The SSD arrived today!
The first problem was that I neglected to order the package with the 2.5″ > 3.5″ HD bracket. So mounting the drive was an issue. I had taped the Laptop drive during my testing using a cardboard platform, so after not finding any bracket when calling around to places in town, I did the same, and then ordered some brackets from NewEgg.
Just cut a slab of cardboard, tape it to the carrier and then tape the drive to the cardboard in the other direction. Here’s a bottom view.
Here is the laptop test clone, and the SSD in place in the computer:
The Alienware computers come with all their drive cables and power cables in place and labled with stickers, so you can easily hook up new drives to the right connectors. As you can see, both the laptop drive and the SSD [top] are on cardboard carriers at this point. The brackets are on the way, so I’ll update the install as soon as they arrive.
Success
Paragon Migrate OS to SSD cloned the laptop drive to the SSD without complaint and the resulting SSD booted the first time. So apparently all the booting issues had to do with removing the Alienware blank and recovery partitions, which are not a good idea on an SSD since they just waste precious space.
Tuning Your System for SSD
Don’t forget to tune your system for your new SSD.
Rock on with the new SSD. Tera now starts much faster, which is the primary goal of this exercise. But I also noticed that Linux Mint in a virtual machine boots and updates much faster. And the system boots much faster as well.
Rock on,
– windy
Windy Weather 