Installing an SSD in laptop, how to recover OS?

Defiler Of The Coffin

Hello all,

Not quite sure what the best procedure here is. I recently purchased a Samsung laptop with Windows 8, I want to replace the HDD with an SSD but am unsure as to how I should go about installing Windows 8 on it. Should I attempt to copy the recovery partition and install from that or is there another way to get Windows, download it and re-enter license key for example?

Any advice appreciated, cheers.

Skill Magill

I'd clone it, I've used Norton Ghost cloning 3.5 to 3.5 inch drives (disk to disk). However I'm not sure about cloning onto ssds',
never tried it. Actually thinking about it I'm not sure, the formating is different. Sorry I cant shed more light on it, maybe someone else has cloned? I'm interested in it myself

Defiler Of The Coffin

eoing1 wrote: »

I'd clone it, I've used Norton Ghost cloning 3.5 to 3.5 inch drives (disk to disk). However I'm not sure about cloning onto ssds',
never tried it. Actually thinking about it I'm not sure, the formating is different. Sorry I cant shed more light on it, maybe someone else has cloned? I'm interested in it myself

I'm not sure if cloning is the best option, I've read before that OSs should be installed on an SSD, something to with ensuring the proper drivers are in place.

Skill Magill

You'd be cloning the os, drivers the lot onto the ssd.
See if someone else will throw in their tuppence worth

Lovely Bloke

Clean install, and use the Product Key from the sticker on the underside of the laptop.

Firblog

Burn off the recovery discs, prob 3/4 DVDs. Bound to be a Samsung program on there that will allow you to do it.

Then boot from CD/DVD when you have installed the SSD.

Hope that helps

Skill Magill

A fresh install would be your best bet when installing on a ssd. The activation key for win 8 will be on the cmos chip afaik, and as such
might not have to be reactivated
"I installed Windows 8 on my AMD Trinity Notebook that came with Windows 8 after swapping out the HDD with an SSD and it never even asked to activate." From here

HelpWithIT

In your Programmes list will be Samsung Recovery, you can make a full back up of your disk through this software (-;

yoyo

you should definitely clean install the OS on the SSD, as the Windows setup will format the drive in a optimal way for the SSD (partition configurations differences etc.).

Nick

Defiler Of The Coffin

Well guys, thanks for all your responses. No joy with this yet unfortunately, I've attempted to make a recovery disk with the samsung software but it refuses to boot. No idea why it won't work. Bit annoyed with this I must say, samsung have made it extremely difficult to make a recovery disk. I've even tried to mount the recovery partition and extract files from the WIM images but it doesn't look like I can extract any bootable images from there. I think the next step is to try and hunt down a Windows 8 ISO, already made a few attempts but can't find an official source. The trick with using the windows 8 upgrade utility doesn't work for me.

Will start another thread in the Windows forum.

Edit: Thread here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=83030507

Defiler Of The Coffin

Well guys, for anyone still interested I managed to get this resolved. Didn't think it would be so much hassle but you live and learn. I even had to open up the SSD itself and remove the rubber cushioning and tape it back together to get it to fit in the laptop.

After much hacking and messing here's how I did it:

• Removed the HDD from the laptop and installed it in my Win7 Desktop.
• Mounted the recovery partition on the HDD and copied the 'install.wim' file. This file contains the entire file structure for the OS.
• Downloaded a Win8 preview ISO, burned it to disk.
• Installed the SSD in the desktop as the primary disk and booted from the Win8 installation disk.
• Installed Win8 preview on the SSD.
• Changed the disks around and booted into Win7 as normal.
• Deleted all files on the SSD OS partition except for the BOOTMGR files.
• Extracted all files in the install.wim file onto the SSD OS partition except for the BOOTMGR files.
• Installed the SSD into the laptop.
• Changed boot mode to CSM.

The clean install has made a huge difference. I'm not sure what rubbish Samsung had pre-installed but I was getting errors where web pages had to be refreshed a number of times before they loaded properly. That's all gone now. OS is properly activated as well.

The Samsung recovery software is completely useless, I couldn't even boot from the recovery disks that it eventually managed to create. It can't be relied on at all.

Torqay

Defiler Of The Coffin wrote: »

I even had to open up the SSD itself and remove the rubber cushioning and tape it back together to get it to fit in the laptop.

Which manufacturer is using a formfactor that doesn't match a standard 2.5" HDD?

Or is Samsung using some funny HDDs that can't be easily replaced with a 3rd party product?

Defiler Of The Coffin

Torqay wrote: »

Which manufacturer is using a formfactor that doesn't match a standard 2.5" HDD?

Or is Samsung using some funny HDDs that can't be easily replaced with a 3rd party product?

You've got it, Samsung are using a HDD that's thinner than the standard 2.5" form factor. This is for a Series 5 Ultra. I was lucky in that the Crucual M4 can be made thinner but buyers of other SSDs for Ultrabooks beware!