Posted: 9/7/2014 8:24:02 PM EDT
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I'm having a heck of a time shifting through all the information available online for getting an OS installed on a newly installed SSD drive.
I've got an ASUS ROG G750 that comes with a 750GB HDD and Windows 8. I ordered a Samsung 840 Pro SSD at the same time with the intention of swapping the HDD out. What is THE best way to get Windows 8 installed on the new SSD? Migrate the OS over using a SATA-USB cable and Samsung provided migrating software? Or installing a fresh copy of Windows 8? And what would be the best way to do that? Thanks in advance. |
| I would install a fresh copy. Just make sure to figure out what video, network, etc. drivers you will need, though, and go ahead and put them on a flash drive. That way, you can have just the drivers you need and none of the "bloat ware" that many PC manufacturers include. |
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Quoted: Yep. Should be able to clone the HDD image onto the SSD, and then its plug in play with the new SSD in place of the HDD. Quoted: Quoted: if samsung provided migration software, I'd use it. Yep. Should be able to clone the HDD image onto the SSD, and then its plug in play with the new SSD in place of the HDD. If you know what you're doing, this is exactly what I would do in your shoes. You can clone a number of ways, using different kinds of software. Either use the Samsung migration stuff or make an image with a free backup imaging program like Macrium Reflect, Paragon, or Easeus. Then restore the image to the SSD and tell the bios to boot from the SSD. It should work just fine. |
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Because that's the factory image? Quoted:
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Why are you using Windows 8? Because that's the factory image? This. I had a built to order iMac but at $1601 vs $999+$169 for the ASUS ROG G750 and Samsung 840 Pro... this seemed like a better choice. The iMac wasn't even really top of the line: quad-core [email protected], 8GB RAM, GTX 750m, and a 256GB SSD. This computer would mainly be for Blizzard games. My MacBook Air CAN handle games but it's unpleasant, IMO. Thanks for all the advice so far guys. I had been reading that a fresh install is sometimes a better way to go but I'm not exactly sure how on an OEM computer. |
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Before you do anything, burn recovery discs from the existing install if you don't already have them.
Then, either reinstall from scratch or clone the existing drive. If the clone has issues (not sure why it would, but...) then wipe and reinstall from the recovery discs. |
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Quoted: I'm having a heck of a time shifting through all the information available online for getting an OS installed on a newly installed SSD drive. I've got an ASUS ROG G750 that comes with a 750GB HDD and Windows 8. I ordered a Samsung 840 Pro SSD at the same time with the intention of swapping the HDD out. What is THE best way to get Windows 8 installed on the new SSD? Migrate the OS over using a SATA-USB cable and Samsung provided migrating software? Or installing a fresh copy of Windows 8? And what would be the best way to do that? Thanks in advance. Fresh install. Use UEFI mode while you're at it. Nick |
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Personally I would install a fresh copy of Windows. Do you have a Windows Key?
I would do this: create install media, then install the SSD, install Windows, then copy files from your old hard drive to the SSD using an external 2.5 hard drive usb adapter from Newegg for like $10 or so. |
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Before you do anything, burn recovery discs from the existing install if you don't already have them. Then, either reinstall from scratch or clone the existing drive. If the clone has issues (not sure why it would, but...) then wipe and reinstall from the recovery discs. I would go with a thumb drive vs DVD's. Win8 recovery media is about 14 GB, iirc. So use a 16 GB or larger thumb drive. If onebof the recovery discs fails, the set is useless. |
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Personally I would install a fresh copy of Windows. Do you have a Windows Key? I would do this: create install media, then install the SSD, install Windows, then copy files from your old hard drive to the SSD using an external 2.5 hard drive usb adapter from Newegg for like $10 or so. No windows key, other than what comes preloaded on an prebuilt laptop. Will I have to run something like JellyBean key finder to find it? I receive the computer tomorrow so i don't have any envelopes/documentation yet. I do know that Win8 stopped with the serial key stickers on the bottom/sides of computers. |
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Fresh install. Use UEFI mode while you're at it. Nick Quoted:
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I'm having a heck of a time shifting through all the information available online for getting an OS installed on a newly installed SSD drive. I've got an ASUS ROG G750 that comes with a 750GB HDD and Windows 8. I ordered a Samsung 840 Pro SSD at the same time with the intention of swapping the HDD out. What is THE best way to get Windows 8 installed on the new SSD? Migrate the OS over using a SATA-USB cable and Samsung provided migrating software? Or installing a fresh copy of Windows 8? And what would be the best way to do that? Thanks in advance. Fresh install. Use UEFI mode while you're at it. Nick Yeah, I still have to read up on that stuff. Turn on trim, UEFI, make sure defrag is off, etc. |
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Yeah, I still have to read up on that stuff. Turn on trim, UEFI, make sure defrag is off, etc. Quoted:
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I'm having a heck of a time shifting through all the information available online for getting an OS installed on a newly installed SSD drive. I've got an ASUS ROG G750 that comes with a 750GB HDD and Windows 8. I ordered a Samsung 840 Pro SSD at the same time with the intention of swapping the HDD out. What is THE best way to get Windows 8 installed on the new SSD? Migrate the OS over using a SATA-USB cable and Samsung provided migrating software? Or installing a fresh copy of Windows 8? And what would be the best way to do that? Thanks in advance. Fresh install. Use UEFI mode while you're at it. Nick Yeah, I still have to read up on that stuff. Turn on trim, UEFI, make sure defrag is off, etc. Don't worry about defrag. You can't defrag an SSD. Also, iirc, Windows 8 has built in trim. Although I did use the Samsung software for my 840 Evo... I think it said Trim was already enabled. This is on my 8.1 Update laptop. Shouldn't UEFI mode be automatic? UEFI replaced BIOS, so while you can manually disable it you have to actually do it. |
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Quoted: Don't worry about defrag. You can't defrag an SSD. Also, iirc, Windows 8 has built in trim. Although I did use the Samsung software for my 840 Evo... I think it said Trim was already enabled. This is on my 8.1 Update laptop. Shouldn't UEFI mode be automatic? UEFI replaced BIOS, so while you can manually disable it you have to actually do it. Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I'm having a heck of a time shifting through all the information available online for getting an OS installed on a newly installed SSD drive. I've got an ASUS ROG G750 that comes with a 750GB HDD and Windows 8. I ordered a Samsung 840 Pro SSD at the same time with the intention of swapping the HDD out. What is THE best way to get Windows 8 installed on the new SSD? Migrate the OS over using a SATA-USB cable and Samsung provided migrating software? Or installing a fresh copy of Windows 8? And what would be the best way to do that? Thanks in advance. Fresh install. Use UEFI mode while you're at it. Nick Yeah, I still have to read up on that stuff. Turn on trim, UEFI, make sure defrag is off, etc. Don't worry about defrag. You can't defrag an SSD. Also, iirc, Windows 8 has built in trim. Although I did use the Samsung software for my 840 Evo... I think it said Trim was already enabled. This is on my 8.1 Update laptop. Shouldn't UEFI mode be automatic? UEFI replaced BIOS, so while you can manually disable it you have to actually do it. You have the option in BIOS to run UEFI or legacy boot. Most likely if it is already running 8, it will be set to UEFI, but always check. If installing UEFI, make sure you select UEFI boot in the manual boot device settings on startup. Embedded product keys will present themselves to the installer on setup, assuming the install disk is the same version that the machine is licensed for (home, pro, etc.). Nick |
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No windows key, other than what comes preloaded on an prebuilt laptop. Will I have to run something like JellyBean key finder to find it? I receive the computer tomorrow so i don't have any envelopes/documentation yet. I do know that Win8 stopped with the serial key stickers on the bottom/sides of computers. Quoted:
Quoted:
Personally I would install a fresh copy of Windows. Do you have a Windows Key? I would do this: create install media, then install the SSD, install Windows, then copy files from your old hard drive to the SSD using an external 2.5 hard drive usb adapter from Newegg for like $10 or so. No windows key, other than what comes preloaded on an prebuilt laptop. Will I have to run something like JellyBean key finder to find it? I receive the computer tomorrow so i don't have any envelopes/documentation yet. I do know that Win8 stopped with the serial key stickers on the bottom/sides of computers. I'm not sure if it would find it with an OEM key. You'll have to try it and see. You should get a little Certificate of Authenticity sticker thing somewhere with a key I would think but not sure. |
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Quoted: I'm not sure if it would find it with an OEM key. You'll have to try it and see. You should get a little Certificate of Authenticity sticker thing somewhere with a key I would think but not sure. Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Personally I would install a fresh copy of Windows. Do you have a Windows Key? I would do this: create install media, then install the SSD, install Windows, then copy files from your old hard drive to the SSD using an external 2.5 hard drive usb adapter from Newegg for like $10 or so. No windows key, other than what comes preloaded on an prebuilt laptop. Will I have to run something like JellyBean key finder to find it? I receive the computer tomorrow so i don't have any envelopes/documentation yet. I do know that Win8 stopped with the serial key stickers on the bottom/sides of computers. I'm not sure if it would find it with an OEM key. You'll have to try it and see. You should get a little Certificate of Authenticity sticker thing somewhere with a key I would think but not sure. |
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Quoted: Don't worry about defrag. You can't defrag an SSD. Also, iirc, Windows 8 has built in trim. Although I did use the Samsung software for my 840 Evo... I think it said Trim was already enabled. This is on my 8.1 Update laptop. Shouldn't UEFI mode be automatic? UEFI replaced BIOS, so while you can manually disable it you have to actually do it. You certainly can, and in fact Windows 8 has (or had) a bug that does it automatically after running scheduled TRIM operations. http://www.outsidethebox.ms/why-windows-8-defragments-your-ssd-and-how-you-can-avoid-this/ |
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Well the whole process was easier than I had hyped it up to be.
Turns out ASUS ROG branded laptops have recovery partitions installed. They provide a piece of software (Backtracker) on their site that helps the user copy the recovery partition onto a flash drive. They do claim that it can be used on an empty drive, so I gave it a shot. Took a 32GB flash drive, copied the recovery partition over. Swapped the hard drive for the SSD; laptop has space for two drives but I want to keep the original hard drive separate in case anything went wrong with this install. Once I verify everything works I'll probably wipe the 750GB HDD and put it in the other slot to use as the media storage drive. Once that was done I plugged the flash drive in, hit the power button, and off we go. It installed onto the empty drive and 15 minutes later I was setting up Windows. It IS a factory reset, which is a bit problematic when your system ships with Win8. The updates needed before even getting to Win8.1 is staggering... Good thing is windows 8 is pretty intelligent about setting up SSD drives by itself. |