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Cloning from HDD to mSATA SSD

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So I've just bought a laptop which has an available mSATA-slot, and I plan on installing a Crucial M500 240 GB mSSD in the laptop. With how Windows keys on laptops work nowadays, I'm planning on just cloning the HDD over to the mSSD with Acronis True Image 2014. But I've heard of people experiencing problems with partitions not being aligned and that causing the SSD to get a huge hit on performance. So I just wanted to ask if this is something that the software I plan on using accounts for, and if someone has done a similar upgrade and has some useful tips to share?
 
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If cloning from MBR to GPT, is dangerous, it is not sector to sector.

I finally used one of the less known freewares to convert from MBR to GPT but I did not clone. I could search it's name, as I can't remember now.
 
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If cloning from MBR to GPT, is dangerous, it is not sector to sector.

I finally used one of the less known freewares to convert from MBR to GPT but I did not clone. I could search it's name, as I can't remember now.

So as long as both drives are either GPT or MBR I should be good?

Actually forgot to mention that the default drive is a SSHD. Does that further complicate things?
 
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So I've just bought a laptop which has an available mSATA-slot, and I plan on installing a Crucial M500 240 GB mSSD in the laptop. With how Windows keys on laptops work nowadays, I'm planning on just cloning the HDD over to the mSSD with Acronis True Image 2014. But I've heard of people experiencing problems with partitions not being aligned and that causing the SSD to get a huge hit on performance. So I just wanted to ask if this is something that the software I plan on using accounts for, and if someone has done a similar upgrade and has some useful tips to share?

Lookie what i found (Google FTW):

SSD alignment

Another question concerns the alignment of SSDs. To get the optimum performance from an SSD and to prolong its life, the partition offset must meet certain criteria. In most cases you do not need to check or manually fix the alignment, the program will do it automatically.

In any event, we recommend that you perform one of the following:

  • Create the backup you are going to use for migration in disk mode. In other words, back up the source disk entirely, not just the system partition.
  • Make sure the destination SSD does not contain partitions (the disk space is unallocated). Note that if your SSD is new and has never been used before, it does not contain partitions.
For more information see SSD Support.

Migration Guide:
http://www.acronis.com/en-gb/support/documentation/ATIH2014/index.html#21824.html
 
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theonedub

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I've used a few Cloning programs trying to do mechanical HDD to SSD and not once has it ever worked correctly. Let us know your end results and good luck.
 
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I've used a few Cloning programs trying to do mechanical HDD to SSD and not once has it ever worked correctly. Let us know your end results and good luck.

I think I'll try the migration using backup and recovery method first, described here: http://www.acronis.com/en-gb/support/documentation/ATIH2014/index.html#21826.html, since so many people have had problems just outright cloning the drive. My mSSD arrives on Wednesday, so I'll post an update about how it went when I'm done.
 
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So I used the method described by Acronis. Here are my results from CrystalDiskMark with 1000MB:

Seq read: 463.8 MB/s, Seq write: 273.5 MB/s
Random 512K read: 415.9 MB/s, Random 512K write: 272.1
Random 4K read: 21.77 MB/s, Random 4K write: 79.96 MB/s
Random 4K read (QD=32): 283.5 MB/s, Random 4K write (QD=32): 262.6 MB/s

Mostly fine it seems, only the random 4K seems sluggish. Any idea why?
 
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Actually, it's not fine at all, and I really need help. So after migration, I booted from the SSD, and noticed that it said Windows is not activated. I thought this may be because there are essentially two copies of the same Windows, so I did a quick format on the default SSHD. Well, should not have done that, because now it won't boot at all, and I'm currently resetting the whole damn thing, which will take hours. Any idea what went wrong? Maybe it's because I'm migrating from a SSHD to a SSD?
 

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you booted windows off of 2 different drives right after one another and flagged your key thats bound to hardware IDs what dont you understand? 95% of the people in this forums have gone through that.
 
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you booted windows off of 2 different drives right after one another and flagged your key thats bound to hardware IDs what dont you understand? 95% of the people in this forums have gone through that.

So I'm boned? Is there anything that can be done? Also, that doesn't really explain it not booting after the quick format.
 

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Did you clone every partition? Did you attempt to run a start up repair? Can you get that far? did you try the commands to rebuild the BCD via a usb/recovery disk? dod you attempt to reactive? Did you attempt to phone activate?
I'm doing a reset via startup repair right now, leaving it overnight. Actually, before formatting and screwing it up, I went back and booted from the default SSHD, and it did reactivate. Don't know what conclusions can be drawn from that.
 
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Forgot to mention, I did migrate all partitions. So it's done resetting, and I can now boot normally. My plan is to wipe the mSATA SSD, and try to figure out what went wrong the first time.
 
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Ok, so I wiped the drive and cloned using EaseUS Todo Backup. Results from CrystalDiskMark are about the same, and it now says that Windows is valid as well.
 
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