Formatting and loading WIN7 on an SSD

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As part of a major renovation of one of my computers I will be changing the mobo and the CPU and the boot[noparse] (C:)[/noparse] drive. The hardware bits and such have been the subject of other threads and were very helpful. I have followed the various Windowssecrets articles touching on similar processes over the past year or so. That said I beg a bit of specific assistance.

1) a new mobo and CPU and RAM
2) replacement of a boot HD with a boot SSD
3) use of the current boot HD as a (third) data/scratch drive
4) System works fine at this point so any and all preparations should go smoothly. Back ups are to external drives and/or NASes.
5) Current system is fully up to date Win 7 Pro 64 bit
6) New system will also be Win 7 Pro 64 bit
7) I used originally and have now only the upgrade disk.

Should I do anything to prepare the SSD before swapping out any current parts?
In this specific case, how do I go about loading the OS?

All advice will be gratefully accepted.

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Are you saying you only have an upgrade disk to load the OS? Did you load Win 7 x64 from said upgrade disk and if so, what was running before the upgrade?

cheers, Paul

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Does the current boot partition size fit the SSD? If so, I would use an imaging app to clone it into the SSD. Probably better advice can be provided if you tell us what are the sizes for the current HDD and the SSD.

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Linus,

See these threads: One Two HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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In my last build, 6 years ago, the previous OS would have been Win XP, if there was an OS on the drive.

The new SSD will have 250GB (Samsung). The current boot drive is 2T I can strip the data folders off that drive so I’m fairly certain 250GB will be more than enough space for the OS, the executables, and probably the catalog for a database I run on this system. There is space elsewhere on the system for the data — especially since I can place it back on — or leave it on — the 750 MB drive.

I’m not sure how to technically answer the partition question. Disk 0 is now 1863.01 GB in one partition.

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Linus,

Bring up File Explorer, right-click on the [noparse]C: drive[noparse], select properties. It’s the Used Space that matters.

My 128Gb SSD looks like this with Win 8.1 Pro and all my programs, data on another drive as you are setting up.

36539-UsedSpace

HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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used: 857 GB
Free: 0.98 TB

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Linus,

Looks like you have some parring to do. I would guess that you have a lot of Pics, Video, and or Audio files to use that much space.
What I would do (and this is just me) is:

[*]Make sure you have Boot Media (CD/USB) for your Imaging program ( I like Macrium Reflect).
[*]Image your C drive and any hidden boot partitions.
[*]Backup my Documents directory to an external drive.
[*]Delete the contents of the Documents Directory.
[*]Defrag the drive.
[*]Use a Partition manager (EaseUS Partition Master Free is my choice) and resize your C drive down to a size that will fit on your SSD.
[*]Create a new partition for your data.
[*]Use the approved windows method to move your Documents folder to the new partition.
[*]Image the C partition.
[*]Image the new data partition (note the drive letter as you’ll want to assign the same drive letter to the HD you restore the data image to).
[*]Install your new SSD and move the HDD to another slot or just move cables around as you’ll want the SSD to be in the drive 0 position.
[*]Boot from your Image software boot media.
[*]Restore the C partition and any hidden boot partitions to the SSD.
[*]Restore the Data partition to the HDD.
[*]Boot into windows.
[*]Check the drive letter assignments to make sure your Data partition is at the correct drive letter and make adjustments if necessary using windows disk management.
[*]Double check the alignment of your C drive to make sure it is properly aligned.
[*]Done.

HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Clean install with the Windows 7 upgrade disk onto the new SSD.
Don’t bother with restoring an image or clone from the previous system, do it cleanly, as you will have a whole new computer, with all new hardware and drivers, basically.

Installing Windows 7:
A start-to-finish, step-by-step guide to properly installing Windows 7

For all steps not understood, just ask.

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Step one, as I understand it, will be to do the backups etc, then swap out the Mobo/RAM/C: drive for SSD. I suspect the new UEFI will allow me to get to the Optical drive to run the Upgrade Diskette. Yes?

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I lean toward Clint’s approach so that I get as clean an install as possible although at the cost of more time and care. Clean is good. If UPS & FEDEX stay on their schedules, I should get to the first step, the 64 bit machine, this weekend. Thanks to all!!!!!

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Yes sir, do the work up front, get it done right, and you’ll likely never have to do it again.

I also recommend that you;
1. Image the OS in stages during the install. (after drivers & WU, but before programs)
2. Download ALL updated drivers now, prior to beginning, and store them in a secure organized location until needed.
3. Move/store as much personal data on your other internal drive(s) as you can, except program installs.
4. Keep the SSD as lean as possible so that image restores take no longer than 20 to 30 minutes to complete.
5. Take your time with the build, read every thing you need to, and above all enjoy it.

Good luck
CLiNT

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Re recommendation 3, since I intend to introduce the new SSD into the new set-up as the boot drive and use a DVD to get it started & updated, install all the applications, update them, etc. and THEN hook up the two other existing drives plus the newly ‘demoted’ former boot HD, do I really need to migrate data off it? Shouldn’t I just leave all there and then
1) make the correct assignments for the WIN7 pre-defined folders ( documents, photos, etc) and
2) delete all the system and executables?

Am I overthinking this thing?

The hardware should arrive today.

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Something nobody touched on is the OP’s copy of Windows an OEM version or a retail version? He should be prepared to call Microsoft to activate Windows because of all these hardware changes.

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One more thing. How do I identify what folders should be on the SSD? Or, put in other terms, what folders in a WIN7 PRO 64 bit should/can not be moved, at least not from the BOOT partition or boot drive? Or what folders can be moved? There is no e-mail traffic to/from this machine to speak of.

Another question concerns the best strategy for the Boot drive, the 250 GB SSD. No partitions? If partitions, what is a recommended strategy?

A related question has to do with a Photoshop Elements 12 catalog. PSE 12 hosts a 50,000+ image database. Up to this time I have always kept DB catalogs, since the 1980s and mini-computers and main frames, separate from the data drives and from the system drives. But I wonder if there is now an advantage to moving the catalog to the SSD? Or a partition on the SSD?

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Good thought. I had a very long session once over a similar issue with a Microsoft team. No interest in putting another afternoon into the can. Does anybody have a working number to a real Microsoftie for this kind of issue, should it come up?

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One more thing. How do I identify what folders should be on the SSD? Or, put in other terms, what folders in a WIN7 PRO 64 bit should/can not be moved, at least not from the BOOT partition or boot drive? Or what folders can be moved? There is no e-mail traffic to/from this machine to speak of.

Any folder that contains data that you generate, like Office documents, photos, video.
Anyplace where you specifically store data can now be moved or place in an organized folder structure
on one of the other drives.

Another question concerns the best strategy for the Boot drive, the 250 GB SSD. No partitions? If partitions, what is a recommended strategy?

Why partition, you don’t need to partition. You have plenty of internal space.
You will not be wasting space. All that free space will contribute to a more healthy and responsive SSD.

A related question has to do with a Photoshop Elements 12 catalog. PSE 12 hosts a 50,000+ image database. Up to this time I have always kept DB catalogs, since the 1980s and mini-computers and main frames, separate from the data drives and from the system drives. But I wonder if there is now an advantage to moving the catalog to the SSD? Or a partition on the SSD?

That’s completely up to you, depending upon how often it is used (read/written to). If the answer is infrequent move it to another drive.
The end product of photoshop should be stored elsewhere to cut down on filling up the primary drive.

do I really need to migrate data off it? Shouldn’t I just leave all there and then
1) make the correct assignments for the WIN7 pre-defined folders ( documents, photos, etc) and
2) delete all the system and executables?

Pull whatever you need from it then format it.
Start getting organized with a folder structure one of the internal drives. You can and should store all of your programs and drivers,
organized around type with clearly marked version numbers.

Something nobody touched on is the OP’s copy of Windows an OEM version or a retail version? He should be prepared to call Microsoft to activate Windows because of all these hardware changes.

Yeah, depending upon what he’s got there, he might. I suspect it’s a genuine Windows 7 upgrade disk.

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Yep. A legit Microsoft Upgrade disk. (Also a 32-bit Win7 Pro disk for the other PC which will inherit the ‘brains’ of this one.)

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Follow Paul Thurrott’s article on clean installing from the upgrade disk.

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