[Spooniest]

...I looked into transferring my Windows 10 installation to my SSD. For some reason, the utility that I tried to use was not reading my SSD as having any free space, and at a certain point, I thought it was too much trouble to spend the better part of a day off doing, so I tabled it for now.

But I'm still considering it. Would it have a significant impact on the performance of my PC re: gaming? Or is having the games themselves installed on the SSD enough?

Also, this is not related, but the TV I have has a kind of sensitive (read: very old) LCD panel and it tends to get images burned into it very quickly, so I've taken to using a screen saver (Ribbons) that constantly uses new colors everywhere on the screen, however, I'm sick of this one. I tried using a Cave Story screen saver I found, but it has a static image in the background of the Moon and Stars from the Outer Wall (nobody told them what a screen saver was, I guess?). Anyone still use these? Any rec's?

...And with that, I'll open the thread. What misadventures on your gaming PC have you entertained yourself with lately? Doing any mini-hacks to your gaming setup? What PC games have you been playing lately?

[Bonesy]

many older games are fine on HD

but for instance i have to have Fallout 4/Skyrim SE/Dragon Age Inquisition on the SSD for way lower load times

[thr]

having your system installation on an SSD should speed up mostly everything you do with on computer, so i'd go for it. of course having individual games on an ssd will help with loading them too, but it's mostly noticeable with huge games that load a lot of assets.

moving system files around never worked for me, and from what i've read it's highly discouraged. however, moving your user data is another thing.
so, the way i'd do it:
1. install a fresh copy of Windows on your SSD. make sure it's the first drive on the drive list, so it installs as drive C. it's also important that the new Windows username is the same as the old one, otherwise things will break.
2. after it's installed, move or copy your old user folder and whatever else you need from your old drive, so all configs and stuff are back.

this method comes with a caveat that all of your software will have to be installed back. but it's a good way to get rid of system bloat, and it's refreshing to have a clean system back once in a while, nevertheless having your settings and personal data preserved.
you'll also have to clean up your old drive to recover space.
the thing with moving my user folder around i got from linux, where it's common to have a single user folder work fine while trying out multiple distros, changing disk drives, or even getting a new PC. with Windows, it may be a bit more complicated, but works fine too if you do it right.

for my screensaver, i'm using Wallpaper Engine with a long playlist of animated pixel art wallpapers. i honestly believe Wallpaper Engine is the most useful and enjoyable piece of software ever.

[Jorpho]

This whole quarantine situation would have been a prime time to sink properly into a good game – Planescape: Torment has been taunting me for twenty years now – but I just keep procrastinating.  I did manage to find some other people interested in multiplayer Castle Crashers and that's been great fun, but it's only two hours once a week.  I was really enjoying the various volumes of the Jackbox Party Pack on Twitch, but it looks like people might have gotten bored of that and it's no longer as easy to find a good stream as it used to be.  I was halfway through Jane Jensen's Gray Matter back in March and somehow just haven't found the will to go back and finish it, which probably doesn't speak well for the quality of the game.

At least Ryukahr's Youtube streams are still amusing. I doubt I would ever have his patience or skill with Mario Maker 2 levels.  I remain determined not to buy a Switch when I have so, so much older stuff sitting around.

A few days ago I learned that if you try to uninstall the Steam client from the Windows control panel, it will gleefully wipe out your entire Steam library without even prompting you.  If I knew where I could file a bug report that might actually get someone's attention, I would probably do so.  But fortunately I (hopefully) only lost program data for games that I had never gotten around to playing anyway.

I was trying to uninstall Steam because the client wasn't running properly anymore. It looks like Valve patched the workaround that let you keep using the old Steam Library UI.  I still despise the new UI.

Not really game-related, but I was trying to watch streaming video from http://store.cineplex.com recently and found out that the in-browser player causes intermittent (once a second) bursts of static to appear on my monitor, which I suppose must indicate a decent possibility of imminent hardware failure. I'd only seen something similar once before when watching a Twitch stream, but most videos play fine.

[Spooniest]

so, the way i'd do it:
1. install a fresh copy of Windows on your SSD. make sure it's the first drive on the drive list, so it installs as drive C. it's also important that the new Windows username is the same as the old one, otherwise things will break.

I don't think I can do that without physical media to copy my original installation from. My PC came used from Newegg with a copy of Windows 7 installed, and no disc to restore from, and I later upgraded to Windows 10 when Microsoft was offering it for free, without any backup of Windows 7 to restore to. Or, is there a way to have Windows install on my SSD using Windows Security's Fresh Start feature?

[thr]

I don't think I can do that without physical media to copy my original installation from. My PC came used from Newegg with a copy of Windows 7 installed, and no disc to restore from, and I later upgraded to Windows 10 when Microsoft was offering it for free, without any backup of Windows 7 to restore to. Or, is there a way to have Windows install on my SSD using Windows Security's Fresh Start feature?

i don't think Fresh Start can use another drive.

but the way it works is that you should have a Windows 10 key that was silently given to you during the free upgrade.
it's hidden, but it's there. use a key recovery tool like ProduKey to see and copy it somewhere.

moreover, you can skip the 'provide your key' installation prompt, and chances are your computer will still be automatically authorised. i'm not sure it'll work just like that in case of a changed system drive. but then you should be able to activate your key by logging into your MS account, hotmail or whatever with an associated Windows 'digital' license. you don't have to use this newfangled 'online Windows account' crap. use your normal offline account, and just log in from the accounts panel, e-mail app or Windows Store so it activates your system, then log out if it bothers you.

failing all that, just use your recovered key.

edit: use the Windows 10 media installation tool with a USB stick to create a bootable installation USB.

[Whipon]

I don't think I can do that without physical media to copy my original installation from. My PC came used from Newegg with a copy of Windows 7 installed, and no disc to restore from, and I later upgraded to Windows 10 when Microsoft was offering it for free, without any backup of Windows 7 to restore to. Or, is there a way to have Windows install on my SSD using Windows Security's Fresh Start feature?

I successfully cloned all my hard disks to new SDD using Aomei Backuper.
Its free.
When you open the app you have to open the "Tools" section, then choose "Create Boot Disk" (Maybe its listed differently, I have the Spanish language by default. This way you create a bootable flash drive and boot the system with it to clone the drive.

You can download the free version here:

https://www.ubackup.com/downloads.html

You can also do the same through Windows, but I prefer to do it with a bootable usb, just in case.

Regards.

[Spooniest]

Its free.

I dunno which version you have, but the Standard Free version I got has System Clone behind a paywall.

[Bonesy]

i went from a WD Green to a Samsung Evo 860 recently ssd-wise

i used https://www.lazesoft.com/lazesoft-recovery-suite-free.html and it was free and worked lol

[Spooniest]

i went from a WD Green to a Samsung Evo 860 recently ssd-wise

i used https://www.lazesoft.com/lazesoft-recovery-suite-free.html and it was free and worked lol

I hope the lol doesn't mean you're pranking me. Here goes...

Who hates progress bars? Me

EDIT: I'm guessing sector-by-sector copying was the wrong choice because my computer refused to recognize the SSD as a bootable device afterwards. Now I'm having to wipe it out, which (If I heard right) may or may not have rendered it unusable. -_____- Happiness is wanting what you have, kids

[Whipon]

I dunno which version you have, but the Standard Free version I got has System Clone behind a paywall.

Yes, System Clone is avalaible in the paid version.
I allways use "Disk Clone" wich is avalaible for free.
Good luck .

[Spooniest]

Welp, despite that (as usual) I am a tremendous fudge-up, the SSD survived my clumsiness and impatience

Good thing I backed everything up first

[thr]

EDIT: I'm guessing sector-by-sector copying was the wrong choice because my computer refused to recognize the SSD as a bootable device afterwards. Now I'm having to wipe it out, which (If I heard right) may or may not have rendered it unusable. -_____- Happiness is wanting what you have, kids

SSDs don't have tracks nor sectors.

[Spooniest]

SSDs don't have tracks nor sectors.

Now I know.