Migrating Win7 to new SSD..?
Discussion
Morning chaps..
I have a PC workstation that I built about 5 years ago and have been meaning to upgrade now that the Haswell-E processors are out; now my system HDD is on its last legs and I'm getting startup failures / freezes / slow running and BSOD STOP errors, I figure I should do it before I lose 5 years of work and probably my mind!
I'm a fairly competent DIY user, but have never had to do this before. There's plenty on the Internet about creating system images and transferring, but I think due to the sheer volume of irreplaceable files I have (lots of CAD / CAE and self-developed software) any kind of data loss in the process would be unthinkable, so I'd like to make sure I do it right.
I have a 2nd internal mass storage drive, so can temporarily move things over or save an image there, and plenty of USB drives too. So what's involved in doing this right, first time? I have lots of installed CAD / CAE programs that I don't want to have to re-install. Would creating a system image of the OS drive keep all of this? I can create multiple backups of my work, so that isn't so much of a problem, it's just making sure all my programs and settings migrate seamlessly to the new HDD.
I'll go solid state for the new OS drive, and have space for 6 HDD's in my case if I want to create a RAID. What do you recommend? I haven't created a RAID yet.. so is this something that I would be wise to do?
I have a PC workstation that I built about 5 years ago and have been meaning to upgrade now that the Haswell-E processors are out; now my system HDD is on its last legs and I'm getting startup failures / freezes / slow running and BSOD STOP errors, I figure I should do it before I lose 5 years of work and probably my mind!
I'm a fairly competent DIY user, but have never had to do this before. There's plenty on the Internet about creating system images and transferring, but I think due to the sheer volume of irreplaceable files I have (lots of CAD / CAE and self-developed software) any kind of data loss in the process would be unthinkable, so I'd like to make sure I do it right.
I have a 2nd internal mass storage drive, so can temporarily move things over or save an image there, and plenty of USB drives too. So what's involved in doing this right, first time? I have lots of installed CAD / CAE programs that I don't want to have to re-install. Would creating a system image of the OS drive keep all of this? I can create multiple backups of my work, so that isn't so much of a problem, it's just making sure all my programs and settings migrate seamlessly to the new HDD.
I'll go solid state for the new OS drive, and have space for 6 HDD's in my case if I want to create a RAID. What do you recommend? I haven't created a RAID yet.. so is this something that I would be wise to do?
Bugger. 
Is there any way I could transfer the programs without having to re-install the lot? It would take me weeks to re-install all my CAD & CAE programs.. let alone get all the preferences back how they were!
As a slight diversion.. since I do a lot of resource heavy work, is it worth going for a Xeon-based workstation, rather than using i7? My setup is 5 years old and based on the very first i7 & x58 chipset, so I am looking to upgrade processor, motherboard, graphics, and hard drives. I think if I'm going to all that effort, it might be better for me to fork out for 2 Xeon processors than one ultra-expensive i7. If I wanted quad core, that's £800 for a 5930X.. for that price I could get 2 6-core Xeon e5-2620 v3 processors. Now.. the detailed specs are probably far beyond my current comprehension, but 12 cores on 2 processors vs 8 cores on one sounds like a win.
Is there any way I could transfer the programs without having to re-install the lot? It would take me weeks to re-install all my CAD & CAE programs.. let alone get all the preferences back how they were!
As a slight diversion.. since I do a lot of resource heavy work, is it worth going for a Xeon-based workstation, rather than using i7? My setup is 5 years old and based on the very first i7 & x58 chipset, so I am looking to upgrade processor, motherboard, graphics, and hard drives. I think if I'm going to all that effort, it might be better for me to fork out for 2 Xeon processors than one ultra-expensive i7. If I wanted quad core, that's £800 for a 5930X.. for that price I could get 2 6-core Xeon e5-2620 v3 processors. Now.. the detailed specs are probably far beyond my current comprehension, but 12 cores on 2 processors vs 8 cores on one sounds like a win.
Ok thanks for the advice. W7 has been gradually getting slower and taking longer to boot up, but the instability problems came very suddenly and certainly seem consistent with HDD failures I've experienced in the past. But I think you're right, a clean install would be the best way forwards once I have the new setup. Looks like I'll have to keep the computer down for the time being until I have the parts to upgrade.
Whether that's to a new i7 or dual-processor Xeon is still an open question.. thankfully it will take me a little while to save up the money for either so I can have a good think.
Whether that's to a new i7 or dual-processor Xeon is still an open question.. thankfully it will take me a little while to save up the money for either so I can have a good think.
Hardware requirements for CFD are cores x lots and RAM x even more.
It seems 4GB per core is a sensible requirement, so an 8-core would require 32GB RAM, and more memory channels = better, so a dual-CPU machine would be best. I need to work out whether my license is for 8 processes maximum or 32, and that will dictate how many cores I really need. I think a minimum of 12 is a safe bet, as it leaves me a few cores to process applications while Fluent solves in the background.
I think I'm going to go for something like a Supermicro X10DAC, which is a twin-socket board that will take the latest Xeon CPU's, then use 2 6-core Xeon e5 processors and as much RAM as I can afford. The board can take 1TB.
It seems 4GB per core is a sensible requirement, so an 8-core would require 32GB RAM, and more memory channels = better, so a dual-CPU machine would be best. I need to work out whether my license is for 8 processes maximum or 32, and that will dictate how many cores I really need. I think a minimum of 12 is a safe bet, as it leaves me a few cores to process applications while Fluent solves in the background.
I think I'm going to go for something like a Supermicro X10DAC, which is a twin-socket board that will take the latest Xeon CPU's, then use 2 6-core Xeon e5 processors and as much RAM as I can afford. The board can take 1TB.
Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff