Upgrade to SSD or new computer?


JBHammer
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I tried to upgrade my Dell XPS 8700 (Windows 7) to a SSD (Crucial MX500). After cloning the old spin disk (3 times) and plugging the SSD into the XPS, it goes blue screen right after the login option.  So far, nothing has worked to get past the BSOD. My tech is still researching, but I could have probably bought a new PC with what it will cost at this point.

 

QUESTIONS:

1) Does anyone know why a perfectly cloned SSD would go BSOD on us? 

2) Should I cut my losses and go to a new machine.

3) if new machine, which one? Bear in mind I now own a new 1TB SSD plus, I just put a new Geforce GTX 1060 in my Dell.  Maybe a machine with a small SSD and no video card?

5b0c167c64211_xps8700.thumb.JPG.0f6b9f011e707804c20af8af8dff248d.JPG

 

Thank you for any help.  

 

JB

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My guess would be Win7 does not have the appropriate Drivers for the MX500 --- SSD or NVME  , NVME could be an issue with Win7....

 

Hook the drive up as a secondary drive with the old HDD as main and see if the SSD is seen or if Win7 needs additional Drivers.

 

What SW did you use to clone the Drives?  Try Macrium Reflect Free perhaps , and use the "Fix Boot Option , in the rescue disk Menu before rebooting too.

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26 minutes ago, Kbird1 said:

My guess would be Win7 does not have the appropriate Drivers for the MX500 --- SSD or NVME  , NVME could be an issue with Win7....

 

Hook the drive up as a secondary drive with the old HDD as main and see if the SSD is seen or if Win7 needs additional Drivers.

 

What SW did you use to clone the Drives?  Try Macrium Reflect Free perhaps , and use the "Fix Boot Option , in the rescue disk Menu before rebooting too.

 

Define for me NVME. thanks

The SW was Acronis 

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3 hours ago, JBHammer said:

I tried to upgrade my Dell XPS 8700 (Windows 7) to a SSD (Crucial MX500). After cloning the old spin disk (3 times) and plugging the SSD into the XPS, it goes blue screen right after the login option.  So far, nothing has worked to get past the BSOD. My tech is still researching, but I could have probably bought a new PC with what it will cost at this point.

...

  1. Have you looked on Crucial's site to check compatibility?  I couldn't find your 8700.  I tried a few other Dell's and none came back compatible with the MX500.
  2. I also got a BSOD when installing one of my SSD as a system disk: the culprit is most often a missing low level driver, skipped by the cloning software.  If you can create a Windows 10 boot disk on a USB on another pc, then boot up with this USB on your PC and go into 'repair' mode.  You tech guy should handle this.
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I had a similar decision to make and decided a new computer was the best option. While upgrading memory, hard drives, and video cards will get you some nice gains, its still an older computer with a likelihood of another part failing (motherboard, power supply etc), then what? Assuming this is how you make your living, the prudent option is to plan on replacing your hardware every 3-4 years or so. You might be able to extend that with periodic, specific upgrades, but I wouldn't go past 5-6  years, I think you are asking for trouble if you do.

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I went through a similar upgrade on my 8700 last year and did not have any major issues.  Not that that information alone is helpful but it should not be an impossible situation. I just plugged mine in and kept on going.  I had already upgraded to windows 10 and bought a Samsung SSD but other than that it looks to me like the same situation.  Hope you can get is sorted out because my computer still outperforms a lot of newer equipment. Should be good for a few more if necessary.

 

Is your stock power supply ok for the 1060 ?

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11 hours ago, JBHammer said:

 

Define for me NVME. thanks

The SW was Acronis 

 

I personally have not had good luck with Acronis , it comes free with WD Drives and Samsung's SW is no better, at least for me , I have used Macrium successfully now for the last 3-4 years , including swapping out my Samsung 250gb Evo 850 for a Samsung 500gb 960 EVO NVME Drive last year.

 

M.

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Thank you to everyone in your efforts to help resolve this issue. For anyone who's interested, let me explain what happened. My tech found this article  on the Crucial site that seemed to be dealing with the same symptoms I experienced: https://forums.crucial.com/t5/Crucial-SSDs/BSOD-after-cloning-HDD-to-SSD-M550/td-p/162498  Following the prescribed treatment, we downloaded new IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers via this  intel website: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26759/Intel-Rapid-Storage-Technology-Intel-RST-User-Interface-and-Driver?product=55005  Then we did a clone of my current spin disk to the SSD. When I restarted the PC with the  SSD, viola, my PC is twenty times faster. All of the processes of X10 work smoothly. :-)

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20 minutes ago, JBHammer said:

Thank you to everyone in your efforts to help resolve this issue. For anyone who's interested, let me explain what happened. My tech found this article  on the Crucial site that seemed to be dealing with the same symptoms I experienced: https://forums.crucial.com/t5/Crucial-SSDs/BSOD-after-cloning-HDD-to-SSD-M550/td-p/162498  Following the prescribed treatment, we downloaded new IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers via this  intel website: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26759/Intel-Rapid-Storage-Technology-Intel-RST-User-Interface-and-Driver?product=55005  Then we did a clone of my current spin disk to the SSD. When I restarted the PC with the  SSD, viola, my PC is twenty times faster. All of the processes of X10 work smoothly. :-)

Your bios must support and be changed to ACHI. Make sure to flash your bios with the newest firmware prior to the swap. Google should help you here

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1 hour ago, madcowscarnival said:

JB, I've been holding back on this type of swap to avoid going through what you did.

 

Given it was eventually successful, would you do it again?  Was the performance increase worth it?

 

Wahoo! Oh my gosh YES. Incredible speed increase. My PC took about 20 minutes to fully boot after a restart before. It takes less than 30 seconds to be ready to use now. Programs open faster, everything works faster. Videos I created in X10 would stall during replay. No more. If you noticed, I did upgrade my video card in conjunction with the SSD upgrade. Equipment costs for the card and drive were just under $600.

Advantages of this move.

1) I still have Win.7 and don't have to deal with Win 10 spyware garbage.

2) didn't have to go through the toil of setting up a new PC (though the trouble I experience was probably equal to that).

3) much less expensive than a new PC (but I haven't got my bill from my tech yet. If you build on my experience, you can avoid  most of that cost and it will be less than a new PC that can handle X10). 

Now some will say I have to go to Win10 eventually anyway, but I rather avoid it as long as possible. The 2018 Win 10 upgrade crashed my laptop and it came with 10 on it. Maybe by the time I have to go to Win 10, they'll have their stuff together. 

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