SSD dying? Replacement on the way, best way to migrate?

[Jaffar]

I currently have an M4 SSD for my OS and a couple of games, then a 500GB HD for storage and other programs.

I believe my SSD is dying or dead, I got a weird memory error message before a blue screen on a couple of occassions. When I go to restart, some times I get a message that the BOOT MGR is not found, so I go into my boot priorities & my SSD isn't there.

After a restart, it usually shows back up, so i set it as my boot drive, and get back up and running. Then i typically get an error message from Norton 360 saying that there was an error accessing memory do to an I/O error; sometimes I crash completely, but othertimes, the game I'm running from the HD will stay running. I can't alt+tab to anything, the start bar is gone, can't launch Chrome or IE (basically anything on the SSD).

So I ordered a new Samsung EVO ssd, should be home when I get out of work. I know it comes with software to install on the current drive to map over, but I'm wondering if I should go that route, or do a fresh Win7 install on the new SSD and then just re-attach my old storage drive. My main concern would be if I was trying to migrate the data & the old SSD craps out during the process; I'm not sure how that would impact the new drive.

In addition to the internall 500GB HD, I also have an external that has all my pics, docs & whatnot backed up on.

Thanks.

[Buffy]

Since most of your pics and docs are on another drive, it is probably simplest to re-install win7 on the new drive and move one.

Windows likes to set up all those registry settings itself when it gets installed and moving everything over doesn't always agree with it.

A fresh install is going to be the cleanest option, as long as you have your files backed up somewhere.

In my opinion, don't screw around with a migration, too easy to screw up.

[Gredival]

Clean install always works out better, but I can't imagine what exactly a clone would do to irreparably damage your new drive.

[Elizara]

If I'm not mistaken, your operating system was on that drive, correct? I'll echo the others here. Just clean install windows; also make a list of any programs you installed on that drive and install them too. That method is simpler if you didn't back up before the crap hit the fan.