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Resolved New SSD. Clone or reinstall ?

Discussion in 'Windows 10' started by rsinfo, 2019/01/02.

  1. 2019/01/02
    rsinfo

    rsinfo SuperGeek Alumni Thread Starter

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    I am finally getting a 512 GB SSD for my 7+ year old computer (AMD Athlon X2) which began life as windows Vista, then 7, 8 & then Win 10.

    The last Windows reinstall was about 3 years back. Should I now just clone my HDD or reinstall Windows afresh ?
     
    rsinfo,
    #1
  2. 2019/01/03
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    I cloned a friend's HDD to SSD and it went well. Since the size of the old and new most likely will differ, make sure that the partition(s) is/are properly resized.
     
    Christer,
    #2


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  4. 2019/01/03
    Bill

    Bill SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    Just because it has "evolved" through multiple major OS upgrades, I would do a fresh install.

    No doubt your current disk is cluttered with remnants of previous OS installations, taking up space. Why carry them over to your new drive through the image/clone? While 512GB is a nice size, SSD disk space is still a precious commodity in terms of cost per GB compared to HDs.

    You also likely have lots of temporary files, remnants from old programs, old downloads, old update files and other files not needed. Why carry them over to your new drive? You may even have something malicious lurking or dormant back there somewhere. And there is also a good chance you have several programs on your old drive you have not used in years! Why carry them over? If you find you need, you can always download the latest version and install it.

    So I would start fresh with a clean and lean, fresh install of the OS. Then I would install the latest versions of my favorite programs. You can always keep your old drive in the system as a secondary drive if you need to snag a copy of an old file.

     
    Bill,
    #3
  5. 2019/01/03
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    I assumed that this was installing Windows 10 fresh and only the hardware has been carried through.

    If Bill is right in his assumption, then I agree with him!
     
    Christer,
    #4
  6. 2019/01/03
    Evan Omo

    Evan Omo Computer Support Technician Staff

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    Hi rsinfo. As Bill mentioned, you may as well do a clean install of Windows since your computer has been through four OS upgrades.

    A clean install will ensure that your system is as stable and fast as possible without anything else that you may not need running in the background or taking up space on the SSD.
     
    Evan Omo,
    #5
  7. 2019/01/03
    rsinfo

    rsinfo SuperGeek Alumni Thread Starter

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    I installed Win 10 about 3 years back afresh when I upgraded my HDD to 1 TB with 500 GB System partition. After that its only upgrades & updates.

    I am torn between speed & convenience. Fresh install would give me speed whereas cloning would give me convenience. What you guys would have done in such a situation ?
     
    rsinfo,
    #6
  8. 2019/01/04
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    I'm not a psychologist but it seems to me like you won't find peace of mind until you've done a fresh installation. I don't know if a fresh installation on a HDD is different from a fresh installation on a SSD. Maybe it is so, go ahead and bite the bullet!
     
    Christer,
    #7
  9. 2019/01/04
    Steve R Jones

    Steve R Jones SuperGeek Staff

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    Just to show you how old and out of date I am.... Does the new SSD need to set up differently in the BIOS and thus a fresh install is mandatory?
     
    Steve R Jones,
    #8
  10. 2019/01/04
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    Not in newer systems where SATA drives will be set in AHCI mode by default anyway. Old BIOS had the option to choose between IDE and AHCI mode for SATA, where IDE mode was default, but these days IDE isn't an option anymore...
     
    Arie,
    #9
  11. 2019/01/04
    Bill

    Bill SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    Except speed and convenience are not the only two considerations. Disk space (clutter) is also a concern. As is the possibility the clone might contain a corrupt file or setting a fresh install would negate.

    While you did a fresh install 3 years ago, W10 has gone through several major upgrades since then. While not so named, in effect they were major service packs. I would still do a fresh install if me.
    No - though the motherboard may need a BIOS update. I would check the motherboard's website to see what is there. Belarc Advisor or Speccy will show the current version installed.

    Otherwise, as Arie noted, unless the motherboard is very old, the SSD will report to the BIOS and OS it is a SSD and no additional user action will be required.
     
    Bill,
    #10
  12. 2019/01/04
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    I assume that the hardware is of the "old" generation (similar to my BOAC built in early 2011) which defaults to IDE-mode. A googlesearch revealed indications that a SSD will work in IDE-mode but not to its "full potential". For that, AHCI-mode is required (has something to do with NCQ despite the fact that a SSD is not a spinner). I'm not done googling but a system installed with the controller in IDE-mode can be "converted" (a regedit + BIOS setting) to AHCI-mode. Not sure about the procedure, which is done first and second (regedit or BIOS setting) but it can be done ... :confused: ... or I'm totally confused.
     
    Christer,
    #11
  13. 2019/01/04
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    I've published that way-back-when: Windows 7: Optimize Windows 7 for use with a Solid State Drive (SSD) (page 2 - SATA - AHCI)
     
    Arie,
    #12
  14. 2019/01/04
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    I didn't remember that article but I'll read it later. I assume that it's OS independent, works the same on any OS from Windows 7 and later, right?
     
    Christer,
    #13
  15. 2019/01/04
    Bill

    Bill SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    W10 knows how to use SSDs just fine.
     
    Bill,
    #14
  16. 2019/01/04
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff

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    We haven't heard from rsinfo in a while but maybe Windows 10, installed on a SATA-HDD in IDE-mode (if that's the case), when cloned to a SSD will produce a bluescreen on bootup? Windows 10 would, as Bill point out, see the SSD but doesn't get the chance because the BIOS doesn't recognize it?
     
    Christer,
    #15
  17. 2019/01/04
    Bill

    Bill SuperGeek WindowsBBS Team Member

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    If W10 doesn't recognize it, I would think it would just halt after POST and report no boot disk found - instead of tossing up a BSOD. IDK (or forgot!) because SATA support has been common on motherboards for over 12 years.
     
    Bill,
    #16
  18. 2019/01/04
    rsinfo

    rsinfo SuperGeek Alumni Thread Starter

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    All my hard disks on the said computer are in AHCI mode, so I don't see any problems there.
     
    rsinfo,
    #17

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