Decided to upgrade my SSD

So I finally decided to pull the trigger on a bigger, better SSD. Right now I'm trying to decided whether I should do a clean install on the new SSD or if I should clone the SSD I have now. Can someone please weigh in on the pros and cons?

Thanks in advance

 

I just recently upgraded SSDs and I always prefer to fresh install. Lets you start with a fresh registry and rethink your computer usage. Only install what you really need and what not.

 

You save time by cloning. You gain additional performance and avoid potential headaches further down the road by doing a clean install.

 

Fair enough! Thanks for the answers. I was leaning more towards a fresh install but needed more persuasion. Thanks again!

 

You have to be careful when using cloning software on SSD's as some don't have the means to correctly align the image properly leading to poor performance. I think most recent cloning softwares are now SSD aware to do this job properly but I always tend to prefer doing a clean install as less things can go wrong that way.

 

Thanks for your input. I've decided to go with a fresh install. Like you guys mentioned, it takes more time but will be worth it in the long run.

 

also gives you a chance to upgrade drivers of certain hardware that usually gets neglected like sound card, touchpad etc...

and general purging of garbage leftovers from uninstalled apps

 

A clean install by the owner is always better than migrating from a hard drive or an SSD that has seen action.

Even when you get a new notebook with the OS preinstalled,IMO,do a format and delete of all partitions before clean install files of the OS are extracted onto a drive that's already been used.

Installing Windows from a manufacturer's server onto hundreds of drives at a time leaves alot of room for less than perfect OS installations.

Have all your most current WHQL drivers plus newest software and utility versions on a UB stick ready to go before you start.

If you're doing Windows 7 x64 on an Intel chipset then install the Intel f6flpy RST v11.0.0.1032 at the add driver screen and chipset software v9.3.0.1020 when the installation is complete.

Installing Windows 7 from a USB stick is the fastest.

For non raid setups set the bios to AHCI before starting the clean installation.

 

Thanks for all the recommendations! My new SSD arrived today and I'll be installing Windows 7 x64 on it this weekend. Is there anything I should do on the new SSD prior to installing the OS?

 

So my new SSD is settling in nicely. However I had installed some less frequently used programs on my storage HDD. Is it advisable to reinstall these? I can still run them but will it cause issues due to the fact that they were installed through the OS on the old SSD?

 

Generally speaking, when you install a program, it creates a bunch of registry entries which it needs in order to run properly. Reformatting will of course delete your entire registry, which means that the program will stop working regardless of whether or not the files are still there.

There are occasional programs here and there that completely bypass the Windows registry, and those should continue to work just fine, but it's really hit and miss.