HDD to SSD migration problem

[Infrasonic]

I couldn't get any sense out of the machine, tried my Samsung recovery disk but always got the same problem. I finally managed to recover by booting from my Macrium Reflect recovery disk and then rebuilding the master boot records. Phew!

Might be of interest.
https://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/#comparison

[kiloran]

Here's the current status and HDD vs SSD comparison.

Ubuntu and the Grub dual-boot were removed from the HDD, then I cleaned up the partitions and defragged/optimised the drive using UltraDefrag portable. I then cloned the 500GB HDD to the 480GB SSD using Macrium Reflect (which took 5 hours including verification)

Installed the SSD and booted, and got an instant boot error, as I had before with the dual-boot. I rebooted using my Macrium Reflect recovery disk and fixed the boot problem on the SSD, and all was well. From what I have seen, the system is now fully working.

Comparative Performance:

Samsung V350C laptop with 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium
12GB RAM
500GB 5400rpm HDD
Intel i5-3210M processor at 2.5GHz
I think the laptop is about 6 years old.

I have a 32GB SDHC sitting in the reader slot and this creates a prompt to open it during the boot process. I also have a wireless mouse which is enabled at some point during the boot process.
I use the Comodo Firewall and I have a suspicion that this is creating a delay in the start-up process, so I looked at how long after boot before I could open Comodo.

Milestone        | HDD  | SSD
Windows logon    | 70s  | 16s
Mouse activation | 300s | 40s
SDHC prompt      | 360s | 46s
Open Comodo      | 550s | 58s     (Yes, almost 10 minutes for the HDD!)
Shutdown         | 23s  | 21s

All times are from hitting the power key.

So, a very worthwhile improvement. With the HDD, I was thinking of disabling Comodo to see if that improved the very long start-up, but I won't bother now, I'm more than happy with a 60s boot time.
I have not timed applications, but everything is certainly a lot snappier, and I think even opening a web page has a bit more zip to it. Certainly the Windows 10 and Ubuntu Virtual Machines in Oracle VirtualBox are a lot quicker in all respects.

It's still not as lively as Ubuntu using the SSD. Now that was quick! I'll let things settle down, and backup the current configuration, then perhaps implement dual boot again, perhaps using Linux Mint which I feel I prefer to Ubuntu (though I have not looked at the latest Ubuntu.

I'm more than pleased with the £66 investment, so many thanks to Itsallaguess for highlighting it.

--kiloran

[Breelander]

Installed the SSD and booted, and got an instant boot error, as I had before with the dual-boot. I rebooted using my Macrium Reflect recovery disk and fixed the boot problem on the SSD, and all was well.

Great news!

Yes, it's often the case that migrating from an HDD to an SSD requires that Macrium tool to fix the boot. I've not yet heard of a case where it has failed to fix things.

[Itsallaguess]

I'm more than pleased with the £66 investment, so many thanks to Itsallaguess for highlighting it.

Great to hear that you got it up and running Kiloran - these things are rarely trouble-free, and with a dual-boot system it might have been expected to give some issues, but there's usually a way to get back up and running and plenty is often learnt during the process.

Sounds like you've got a right nippy little system now though - I was pretty shocked to see some of those performance timings for your previous set-up, especially in relation to Comodo, which I use myself and have never had these types of issues with. Are you sure there's nothing auto-running scan-wise at boot-time in the Comodo settings?

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[kiloran]

I was pretty shocked to see some of those performance timings for your previous set-up, especially in relation to Comodo, which I use myself and have never had these types of issues with. Are you sure there's nothing auto-running scan-wise at boot-time in the Comodo settings?

Itsallaguess

No, I'm not at all sure! I'm fairly certain that the boot-up time was more like 2-3 minutes in the past, to a stable functional system, and maybe I'm unfairly pointing the finger at Comodo, which I'm more than happy with as a firewall. A complete rebuild is probably a good idea, but I prefer to hold off on that until I get a new Windows 10 machine. At least the pressure is off now that the SSD is running so quickly.

While checking the system out just now, I did a Malwarebytes scan and it rattled through all the files in just over 7 minutes. I'm sure it previously took 30-60 minutes. If it's that quick scanning the drive, I'm also hoping that Macrium Reflect backups will be a lot quicker also.

--Happy Camper Kiloran

[GeoffF100]

It's still not as lively as Ubuntu using the SSD. Now that was quick! I'll let things settle down, and backup the current configuration, then perhaps implement dual boot again, perhaps using Linux Mint which I feel I prefer to Ubuntu (though I have not looked at the latest Ubuntu.

Ubuntu 18.045 LTS uses the Gnome desktop, which is heavier than the Unity desktop used previously. Mint may be quicker. Mint uses fast boot by default, which is not a good idea with an SSD, but you can disable that. You do not want fast boot with Windows either. Lubuntu 18.04 is the fastest kid on the block. It looks very much like an old version of Windows. I am very pleased with it, and am using it right now.