Adding SSD to Z1 Workstation

[TomCole]

Good Morning Captain_WD and Scott

Thank you for the warning against cloning.  You have thrown an unexpected spanner in the works with this advice .  Cloning seemed so much easier than re-installing everything.

I was wondering how the computer would know that the HDD had magically morphed into an SSD, and whether it would "get confused".

How real are those risks from cloning?

With reinstalling software, are their likely to be any licensing issues?   I use Windows 7 Pro64, MS Office, Rhino 5, Autocad 2015, and others.

Thank you again.

Tom

[SDH]

Tom,

We've had some unexpected oddness from the Samsung Magician SSD control software, and never from the Intel ToolBox control software.  Personally I'd buy the Intel one you note..... the little extra cost and the little less storage mean very little to me versus the hassle costs.  Warranty.... I'd still go with the Intel drive.  Any speed differences.... I'd still go Intel.

I have some very insteresting updates for you.  Captain_HD  above made a good point about cloning to a SSD from a HDD source image... he felt that the necessary special little stuff that gets installed on a SSD install would not be present in such a clone process.  I've never seen an issue with that, however, and have done it in the past.  I'm working on a project where this issue was very easy to test, and a significant unrelated breakthrough came as a side benefit of that. 

Here's the situation.... I have a clean fully updated W7Pro64  install on a HDD here for my project, and had captured that image with Acronis onto an external drive to clone from.  I then used the free Hard Disk Sentinel 4.60 latest version evaluation software to look at the clone result of that onto a HDD, and then a SSD.  It turns out that the Sentinel software gives a little overview of the SSD related OS components, for both.  As expected, for the HDD image cloned onto a HDD there are no SSD components... see the arrows:

What is neat is that when I then cloned the HDD image onto a SSD either Acronis or the W7Pro64 OS was smart enough to add in the SSD components automatically.  So, the poster above was wrong, and then came a breakthrough:

Note that TRIM is listed as being supported by the OS but actually was Disabled on this particular xw6600 workstation.  I went to the Hard Disk Sentinel FAQ site, and they explain that this could be due to a chipset deficiency or a driver deficiency.  I checked a nearby xw6600 which had my preferred storage controller drivers rather than the older ones on this particular box, and TRIM  was "Enabled" on that SSD.  I updated to the good more recent drivers, and the first xw6600 now also reportes Supported and Enabled.

The xw workstations such as the xw6400, xw8400, xw6600, xw8600 all use the same ESB2 drivers, and the old ones that did not let TRIM work properly were 8.6.2.1315 while these updated drivers I consider my "best" ones are 10.0.0.1046.

So, now you'll have a new free tool to use to confirm that your TRIM is both supported and actually enabled when you get your nice new Intel SSD in place.

Scott

[TomCole]

Good Morning Scott

All good news.   Thank you so much for your efforts.

I certainly do not want to risk any "unexpected oddness from the Samsung Magician SSD control software" so will go Intel.  The main reason that I was favouring the Samsung Pro was that it seemed a little more rugged as expressed by disk lifetime write capability (Tetrabits written) and by mean time between failure and reinforced by warranty length.

Have also been looking at the issues raised by Captain_WD and yourself and found the following:

http://www.howtogeek.com/97242/how-to-migrate-windows-7-to-a-solid-state-drive/

To my very inexpert assessment, this seems quite thorough and specifically addresses:

• Cleansing the HDD prior to migration,
• Aligning sectors on the SSD,
• Making sure TRIM is turned on,
• Turning off defrag, and
• Turning off indexing.

As I will not be able to use the existing HDD once the SSD is in the Z1, I will be able to keep it with all existant programs and data intact.   If something goes wrong, I can go to option 2.

Collectively, this seems to reduce the possible risks from cloning to an acceptable level.  Do you agree?

Captain_WD, sir, does  this strategy adequately address the issues that you raised?

Cheers

Tom

[SDH]

There is some good stuff in there, but I've never needed to align sectors with Acronis ( it does that for you), and you can prove that if you wish because there are ways to test whether the sectors on the SSD are properly aligned.

That cmd line probe only tells you if the OS could run TRIM, not if it actually is.  The program I mention actually tests the running of trim, and a cmd return of 0 to that probe did not mean it actually worked.  It was only after I updated the driver that it was proven to work.  The return of "0" did not count... read that FAQ I mention, and the one of interest is near the bottom.

All looking good.... I am sure you'll be very happy with the results.

Best, and let us know the results when you're done.  Others will want to do exactly what you are doing.

Scott

[TomCole]

Thanks Scott

I am feeling confident now.

And a local company today had the Intel SSD on special at $100 off the figure I quoted earlier.  Phoned them, and pick it up tomorrow. 

This is going well !

Now we just have to wait for for the bracket from China.

Cheers

Thom

[TomCole]

Just checked the shipping tracker on the order for my bracket from China.  It arrived in Vienna, Austria on 16-1-16 and is still there.  Unfortunately, I am in Tasmania, Australia!

We wait some more.

I have the intel SSD though.

Tom

[SDH]

Oh, Tom,

Something seems to have gotten lost in the translation.......

😞

I'd contact the eBay seller and convey your tracking discovery, and let them know they have sent across the world and that your important project is on hold as a result.  Ask for them specifically to send correctly to your proper address a new one (at no charge, of course), ASAP.  You're just down the bay from them!

Then, perhaps, the one that now sits high in the Austrian Alps will eventually make it over to your wonderful island and catch up to you for free.

Best,  Scott

[TomCole]

 Already done, Scot

Checked with google earth;  I am 8,500 kilometers SOUTH of Shanghai,  Vienna is 8,500 kms WEST of Shanghai.

"Please be patient for one more week."  I will.

Tom

[TomCole]

Patience rewarded!  Mr 2.5/3.5 bracket finally arrived and all systems are go for installation of the SSD drive this weekend.

The tracker says that the bracket arrived in Australia on Thursday, 28-1-2016, and then became "untrackable".   It was finally delivered yesterday!   Post haste is not in Australia Post's vocabulary.

Will do a dry run first to ensure that I know how to fit everything, and then go live.   Fingers crossed.

Fair Winds

Thom

[SDH]

That is good news!  I think we have it easy here in the U.S. with eBay and so many used parts available.

I'm sure your project will help many others via the forum.  The pics were great, and more will help also.

Thanks,  Scott

p.s.  Regarding that Hard Disk Sentinel..... it served a purpose, but caused some trouble.  I plan to only install it to answer a specific question and uninstall thereafter.  Don't leave it installed, in my opinion.