Sup Peeps I just bought the rest of my components for my upgrade and wanted to know the best way of moving system files from HDD to SSD. I know the best option would be to format and start from scratch but I have too many Steam games installed and dont really want to have to reinstall them all. Is it worth imaging my old HDD and reimaging straight to the SSD?

I currently have my OS Win7 Ulti on a partition thats 110gb is it possible to just fromat and fresh install on SSD and then link all my program files to new OS (My program files were not in c: but on another bigger drive seperate to OS)

Im pretty much fumbling in the dark and am sure you guys will have better suggestions...

Current Build is.
1 Sharkoon T9 Value ATX Midi Tower Red(9Bay,USB3,USB2)
1 Logitech Z623 Speaker System 2.1 THX certified speakers
1 Intel Core i5 3570K LGA1155 CPU 3.4Ghz 6Mb Cache Ivy Bridge
1 G Skill 8G(2x4G) DDR3 1600Mhz PC12800 RL 9-9-9-24(CL9D-8GBRL)
1 Corsair 120GB Force GT Series 3 SSD
1 Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO w Transparent 12cm
1 Asrock Z77-EXTREME4 Z77/4 x DDR3/2 x PCI-E3.0/4 x SATA3/6 x USB3.0/HDM
1 GTX 580
1 Western Digital 2 TB HDD internal


Any help would be awesome!

If steam is the only reason not to do a fresh install you can just copy and paste or do a steam backup.

Don't forget this place http://ninite.com/

Makes reinstalling a lot of stuff easier as it always has the up to date versions (mostly always anyway.)

I have had no real problems with steam back ups, I also have copy and pasted.

Origin is the real enemy here, I just lost my BF3 install because I had Origin installed to my 2nd drive and a new fresh instal of win7 on my main drive. There were no reg keys for origin or BF3 so I reinstalled over it and it did not recogise my BF3 folder. I tried a few different ways to get it to work but nothing worked. I had to download all 9gb worth again. Fuck Origin.

I got my copy of win7 ultimate from a site someone here linked. $16 and it worked.

I have had no real problems with steam back ups, I also have copy and pasted. Origin is the real enemy here, I just lost my BF3 install because I had Origin installed to my 2nd drive and a new fresh instal of win7 on my main drive. There were no reg keys for origin or BF3 so I reinstalled over it and it did not recogise my BF3 folder. I tried a few different ways to get it to work but nothing worked. I had to download all 9gb worth again. Fuck Origin.I got my copy of win7 ultimate from a site someone here linked. $16 and it worked.

I went to install origin because it told me I could use it to "play all my EA games & not require a CD". Installed it, "sorry this game isn't yet supported". Fuckers. Also it wants to download everything to my tiny SSD drive, and won't let me tell it otherwise.

Fuck Origin +1. Uninstalled

i run my main partition on an ssd and just put on it what ever game i'm currently playing..everything else goes on the normal 2tb hdds

if it was me i would just do a fresh install of all the games etc.. but i'm in NL and we dont pay for data.. haha poor australia

I went to install origin because it told me I could use it to "play all my EA games & not require a CD". Installed it, "sorry this game isn't yet supported". Fuckers. Also it wants to download everything to my tiny SSD drive, and won't let me tell it otherwise.Fuck Origin +1. Uninstalled

You can change where Origin installs games. it's under options. I've used it. It works.

Don't forget SteamTool. My steam folder is too big to fit on my SSD so I store everything on a 2TB HDD and copy only the games I'm current playing to my SSD.

WOW thanks for the info...

I ended completing a fresh windows install on my SSD and placed Origin and BF3 on the drive also.
Had uber issues with my GTX580 running BF3 here are the issues i had...apparently common with the gtx580
.
BF3 would reboot my system - fixed by upgrading the PSU form a shitty 600w Codegen to a 620w Altec 80+... the old PSU was only producing 20amps on the 12v rail!!! no were near enough for my GPU

BF3 stopped restarting but was now crashing to desktop - fixed by playing around with the volts and memory via afterburner. Had to increase the volts to 1.35 and drop the memory to 2004. finally stable .

Then I started getting artifacts and had to drop the Nvidia drivers to an older version.... many head aches but well worth the effort BF3 is now rocking at ultra settings with no crashes.

Very happy with the SSD windows boots up almost instantly and the only lag time i have with BF3 is my shitty ADSL connextion (max 2.9) I also put skyrim on SSD drive and loving it.

I added the SSD to my build as an afterthought and very happy with it well worth it if anyone is sitting on the fence re SSD's

Skythra thanks for the info regarding changing user folders very handy next time i reinstall!

Steam was always on my back up drive and as everyone has been posting very easy to link to the new system and yes way too big to fit on my SSD... Is there a way to move say one of my steam games to SSD?? couldn't find it anywhere?

Why are people such pussies about deleting steam? It is the one thing on your computer that is totally safe to delete...

Not scared to delete it bro just dont want to have to dl 18gb worth of games again :)

Sorry but I don't accept this reasoning. I assume this 18 gb would be spread out over dozens of games? Do you ever really need to play them all again? The answer is no. Just install the 1 or 2 games you intend to play immediately.

Infact you may as well just go through your steam games now and uninstall everything except 1 or 2 games.