Clone HDD to SSD (switch from RAID to AHCI)

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  1. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #11

    You can right click on the E drive partition in disk management or partition wizard and remove the drive letter.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 2
    Windows 10 Pro
       #12

    No need to change from Raid to AHCI for SSD


    Here is how I solved getting Bios & Win10 to see new Samsung EVO 850 SSD drive, WITHOUT changing to AHCI:Bottom line, I decided to install SSD first and then clone it via SATA directly from drive C: vs as external USB3. I plugged into the last/4th remaining open SATA slot on the Motherboard. But only 3 of the motherboard 4 SATA Disk slots were checked in the Bios, so it wasn't looking at the 4th slot that I plugged the SSD into, so neither Bios nor Win 10 saw it. So reboot in safe mode, F2 to enter Bios setup, looked at Disks, saw 4th SATA plug was not checked. Clicked on / checked the 4th box, rebooted, and presto, next reboot, there is the SSD, both in Bios and Win10.
    Formatted SSD, (using Win10 "Drive Management" and "simple format" using GPT, not MBR), cloned old drive to it, changed boot sequence in Bios (left SSD as 4th SATA drive, doesn't matter, changed old boot drive to 2nd choice), and boots like a champ, and fast. BUT biggest savings is starting apps, not booting. You boot once a day, you open apps a LOT, and they pop up fast. That's why you get an SSD, fast apps & disk access all day.And the SSD did NOT need AHCI, it runs fine on Raid-0, with "simple format" drives (ie: non-raid format), like the other 2 drives. AHCI is a Sub-set of Raid-0, no advantage in AHCI, and not necessary for system to see SSD & get AHCI performance.I have a Dell Optiplex 990 MiniTower (2011 vintage I believe), came with Win7 Pro installed, now running latest Windows 10 pro, with a 512 meg boot drive and a 2 T drive D, and a DVD/CD drive (3 SATA drives) and one open SATA plug on mother board. That was the key. The Bios was not looking at the open 4th slot.
    As an aside, I had to reverse the ends on the SATA cable cuz there wasn't room for the L shaped plug at the drive, but that was not the problem, SATA cables are reversible, non-directional - you can plug either end into the drive & motherboard. Now I know and so do you.Under "Settings", clicked on "System Configuration", scroll down to "Drives". At the top there were 4 check boxes, labeled SATA-0 thru SATA-3 (one for each SATA plug on Motherboard). 0-2 were were all checked, but the last one, SATA-3 (4th slot on mother board) was not. Checked that box, and rebooted, hitting F2 to get back into Bios settings, and presto, there was my SSD in SATA-3 slot. Also recognized in windows 10 now.But you are not done yet - you still have to Format the new SSD before it can be used. (Why don't any of the SSD instructions TELL you this). Open "Disk Management" in Win10. Click on the name of the SSD drive on the left, choose "Simple Format" and NSF if it asks, and use GPT, not MBR (GPT is newer, better, and lets you use disks bigger than 2T, and is good on everything from VISTA & XP forward (might work on 98, not sure).Still in settings, out of curiosity I checked SATA setting, and the last 2 options were AHCI, which everyone fawns over and recommends, but my system came set to Raid-0. None of the drives were formatted for Raid-0 (all formatted with "simple format", not Raid), so its moot, AND, since AHCI is a SUB-set of Raid, I have all the features of AHCI with none of the headaches of changing to AHCI. Just use "Simple Format" & NSF, when formatting the drive (Network File System if asked - I think it just told me it was using NSF), not any of the Raid settings, and it will just be another drive in the PC and behave exactly as tho you were running AHCI. And when given the choice between MBR or GPT, choose GPT. Its newer, better. I used the "Drive Management" under windows 10 to format the drive.When you run the Samsung "Data Migration" (ie clone) operation, when done, the SSD will automatically be drive C:, and old C: will be renamed to next open drive letter (G: in my case - you can change drive letters using "Drive Management" if you like, but you can't change C:). I left my old 512 spin drive in system, changed drive letter to X: (for eXtra), and now I do scheduled drive cloning from SSD C: to X:, so I always have a current full copy of my system, should I need it.As an aside, unless you NEED to shave a couple MS off disk read-write, Raid-0 is not only not worth is, but does NOT provide any protection over non-Raid, it just divides the physical read/write, and failures, over 2 spinning drives, so teeny savings in not having to wait on 1 spinning drive for the whole disk access... Not worth it in my opinion, just risks losing data spread evenly over 2 drives instead of 1. And no, even if you love Raid, it is a complete waste on SSD, no savings, no benefit, just wastes an SSD drive.
      My Computer


 

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