New hard drive OS??

ben_m_g

My 5 year old PC is definitely slowing down, the boot times are a pain, i think upgrading to a SSD is the way to go.
It will also be a good excuse to clear out all the bloat ware and files upon files of unwanted 'stuff' that has accumulated over the years.


But the things that are confusing me are:

I have no disc for the OS (preinstalled), can i transfer it over without taking everything with it?

Is there any compatibility issues or fitting problems (do i need a certain drive for my case)?

How easy is it to do? I was hoping that it was a case of plug it in and install the OS, will there be a load of system files etc that i will need to sort out? (it's an factory overclock)

Is there anything else i need to know/consider?



System spec:

• Case; Antec Three Hundred
• Intel Core i3 530 2.93GHz @ 4.20GHz Nvidia Edition DDR3 System
• ZOTAC GeForce GTX 460 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
• 8GB ram?
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

grumpycrab

ben_m_g wrote: »

can i transfer it over without taking everything with it?

The second question first. Yes, but if you don't want all the bloat best to start from a clean Windows7?

ben_m_g wrote: »

I have no disc for the OS (preinstalled)

Ideally you would have taken a complete system backup soon after new? If so just reinstall that. Otherwise
1. you need your existing Windows 7 key; if you haven't a clue run Belarc
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
2. Windows 7 ISO
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-recovery
EDIT: hopefully you have any drivers backedup/on CD - or see how Windows7 manages on its own.

ben_m_g

hey grumpycrab,

I have been a bit intermittent with my backups, thankfully the old HD is working fine so I can even get a fresh DL of this.

Yes the idea was to start afresh, back up everything to a USB external drive, the key sticker vanished in the move, so I will check out that link thank you.

One question that popped into my head, since I am starting again, would it not be worthwhile upgrading to win 8?
(I understand you get buy old product key from decommissioned units pretty cheap.)

Fightsback

ben_m_g wrote: »

hey grumpycrab,

I have been a bit intermittent with my backups, thankfully the old HD is working fine so I can even get a fresh DL of this.

Yes the idea was to start afresh, back up everything to a USB external drive, the key sticker vanished in the move, so I will check out that link thank you.

One question that popped into my head, since I am starting again, would it not be worthwhile upgrading to win 8?
(I understand you get buy old product key from decommissioned units pretty cheap.)

Don't bother upgrading to W8, Microsoft is giving a free upgrade to windows 10 (windows7 and above) for the first year after release. From what I've seen of W10 so far it's much improved over W8.

grumpycrab

ben_m_g wrote: »

...One question that popped into my head, since I am starting again, would it not be worthwhile upgrading to win 8?

Keep 7 which works (8 and even 8.1 are both poor).
If you like, upgrade to 10 for free later this year!

grumpycrab

Fightsback wrote: »

...From what I've seen of W10 so far it's much improved over W8.

Perhaps not a discussion for now but W10 is still a mash-up of conventional and metro and will never sit comfortably together (in my opinion). But we'll see.

Fightsback

grumpycrab wrote: »

Perhaps not a discussion for now but W10 is still a mash-up of conventional and metro which will never sit tidily together (in my opinion). But we'll see.

I'm running the preview baremetal and it is better, however an etchasketch is an improvement on W8

Personally I prefer KDE (on opensuse) and KDE5 is looking awesome but not ready for primetime yet.

grumpycrab

Fightsback wrote: »

Personally I prefer KDE (on opensuse) and KDE5 is looking awesome but not ready for primetime yet.

How about KDE on Windows :eek:

Fightsback

grumpycrab wrote: »

How about KDE on Windows :eek:

That project was abandoned years ago, not worth putting lipstick on a pig

stockton_2

I recently upgraded from a Sata HD to an SSD. My Sata HD was 3.5 so I had to think about an adapter to fit the new 2.5 SSD into the case. I actually bought a mobile rack that allows me to take the drive out from the front of the case if need be. I then fitted it in to what used to be referred to as the floppy drive bay. Very pleased with the new SSD. and the Rack.

I also bought a 128 Gig pen drive as an easy way to back up data. I found that copying files to the pen drive takes a lot longer than copying to my other drives. Someone on this forum explained the reason for this. I had imagined that a pen drive was similar in operation to an SSD but apparently not. I also finally, incorporated a Nas drive into my system which is also one of the best moves I have made (all thanks to guidance from people on this forum) but that is another story.

audigex

You'll love the SSD - I did a similar upgrade to a slightly older 6/7 year old machine (+4 year old graphics card) and the difference is night and day.

Installation is pretty easy: unplug the HDD, plug the SSD into the same cables. You can attach it in your case if there's a mounting point, or just tie it somewhere using a cable tie (there are no moving parts, so vibration isn't an issue either in terms of noise or damage)

Then just install the OS as discussed above and away you go. You will REALLY notice the difference, I promise. It just feels infinitely responsive by comparison, even if big number-crunching tasks still take a while, the snappiness gives you a feeling of performance improvement.