Windows 7 add new SSD

[Ken H]

Current storage for the entire PC is a 1TB WD hard drive. I want to get the existing Windows 7 OS onto the new SSD, remove it from the old hard drive completely. The hard drive will continue to store WMC recorded content and a bit of old documents, etc.

I have read some topics here that seem to indicate I need to clone the OS but it's not entirely clear to me how to do this besides having a backup just in case something goes wrong.

I'm looking for an easy, safe way to preserve the recorded content for future viewing and get the speed and reliability of an SSD for Windows 7.

Thanks!

[Space]

I use the free version of Macrium Reflect to backup/clone my drives. There is an option to "Create an image of the partition(s) required to backup and restore Windows" which will select all the partitions needed to backup (and later restore) Windows. Note that this can be several partitions (on my system it is 2 small partitions and 1 large one which contains the OS), and you must backup and restore all of them for DRM to continue working on the new drive (at least if you want to play back old recorded DRM protected recordings).

I usually create an image backup and restore that image to the new disk instead of a clone, so that I can keep the image file as a backup on a separate drive. Although if you don't want to do that, you can use the clone feature instead.

Note that my original drive, like yours, had both Windows and WMC videos stored on it, however, I set it up in separate partitions. So Windows (drive C:) was one partition and the remaining disk was a separate partition (the bulk of the disk, drive X:). If you are not currently set up this way, and the SSD is not big enough to clone the drive, you may have a problem. One thing you may be able to do is move all the recordings to a third drive before cloning/imaging the drive, although I am not familiar with cloning a large drive to a smaller drive, but I think it will work as long as the used space on the larger drive does not exceed the size of the smaller drive.

After you write the image to the new drive, you can reboot in to the BIOS of the PC and tell it to boot off of your new drive, and then boot up.

Once booted on the new drive (verify that you are booted on the new one), you can test to see if all your DRM protected recordings still play back correctly (there is a small chance of breaking DRM due to hardware change, but if you have not changed much hardware over the lifetime of your system, then it should work fine, as adding a new drive is a minimal change).

Note that you can always go in to the BIOS and change it to boot off of the original drive again, although to play back any recordings that were made while you were on the new drive will require you to copy over the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\PlayReady\mspr.hds file (search these forums for more info) since this file has a license for each DRM protected recording written to it at the time it is recorded.

There is little risk in doing this, as you can always go back to the original drive if you mess something up (unless what you mess up somehow corrupts the original drive). The most important thing to be careful of is that you have selected the correct drive when doing the save/restore of the image.

[Ken H]

I got a new Crucial 2TB SSD and used the included Acronis software to clone the entire existing 1TB HD. It worked with a minor issue (had to reinstall HDMI audio) and the the new SSD runs WMC fine. Except all of the recordings are gone.

The HD had only one partition with the OS and everything else on it. All the other files like documents and pictures made the trip just fine. Only the WMC recordings are missing.

So I'm assuming this is a DRM issue there are probably ways to recover the recordings. The original plan was to keep the HD as it was last used as a backup, but I'm guessing I could connect it via USB, delete Windows, and use it as just storage for the recordings but then I'd have to switch back and forth between the two drives to access the recordings on each.

If possible I'd like to move the recordings from the HD to the SSD and have the SSD as the one recording location.

[stuartm]

DRM should not have prevented copying the recordings to the new disk. Something else must be going on there. DRM does not lock recordings to a particular disk just locks playback to the recording PC.

[Ken H]

DRM should not have prevented copying the recordings to the new disk. Something else must be going on there. DRM does not lock recordings to a particular disk just locks playback to the recording PC.

Oh. As Chester A. Riley would say "What a revolting development this is!"

[Ken H]

The original HD was about full, with the recordings the vast majority of it, and the SSD has 1.7 of 1.81 TB free, so it's not like they are hiding somewhere else on the drive.

[stuartm]

Hmm, If you try to hand copy one recording over to the new drive what happens?

[Ken H]

Hmm, If you try to hand copy one recording over to the new drive what happens?

Yes, I want to try that but can't figure out how.

I booted off the new SSD clone drive without the original HD connected. Once everything was up and running I connected the HD using a USB adapter. Windows said the USB drive was installed properly, the USB drive shows up in Device Manager without any warning icon and says it's working properly, but under Devices and Printers although it sees the drive it offers no options to open up the contents and under USB Device Properties it shows Type Unknown and Status Not Initialized. In Disk Management it also shows up as Disk 1 Unknown Not Initialized.

I'm not sure I should initialize the drive because of how it might screw it up.

[unclebun]

Connect the old hard drive internally. When booting up, go to boot drive selection in BIOS and select your SSD as first.

[stuartm]

When USB connected if you go to "computer" in your start menu it doesn't show the drive? (Just like any USB connected storage should show there)

[Ken H]

When USB connected if you go to "computer" in your start menu it doesn't show the drive? (Just like any USB connected storage should show there)

Correct, only C shows up there. But see my next reply.

[Ken H]

Connect the old hard drive internally. When booting up, go to boot drive selection in BIOS and select your SSD as first.

Ok!

Just got the needed part to split the SATA power, have connected both drives internally, and configured for SSD as the boot drive C and the old HD as D.

Drive D has all the programs in Users, Public, Public Recorded TV. I dragged and dropped a program to the desktop, then opened up C, dragged and dropped it to Users, Public, Public Recorded TV. Opened up WMC and there it is. Plays fine. Success!

Now all I have to do is figure out the best way to move all the programs from the one location to the other.

My sincere thanks to unclebun and stewatrm for their assistance.

[stuartm]

I suspect USB didn't have enough power to run the drive.

[Ken H]

I suspect USB didn't have enough power to run the drive.

I don't know enough to understand how Windows 10 Pro, documents, pictures, programs and apps all could get cloned with one very minor issue, but not enough power for the Recorded TV.

[Ken H]

After having time to check a number of different recordings, now I've found the Copy Protected ones (from HBO, Starz, etc.) will not play, from either the new SSD drive C or the old HD drive D.

Maybe I should go back to scratch and use different software to clone the drive.

[Ken H]

I suspect USB didn't have enough power to run the drive.

I don't know enough to understand how Windows 10 Pro, documents, pictures, programs and apps all could get cloned with one very minor issue, but not enough power for the Recorded TV.

After re-reading your comment, I misunderstood. Yes when the HD was connected via USB maybe that's why it couldn't be accessed.

[Ken H]

I uninstalled PlayReady and reinstalled it, and ran the digital cable advisor, both were successful. Still can't play Copy Protected programs.

So yeah, I'm thinking of trying the Macrium Reflect that Space recommended above.

Overall this is the only hardware change I've made since recording the programs, so I don't think the issue is hardware.

[Space]

If you correctly clone or image/restore (to new drive) the drive, you should not have to reinstall PlayReady or reinitialize it. I think doing those things will break your old recordings from working when booted from the new drive.

When I loaded the image from my old drive on to the new one, then booted from the new one, everything just worked, as if I had not changed to a new drive at all. No need to mess with PlayReady.

Be sure to re-read what I posted above, you need to clone multiple partitions, not just the system (C: drive) partition in order to not break PlayReady.

[Ken H]

If you correctly clone or image/restore (to new drive) the drive, you should not have to reinstall PlayReady or reinitialize it.

Yes, PlayReady did work fine for live TV.

When I loaded the image from my old drive on to the new one, then booted from the new one, everything just worked, as if I had not changed to a new drive at all. No need to mess with PlayReady.

The only reason I reinstalled PlayReady was to see if the Copy Protected recordings would play. which they did not.

Be sure to re-read what I posted above, you need to clone multiple partitions, not just the system (C: drive) partition in order to not break PlayReady.

As I said before, I don't have any partitions on the old HD. And yes, I know partitions are the best way to set up a drive. Is it possible to clone different content to partitions you create on the new drive?

[Ken H]

I replaced the SSD with the original HD and all the Copy Protected programs work fine. I'm going to try and clone again.