What should I install first (SSD's and Motherboards)?

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Fri, 11/16/2012 - 16:43
shutout24
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I am thinking of upgrading my 3 year old rig to something newer with an SSD and motherboard that supports USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s. I am currently running Windows 7 on a HDD and I would like to transfer everything onto an SSD for use with the new board.

What I'm unsure of is:

If I plug my current HDD into the new mobo before cloning onto the SSD will W7 think it's being used on a different machine and not work properly? I would like to avoid a clean install of Windows if at all possible (I still have the initial OEM disk with activation code though).

If I clone my HDD onto the SSD first and then plug the SSD into the new mobo will I have to manually enable TRIM and set up the BIOS properly? Again, will W7 think it's being pirated?

I have never used an SSD before so I am unsure of the process involved with making it run properly with the OS. In what order should I install this stuff?

Thanks a lot guys,

Myles

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Fri, 11/16/2012 - 17:15
#1
3dGameMan
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If it's the same or similar chipset it should work, otherwise I'd recommend doing a clean install.

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Fri, 11/16/2012 - 19:52
#2
Razear
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When you are doing a clean install of the OS, unplug all other drives except for the SSD where you want the OS to be installed. Sometimes files may transfer over to other connected drives so this ensures everything is placed on the one drive.

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Sat, 11/17/2012 - 13:23
#3
shutout24
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Thanks for the comments guys. If I were to just clone my HDD onto the SSD would I notice lower performance than if I were to just do a clean install straight onto the SSD? I've heard contradicting things but nothing conclusive one way or the other. Either way, will I run into licensing problems with Windows on the new motherboard? I have my original OEM key but if I enter that will it think it's being used twice?

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Sat, 11/17/2012 - 16:16
#4
Razear
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When you are upgrading hardware, it's always best to do a clean install just to clean out old .dlls and whatnot. OEM licenses can be reused on the same hardware, if it doesn't activate, the problem can be resolved by calling Microsoft.

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Sun, 11/18/2012 - 10:49
#5
machiavelli7
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I don't get people who don't want to do a clean install of windows in such scenarios.
It takes no more than 10 minutes from an usb...

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Sun, 11/18/2012 - 18:41
#6
Razear
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machiavelli7 wrote:I don't get people who don't want to do a clean install of windows in such scenarios.
It takes no more than 10 minutes from an usb...

The problem with clean installs happens after the fact. Transferring over data is a very labor-intensive and time consuming process.

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Wed, 11/21/2012 - 18:06
#7
shutout24
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You're right it would probably just make more sense to reinstall W7 than mess around with drive realignment and all that stuff but I have quite a few very large programs with lots of plug-ins that I'd rather not reinstall. Not a huge deal in my case but it would be nice to have the option of a proper (free) data migration tool.

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