Moving from 120GB SSD to 250GB SSD... Clone or Fresh Install??

[SilverZ06]

I have a samsung 120Gb SSD that I have just about filled up. I have a ton of programs on it and I will need most if not all of them again. Here is my dilemma. My current 120GB SSD has all of programs and is running W7 HP 64 bit. Realistically I just need more drive space so I ordered another samsung 250GB SSD. Through my college I have access to dreamspark where for a limited time I can get Microsoft products for free. I have downloaded W7 Professional 64 bit (which is also currently running on my Laptop) and Windows 8.1 64bit.  Is it worth my time to do a fresh install of a different OS (W7P or 8.1) and then reinstall all of my programs and settings on the new SSD or should I just clone and align it and be done with it. I'm leaning towards just cloning it so save time and hassle. What would you do? 

[Kenne]

why do you have to clone..why cant u use the 250 for future programs!

[SilverZ06]

why do you have to clone..why cant u use the 250 for future programs!

Because I am running my 120GB too close to capacity (less than 6GB free space.) Id' rather clone it all onto the 250GB leaving it with over half its capacity and then wipe the 120GB for use with future programs.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

You should probably first format the new drive (1 partition to make correct alignment without trickery) and then use a Windows cloning tool to clone your existing setup to the new disk. There are many freeware softwares that help you do that. Do a google search for 'clone windows 7'.

[SilverZ06]

Just finished installing the new ssd. I created a system image on one of my internal  HDDs, then created a system repair disk. Shut down the computer> remove old ssd> install new ssd> reboot with repair disk. Followed prompts to restore from image and 10 minutes later I'm up and running. Once up and running I had to extend the main partition as the system image creates the exact same size partition as my old SSD. Checked alignment and all is well. Super easy and no 3rd party software required. Now i have 122Gb free instead of 6Gb. I think I'll use my old 128gb as a linux drive to dual boot to.

[FLS]

Did you set your Windows virtual memory swap file to one of the HDDs?

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Did you set your Windows virtual memory swap file to one of the HDDs?

That would only degrade performance. SSDs can handle swap nowadays just fine.

[FLS]

How much RAM do you need now to avoid using virtual memory? Is it still 8 GB?

[MrRiplEy[H]]

How much RAM do you need now to avoid using virtual memory? Is it still 8 GB?

On Windows the use of virtual memory can't be totally avoided regardless of the ram size you have. It's fairly safe to say that with 8 gigs of ram an average user will never run out of available ram. Most games and applications do not require massive amounts of ram. Video rendering is probably the only thing that comes to mind which a home user might do that requires lots of ram.

Windows programs use the page file for certain functions even when plenty of ram is available but as mentioned that amount of writing is not a problem for current generation SSDs. They can take a thousand fold bigger punishment and still live for a decade.

[save]

those 250gb+ ssd are normally much faster than the 128gb.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

those 250gb+ ssd are normally much faster than the 128gb.

Yep and often also last longer. Bigger is better.

[SilverZ06]

those 250gb+ ssd are normally much faster than the 128gb.

I haven't bench marked them but I can say that I cannot noticeably see any difference in performance from one to the other.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I haven't bench marked them but I can say that I cannot noticeably see any difference in performance from one to the other.

In some models there aren't even. But some models use 1 controller in 128Gb and 2 controllers in 256Gb+ models and that almost doubles the speeds.

[Masherbrum]

This past weekend I went from a standard HDD to a Samsung 840 Evo 256gb and from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1.  Wow.   I enjoy the Sammy and 8.1. 

[MrRiplEy[H]]

This past weekend I went from a standard HDD to a Samsung 840 Evo 256gb and from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1.  Wow.   I enjoy the Sammy and 8.1. 

Glad to hear you like it. Hows the other project we were talking about?