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Cloning HDD to SSD.


abarbarian

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I'm going to swap a hdd for a ssd on Windows 7. Unfortunatly I chose a OCZ (looks like they are not the most reliable ssd)as it was very cheap, fortunatly it is for me sisters pc :whistling:

 

I bought the OCZ swap kit which comes with Acronis software.

 

When I clone the hdd to the ssd,

 

Will the data still be on the hdd ?

 

Can I keep the cloned hdd and use it as is as a replacement if the ssd fails ?

 

In other words I clone the hdd to the ssd. Take out the hdd and use the ssd. In the event of a failure can I then just reinsert the hdd and it will still have Windows 7 on it and ready to go.

 

:breakfast:

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Hello,

 

Yes, the "original" data will still be on the HDD, and, yes, in the event of a failure of the SSD, you'll just be able to reinstall the old HDD and be up and running (minus any changes to files made since the SSD was installed).

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

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Thanks Aryeh, pretty much as I thought. Nice to have confirmation from a pro though. Only stuff I know about 7 is how to play games. :shifty:

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what about "activation?"

 

or, once each disk is activated (and because no surrounding hardware has changed) it does not look to see if it needs activation again?

or does it look each time it boots? it must! because how would it know if you added ram or video card so it can make you buy another copy of the os for your same machine?

 

 

I have some experience with that activation issue. XP, and I think w7, have some fairly complex formula about how much hardware change to accept without requiring you to call Microsoft. My aged memory is telling me you can change 3 major hardware devices -- in some time period -- and it won't trigger reactivation. From experience, you can't change a motherboard without reactivating it.

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Unfortunatly I chose a OCZ (looks like they are not the most reliable ssd)as it was very cheap, fortunatly it is for me sisters pc :whistling:

 

I haven't seen any reports that OCZ are any less reliable than any other brand at the same price point. In fact I've seen some glowing recommendations including from Tom's Hardware. And I have seen unsubstantiated reports casting aspersions on most brands, including Intel which are supposed to be very reliable.

I've had an OCZ Vertex2 120GB in my main system for about 3 years and it has been excellent.

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Hello,

 

Hardware components have different "weightings" and going over the summed value results in a WGA reactivation event. The weightings, though, change from time-to-time in response to the telemetry Microsoft receives from customer installs.

 

So, if they see more people changing out their drives (HDD to SSD upgrade), they might lower the weighting for a drive swap. At the same time, if they see less CPU upgrades (soldered onto laptop motherboards, perhaps), than those might get weighted higher. Those are just non-representative examples (a/k/a guesstimates) on my part, I have no idea what the secret sauce formula actually is for weighting the hardware upgrades.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

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I haven't seen any reports that OCZ are any less reliable than any other brand at the same price point. In fact I've seen some glowing recommendations including from Tom's Hardware. And I have seen unsubstantiated reports casting aspersions on most brands, including Intel which are supposed to be very reliable.

I've had an OCZ Vertex2 120GB in my main system for about 3 years and it has been excellent.

 

From this thread at Tom's,

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1647721/reliable-ssd.html

 

I found this,

 

http://www.behardware.com/articles/881-7/components-returns-rates-7.html

 

The OCZ SSDs are in last place overall but with a returns rate that is finally starting to drop. In fact, behind this rate there are some big disparities between ranges. The most popular ranges, namely the Vertex 3s and Agility 3s, do relatively well with returns of 1.51% and 2.03% respectively. Some models however have catastrophic scores and OCZ monopolises the group of models with returns of over 5%:

 

- 40.00% for the OCZ Petrol 64 GB

- 39.42% for the OCZ Petrol 128 GB

- 30.85% for the OCZ Octane 128 GB SATA II

- 29.46% for the OCZ Octane 64 GB SATA II

- 9.73% for the OCZ Vertex 2 120 GB 3.5"

- 9.59% for the OCZ Vertex 2 120 GB

- 6.73% for the OCZ Vertex 2 60 GB

- 5.43% for the OCZ Agility 3 240 GB

- 5.12% for the OCZ Vertex Plus 128 GB

 

With retuns of between 30 and 40%, the OCZ Petrol and Octane SATA II (the SATA IIIs are more reliable with, for example, 3.78% for the 128 GB) have unfortunately broken the record of the highest rates recorded since we started reporting on these stats. With such rates, we can justly classify such models as defective and it is shameful that such products have remained on sale in stores!

 

Which only confirms my reading on the web.

 

:whistling:

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While the rates for Petrol and Octane drives are truly awful, they are old and unavailable now and there have been major controller changes with the new Vector and Vertex4 drives. The other drives listed have return rates similar to some hard drives. I'd be interested to read an updated similar article that includes current models. The data in that article is from 2010.

This is from the same article at BeHardware with some 2012 figures:

Among the most popular models, things are much better, with the exception of the Agility 4: 0.93% on the Vertex 4s, 1.22% on the Vertex 3s, 2.59% on the Agility 3s and 5.60% on the Agility 4s.

It appears BeHardware stopped publishing new articles at the end of last year so I won't hold my breath for any more updates.

 

I don't think you need to worry too much especially if you bought Vector or Vertex4. I still want a 240GB Vector if I buy one in the near future; I was planning to but funds have become a bit stretched recently. And it does have 5 years warranty.

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Guest LilBambi

If your SSD fails and you need to go back to your previous SATA drive, just call Microsoft and they will help you reactivate your old drive I would imagine.

 

They have been very helpful when needed for such things in the past.

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Be sure to check SSD manufacturer's web site for firmware upgrades.

 

BSODs involving SSDs usually point us in the direction of RAM.

 

Many were solved with a firmware upgrade; obviously, some SSDs were ouright bad.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi I managed to clone the W7 from the hhd tothe ssd and it seems to run ok.

 

However Ihave a small problem.

 

I was trying to delete the 'C' partition on the old hdd so that I could expand the old 'D' partition enabling me to use theold hdd as storage.

I was using some tool within W7 but can not remember what it was. Now I think that this tool has done something to the hdd as I can no longer see it from W7 except as an unformated drive. I have disconected the drive and as far as I can tell I have not written to it.

 

As the pc is 100 miles away I can not check anything or give more info till Christmas.

 

Is there any chance I could retrieve some info from the 'D' partition of the hdd ?

If so what tools would I need ?

 

Yeah I know I should have backed up the info first. So kick me :Laughing:

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Hello,

 

I've had excellent results restoring data using Runtime Software's GetDataBack suite of data recovery tools. It is commercial, but an evaluation copy is a available that reads (but doesn't restore) data, which should give you a good idea of whether or not it is worth paying for. On the free side, there's CGSecurity's TestDisk. I have not used it myself, but have heard good things about it.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goresky

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