Installing an SSD as the boot drive

[Timbercottage]

Hi guys,

It's that time of year where I realise my PC is lacking something, this time it's an SSD

I want to have my SSD as the boot drive, I also don't want to mess around with my existing HDD, reformatting and removing Windows from that as there's loads of important programs on there which I can't reinstall such as a copy of Visual Studio 2010 Professional which I got from uni for free and am now unable to re-download again)

My plan was to install windows to the SSD as normal and then remove my existing windows install from the boot options in msconfig.

My question is basic: Is this going to cause any conflicts at all? Will I notice anything different about my PC other than the fact it's booting in seconds rather than minutes or do I still run the risk of losing a couple of things along the way?

Cheers!
Dave

EDIT: Also, can anyone recommend a decent 120/128GB SSD for under £100? It just needs enough room for Windows and a couple of applications/games that I run frequently.

Was looking at this http://www.ebuyer.com/268244-ocz-120gb-agility-3-ssd-agt3-25sat3-120g

PS Sorry if this has been asked a million times already!

 

[HenryFoam2012Q]

Sorry I can't help with the question in particular but I know of some decent SSD's for under £100 such as:

1. Samsung 830 series 128GB SSD - can get one from amazon.co.uk for £79.99
2. Crucial M4 128GB SSD - can get one from amazon.co.uk for £89.99

And yes delivery as far as I'm aware is free!

You may be able to find these for cheaper somewhere else on line. From what I've heard these are 2 of the best SSDs out now for gaming, a few applications and windows - there are many good reviews about these SSDs. Hope this has helped to some degree!

 

[MrWillis]

I have the Crucial M4 128 GB (I went for it over the other ones out there because it had really good reviews for offering great reliability and performance).

As regards to the removal/move of your OS to SSD, from what little knowledge I have you can use a cloning programme to avoid losing your other data. The highest rated one I found was Macrium Reflect - there is a free version as well as paid versions.

I recently started a thread on installing my new Crucial M4 SSD (which I've just installed, I'm currently formatting my HDD) the link to it is here - there may be some info in there that could be of use to you.

Link to Macrium Reflect is here.
You may also find this video useful for using the programme, link for it is here.

FYI: this SSD is very fast here are my speeds:

Startup: 19 seconds
Shutdown: 6 seconds

 

[Timbercottage]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll read through your thread and take a look at the cloning software, sounds like something I'll take advantage of.

Cheers!

 

[Kalisnoir]

I can also vouch for the Crucial M4, it's rated one of the best for reliability and although it is possible to get slightly faster SSDs, you will sacrifice reliability which considering the speed anyway really isn't worth it. Not sure what my boot up speed is but i'd say between 10 - 15 seconds and I can instantly open up programs as soon as I'm logged in.