SSD upgrade questions.

DennisColes · 26 Dec 2012 at 15:06

I have a 64GB Crucial M4 SSD in my desktop that has Windows 7 64 bit installed on it.

As well as Windows, I also have various programs installed on it and random other crap that has accumulated like updates.

I have a 1TB hard disk drive with most of my music, movies and games.

How do I upgrade my SSD in the simplest way?

Bare in mind, I don't think I have my Windows 7 key anymore. Even if i did.... Can it be used again?

Will I really have to start from scratch or is there some way of transferring all of my files from my M4 to my new SSD.

Any replies are much appreciated.

bremen1874 · 26 Dec 2012 at 16:33

Image it using Macrium Reflect. It'll only take a few minutes and you won't need to reinstall anything.

wazza300 · 26 Dec 2012 at 17:01

clone it with above program,it will be an exact bootable copy of the original drive,the 64gb m4 is a bit poor on speeds tbh,

DennisColes · 27 Dec 2012 at 15:12

bremen1874 said:
Image it using Macrium Reflect. It'll only take a few minutes and you won't need to reinstall anything.

wazza300 said:
clone it with above program,it will be an exact bootable copy of the original drive,the 64gb m4 is a bit poor on speeds tbh,

Thanks guys.

So how does this work then? I buy a new SSD..it presumably comes with a SATA cable which i plug into my motherboard. I then attach a power cable from my PSU.

Boot up my PC as i normally do. Use the software to make an image of my Crucial M4. Then copy that image to the new SSD. Then, turn my computer off, take out the old SSD and boot up my PC again.

Go into bios settings and select the new SSD as the boot drive?

Have i got that right or am I way off?

Image of available SATA ports. Will this be okay?

bremen1874 · 27 Dec 2012 at 15:24

You've more-or-less got it. You image directly rather than having an intermediate step. The drive is unlikely to come with a SATA cable.

Is there a good reason why you have the angled end of that SATA cable at the board end?

mranderson · 27 Dec 2012 at 15:26

Don't think he can align it in a different way.

DennisColes · 27 Dec 2012 at 15:26

bremen1874 said:
You've more-or-less got it. You image directly rather than having an intermediate step. The drive is unlikely to come with a SATA cable.

Is there a good reason why you have the angled end of that SATA cable at the board end?

No reason as far as I can tell. It came like this built from Overclockers. I'm not even sure what component that SATA cable goes to.

Why do you ask?

bremen1874 · 27 Dec 2012 at 16:02

DennisColes said:
No reason as far as I can tell. It came like this built from Overclockers. I'm not even sure what component that SATA cable goes to.

Why do you ask?

It just looked odd. It also obviously blocks a SATA port for no good reason. If it was professionally built I'd have expected matching SATA cables with the correct ends to be used, not just what was to hand. It looks like there wasn't a great deal of care taken.

wazza300 · 27 Dec 2012 at 17:01

you need to use the straight sata cable not the angled,it might be a staright connector at the other end,if so turn the cable around,the motherboard box will have spare sata cables as the ssd wont come with any

ohh and buy a cheap can of compressed air and blow that dust away :eek:

DennisColes · 27 Dec 2012 at 18:31

wazza300 said:
you need to use the straight sata cable not the angled,it might be a staright connector at the other end,if so turn the cable around,the motherboard box will have spare sata cables as the ssd wont come with any

ohh and buy a cheap can of compressed air and blow that dust away

Hey, thanks for the reply.

I will get order a straight SATA cable for the new SSD...i'm just not sure what you mean in the first sentence. Can you rephrase it?

EDIT: Are you just saying i should put the angled side of the cable on the other side so it will free up that port?

DennisColes · 27 Dec 2012 at 18:32

bremen1874 said:
It just looked odd. It also obviously blocks a SATA port for no good reason. If it was professionally built I'd have expected matching SATA cables with the correct ends to be used, not just what was to hand. It looks like there wasn't a great deal of care taken.

Yeah...it blocks that SATA port...but I have another spare port as you can see in the picture so it's not a big deal at the moment. Is it okay to use that one?