Moving operating system to a new SSD on old Machine, but keep old HDD

Hi all

My PC is a 2009 machine, 64 bit with a Phenom II 925 quad processor with a 1TB HD... so very old by PC standards.

Instead of buying a new machine I was thinking I would buy a SSD and move the operating system to it as it seems to take an age to boot and use the current HDD as storage.

What is the best and easiest way to do this?

Can I just install the SSD as a secondary, move the op system then switch the drives or is it a little more difficult than that? Any help will be much appreciated.

Thanks

Jacka

Yes. Some SSDs come with cloning software (or a link to cloning software), or you can use Macrium Reflect Free or Minitool Partition Wizard Free.

Modern cloning apps will take care of the disk signature collision issue that someone is going to reply to you about soon. Don't worry about that. Just select the standard cloning option and not the special "forensic" sector-by-sector and you will be fine. The standard cloning process in Macrium Reflect Free lets you drag and drop partitions to the new SSD and you have the option of resizing the partitions to fit a different size SSD.

Is your SATA controller set to AHCI mode in BIOS settings? That's what it should be set to.

A SSD will improve the performance, but, as you have an old MB, your SATA controller probably isn't 600MB/s but is 300MB/s.
What I'm saying is that, although you buy a SSD drive 600MB/s capable, you will only be able to use at 300MB/s.
Buy a small (120G) SSD for windows and programs and use the HDD for data only. That is what I have in my computers. It's a way to have the speed of a SSD and the space of a HDD at low cost.

A SSD that is smaller than the used space on your HDD will require some tricks to clone, but can easily be done.

Megahertz said:

A SSD will improve the performance, but, as you have an old MB, your SATA controller probably isn't 600MB/s but is 300MB/s.
What I'm saying is that, although you buy a SSD drive 600MB/s capable, you will only be able to use at 300MB/s.
Buy a small (120G) SSD for windows and programs and use the HDD for data only. That is what I have in my computers. It's a way to have the speed of a SSD and the space of a HDD at low cost.

A SSD that is smaller than the used space on your HDD will require some tricks to clone, but can easily be done.

Right. 3Gbps (sometimes called SATA 2). M2N68-AM | Motherboards | ASUS USA

At least in the US, it would make little sense to buy a 120GB SSD, as ones twice that size are almost the same price.

bobkn said:

Right. 3Gbps (sometimes called SATA 2). M2N68-AM | Motherboards | ASUS USA

At least in the US, it would make little sense to buy a 120GB SSD, as ones twice that size are almost the same price.

You're right, but my philosophy is: If you don't need it, don't buy it. For Windows and programs, 120G is more than you ever need.
Prices are dropping and new tech are constantly arriving.
My first 120G SSD I've paid US$120. My last 120G SSD I've paid US$19.