Cloning my XP System Drive to an SSD

[LOKIDOG]

I looked into putting a new SSD into my system - which is XP. I want to eventually put the system on it. But I get really divergent info about whether this is even possible.
I've done this a few times - That is a new hard drive install and migrate my old system drive to a new drive. It's fairly straight-forward.

A friend suggesting getting an SSD - much faster loading, quieter, more reliable?, etc. He thought you just use it like any hard drive, and I almost bought one then and there. But the site where I would buy it was way too crowded with options and when I started to look into which to buy, along with my searches came issues with doing this - or even using an SSD in my 'old' system.

I have a custom built system which works very well - and is quite a bit more productive and fast than most peoples I encounter (mostly laptops - but brand new).

Here are the details of my system:
CPU : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+
Bus Type : PCI Bus
Motherboard : ASUSTeK Computer INC. M2N32-SLI DELUXE 1.XX
BIOS : Phoenix Technologies, LTD Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG

I have found that issues may exist for these:

-Will the SSD even be readible in my system?
-Use AHCI or RAID for best use of it.

-BIOS does not seem to have an ACHI option - just RAID​

-XP can or can't use ACHI?​

-Can I change drives to ACHI or RAID now - they are in SATA mode(whatever that is? - seems particular to AMD, as opposed to IDE, ACHI, or RAID)​

-SSD cloning and Alignment (there is a thread on this already, and maybe this answers it all - though I have a particular cloning program I like and maybe I need to do something other than what I normally do)

My thought is to install the drive in the system first (If I think it is even possible) as an extra drive and see how that works. Then I can clone the system drive over and make it the boot drive. I will keep the old boot drive partition as is so I can easily recover from disaster. Sound good?

 

[rclarke250]

NO, why "use it" to "see how that works"? you will see little advantage in this configuration. It is not advisable to enable AHCI after the system is installed, it requires hacking the registry, and is not an elegant solution. Do not enable raid. just lave the bios the way it is, look for an SSD drive that has a trim utility,or look for a third party solution as windows xp doesn't have this, and it needs to be run about once per month. Also you want to disable defrag, DO NOT EVER defrag an SSD. Disable hard drive optimization, enable write caching,once you have the SSD as a system drive, move the page file to the standard HDD, I don't care what cloning program you have, unless it is easeus todo backup. It has a neat little button under the clone utility, place a check in migrating to ssd, and it will do the alignment for you, and it is free. I use it for my migrations, and I have done about a dozen of them, just on my home systems. But you should really look into upgrading to 7 to get the full use of the SSD, xp is just too old, and doesn't take full advantage of the hardware.

 

[LOKIDOG]

I looked into hacking the registry - and it doesn't sound that hard - along with installing an ACHI driver, but it seems like my motherboard will not support it anyway - from what I can tell. RAID is supported which can use ACHI commands, but I don't think switching to this will be possible or advisable either.

Yeah, my new computer will have Windows latest (well best rated at the time), but this one is still going and I'm not going to upgrade it. My applications are set just like I want them - and I have lots and lots that I use all the time. The hardware is all sort of contemporary with it - except the SSD I'm going to put in. I'll look into the easus todo backup - I use "drive image" for regular backups of the system drive, but this sounds like a good solution for migration. The reason I wanted to mount the SSD first as a storage disk was to see how it works with XP, and format it correctly, etc. No matter how much I plan, I usually have problems, so this solution is an easy step without much risk. Also I can clone the drive over to it easily this way (my other method is to put it into my dock with ESATA and clone that way). Then it's just a matter of Changing boot settings to make it boot from the cloned disk - and maybe changing the Drive letters so they match my apps.

 

[goombawaho]

I would echo that you are spending quite a bit of money and putting it into a system (XP) that is really not meant for an SSD. Many of them come with cloning software. Intel drives come with a utility that will run the TRIM on XP.

"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[LOKIDOG]

I think I've talked myself out of getting a new SSD for this system - with your help here! This system has been going for a few years - well nearly 6 now - and doing just fine. Without the performance improvement of an SSD - especially the quick Shut down and Startup - loading ability - and speed improvement for running programs, I don't think it's worth it. My programs run pretty fast now - and any improvement there will be hardly noticeable anyway. The programs that used to use huge image and data files mostly now use the cloud/ Internet sent Data, unless the servers are down, and then I don't need super speed really. I'm not a gamer so any advantage for this is lost on me. I back everything up very well - so buying a new hard drive (mechanical) every so often is not that cumbersome. I'm not really convinced SSD's will last any longer than a spinner anyway. When I get the new machine - I'm sure that over time it will be my main machine anyway, and this one may be relegated eventually to being just a file server or something like that anyway; or it's motherboard will start to fail and be scrapped. The friend who told me to get a SSD will find this informative too - since he has older systems than me - apart from a couple tablets that already have small SSD pre-installed. A new SSD won't do anything for him at all, or at best only make it cooler and quieter, but not that much faster.

This forum is probably the best one for clarification of these sort of issues - and even if people don't know the answer they know they don't know! Thanks!

 

[goombawaho]

I think I've talked myself out of getting a new SSD for this system

Probably smart all the way around.

and any improvement there will be hardly noticeable

Probably incorrect. SSDs make your universe better, but best used in current systems

What about a hybrid drive to speed up your old PC. I used it on an XP laptop and it did what they promised. Much faster booting and loading of programs used frequently. It caches what you use most often to speed loading. Best of both worlds - faster + spinning drive size + not too expensive
Link

I'm not really convinced SSD's will last any longer than a spinner anyway.

Recent testing seems to show that they have quite long lives even when tortured
Link

Best bet is a new system with Windows 7 or 8 and an SSD boot drive + spinning data drive.





"Living tomorrow is everyone's sorrow.
Modern man's daydreams have turned into nightmares.

 

[cdogg]

LOKIDOG,
Honestly, I don't see any problem with investing in an SSD on an older system such as yours. When it comes time to upgrade, you can easily reuse it. So it wouldn't be a waste. You will see an immediate difference in performance, especially with bootup, shutdown, and application/game launches.

AHCI is newer, and since you don't see it listed in your BIOS as an option, chances are it's not supported (no registry hack is going to fix that - hardware support is required). However, an SSD will still outperform any spinning HDD, even without AHCI.

If you find a good deal on one, I'd say go for it. A good deal would be under 75 cents per Gigabyte. Also, keep in mind that you can opt for one that has less space than you prefer. Then you can use a secondary spinning HDD (say a 1 TB drive) to use for data and music storage or even reuse the one you have now.

-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

[tab][navy]For this site's posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[kjv1611]

LOKIDOG,

I can speak of a system I'm still using on occasion at home. I am getting to where I use my desktops less and less over the past couple of years. Anyway, It's a system I built about now 8 years ago I guess. It's got a Core 2 Duo CPU, 4GB Ram, and was running all mechanical hard drives.

I upgraded to an SSD a year or two ago, and did see some improvement, though I won't say it was a world or universe of difference. Then again, my system was pretty quick for it's age/hardware anyway.

I have noticed slight differences in audio editing, maybe a little in the little bit of gaming I pick up here and there (FPS type games). But mainly just application opening is a little bit quicker. It's worth mentioning preious system hard drives for that desktop have been:
[ol 1]
[li]Raptor, 74GB[/li]
[li]500GB Samsung F3 drives - those are amazingly quick drives for the price, though I can't speak for longevity. I've seen at least a few fail in different scenarios. Probably the highest failure rate I've personally seen on any one manufacturer or model, but then again, I don't typically buy many drives in exact same model/size.[/li]
[li]Velociraptor 150GB[/li]
[li]2 different SSDs. First one was OCZ, it died on me just after warranty expired, go figure.[/li]
[li]Second SSD was ... wow, I'm forgetting.. I'm thinking it was Samsung, and it performed much better than the OCZ. With the OCZ I saw practically no increase in performance from the Samsung or Velociraptor, whichever was most recent, I forget. With the Samsnung (pretty sure that's the one I ended up with), I saw a decent bump in performance.[/li]
[/ol]

In the end, you have to weigh out for you personally: is a slight improvement worth spending the money? For me, at the time, it seemed worth it. Looking back, maybe the OCZ wasn't worth it, but the Samsung... maybe. I guess the difference you will actually feel depends upon:
[ol 1]
[li]What you are doing (Ram and CPU intensive tasks will generally be affected very little. Only things generally affected for me were load times of apps, but actual processes were not affected as greatly, sometimes no difference at all in actual activities.)[/li]
[li]What you are replacing (replacing a 5400,7200, or 10k RMP hard drive?.. .what size cache, etc)[/li]
[/ol]

And yes, I believe I did ramble on a bit about such a topic. A few years ago, I probably would have said no, it wouldn't be worth it - SSD prices were too high to justify. But now, there are plenty of deals to be had. I found pretty good deals on both the SSDs I purchased for my system back when I did that.. .the OCZ must have been 3 or 4 years ago, and Samsung 1 or 2 years ago. Wow, can't believe it's already been that long.


"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[cdogg]

kjv1611,
Agree with some of your points, but there are two important things that should be taken into consideration (the first one I mentioned already):

1. The SSD can be reused in the next system.
[tab]The argument that it may not be worth the money in an older system is not really a good one. SSD's are easy to resell and reuse,
[tab]especially in the next system you purchase, whether that be a laptop or a desktop.

2. Even on SSD's, Windows can run slow.
[tab]In your case, did you reload Windows from scratch when you switched to an SSD? If not, then that might explain why the difference
[tab]you experienced was minimal. If Windows is bogged down with a junked registry, no hardware upgrade is going to fix the slowness.
[tab]It's worth trying the SSD first by just cloning, but if it's still slow or you don't notice much of a difference, then clean install Windows.

Everyone's experience will be different, but more often than not, upgrading to an SSD drive on an older system will have a significant impact.



-Carl
"The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be."

[tab][navy]For this site's posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[kjv1611]

cdogg,

[ol 1]
[li]SSD - Yes, I realize it can be reused, but it's still a consideration. It may be you decide later to just buy a laptop with a built-in SSD already, so no real purpose in that case for the previously used SSD.[/li]
[li]Reloading Windows - Yes, I reisntalled from scratch. And I tried with Windows 7 (may not have specified). I was running Win7 before on the HDD, before moving to SSD. First SSD was practically no difference, 2nd SSD a little difference. Oftentimes, numbers show big improvements, but real world usage, what you actually feel does not always show the same benefit.[/li]
[/ol]

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[kjv1611]

By the way, I just got on my desktop at home, and was looking at the disk drives, and remembered about this thread. The newest SSD I got was not Samsung, but Kingston.

This is the latest SSD I went with where I did see some improvement, but not night vs day:

http://www.kingston.com/us/ssd/v

The one I got is the 120GB model.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57