Upgrading from HDD to SSD on Dell T7500

[SHolm4]

Hello all;

I bought an Intel SSD 535 series 240GB and want to load everything onto it, and convert the old drives into storage only and "unraid" them.

Goal:

Load the Opsys (make it the boot drive) and all Data (total usage right now is ~180gb) on the SSD, making it the primary.

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System: Xeon W5580 @3.2GHz (twin CPU's); RAM: 12GB; W7 Pro 64 bit, SP1; WinExp index: 7.1

Currently, the machine is set up using the LSI 1068e SAS/SATA controller. It contains 2 physical HDD's set up in a RAID 0 configuration. The 2 show up in diskmgmt as a single virtual disk.

Problems:

I created a system image and recovery disk prior to making any changes, then installed the SSD using SATA connector 0, which required moving the 2 original drives (2 physical> 1 virtual) from SATA 0&1 to SATA 1&2.

Formatted the new SSD, followed all of the instructions in diskmgmt and did a clone of the old drive using EaseUS Todo Backup Free 8.6. All seemed to go smoothly until I changed the boot sequence to the SSD. The machine booted fine, and I was all smiles.

Until I started running some applications.... the system seemed like it had many missing pieces, programs were complaining about not being able to find this or that etc.

So Einstein here (me) decided to try & use the recovery disk & do a system restore to the SSD. Well, that was a total bust. I got a message from Windows that said "No disk that can be used for recovering the system can be found". (Apologies for the insult to Einstein here). My guess is that the new SSD is not set up the same as the originals, but who knows.

I decided to play with the SSD for a while, run some benchmarks etc. Windows experience index on the SSD dropped from 7.5 to 7.1. That was the point where I decided to reach out to the community to find a solution.

Thanks in advance for any/all suggestions that you can send my way. IMHO, this base system is still worth keeping/upgrading when compared to a new gaming rig at around ~$7k.

All the best,

Steve

[jbenavides]

Hello Moldguy,

Considering the information you provided about this and the actions you performed, here are a few relevant aspects I noticed, as well as some recommendations that might help:

- Whenever you clone a drive, it is better if the source and target have the same configuration; for example, RAID volume to RAID volume, SATA drive to SATA drive. It may be different with 3rd party tools, however, we know that https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19324/Intel-Data-Migration-Software Intel® Data Migration Software would not migrate RAID volumes to Single Intel® SSD's successfully since this requires additional drivers and software, also, special partition arrangements may also interfere with the migration process.

- The Recovery process provided with OEM PC's normally requires a hidden recovery partition in the hard drive. If this partition was not migrated properly with the clone process, then the system will not be able to do the recovery process.

- You might want to check with the RAID adapter manufacturer or the http://www.intel.com/support/oems.htm Computer Manufacturer Support, they may be able to provide additional input about the the capabilities of the system, and how to take full advantage of your new Intel® SSD with your existing system.

- Since you plan to use the Intel® SSD 535 series as a standalone boot drive, you might get a better result connecting it to a SATA 3.0 6Gb/S port, with the storage controller working in AHCI (SATA) mode.

- If the system does not migrate properly from a RAID configuration to a single drive, you might want to consider backing up the data, then move the controller to AHCI mode and do a clean installation of the OS. Afterwards, you could restore you data and re-install any additional apps you require.

[SHolm4]

Hi Jonathan;

After considering the situation, I ordered a second SSD identical to the first one. Once installed, I want to create a new RAID0 array with the 2 drives. This will be more in keeping with the way that the original system was set up from the OEM (minus the 2 new SSd's). After reaching out to 3 other forums, it was readily apparent that there is very little help (or user manuals) available for the drive controller (which is part of the MOBO).

If I am making any sense here and you agree that this is the best path forward, please help me with step-by-step instructions on how best to perform this task. Goal:

1. Clone the existing raid0 over to the new SSD's, including boot.
2. Erase/remove the opsys from the old HDD's

I have downloaded a trial copy of Acronis Backup.

All the best,

Steve

[jbenavides]

Hello,

The actions you mentioned sound OK. The steps required to migrate successfully will vary depending on the system, the tools you use and the configuration of your system; so I will not be able to provide step by step instructions.

I would advise you to check the computer/motherboard user guides and the documentation for the backup software. This will help you determine the best course of action during the migration process. As I mentioned before, cloning of RAID volumes is out of our scope; I would be glad to help, however, I am not familiar with the details of this process.

[SHolm4]

Thank you, Jonathan;

Do you happen to know of a good source for that?

All the best,

Steve