Mallette Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 I've been doing it for a decade. I find it much easier than recovering data from when Windows swallows it's ***, which is inevitable. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Matthews Posted October 28, 2014 Author Share Posted October 28, 2014 What is the simplest-to-use, free cloning program where I can put my SSD in Bay #2 and clone HDD #1 to SSD #2? Looking to avoid something with a learning curve or massive bloatware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 They are all pretty much the same. You say copy from this disk to that disk and the computer restarts. It does the copy before the operating system starts. Kinda like chkdsk/f. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 What is the simplest-to-use, free cloning program where I can put my SSD in Bay #2 and clone HDD #1 to SSD #2? Easeus Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Here are some links to free software for a few SSD's available. Whatever SSD you buy will likely provide a free software, or provide a kit form which includes the software and video help (Sandisk, Crucial and Kingston for instance). Toshiba http://www.toshiba.eu/hard-drives/solid-state/solid-state-drive-q-series-pro/ Maxtor and Western Digital http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1190 Seagate http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/item/discwizard-master-dl/ I haven't used Easeus, but I have used Acronis products which came with HD's free also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Acronis is excellent and we use it at work. Very straightforward as well. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 It looks like the Acronis True Image SSD is the cloning software Crucial uses. I have not used it, but I would stay with that. I just cloned to a Samsung Evo 840 yesterday. Samsung uses proprietary "Data Migration Software." When it didn't work as planned, I just used a Windows recovery disk I created to finish making my cloned drive a bootup drive. I don't know if Crucial has other software (Samsung has Magician) to optimize your new drive, but there are several very specific things you should do, such as turn off Defrag, and disable Pre-fetch and Super-fetch. There are Youtube videos on what to do, and how to do it. Try to find the suggestions that are tailored to your Crucial SSD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Using either Acronis or Easeus I've had no real issues using defaults. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Matthews Posted October 29, 2014 Author Share Posted October 29, 2014 (edited) The drive arrived, and it did not come with a ribbon to connect to my HDD controller. Those little ribbons are cheap, no doubt, and probably plentiful, but not enough for Radio Shack to have one. So, there went the whole DIY thing. I thought I might be able to rob the ribbon off my "old" laptop (which is a not so old i7), but nope, the connection at the HDD controller is different. Then, I thought I would just clone them in my old computer since it had 2 fully-working drives I could swap-out temporarily. Nope. It would not recognize my new Win 8 drive as being a bootable drive, and the settings in the BIOS set-up were correct. Sometimes, you can't win for losing over stupid, little tasks. There is a computer shop down the road doing the clone and install for me for $30. Frankly, had I known I could get it done for $30, I'd never have even blinked about considering paying to let someone else deal with it. Edited October 29, 2014 by Jeff Matthews Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang guy Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Glad to hear it. That is the one thing that didn't cross my mind. Have an expert do it for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvu80 Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 (edited) Are you going to use just the SSD, or re-use the old HDD as a data drive? Not all laptops can accommodate a second hard drive. I should have known to say something about that second cable, because two days ago I ordered the second SATA cable for my son's HP laptop, I think $13 plus shipping (don't forget to order screws and/or disk caddy for the drive). We still managed to clone the drive because I have an external hub to USB just for that purpose. As expected, his old Windows Experience rating of 5.9 went went up to 6.9, with the new bottleneck being the video card. His HDD rating went from 5.9 to 7.9, the max score. The HP Pavilion i7 wasn't slow before, but it flies now. Edited October 30, 2014 by wvu80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Those little ribbons are cheap, no doubt, and probably plentiful, but not enough for Radio Shack to have one. Surprising. They usually do. Best Buy should certainly have plenty, and I KNOW that Fry's has them in abundance. dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 There is a computer shop down the road doing the clone and install for me for $30. Good enough deal for a one off. OTOH, Easeus is free and no real expertise required. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Matthews Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 All is well that ends well. My boot time is now 8 seconds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Yep. It's extraordinary. PC makers hate them. Doubles the life of a PC. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JL Sargent Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I installed a couple of SSDs (Samsung pro) in my PC a couple of years ago and love them!!! You will be happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 After reading this thread it sounds easy to install those SSD's. Groan. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 The only hitch is the need to use software to clone due to the different data structure of the SSD. If they'd build it in to the dual drive external units it would be child's play. Those things are 50 bucks or so. Don't know why it hasn't happened. It isn't rocket science. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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