If your system is running on a hard disk drive, do yourself a favor and upgrade to an SSD now!
In terms of bang for buck upgrades, nothing beats an SSD, especially if you are still chugging along on a mechanical hard disk drive. The reason for this is quite simple, the SSD is many, many times faster than a mechanical hard disk drive. Assuming you've adequate system memory for the tasks you perform, the responsiveness of your system improves considerably as the storage drive has long been the bottleneck in the entire system when considering the speed at which each subsystem operates. Just look at how a portable SSD performs against portable external hard disk drives. And that's just for external drives; it gets even faster when you consider a top tier internal SSD. For this reason alone, users are going to notice the biggest gains in performance by upgrading to an SSD.
In fact, if you happen to own an early generation SSD and you often tax your system, it also pays to upgrade it to the newest generation drives as SSDs have been steadily improving in performance and reliability.
However, upgrading to an SSD can be a daunting task. There are two key considerations: physically swapping your existing hard disk drive for an SSD, and moving all your data from your existing hard disk drive to the SSD. The first consideration can be tricky especially if you are a notebook user as not all notebooks are user upgradeable. The second is equally challenging. Obviously, a fresh install is the recommended way to go, but if you have already invested in a lot of applications, or if you just simply want to avoid the hassle of reinstalling all your applications, migrating from your hard disk drive to the SSD can be an intimidating prospect for some.
While we can’t help you with physically installing your SSD since every system is physically different, we can however help you with the second bit and that is migrating your data from your existing hard disk drive to your new SSD. We first prepared such a guide a couple of years ago and this time round, we've an updated guide to migrating your data to an SSD. Take note that although this new guide was done using Windows 8.1 and OS X Yosemite, the steps should remain similar as the cloning apps we recommended is supported by the version of your OS. If you require a guide to transitioning your Windows 7 system, do check out our earlier guide.
Picking a Size
Generally, SSDs come in a number of capacity points and today’s most popular sizes are 256GB and 512GB. 256GB is an ideal combination of capacity and performance and should be sufficient for most users. Most of all, it is priced affordably. 512GB drives are also worthy of consideration because SSD prices have fallen so much that 512GB SSDs can be had for under S$300 today - that’s less than less than 60 cents a gigabyte!
Ideally, what you want is an SSD that can accommodate all of your data - OS installation, apps, photos, videos, and so on. This will ensure the best performance boost. If this is not possible, what we recommend is, at the very least, keep your OS installation and your most frequently used apps on the SSD. For users who want the most fuss-free migration process, our recommendation is to get an SSD that has the same or a bigger capacity than your existing drive.
Cloning a Windows 8.1
If you have a desktop system, simply install your new SSD to any unused hard drive bay. For notebook users, who might want to invest in a hard disk enclosure to house your SSD while it clones crucial system files from your existing hard disk. For the actual cloning procedure, we recommend using the free to download EaseUS Todo Backup 8.2 and that's what we'll be using shortly to commence the process. But before that, there are a couple of preparatory matters to look into first.
http://www.fuckwarezone.com.sg/feature-how-migrate-your-system-ssd-2015-edition
In terms of bang for buck upgrades, nothing beats an SSD, especially if you are still chugging along on a mechanical hard disk drive. The reason for this is quite simple, the SSD is many, many times faster than a mechanical hard disk drive. Assuming you've adequate system memory for the tasks you perform, the responsiveness of your system improves considerably as the storage drive has long been the bottleneck in the entire system when considering the speed at which each subsystem operates. Just look at how a portable SSD performs against portable external hard disk drives. And that's just for external drives; it gets even faster when you consider a top tier internal SSD. For this reason alone, users are going to notice the biggest gains in performance by upgrading to an SSD.
In fact, if you happen to own an early generation SSD and you often tax your system, it also pays to upgrade it to the newest generation drives as SSDs have been steadily improving in performance and reliability.
However, upgrading to an SSD can be a daunting task. There are two key considerations: physically swapping your existing hard disk drive for an SSD, and moving all your data from your existing hard disk drive to the SSD. The first consideration can be tricky especially if you are a notebook user as not all notebooks are user upgradeable. The second is equally challenging. Obviously, a fresh install is the recommended way to go, but if you have already invested in a lot of applications, or if you just simply want to avoid the hassle of reinstalling all your applications, migrating from your hard disk drive to the SSD can be an intimidating prospect for some.
While we can’t help you with physically installing your SSD since every system is physically different, we can however help you with the second bit and that is migrating your data from your existing hard disk drive to your new SSD. We first prepared such a guide a couple of years ago and this time round, we've an updated guide to migrating your data to an SSD. Take note that although this new guide was done using Windows 8.1 and OS X Yosemite, the steps should remain similar as the cloning apps we recommended is supported by the version of your OS. If you require a guide to transitioning your Windows 7 system, do check out our earlier guide.
Picking a Size
Generally, SSDs come in a number of capacity points and today’s most popular sizes are 256GB and 512GB. 256GB is an ideal combination of capacity and performance and should be sufficient for most users. Most of all, it is priced affordably. 512GB drives are also worthy of consideration because SSD prices have fallen so much that 512GB SSDs can be had for under S$300 today - that’s less than less than 60 cents a gigabyte!
Ideally, what you want is an SSD that can accommodate all of your data - OS installation, apps, photos, videos, and so on. This will ensure the best performance boost. If this is not possible, what we recommend is, at the very least, keep your OS installation and your most frequently used apps on the SSD. For users who want the most fuss-free migration process, our recommendation is to get an SSD that has the same or a bigger capacity than your existing drive.
Cloning a Windows 8.1
If you have a desktop system, simply install your new SSD to any unused hard drive bay. For notebook users, who might want to invest in a hard disk enclosure to house your SSD while it clones crucial system files from your existing hard disk. For the actual cloning procedure, we recommend using the free to download EaseUS Todo Backup 8.2 and that's what we'll be using shortly to commence the process. But before that, there are a couple of preparatory matters to look into first.
http://www.fuckwarezone.com.sg/feature-how-migrate-your-system-ssd-2015-edition
