Migrating from an HDD to an SSD

Hey guys, so I will shortly be going from a 750GB 7200RPM HDD with a sequential read/write speed of 70/62 to an SSD. I will probably get a ~500GB SSD like the MX100. However, I also currently have 2 operating systems installed on my HDD, Windows 7 Home Premium and Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS (both installed on BIOS/legacy mode, not UEFI). I have at least 350GB of free space on my HDD as well.

My question is, will I encounter any issues changing my drives? I will probably replace the HDD completely and just use the SSD in its place. I know my HDD has a higher capacity than an SSD I will buy, but it also has far less than 500GB of files. Will this cause an issue? Further, will I need to install my own disk cloning software or will one come with any SSD that I purchase? And when cloning, is there anything I should note in particular, especially having a dual-boot OS installed currently? If there are any other things that might cause a problem, or anything I should keep in mind, please let me know. Finally, if this is in the wrong forum, moderators feel free to move it. I wasn't certain if I should post here or in the OS section of NBR.

Thanks everyone!

 

I would strongly suggest doing a clean install of both operating systems (presuming that you are intent on keeping the dual-boot) as opposed to cloning your current drive. Other than that, just enjoy the SSD once you set it up.

 

Out of curiosity, why is a clean install better? Are there any significant disadvantageous to a clone/advantages to a clean install? I unfortunately have very little experience with moving to a new drive. Also, how would I do a clean install of windows on the new drive as well? Does doing that require any special procedures or disks? For example, Windows 7 (I think) was pre-installed when I purchased my notebook, and I don't have any installation disks or anything for it. How would I be able to clean install Windows 7 back onto my SSD?

Edit: I've read a bit more about cloning and fresh installs and I'm leaning towards a fresh install. One thing that came up was that I might need to check whether my drive is currently using IDE or AHCI. However, in my device manager, I see only this, with no information about IDE or AHCI. Additionally, my BIOS appears quite limited, and there is definitely no options for it there either.

 

Under the configuration settings in BIOS - I'm working blind here since I don't know your laptop - there should be something along the lines of SATA mode...

With that said, if the laptop left the factory with W7, chances are that it's working in AHCI mode as it should for SSD.

 

I advise a clean install too, I use dual boot too...

 

A fresh system install (or clean install) will give you a new starting point without any left overs from previously installed programs, stuff you may installed and no longer need, but forgot is there, etc. It usually gives you a more responsive system.

A clone will remove the hassle of having to reinstall everything. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. If you tend to keep your systems fairly clean and lean in terms of programs installed, then go ahead and clone. If you have over the years (well, you or someone else who might be using the computer) installed all manner of toolbars, other bundled programs that came with things like Flash, CCleaner, etc. then I would do a clean install.

 

I am one who ALWAYS does a clean install on any system I install an SSD on. Just to ensure I get the 100% performance out of the system.

But in your scenario, stating that you don't have a Windows 7 disc plus your HDD is already partitioned, I would just use Macrium Reflect to clone the HDD to the SSD, it will copy all the partitions minus the extra space on the HDD will be shrunkg on the SSD but that shouldn't be a problem since you have a lot of free space.

If you are not so good technically with these things, please do make sure you download the drivers for your laptop from the manufacturer before you attempt a clean install and ALWAYS backup before doing anything

 

Another question. If for any reason when I'm transferring files/OS's/anything to my new SSD, and I'm missing something quite important, such as a driver, will I be able to connect my existing HDD that still has all of my old files, including OS's, through a SATA to USB cable and just transfer any missing files manually? Also, is there anything in windows that might go wrong if I'm bringing over an OS and entering in my product key? For example, how does Windows 7 know that the SSD is a replacement drive, because for all microsoft knows my HDD could go on another system and I just created 2 computers that can run windows 7 with only 1 product key.

 

An OEM activation key isn't tied to the hard drive, so there should be no problem with activation and if there is, a call to Microsoft will be all it takes to fix it.

As for transferring data, anything that isnt an installed program should be transferable via a SATA to USB adapter. At worse, you can always swap the old HDD in, boot from it, transfer what's missing to another external device and put the SSD back in.

 

A clone is a 100% copy of the HDD to the SSD, there is no question that a file or driver would go missing, if it's done, it's done