Clean Win7 Install to SSD

I will be picking up a new Samsung Series 7 17.3 inch (NP700Z7C-S01US) laptop tonight but plan on doing two upgrades soon. My first will be to bump the RAM to 12GB and then I want to replace the stock 1TB drive with a 256GB SSD.

The question I have is ... what are the best Win7 and application install options for the SSD? I'd prefer a clean install of only what I want but I don't think too many PC makers include OS disks anymore so how best to do a clean install to the new SSD?

If a clean install is not practical what's the best option for cloaning?


Brian

 

My 15.6" Series 7 came with a "Samsung Recovery Media" DVD, which contains Win 7 SP1. You should be able to install that directly to the SSD.

Cloning is preferable if (as in my case), you have a ton of programs and games installed already and you can't be bothered going through a full reinstall. I bought the Crucial M4 7mm 256GB SSD, with the "Data Transfer Kit" (USB to Sata cable + EZ Gig IV Cloning software):

Newegg.ca - Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD1CCA 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC 7mm Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) with Data Transfer Kit

When my SSD is delivered (this week some time), I will be cloning using that. It ensures 4k alignment, so I don't have any concerns about taking a performance hit. I've already cleaned up my OS partition to 60GB, and have removed everything from my Data partition, so it should be a very clean clone. If I have any significant problems, I'll do the full Win 7 install. I'll report back here then.

Note: only the original HDD bay uses SATA III, if you were considering where to put the SSD (Optical vs HDD). The ODD is SATA II. I hope that helps.

 

I will be adding the SSD by the end of the week and don't plan on loading any software that can't be easily loaded after a clean install on the SSD. But, is there something I need to do to make sure the clean install works on the 4K alignment?

I will probably not put the HD in place of the ODD, at least for now. I plan on carrying some 2TB USB 3.0 portables (2.5 inch) for bulk data (high res DSLR and video). I have over 1TB of image and video data as it is so there's no way that would fit on any practical SSD.

I may decide to remove the ODD and put a faster 1TB or larger drive in there but I'll see how well the externals work before going down that road.


Brian

 

Download OEM disks of Windows 7. You need proper distributive on which you have serial key (Home Premium I guess).

http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html

P.S. Don't forget about downloading all drivers before clan install so you could reach them in a moment.

 

Use Samsung Recovery Solution to make a backup of the system software and drivers. You can then run this backup (it uses Samsung's Easy Software Manager) to install the drivers etc.

John

 

I did pick up the Sammy last night and so far so good. After about 3-4 rounds of Windows updates and getting rid of some of the crapware (Norton, etc) and then a defrag the boot time is about 30 seconds or about half the time my older HP dv8t took to boot.

John, will the SRS also backup third party programs like Photoshop?

Since the backup would be going to the DVD burner and a DVD has a max capacity of about 4.5GB or perhaps 10GB compressed, it looks like the OEM configuration without any additional software or data will require at least 5 DVD's and maybe more -- is that about right?

I'm still leaning towards a clean install, but the link provided by James D. is years old and 100 pages in length. If there is a legitimate source for Win7 install files a direct pointer to that would be nice -- I don't have the time to pour over 100 pages to find it.



Brian

 

The "Samsung Recovery Media" DVD is full Windows 7 SP1 installation DVD as far as I can tell. Why don't you back up the system software and drivers (as John suggested) to an external USB drive, install Windows 7 from the DVD, and then restore the software and drivers from the external USB?

Win 7 should detect that it is being installed to an SSD and take care of the 4k alignment automatically. You can verify after the installation by: hit the Start menu and type in msinfo32. Enter Msinfo32 and go to Components > Storage > Disks. Look for your SSD on the list and find the “Partition Starting Offset” item. If this number is divisible by 4096 (that is, if dividing it by 4096 equals a whole number and not a decimal), your partition is correctly aligned.

 

SRS can make a complete backup of C: However, I haven't used it for that since I have a copy of the more versatile Acronis TrueImage.

John

 

I did NOT receive any DVD's with my laptop -- nothing but paper documentation. Now if the Samsung Recovery software installed on the laptop can create a bootable DVD with Win7 on it that woul be great.


Brian

 

I have Acronis TrueImage on my HP laptop (dv8t) and tried, twice, to clone it to another HD (500GB -> 750GB), an all works well except that Windows Update is broken as is the update for Microsoft Security Essentials. So, my confidence in Acronis isn't very high...


Brian

 

I deduce that the decision about whether or not to include a Windows disc depends on the marketing office in the different countries. See this thread about how to download a standard Windows 7 installation disc.

I've had no issues in the past couple of years. Maybe it's a consequence of one of the lesser settings. I think I tend to clone the disc signature so that's one less thing that software may check for and find has changed.

John

 

You can download a Win 7 SP 1 ISO from here: Official Windows 7 SP1 ISO from Digital River « My Digital Life

I did this and created a bootable USB stick with it before starting the procedure. I didn't end up needing it though.

I received my Crucial SSD yesterday and did the following:

1. Backed all my data, media, my docs, pictures, etc. to an external USB drive and deleted them from the 750GB Samsung HDD. This left 2 partitions: 60GB of Win 7 files and applications on the C drive, and a blank D partition.
2. Defragged, ran CC cleaner, and cloned the HDD to the SSD using the included Data transfer cable and EZ Gig IV cloning CD included with the SSD. It took about 40 minutes to clone and another 40 to verify.
3. Opened up the laptop, removed the Samsung HDD and replaced it with the Crucial SSD.
4. Turned it on and changed the boot order in my bios so the SSD was 1st.
5. It booted to the Win 7 logon screen in about 20 seconds, and everything loaded up in about 5 more!
6. Pulled out the DVD drive and replaced it with the original Samsung HDD.
7. Put everything back together, and then booted up and Optimized Windows 7 for the SSD (TRIM enabled, turned off Defrag, Hibernate, Superfetch and Prefetch, etc.), and verified 4k alignment.
8. Ran benchmarks to verify performance was consistent with that found by SSD review articles I found online (and it is!).
9. Copied all of my data, media, and documents back to my HDD (in the ODD bay) from the external USB.

All-in-all, the cloning process was very smooth and I didn’t encounter any issues – it took approximately 2 hours altogether. I highly recommend it.

 

Ephelant, great post, very helpful...


I used EasyGig years ago but haven't kept up with it. I see they have a USB 3.0 enclosure that comes with EasyGig and that is tempting given that I could put the OEM 1TB drive in it after replacing with SSD.

I ordered a 256GB Samsung SSD from Newegg yesterday and should have it tomorrow along with an 8GB RAM module to up my RAM to 12GB.

Could you give the procedure you used for putting your HD in the ODD bay? Did you use a caddy? If so, where did you get it from?


I'll download PS CS6 tonight and also CCleaner and a few other utilities.


Brian

 

gautam27 posted very helpful instructions for how to swap out the ODD here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/samsung/626915-hard-drive-caddy-series-7-a.html

Instructions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EmGUlRk8CY4WvPfqGVAROkj45I2dREYLqXfyWo9JLZw/edit
Photo: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bwr...gxMC00OWVkLWI5MzYtODE3MzgzNjkyY2Q0/edit?pli=1

I used this type of Caddy: SATA 2nd HDD Hard Drive Caddy for 9.5mm Universal CD / DVD-ROM Optical Bay | eBay
It's much cheaper than the Neomodeus one others have mentioned.

The only thing I would add to the instructions provided are that I was not able to remove the speaker above the ODD drive fully because there was not enough slack in the connected wiring. I had to VERY carefully remove the screw from beside the Wifi antenna wires, and slide out the ODD to the left with the speaker tilted up at an angle. It was also quite difficult to gently slide in the HDD caddy to replace it without damaging any wiring or the speaker. It was a bit tricky, but nothing too frustrating.

For detailed instructions on how to replace the HDD with the SSD, see here (pages 1 and 3): http://forum.notebookreview.com/sam...s-7-chronos-np700z5a-disassembly-guide-3.html

Hope that helps.

 

OK, I cloned the HD to the 256GB Samsung 830 SSD using the Apricorn EasyGig software that came with the USB 3.0 enclosure I ordered a couple days ago. I'd used EasyGig maybe 7 years ago to clone another laptop HD and had no problems then.

During the cloning process the transfer rate started about 65MB/sec and about 10 minutes later that had climbed to 120MB/sec before slowing down to about 75MB/sec towards the end -- total time to clone about 20 minutes.

I didn't have much problem pulling the back cover to swap out the HD and within 10 minutes I'd removed the HD, installed the SSD and booted up to confirm operation. Booted up without issue, recognized the new hardware, and then confirmed proper information was displayed on the Windows System display.

I then shutdown and put the cover back on then rebooted with the boot taking a bit over 20 seconds.

Prior to swapping out the HD I ran the Windows Experience a few times and got the following scores:

Processor=7.6
Memory=7.6
Graphics=7.1
Gaming graphics=7.1
Primary HD=5.9

The new numbers are the same except the HD which now reads 7.9 -- max. The overall score went from 5.9 to 7.1.


Brian

 

Sounds like it worked out well. You should also verify TRIM is enabled, and perform some of the other tweaks recommended for Win 7 on SSDs: The SSD Optimization Guide Redesigned - The SSD Review

 

Thanks again for the optimization pointers ... I'll look into that later today...


Brian

 

FWIW, here's what I did for a clean install of Windows 7 on a NP900X3C-A04US. For the first two steps, you'll need a portable writable USB DVD drive.

1. Boot into the BIOS. Turn off “Fast Boot” – if the computer boots too fast, it won’t recognize the USB DVD device

2. Boot to the F4 menu and create a SYSTEM SOFTWARE DVD – this will create a DVD with the Easy Software Manager (ESM) on it along with all of the installed drivers.

3. Boot from a Windows 7 installation Disk and format the drive C partition and install Windows on that partition.

4. Once Windows 7 is installed, install the ESM from the SYSTEM SOFTWARE disk (created in step 2) and run it. Install ONLY the following drivers/software:

a) Chipset driver
b) Intel Rapid Storage Technology
c) Graphics Driver
d) Sound Driver
e) LAN Driver
f) USB 3.0 Driver
g) Easy Settings
h) Touchpad Driver
i) Samsung Recover Solution 5
j) Windows 7 SP1 Critical Update(s)
k) Windows 7 SP1 common patch(es)
l) Fast Browsing (not sure what it does, but it sounds good!)
m) User’s Guide
​

5. Reboot into Windows

6. Install the Intel Wireless driver from here: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/con...Windows+7++*&keyword=Wireless_15.2.0_Ds64.exe

7. Run ESM to install any found updates


This was my first (and only) attempt at doing this, and I couldn't have done it without the help of the great people on this forum. If anyone wants to amend this - feel free.

I never got the Intel Rapid Start Technology driver working correctly and eventually ended up upgrading to Windows 8 after I finished the Windows 7 installation. I was hoping that the IRST driver would work in Windows 8 - but it didn't - at least for me. The upgrade was painless - just see the Windows 8 thread on this forum.

I ended up uninstalling the Intel Rapid Start Technology driver and implemented Windows hibernation - from what I can see, the only difference between the two is that IRST uses a dedicated partition for hibernation and Windows uses a dedicated file. I also deleted the dedicated hibernation partition using Acronis Disk Director and added it's space to drive C.

bert

 

I would note that there are more differences between IRST and Windows hibernation: (a) The hibernation partition is updated in the background as an image of the RAM with the result that when the computer transitions from sleep to hibernation all it has to do turn off the sleep - the hibernation partition is already updated; and (b) On resume it loads first whatever was active before sleeping. On my X4C (8GB RAM) resume takes about 10 seconds. How long does you X3C take to resume from Windows hibernation?

John

 

John,

Using Windows hibernation, it takes 7 seconds from when I select the "hibernate" option to fully shut off.

To turn it back on, it takes 9 seconds from when I press the power button to when I get to the logon picture.

Don't forget, these times are for Windows 8, which I suspect is faster than Windows 7.

bert

P.S. It's interesting to note that, although the IRST is uninstalled, the EasySettings program still lists it as an option.

 

Very impressive times. Can you rerun making sure that you have filled the RAM. In the past I have found that the hibernation / resume times could increase day by day as the RAM usage increased.

John

 

I started Adobe Photoshop CS6/64-bit and loaded a six 45MB RAW images (they actually loaded as 70MB each because they were compressed) into it.

Shutdown to hibernation took 9 sec
Startup from hibernation took 14 sec

It took 2 seconds longer to shutdown and 5 seconds longer to restart.

bert

 

Thank you. Give us an update if you notice it taking longer after more days since a reboot. My Lenovo T420s with 6GB RAM and Intel 320 SSD (only SATA 2) was more in the half minute range once it was several days since last reboot.

John

 

FWIW, I don't hibernate often. The computer only takes 8 seconds to go from an "off" position to the logon screen - and another 5 to 10 seconds to load the initial programs. And it's pretty quick to shut-down.

So, the only time I hibernate is if I'm working on something and have to shut the computer off quickly, which doesn't happen that often, at least for me. It's unlikely that I'd go days while hibernating.

bert