Series 5 Ultra (np540u3c) Moving recovery partition to iSSD

Hi all.

I'm just registered though i follow this forum for a long time.

My expresscache is broken and won't work. I tried all the methods suggested at different topics. So i decided that i will upgrade my HDD with an SSD for better performance. Also still be able to use expresscache SSD.

My question is that I want to utilize soldered expresscache as a factory recovery partition. Can i do that?

I want it to be usable as a f4 key boot option like it was in hdd partition. Is it doable?

Other than these, if i want to clone all my HDD to new SSD, will it arise complications like windows not booting or OS drive is optimized as an HDD and will perform slower etc.?

Thanks in advance.

 

Hello kebapofadana, welcome to NBR -- although I understand you've been around for awhile.

I am afraid the answer to several of your questions is "no, that cannot be done" given the model you have and the situation your describe:

1) If the iSSD (the small SSD used for ExpressCache) has become defect (which unfortunately happens) you cannot use it at all. In fact, a defect iSSD can cause the computer to hang during startup (even after uninstalling the ExpressCache software) and there is no fix other than replacing the motherboard. I hope that is not what happened to your system.

2) If you install a "real" SSD instead of the original HDD, you do NOT want to keep using the ExpressCache software for caching, it will only slow down the system. I think that is also what you're saying. I also recommend you don't use the iSSD for anything that might add wear to it (lots of writing).

3a) If your computer was originally delivered with Win8, that means you have Samsung Recovery Solution 6 (SRS6), which has a a convenient Disk Copy feature (see this Samsung guide) which you can use to clone the current system onto the new SSD, including working Recovery (F4). It requires a USB enclosure or adapter so you can plug in the SSD (you can use the enclosure afterwards for the HDD). It ALSO requires that all partitions on the HDD (including Recovery) will fit on the new SSD, otherwise you will have to shrink the Windows and/or Data partitions first (use Minitool Partition Wizard for that). But DON'T shrink or touch the Recovery or SYSTEM partitions.

3b) If you do not have an enclosure/adapter OR if the HDD is too large to clone, you have some other options, as described in this post. Option (3) in that post is your next best shot if you want to preserve Recovery on the new SSD, but it requires a 32GB USB stick to create a so-called Bootable Factory Image backup. Make sure to read the guide linked in that post before you buy the USB stick.

3c) If your computer was originally delivered with Win7, that means you have the older Samsung Recovery Solution 5 (SRS5), which does NOT have these convenient features, and is much harder to backup and re-create on a new disk. But it CAN be done, as described in this post. You could use the procedure described in that post to put Recovery on the new SSD, then use partition imaging tools (such as Acronis) to clone the Windows partition and MSR/SYSTEM partition afterwards. As long as you don't let Acronis touch the Recovery partition, F4 should still work. I would question whether this is worth the effort, since your SRS5 Recovery merely contains a Win7 factory installation, and Win7 can be easily (and legally) downloaded from Digital River. And you will still have Recovery on the original HDD if you ever need it (say you want to sell the computer, or convince Samsung service of a hardware issue).

4) I don't think there is any way to put your Recovery partition(s) onto the iSSD, regardless of whether you have SRS5 or SRS6, since the iSSD cannot be made the primary boot device. If you have SRS6 (again, your computer came with Win8) you could save a Recovery backup on the iSSD, and delete the large Recovery partition (SAMSUNG_REC2) from the main drive. That is the closest I can think of to the situation your describe.

As I understand it, Win8 will automatically adjust to optimize for an iSSD. I am not sure if that is also true of Win7. I DO remember one member reporting how he discovered that Windows continued to defrag his disk (using the Optimize Drives schedule) after cloning to SSD -- although I forget if this was Win7 or Win8, and also who and where reported it. I would make sure to disable that so you do not add unnecessary wear to the SSD.

I hope this helps. Please keep us updated on your progress.

Edit:

I just remembered: If you have SRS6, you CAN actually put the large Recovery partition (SAMSUNG_REC2) on the iSSD (or any drive you like) as long as the Recovery Boot partition (SAMSUNG_REC) is on the main drive (your boot drive).

You need to create a so-called USB Admin Tool from your Recovery on the HDD AND backup the file and folder contents of the SAMSUNG_REC2 partition. I would also create a regular, non-bootable Factory Image backup. After swapping in the SSD, use the Admin Tool to create Recovery, as described in this post but specify the iSSD as target for the Recovery Data partition.

Of course this all assumes that your iSSD is physically working

These different posts have more guidance:

Create USB Admin Tool and backup partition contents (SRS5, but similar for SRS6)

Use SRS6 Admin tool to create Recovery on a new drive

Additional discussion of settings for SRS6 Admin Tool

 

Hi.

Thanks a lot for this detailed answer.

My iSSD is physically working i can create a ntfs partition and use it. Sorry that i provided scarce information about my system. It was shipped with Windows 8. And expresscache was working on it. After 8.1 upgrade it became broke. No matter what i do, "eccmd -info" command says only 80mb of cache usage. It does not populate the cache. After a few tries it started to say "this product is not licensed on this system". Then I completely gone mad and stopped using it.

Thanks again for the answer. I will post the detailed results and what i did here.

Have a nice day.

 

I see. To get ExpressCache working after updating to Win8.1, you usually have to uninstall the ExpressCache software (Programs & Features control panel), reboot, then re-install ExpressCache, reboot. I recommend downloading the latest ExpressCache version 1.0.94 from from SW Update and install that -- it's still a very old version, but it works.

If you have manually created partitions on the iSSD, you should delete those partitions BEFORE re-installing ExpressCache. If it still refuses to kick in, you can check with Minitool Partition Wizard (Google it) if the iSSD somehow was converted to MBR partition style, and if so convert it to GPT. Since your computer came with Win8, I assume it runs in UEFI mode and the HDD is using GPT partitions style. On such systems the iSSD must also be GPT in order for ExpressCache to work.

Disk performance can be significantly degraded after the Win8.1 update, even after you get ExpressCache working. To improve that, clean out any unnecessary files (CCleaner and Disk Cleanup -- note that Windows Update Cleanup can take a long time), defrag the drive, then run BOOTOPT.BAT in the ExpressCache programs folder. You must do it in this order, as ExpressCache requires a defragged drive in order to perform its optimization.