Replacing Hard Drive

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xpd

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#2103640 9-Oct-2018 07:23

Jogre:

Also check that you get drivers for the SSD beforehand as well. Had a nightmare with an HP Z-series as it needed the Samsung drivers to get the drive showing up inside Windows Setup.

You'd probably only come across this with server level gear with specific controllers or extremely old desktop - my home "server" is a 10 year old Dell and installed Windows 10 to SSD with no hassles at all.

Windows 7 however, use to be a hit and miss affair :D

XPD / Gavin

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Lias

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#2103649 9-Oct-2018 07:58

dickytim:

Lias:

Not particularly relevant for OP because of the desire to do a clean install, but as an FIY for others reading this, Samsung's Data Migration tool is absolutely amazing for migrating to a Samsung SSD. You connect the new drive as a secondary drive, boot to your existing HDD or SSD, run the software, unplug the old drive, and it just works. It's so simple I'm pretty sure my 8 year old could do it.

This works well in a PC but if you try it via a laptop with a USB to SATA adaptor it can be an issue as the drive isn't seen as a Samsung drive.

I suspect that varies depending on the chipset of the adapter. I've seen similar where many USB3 external adapters don't pass through SMART details etc breaking monitoring tools, I suspect this would be in the same boat. If you can find an external adapter that works well with HDSentinel for SMART info, I'd try using that for cloning.

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Earbanean

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#2103669 9-Oct-2018 09:02

I'm definitely keen on a clean install, so I won't look to clone. Will assume that the new SSD will mount without needing drivers, but if it doesn't, I can always grab the drivers at that point from Samsung. Just need to wait on the SSD arriving in the mail now.

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#2103676 9-Oct-2018 09:24

xpd:

Jogre:

Also check that you get drivers for the SSD beforehand as well. Had a nightmare with an HP Z-series as it needed the Samsung drivers to get the drive showing up inside Windows Setup.

You'd probably only come across this with server level gear with specific controllers or extremely old desktop - my home "server" is a 10 year old Dell and installed Windows 10 to SSD with no hassles at all.

Windows 7 however, use to be a hit and miss affair :D

Any sata based drive will still be fine if you are still putting up with that bottleneck, but nvme will need some work to get booting IME. I have only done a couple of fresh installs on them since the rest of the machines have had it on them from new so not needed it but yeah, drivers were needed like in the old days.

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#2103919 9-Oct-2018 14:03

dickytim:

Lias:

Not particularly relevant for OP because of the desire to do a clean install, but as an FIY for others reading this, Samsung's Data Migration tool is absolutely amazing for migrating to a Samsung SSD. You connect the new drive as a secondary drive, boot to your existing HDD or SSD, run the software, unplug the old drive, and it just works. It's so simple I'm pretty sure my 8 year old could do it.

This works well in a PC but if you try it via a laptop with a USB to SATA adaptor it can be an issue as the drive isn't seen as a Samsung drive.

Yep, had that yesterday (with USB-sata adaptor). Samsumg software couldnt detect samsung SSD on the USB adaptor .
Had to download & install Acronis trial , make backup/image to USB HD, make bootable acronis CD then restore from image to new SSD.

Earbanean

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#2107943 15-Oct-2018 09:16

I still don't have the new SSD, but I'm starting to think maybe cloning the existing drive is the better way to go. I think it'll be a lot easier to try to uninstall any existing bloatware I don't want, rather than doing a clean install and having to reinstate all the apps, settings and drivers that I do want. There's probably more of that than I first assumed.

If I was going to clone the SSD, could I just unplug the 2Tb drive and connect the new SSD on that cable and then clone the existing SSD to that?

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#2108005 15-Oct-2018 10:48

Using something like Ninite makes reinstalling apps on a new PC rather easy and simple

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#2108070 15-Oct-2018 12:01

Earbanean:

I still don't have the new SSD, but I'm starting to think maybe cloning the existing drive is the better way to go. I think it'll be a lot easier to try to uninstall any existing bloatware I don't want, rather than doing a clean install and having to reinstate all the apps, settings and drivers that I do want. There's probably more of that than I first assumed.

If I was going to clone the SSD, could I just unplug the 2Tb drive and connect the new SSD on that cable and then clone the existing SSD to that?

Assuming you get a SATA SSD, yes.

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#2128900 18-Nov-2018 14:15

So, I finally had some free time and did the new SSD install. I decided to do a clone and Windows upgrade, rather than doing a clean install and having to reinstall all the apps.

I connected the new SSD to the connector for the 2Tb HDD and it mounted fine. Samsung Magician wouldn't work, because it didn't support the old SSD even though it's a Samsung (maybe because it as an OEM device). However, Samsung's Data Migration tool did the clone fine. Then I downloaded the free Windows 10 update and it all installed fine. Then swapped out the old SSD and reconnected the HDD and I'm away. Thanks everyone for the help on this.

One issue with doing the upgrade, rather than clean install, is there are apps there that I think could be culled. I got rid of a lot of the Lenovo stuff. However, there are heaps of MS C++ Redistributles, from 2005 to 2015, in the apps list. Do they all need to be there?

Also, what (if any) Win 10 bloatware can I remove?

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#2128909 18-Nov-2018 15:18

Earbanean:

I got rid of a lot of the Lenovo stuff. However, there are heaps of MS C++ Redistributles, from 2005 to 2015, in the apps list. Do they all need to be there?

Also, what (if any) Win 10 bloatware can I remove?

I'd leave the VC++ Redists, they are not very large and plenty of software requires them.

Not 100% sure what you mean by W10 bloatware, but guessing you probably mean Windows Store apps? Personal taste really.

This is the list of apps I remove from our corporate builds, your mileage may vary.

Microsoft.BingWeather
Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller
Microsoft.GetHelp
Microsoft.Getstarted
Microsoft.Messaging
Microsoft.MicrosoftOfficeHub
Microsoft.Office.OneNote
Microsoft.OneConnect
Microsoft.People
Microsoft.Print3D
Microsoft.SkypeApp
Microsoft.StorePurchaseApp
Microsoft.Wallet
Microsoft.Windows.Photos
Microsoft.WindowsAlarms
microsoft.windowscommunicationsapps
Microsoft.WindowsFeedbackHub
Microsoft.Xbox.TCUI
Microsoft.XboxApp
Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay
Microsoft.XboxIdentityProvider
Microsoft.XboxSpeechToTextOverlay
Microsoft.ZuneMusic
Microsoft.ZuneVideo

Earbanean

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#2128949 18-Nov-2018 16:53

Yep, it's those sorts of apps I was thinking about. I guess I work my way through them and delete as appropriate.

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