton Ghost bundled with my 830 and this is a terrible one that ends up in errors on many occassions, breaks MBR etc

It appears that Clonix makes OEM cloning solutions and it happens that Samsung uses their OEM solution to preload their PC HDDs. I wouldn't suppose an OEM solution to have substandard reliability.

Have a few Samsungs, 1 of them was particularly made off a clean iso install. Comparatively, ones partitioned with clonix had no noticeable performance loss that I can observe in the long term apart from having more registry bloats from OEM bloatwares that are uninstalled.

If you are using it in an existing PC i would say its not worth the hassle. Samsung data migration is great.

Sent from my GT-I8190 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

One last point, no corruption, no BSODs associated to Clonix's utility whatsoever.

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