Do all SSDs come with drive imaging software?

ahar · 28 May 2011 at 17:28

I'm thinking of an SSD, either now or as part of a new build PC (coming next pay day!). If I get it now I don't want to bother reinstalling everything if possible as I'll have to do that when I upgrade to a new machine in the near future.

In the old days (1998) when I worked in PC support we used Ghost to create an image of the corporate standard PC & laptop builds and then just blast them onto a brick'd PC (after backing up the user data of course).

Do new SSDs come with similar software, or am I going to have to buy some separately (which may make the decision of whether to wait for an SSD for my new machine very easy) ?

I've been looking through the descriptions and it doesn't mention anything, e.g.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-060-OC

.. but I've read several SSD reviews that mention bundled software for transfering a drive image.

InfiniteNoise · 28 May 2011 at 19:50

Not all of them, some Kingston drives comes with it. (such as this, http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-015-KS&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1427)

As for imaging software, there are few free choices, Acronis True Image is decent (even though it's trial, it can be used to backup/clone drives)

Surveyor · 28 May 2011 at 19:58

If it's a new build them you'll need to install a fresh copy of Windows anyway.

Your old installation will have all the wrong drivers for a new build which could cause all sorts of problems.

ahar · 28 May 2011 at 21:07

Surveyor said:
If it's a new build them you'll need to install a fresh copy of Windows anyway.

That's my point - I'm going to have to do an install on a new PC anyway, and I don't want to do a reinstall on my old machine so close to building a new one. If I can clone it then great, away I go. If I can't then I'll wait until I get my new machine.

|Thomas| · 28 May 2011 at 22:12

ahar said:
That's my point - I'm going to have to do an install on a new PC anyway, and I don't want to do a reinstall on my old machine so close to building a new one. If I can clone it then great, away I go. If I can't then I'll wait until I get my new machine.

You can, but the important thing is you need to have ahci enabled. If you have it enabled already that's fine, if you don't you need to make a registry edit and enable it in the bios before you make the image.

I haven't read this whole guide, I only got it after a quick google, but it should be sufficient: http://sonic-media.dk/?p=103

ahar · 29 May 2011 at 08:18

I should have said that my old machine is still running Windows XP and that the motherboard is over 5 years old. Not sure if either of them support AHCI !

|Thomas| · 29 May 2011 at 08:26

ahar said:
I should have said that my old machine is still running Windows XP and that the motherboard is over 5 years old. Not sure if either of them support AHCI !

I would avoid using xp with an SSD. It would work, but you won't have trim support so performance would degrade slowly over time.

Also if your motherboard only supports SATA 1 then you will get a significant performance loss on all currently available ssds.

Garido · 29 May 2011 at 09:14

My Intel drive came with it via download only.

ahar · 29 May 2011 at 12:04

|Thomas| said:
I would avoid using xp with an SSD. It would work, but you won't have trim support so performance would degrade slowly over time.

Also if your motherboard only supports SATA 1 then you will get a significant performance loss on all currently available ssds.

Sounds like I should wait for the new machine - thanks chaps