Dual Boot (Linux+XP) migration to SSD

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PatrickJ
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2014 7:02 am

Dual Boot (Linux+XP) migration to SSD

Post by PatrickJ »

New user here and I am looking for some pointers from you gurus - Looks like the community here is fairly knowledgeable so here goes:

Basically I'm planning to migrate my dual boot environment (XP Pro + a few Linux Distros) to a new SSD drive. My current HD is 300MB, but is not completely full, so I s/b ok with a 240GB SSD. (Any recs for model/brand invited - I don't need anything fancy as my m/b is only SATA2).

What I'd like to do is make a (Cold) image copy - including MBR partitions etc of my HD - just a straight byte for byte copy w/out worrying about partition types/sizes etc. Then remove the HD, install the SSD drive and restore to the SSD from the image backup. This all sounds perfectly doable except for:

1) SSD partition alignment - AFAIK I may have performance issues in XP if I do not align the partitions correctly. So how do ensure that I get the partitions aligned correctly - either before or after the install.

2) TRIM support - XP does not support TRIM operations - Is there a 3rd party utlilty/garbage collection I can run periodically until I upgrade to Windows 7 or 8?

3) I'd like to achieve this WITHOUT installing original XP media as Its been a while since I originally installed XP and am planning to upgrade to either Windows 7 or Windows 8 in the next 6 months.

AFAIK this is not rocket science - however I don't do this very often so I'm just checking that there are no hidden snags/gotchas here.

TIA,
Patrick
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: Dual Boot (Linux+XP) migration to SSD

Post by Brian K »

PatrickJ wrote:
> My current HD is 300MB, but is not
> completely full, so I s/b ok with a 240GB SSD.

Patrick,

Your SSD is smaller than the HD so read this first.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/kb/article.php?id=554

Also, see this thread.

http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/ucf/vi ... f=4&t=1423
PatrickJ
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2014 7:02 am

Re: Dual Boot (Linux+XP) migration to SSD

Post by PatrickJ »

Brian,
Just to clarify a couple of things:

1) I realize the my HD is > ssd size - however it's not nearly full so I can resize the existing partitions to make sure everything fits. Thx for the link though.

2) Just checked the other thread, but it contains no reference to alignment management during the install - any comments on that?

Patrick
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: Dual Boot (Linux+XP) migration to SSD

Post by Brian K »

PatrickJ wrote:

>Just checked the other thread, but it contains no reference to alignment
> management during the install - any comments on that?

Patrick,

You will be using one of the TeraByte trio for the restore. In Settings, choose "Align Partitions on 2048 sectors". All restored partitions will be 2048 sector aligned.

You can use BIBM to TRIM your WinXP.
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