Fitting SSD alongside HDD

Hightower · 15 February 2014, 13:27

Crucial SSD seems to be pretty competitively priced at the moment. I want to take advantage and fit it alongside my HDD.

What I want to do is to move Windows 7 from the HDD to the SSD to speed up operations and to free up some space on the HDD which only has 30gb free space left.

I have a full version of windows 7 that I have already registered and am using it on my HDD at the moment, but can I use the same registered copy to make a clean install on the SSD? Once done I want to make my SSD the primary drive and the HDD the secondary.

Is this possible?

Pikey Dave · 15 February 2014, 13:58

Just done more or less the same. Fitted a Samsung 1tb ssd in my laptop, I also have 250Gb M-sata ssd in the laptop as "C" drive. The SSD will normally come with "Migration" software that will clone your existing C drive onto the new ssd, without having to do a fresh install of windoze. I've done it twice now, the first time was with the Intel M-Sata SSD, very slick & painless, the second time was with the Samsung which was more of a faff as the migration software would only work with a drive that had the OS on it, & the drive I was cloning didn't, but that's another story.

chris.moody · 15 February 2014, 14:09

Best option would be to do a clean install of windows on the SSD, then put the old disk back in as well which will have all your data on it. Doing it that way you would have to reinstall all the other programs (office, anti virus, etc).

Cloning would work as long as the SSD is as big as the storage used on the old hard drive, but that may involve a bigger SSD (more expense) and clean install will probably run faster.

Hightower · 15 February 2014, 14:20

I like the clean install option myself as there's loads of crap I don't want, but there's loads of stuff that's important too (backed up of course).

But can I still use the windows 7 edition that I'm using now for the new installation on the new drive?

chris.moody · 15 February 2014, 14:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hightower

I like the clean install option myself as there's loads of crap I don't want, but there's loads of stuff that's important too (backed up of course). But can I still use the windows 7 edition that I'm using now for the new installation on the new drive?

Yes, you can use the same licence to reinstall on the same PC. Your PC would have either:

A. Had a win7 installation dvd supplied with it

B. Have a utility to create a recovery disk set onto a number of blank dvd's (in this case the PC usually reminds you to do this soon after initial setup)

The PC will also have a certificate of authenticity (COA) sticker on the right hand side panel or top panel of the desktop tower unit with the win7 serial number which will be required.

longjohn · 15 February 2014, 14:42

Yes the full version of Windows 7 is fine & legal. Even if you have problems activating/validating it online (I think if you have activated the same code more than 3 times you will) you will still be able to do it via an automated phone call and manually type in the activation code. The legality assumes that you only have that licence running/installed on a single PC at any one time.
+1 for a clean install - if you clone you will only end up cloning all the rubbish as well - but you will need to reinstall all your programs.
Have done this SSD upgrade on 3 or 4 laptops and with an SSD they really fly. - even 10 year old Pentium M 32 bit processor machines. Only real proviso is that you need at least Win 7 so that the SSD is managed correctly & efficiently.

chris.moody · 15 February 2014, 14:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by longjohn

Yes the full version of Windows 7 is fine & legal. Even if you have problems activating/validating it online (I think if you have activated the same code more than 3 times you will) you will still be able to do it via an automated phone call and manually type in the activation code. The legality assumes that you only have that licence running/installed on a single PC at any one time. +1 for a clean install - if you clone you will only end up cloning all the rubbish as well - but you will need to reinstall all your programs. Have done this SSD upgrade on 3 or 4 laptops and with an SSD they really fly. - even 10 year old Pentium M 32 bit processor machines. Only real proviso is that you need at least Win 7 so that the SSD is managed correctly & efficiently.

OEM version is also completely legal as long as it's the same machine (or the majority of the components are the same machine) . What you cannot do legally is reuse an OEM version on another completely different PC

Hightower · 15 February 2014, 17:07

This was a bare bones desktop bundle that I put together myself years ago. Like all things computer related it was a pretty dam fast system when I first put it together but obviously a bit outdated compared with what's around these days.

I'm no means a computer geek and tend to be a "if it ain't broke don't fix it" person. But have just about managed most things that have cropped up one way or another. This is new again, so will be a learning experience.

For a heads up this was the link to to cheap SSD which is £85...Be aware that amazon can change the amount and that by going though RNLI or Macmillan you can donate a percentage of the purchase price.

RNLI Amazon

Amazon - We Are Macmillan. Cancer Support