Migrating OS to an SSD

[Will Ozellman]

So i want to switch out all hardrives to ssds at my job and it would obviously save us alot of money if i could take the operating systems with me. I have never done this before so if anyone knows of a good and thorough guide i would appreciate it.

 

If it's to any help, the system are all windows 7.

[Enderman]

dont clone to an SSD or youre probably going to have a ton of issues in the future

 

just take the windows key of the other windows installation (if you dont have it you can use a keyfinder to get it out of the OS)

then put windows 10 on a USB and boot from the USB (with your SSD only plugged in, no HDDs plugged in)

and now you can install windows and activate it with the key from the old windows 7/8 you had

[ThreePhaseLoad]

This is basically how I have done it before:

 

http://www.howtogeek.com/97242/how-to-migrate-windows-7-to-a-solid-state-drive/

[Will Ozellman]

dont clone to an SSD or youre probably going to have a ton of issues in the future

 

just take the windows key of the other windows installation (if you dont have it you can use a keyfinder to get it out of the OS)

then put windows 10 on a USB and boot from the USB (with your SSD only plugged in, no HDDs plugged in)

and now you can install windows and activate it with the key from the old windows 7/8 you had

Oh okay. That sounds way simpler. Btw, the systems in question are all OEM's from HP and others. Will this still work or will there be some kind of interference?

[Enderman]

Oh okay. That sounds way simpler. Btw, the systems in question are all OEM's from HP and others. Will this still work or will there be some kind of interference?

the laptop i had was OEM

the key worked to activate windows 10, no problems

[Will Ozellman]

the laptop i had was OEM

the key worked to activate windows 10, no problems

Nice. Did all the bloatware and stuff come with it? 

[Enderman]

Nice. Did all the bloatware and stuff come with it? 

What do you mean, with the laptop?

There was quite a lot of stuff on it originally, yes

Windows 10 clean install made it all go away and everything was fresh and clean

[Mojo-Jojo]

I guess technically you could clone the HDD onto the SSD. However, it wouldn't be pretty. Windows 7 does optimization settings at setup, such as disabling defragmentation and changing the way it accesses the disk, and enabling TRIM. These optimizations won't be present when cloning to an SSD, using it inefficiently and degrading performance much quicker.

[ThreePhaseLoad]

I guess technically you could clone the HDD onto the SSD. However, it wouldn't be pretty. Windows 7 does optimization settings at setup, such as disabling defragmentation and changing the way it accesses the disk, and enabling TRIM. These optimizations won't be present when cloning to an SSD, using it inefficiently and degrading performance much quicker.

 

The guide I posted goes through optimizing Windows to run on an SSD after cloning.

[boarder2k7]

I cloned my install onto an SSD and had no issue turning off Defrag an enabling TRIM support. I did a bunch of machines at my last job too where reinstalling would be unacceptable due to time of putting everyone's files and settings back just the way they had them. Just make sure your clone tool is 4k alignment aware and you'll be fine.

[Will Ozellman]

What do you mean, with the laptop?

There was quite a lot of stuff on it originally, yes

Windows 10 clean install made it all go away and everything was fresh and clean

Yeah, HP got stuff like "support assistant" and other things that just dicked me over in a big way.