cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

SSD Boot Drive Help

ES_Designs
Level 7
I got my G53SW yesterday and today I got my 128gb Crucial M4 SSD. I think I know what I'm doing when it comes to setting up the OS on the SSD, but what I'm not sure of is what the best way is to clear the OS and data from factory HDD and format it so it can be used as the secondary drive for data storage and user profiles. Any help is greatly appreciated.
ROG G53SW-XN1 | i7 2630QM | 14GB RAM | Nvidia GTX-460M | Crucial M4 128GB SSD | 500GB HDD | Win7 Ultimate x64
13,330 Views
22 REPLIES 22

JRd1st
Level 12
You should wait a few days to be sure your ssd stays working. I see stries all the time where people install an ssd and it seems fine then it craps out.

Anyway, go into Administrative tools, then Computer management and there are tools in there where you can delete a partition, add a partition, and change drive letter.
Read the User's Manual for more info. 😄



G74SX-A1 BIOS 203
Intel 6230 WiFi/BT
LG E2350 LED LCD Monitor
Intel Series 510 120 GB SSD

Drivers, Apps and How To's
Latest nVidia Drivers

JRd1st on DeviantArt.com

JRd1st wrote:
You should wait a few days to be sure your ssd stays working. I see stries all the time where people install an ssd and it seems fine then it craps out.

Anyway, go into Administrative tools, then Computer management and there are tools in there where you can delete a partition, add a partition, and change drive letter.


Thanks for the suggestion. I did a backup image to DVD yesterday. I'm going to use the DVD image to install the OS on the SSD (that way I'll know if the DVD backup is good) and then I'll have the DVD backup in case my SSD were to fail. Does that make sense? I also plan on backing up the SSD image to the secondary HDD.
ROG G53SW-XN1 | i7 2630QM | 14GB RAM | Nvidia GTX-460M | Crucial M4 128GB SSD | 500GB HDD | Win7 Ultimate x64

Yeah, I guess it makes sense as long as the tool you used to make the image knows how to resize when you go to restore the image to your ssd.

I use Acronis and it DOES. I don't know the capabilities of the other imaging tools. Also, it's better to make images to hdd rather than on dvd as dvd images aren't nerly as reliable. I guess because they are usually split.
Read the User's Manual for more info. 😄



G74SX-A1 BIOS 203
Intel 6230 WiFi/BT
LG E2350 LED LCD Monitor
Intel Series 510 120 GB SSD

Drivers, Apps and How To's
Latest nVidia Drivers

JRd1st on DeviantArt.com

ES_Designs
Level 7
Ok, I have both drives physically in laptop. I ran my DVD recovery and image, but apparently it didn't apply it to the SSD even though I had placed the SSD in the physical position of the HDD. So, I basically copied onto the original HDD what was already on it. So now what? What's the best thing to do from here? I'd prefer not to have to take drives out and back in again. How can I get the drive letter on the SSD to be C: when the letter C: is already assigned to the HDD? I made my recovery image DVDs using the built in Windows utility.
ROG G53SW-XN1 | i7 2630QM | 14GB RAM | Nvidia GTX-460M | Crucial M4 128GB SSD | 500GB HDD | Win7 Ultimate x64

JRd1st
Level 12
1. Didn't the ssd drive you bought come with a program to clone your system to the ssd?
2. Does that Paragon program you have allow you to make a bootable version on dvd or cd?
3. In any case, you need something on bootable media
Read the User's Manual for more info. 😄



G74SX-A1 BIOS 203
Intel 6230 WiFi/BT
LG E2350 LED LCD Monitor
Intel Series 510 120 GB SSD

Drivers, Apps and How To's
Latest nVidia Drivers

JRd1st on DeviantArt.com

ES_Designs
Level 7
I have bootable DVD image. I guess my main question is how do I get the drive letter on the SSD to be C: when it's already taken by the HDD?
ROG G53SW-XN1 | i7 2630QM | 14GB RAM | Nvidia GTX-460M | Crucial M4 128GB SSD | 500GB HDD | Win7 Ultimate x64

You need to have a program on a bootable cd with which to change the drive letter. Change c: to e:, change d: to c:, change e: to d:

You'll probably have to change the boot order in the BIOS, too.
Read the User's Manual for more info. 😄



G74SX-A1 BIOS 203
Intel 6230 WiFi/BT
LG E2350 LED LCD Monitor
Intel Series 510 120 GB SSD

Drivers, Apps and How To's
Latest nVidia Drivers

JRd1st on DeviantArt.com

JRd1st wrote:
You need to have a program on a bootable cd with which to change the drive letter. Change c: to e:, change d: to c:, change e: to d:

You'll probably have to change the boot order in the BIOS, too.


I'm not sure I'm understanding you. Do you know of such a program? Is there one you recommend. I can clone the SSD with the image currently on the HDD, but the drive letters on the SDD partitions would be E: and F: or something like that. I'm assuming that I could boot from the SSD then (SSD is first in the bios), but I don't want my primary drive being E: instead of C:
ROG G53SW-XN1 | i7 2630QM | 14GB RAM | Nvidia GTX-460M | Crucial M4 128GB SSD | 500GB HDD | Win7 Ultimate x64

Kipper
Level 10
Remove the Spinning drive, install the SSD, boot to the DVD with the image on it.

When it finishes the system will automatically label the SSD as Drive C.

I would leave the spinner drive just setting there for a week without wiping it just in case the SSD does fail. After a week and if you are happy with the SSD then you can put the spinner back in the other hard drive slot and boot up the system and then go into the systems tools, disk management and format it.

Or use a free tool like this format program to wipe the old drive and then create a new volume on it for storage or whatever.

I think it would have been safer for you to have used an external hard drive to save your image to; much more reliable than anything burned to a DVD or CD for sure.