Proceedural questions about my first backup...

Would it be possible to move this to the Acronis True Image 2017 Forum?

Apologies...

xxx

xxx, sorry only a forum moderator can move topics between different forums - we mere mortals can only edit our own posts!

For your plan, I would recommend some simple extra steps.

1. Register your ATIH 2017 license to your Acronis account.
2. Download and create the Acronis bootable Rescue Media on DVD (or use a utility such as ISO to USB to write to a USB stick).
3. Test booting your current system from the Acronis Rescue Media - ensure that you boot the media in the same mode as your Windows OS uses, i.e. in UEFI or Legacy according to how Windows boots.   See webpage: Check if your PC uses UEFI or BIOS if needed.
4. If all boots fine and you can see your 'aged hard drive' then make a full disk & partitions backup of this to an external drive.

At this point you could then swap out the old hard drive for the new WD drive and do an 'Entire drive' restore to it of the old drive image.

An alternative to step 2 would be to install ATIH 2017 on the old drive then create the Rescue Media directly from within the GUI - there is no need to uninstall ATIH as you will want it included in the backup image and migrated to the new WD drive anyway. 

Hiya,

Thanks for the reply/post.

What does ATIH stand for? (I just have the "plain vanilla" ATI 2017 non-subsciption version,) that I bought on-line.

A quick question: ATI will copy the programs over to the new HDD? I always understood that, that wasn't done because when the program copies over a program, it could potentially mess up the registry. That's why it's not done. That's what the tech told me.

At any rate, that's why he said the tech, at a big box store, said that's the reason why I'd have to re-install all my programs.

Thanks for the help

xxx

The "H" stands for "Home" - indiucating it is a consumer (+ small business) software rather than enerprise software.

Ian

xxx wrote:

A quick question: ATI will copy the programs over to the new HDD? I always understood that, that wasn't done because when the program copies over a program, it could potentially mess up the registry. That's why it's not done. That's what the tech told me.

At any rate, that's why he said the tech, at a big box store, said that's the reason why I'd have to re-install all my programs.

ATI makes a full backup image of the entire disk drive which includes your full Windows OS installation, Registry and all installed Programs and Data.  This is not the same as using an application to try to move an individual program which some vendors offer - ATI cannot be used to move Programs.

Making a Backup of your old HDD drive and Restoring that backup to a new HDD or SSD drive will move everything to the new drive without the need to reinstall all your programs or even reinstall the OS.

The tech at the store is only partially correct - moving programs is more than just copying the files & data, there are threads of the program embedded in the Windows Registry and possibly in other places too, so unless you use an application which can record and keep a complete record of all changes make when a program is installed (to use to save all that same information to allow migration later) then all bets are off without doing a reinstall.

How exactly do I test out the ISO I downloaded to a 1GB Flash Drive? (to see if it boots...)

Thanks,

CotS

You power down the computer (make sure that the power button is set to power off rather than hybernate first).

Put the USB stick in a USB port and power up the computer. Most computers allow you to select the boot device when they power up - usually by pressing the F11 or F12 key - and select the USB stick. (If your computer does not allow this you will have to change the boot priority in the BIOS.)

Ian

CotS, I assume that you know to burn the ISO to CD or use a utility like ISO to USB to put it on a USB stick.

We have had users in the past who have just copied the ISO file to a USB stick and were then surprised that it did nothing!

Ok, that's what I thought. So put me in the camp of "measure twice, cut once."

Thanks up for the heads up Steve. So then you have to download the .ISO, from the Acronis server, and then burn it with the appropriate software; like Imgburn or the like. (If I'm understanding you correctly...)

Thanks,

CotS

That is correct.

Alternatively, there is a built-in rescue media builder in the Acronis app as well.  YOu can build recovery media directly to a USB drive without having to use 3rd party tools to transfer an .iso to a thumb drive.

Better yet, if you don't mind downloading and installing Windows ADK, you can then build WinPE rescue media instead and we've developed our own WinPE builder tool to simplify the process for you and make some nice, customized bootable rescue media using WinPE.

Grab the Windows 10 ADK and MVP pe builder from the links below and give it a whirl :) 

Thanks Enchantech.

The download was 640MB if I recall. So, after it decompresses, and the .iso is made, how large of a file am I looking at?

Thanks.

CotS

Not much bigger, a 1GB thumb drive will work, of course good luck finding one that small these days!

Thanks Enchantech.

CotS

Hey guys,

what do you think of this way of getting a windows iso?

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5tyj6_0G9o

I've only downloaded the .exe at this point.

Thanks in advance,

CotS

Seems to work fine.  Thanks for sharing.

Just out of curiosity, did you check out "Rufus" at 1:56 to make a bootable iso?  Would that be compatibe with ATI2017? (Perpetual, single license version)

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5tyj6_0G9o

Thanks in advance,

CotS

As previously mentioned, a-way back, in this thread, (I'm typing all this on) an HP HPE 570t that came with windows pre-loaded. Therefore, it's an OEM version. I told you guys about another possible way of getting an ISO from a site I found today. One of the comments, that someone left was, you had to have a "key" (which I do) to activate the copy of windows.

I tried my Key at the link that led to the MS site someone posted. (An MVP for sure.) Anyway, MS did not accept my key as it was comming from an OEM version of the software.

Since the link I provided above, (they say,) the software comes directly from the MS server. My question is:

Because it is an OEM version, will it be rejected this time too? Hence, necessitating the purchase of the retail version, for the site to accept my key?

What do you think?

Thanks in advance,

CotS

First, I do not use Rufus.  It is a capable app I just did not like it.  I use another tool RMPrepUSB.  It prepares USB thumb drives and can handle ISO files as well.

Windows 10 licensing is like this.  An OEM license once used is machine specific and can only be activated on the orignal machine it is installed on and once installed it cannot be moved to another machine.  A retail license can be transfered to a different machine but activation by phone may be necessary but not always.  Look at it this way a retail license is transferable and an OEM license is not.

So your best bet is to purchase a retail version.

Ditto to Enchantec's last post.  

Windows 10 licensing is tied directly to the bios (motherboard) UUID - it is a fixed hardware identifier.  Prior to Windows 10, this UUID was still used, but you would receive an OEM license key to go with it.  When you would have a licensed OEM version, it would register with Microsoft that that key belongs to that UUID.  However, since you had a key, if you entered it on another machine, it would not license (usually) but you could call Microsoft to re-activate it on another piece of hardware - IF YOU COULD CONVINCE THEM.

With Windows 10, there are no local license keys anymore - it's strictly based off of the motherboard UUID previously being registered with Microsoft.  That is why, when Windows 10 was free for the 1 year, you had to "upgrade" over the top of a previous version of Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 so that it would authenticate against the existing license key associated with Microsoft and then create the new authentication for the hardware with Windows 10.  After that, you could wipe your drive and start fresh with Windows 10 OEM since it had been registered fro that particular hardware already.

The ONLY WAY you can license Windows 10 on a system now is:  1) if you have a retail Windows 10 license key which is transferable as long as it's only installed on one machine at a time

or 

2) The system you are transferring the OS to has already previously been licensed with Windows 10 - the same exact version (home or Pro).  This way, if your new system comes with Windows 10 OEM home and you activate it on that motherboard, when you wipe the drive and load your Acronis image with an existing Windows 10 OEM (same version), Microsoft will see that the UUID of that hardware has a valid Windows 10 activation already and will activate the transferred image since it's all based on the UUID hardware having a valid registration.  If your new system does not have any OS, or did not previously have the same version of Windows 10 already activated, then it will not license and you'd need a retail one. 

Thanks for that explanation guys...

How would it play out if I'm  keeping the same machine (for now) anyway, but only upgrading the hard drive?

Which analysis do you agree with?

To that end, my sister said, I should get a HDD because in 3 years, there could be advancements in SSD's (and here you'd be stuck with the previous generation) because it's an internal drive - it's plugged into SATA 2 ports. Then you're transfer that SSD to your new computer?

or...

Back in the day, the argument used to be "Wow, computer technology is advancing so quickly now", waiting for the perfect moment to buy your first computer, so that the computer you buy (what was then reffered to "today") wouldn't be outdated in six months.

The difference here is my "trigger" is in three years. What do you think.

thanks in advance.

CotS

CofS, replacing your current disk drive is perhaps the simlest solution for the immediate future - the choice of HDD or SSD is probably more a matter of disk size and cost, i.e. you can get higher capacity HDD drives for a lower cost than equivalent SSD drives, significantly less cost at the higher capacities.

Most HDD or SSD drives will support the current higher transfer speeds and interfaces, but this can change as new hardware / controllers are introduced where this will always be a 'moving target' to aim at.

Most computer hardware available today will be technically obsolete in the next 6 months to a year - that is simply a matter of fact as technology is enhanced and new methods of creating the technology are brought onto mainline production lines.  The downside to this, to my view, is that Microsoft seems to be producing a less efficient build of Windows OS and including more bloatware as time moves on.  Windows 3 came on a set of diskettes that would fit easily on a single CD with plenty of free space, later versions required a CD for delivery, the latest versions need a DVD for delivery - all to provide essentially the same basic functionality.

Todays SATA III SSD drives have reached the maximum obtainable performance level for the SATA III interface so further advancemnets in this area are very unlikely.  The SATA III interface is being moved away from currently in favor of the PCIe interface as that offers the next big leap in performance.  This does not mean that SATA III drives will be eliminated, it means that the future of performance in data transfer lies with PCIe.  The SATA III drives and interface should remain for a good many years to come. 

As manufacturing technigues and cost come down for SATA III based SSD's you can expect to see larger capacity for less money neter the market.  So it is logical to expect that if you purchase a 256GB SATA SSD today in a few years you might buy a 500GB SATA SSD for the same or close to the same price point.

I sounds like you have an older machine with an SATA II interface for storage devices.  If you want a performance increase in data trahnsfer ability your best move forward is to replace the machine/motherboard with a model that supports SATA III.  You will literally double the performance in doing so.

If you have a "trigger point" of 3 years from now none of this even matters.  Reason is that undoubtedly hardware will change enough in that length of time to not consider where things are today.

You could use a PCIe SATA3 add-in card. Some motherboards suppor booting from PCIe add-in cards. I suspect that not all PCIe SATA3 cards allow devices attached to them to be bootable - although my aging ASRock motherboard does include drives on add-in cards as potentially bootable. Even assuming that your main board supports booting from add-in card, if it is SATA 2 only the old version of PCIe may mean that perfomance is chocked by the PCIe slot.

Not sure this gets you anywhere.

Ian

Going the route that Ian suggests, this PCIE to IDE card may work for you:  https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Express-Controller-Adapter-PEX2IDE/…

I would personally be trying to migrate away fro the IDE drive - it's ancient and slow.  And as Enchantech mentions, your motherboard is old and tops out at SATA II speeds anyway so anything more than that really does you no good for performance.  

You'll never keep up with technology.  Unless you're an enthusiast, jumpping to new technology will only cost you a lot of money (to start with), but it will soon be replaced with something cheaper and better anyway.  However, you should at least pace it by a couple to a few years and not let it get too far ahead of you either. 

SATA 3 SSD's are still plenty fast and sufficient for most home use.  A good one with a decent size (500GB) can be had for around $150.  The samsung 850EVO is my go to for SATA 3 SSD, but prices have gone up on them recently.  The 750's are OK too.  Others like SanDisk Ultra II or the PNY drives are a good value for peformance as well.  You'd probably be best off getting a decent size SSD and trying to keep your OS, apps and main files on it and then using a cheaper spinning drive for data storage (movies, pictures, etc).  This gives you performance and storage and keeps the OS and data seperate for recovery and backups.

PCIE NVME drives are becoming more mainstream though, but not likely to work as a boot drive in older systems.  With the Samsung EVO 960's coming out recently, performance is waaaay up and price is waaaay down.  They aren't nearly as cheap as a standard SSD though and they're not easy to work with (no good USB adapters or docking stations, etc). If you're looking to get a nice, solid drive with a performance boost, decent size and a good price, consider one of these (pick the size that meets your needs - keeping in mind that I recommend keeping yous OS small - I use 250Gb drives and my OS install is roughly 70Gb most of the time).

PNY XLR8 (MLC flash - high end) 240GB is about $85 and 480GB is $135

PNY CS1311 (TLC flash - consumer) 240GB is about $65 and 480GB is $120

Samsung 850 EVO and 750 EVO are both TLC flash - the 850 EVO is the gold standard for home use, but seems over priced lately - the PNY's are plenty tood. 

Sandisk Ultra II is another reliable and fairly cheap TLC SSD.  240GB is $80 and 480GB is $128. 

I have learned to stay away from the really, really budget SSD's - bait and swap internal parts and bad reviews (Kingston, Adata, others).  I also tend to steer clear of Toshiba (although I still love my OCZ Vertex 4) and crucial.  That's just me though. 

Thanks guys for the responses.

I think Enchantech nailed it.

If you have a "trigger point" of 3 years from now none of this even matters.  Reason is that undoubtedly hardware will change enough in that length of time to not consider where things are today.

IanL-S as far as booting off an add on PCIe card, I'd have to ask in the HP forum, to find out.

In a perfect world, I'd like to the SSD, and reap the benefits of a faster boot time. (but with SATA 2 ports, I wonder about that...)  Anyway, I'd see some improvement. But the risk involved, is that in 3 years, the interface by which you would have connected your SSD, has now useless. Say it's now PCie just like IanL-S mentioned.  Yeah, you could get add-in cards, but aren't they for external devices? Bear in mind, this would be an internal SSD.

So, if PCI-e is all the rage in 2020, what happens to my SSD and (supposedly) the SATA Internal I bought for all my programs?  Lest you think otherwise, both are "vaporware" at this point. :)

Thanks in advance,

CotS

For the immediate future main boards will continue to have SATA3 ports since it is unlikely that SSD will be economic for mass storage - consumer mechanical HDDs can be found with 8TB even 10TB capacity.

Ian

Yup, it's a crap shoot - in 2020, who knows what will be here - I'm sure SSD will still be valid, but PCIE NVME is already seeing huge improvements in speed and reduction in cost.  

For roughly $65 right now though, I think a new SSD could prove very useful.  How long does it take to do a complete restart... from the time you press the restart button, to the time you see your login prompt and then again, until you have a usable desktop under your profile under a regular reboot - 1 minute or more?  And What about when updates finish installing and call for a reboot - minutes / 10's of minutes?  Even with SATA 2.  If you Google "biggest peformance for PC", SSD is usually the top hit.  It's night and day when moving away from mechanical parts that tend to top out at 150Mb/s (if you're lucky to get even that regardless even if you have SATA IIII).  

To spend about $65 in order to save roughly an hour a week on reboots, updates, faster launching apps, less spinning circles, etc. can be oh so worth it.  I'll never use a spinning drive for my OS (not even a hybrid drive) again.  Once you go SSD, you won't go back.  Here's a fun comparision...

$65 is less than 18 cents a day over a the course of a year.  That's only about 6 cents a day over 3 years.  

An average of 10 minutes lost a day over a year is roughly 61 hours and that equals about 7.5 days over 3 years.  

I'd gladly pay $65 (in daily installments of 6 cents)  to recoup 7.5 FULL days of my life. 

MVP's - Thanks so much for all your help; I really appreciate it.

Ian, in that case, I'll get the SSD. At least that way, when I install it into the new computer, I can get my money out of the SSD.

If I went into the BIOS, would that tell me how many available SATA ports there are? (I have a total of four.) All of which are Grey in color, if that means anything...

Thanks in advance,

CotS

You can work out the number of free ports - they are the ones that have nothing attached to them! You can also work it out from the number of HDDs installed + any SATA DVD. You can get this information from Device Manager which shows the number of Disk Drives and DVD drives. You need to be careful as Device Manage reports USB HDDs as well (not sure if this is true in all cases, but is the case for WD Elements USB drives). 

Thanks.

It turns out...

Perhaps I mentioned it here or in another thread, everything under the hood, is SATA 2 powered.

So, I have 1 open SATA 2  port. (as things stand now.) I have 4 total SATA ports available.

What I would like to do, is buy an SSD put the Win764 Pro <- (which is still "in transit") and a teensy weensy downgrade from my Win7 64 Ultimate I'm currently running.

But to get the speed gains, I'd need to buy an PCIE add on card that has" (2) SATA 3 ports, so I can realize the speed gains that the SSD offers. One for the SSD and the other for the Mechanical Hard Drive. (I bought the 2 TB WD Black OEM)

The question is: which SATA card?  I'm looking at names I've never heard of before. (as far as vendors go) Which of the vendors/manufacturers would you reccomend? 

Would anyone care to rate SSD's according to their preference, so I could  be "enlightened."

Thanks in advance,

CotS

I'd go by Amazon reviews and price.  The more expensive cards usually offer extra features like the ability to RAID drives that are connected to the ports.  If you don't need to RAID (or plan to), you can save money by getting a 2x SATA3 PCIE card that doess not offer RAID as an option.  There are also SATA 3 cards that let you attach a single SSD drive directly to them as well. 

4 port RAID capable card for $40:  https://www.amazon.com/IO-Crest-SI-PEX40057-Hyper-Controller/dp/B00AZ9T…

4 port NON-RAID card for $30:  https://www.amazon.com/IO-Crest-SI-PEX40057-Hyper-Controller/dp/B00AZ9T…

Just read the reviews and info from teh manufacturer.  Some cards that offer RAID are only for RAID too!  I think either of the 2 above would work fine, but I have not personally used them. 

Here's a single card that lets you attach a full size SSD directly to it, but has no extra SATA ports

https://www.amazon.com/Express-Adapter-Circuit-connector-included/dp/B0…

You can also get similar option for m.2 SATA (not NVME PCIE) hard drive that have the same capabilities of a full size SSD, but in a smaller form factor.  If you get such a card though, you need to get a compatible m.2 SATA SSD.

Here's one such card that will allow you to use EITHER or BOTH a single SATA m.2 drive and/or a single PCIE NVME m.2 drive.  This kind of has the best of both worlds if you don't need the extra SATA 3 ports to attach other drives

https://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-Technology-PCI-E-Adapter-ECM20/dp/B0…

Most of the cards I have seen on eBay have Asmedia 106x controller chips. These chips are also used by many motherboard manufactures to supplement the SATA ports provided by the chipset. You can run multiple Asmedia 106x controllers on the same system. I have two systems with 2 Asmedia 106x controllers.

You can find them on eBay and Amazon - jsut search for "Asmedia 106x". If you want to lash-out you can pay a bit more and get a combo SATAIII/USB3 or SATAIII/USB3.1 card.

I have purchased several of these generic add-in cards through eBay - from various suppliers based in China.

Ian

I concur with Ian here in that I would look for a card that is based on an ASMedia or similar controller.  My reasoning here is that for one ASMedia is a mainstream manufacturer which offers good support of their products.  They also develope and update regularly drivers for their controller chips and that is worth much more than a fancy feature or added function of a lesser card with a no name or lesser known controller..

Other controller chip makers other than Samsung will usually rely on default Microsoft drivers which work but are not optimized for any particular chip.  This may or may not be a deciding factor for you.

In the drive arena, it depends on a few factors.  If you want a simple entry level drive almost any common brand of drive will do.  Most such drives will run head to head in performance with very little advantage one over the other.  If you desire a mid level drive I would recommend Samsung for much the same reasons I recommend a card with an ASMedia controller chip.  Good support is worth the extra money.

If you want a top tier drive then you would be hard presed to to do better than an Intel drive.  They are pricey but have top support and performance.  You get what you pay for!

I'm looking at this add on card:

https://www.amazon.com/Syba-ASMedia-Chipset-Components-SD-PEX50064/dp/B…

I suppose I'm on the right track...Anyway, they say (one of the reviewers,) that this card needs to be installed into an x4 PCIe slot, so that you will see the cards full potential.

The thing is, My board only has x1 slots open.

So, is the investment - the whole idea of going SSD in the first place - for the speed gains, is it worth it on a 5 year old box that I'll be changing out in 3 years?

Thanks in advance,

CotS

PCIe 1x is not the same as PCIe 1.0.  If you have a PCIe 1x port that is PCiE 2.0 or 3.0, you should get at least 500Mb/s - which will max out most SATA3 SSD's. If your PCIe 1x slot is only running at PCIe 1.0, then an SSD will not live up to it's full potential.  However, consider what your transfer rate is now too.  If you're getting about 120Mb Read/write and can double that - you've just increased your hard drive performance by double - that's still pretty good. 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2973/6gbps-sata-performance-amd-890gx-vs-intel-x58-p55/2

A serial interface, PCI Express is organized into lanes. Each lane has an independent set of transmit and receive pins, and data can be sent in both directions simultaneously. And here’s where things get misleading. Bandwidth in a single direction for a single PCIe 1.0 lane (x1) is 250MB/s, but because you can send and receive 250MB/s at the same time Intel likes to state the bandwidth available to a PCIe 1.0 x1 slot as 500MB/s. While that is the total aggregate bandwidth available to a single slot, you can only reach that bandwidth figure if you’re reading and writing at the same time.

PCI Express 2.0 doubles the bidirectional bandwidth per lane. Instead of 250MB/s in each direction per lane, you get 500MB/s.

Looking at it it is a PCIe X1 design. My combo card is PCIe X1 and I have had no noticiable performance issues (running 2 x SATA III HDD). To get the most out the card the PCIe slot should be PCIe version 2.0 or greater. Hope this helps you

Ian

One other note - if you are going to be attaching multiple drives, then you do reduce that bandwidth by the number of active drives.  If you only attache the one SSD to 1 port, you should get the full 500Mb's for that single drive.

If your board only has PCIe x1 slots available then the card you are looking at will not work as it is a PCIe x4 form factor card meaning it needs and x 4 slot or bigger for installation.

PCIe 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 are specifications for the PCIe interface and those specifications detail maximum throughput.

PCIe x1, x4, x8, and x16 are form factors which specifiy the physical size of the the PCIe connetion.

Here is a basic PCIe x1  SATA III card supporting 2 drives:

https://www.amazon.com/IO-Crest-Port-PCI-Express-SY-PEX40039/dp/B005B0A…

Here's my question:

https://www.amazon.com/IO-Crest-Port-PCI-Express-SY-PEX40039/dp/B005B0A…

With ^ (that) card installed in a 1x PCIe slot, what type of performace would I be looking at?

And

Is it worth the investment when I'd be changing to another cpu in just 3 years?

My board has FSB of 2.5 GT/s if that helps.

Thanks in advance,

CotS

Wow, Just like downloding to the computer. Never thought about that. So if I get a bandwith of 300, say for both to "play with" they both have 150 to use.  Holy smokes.

If I add the second HD, how much of a degredation of performance would I be looking at.? Significant, or not? (If I plugged both into the card referenced above?

Thanks,

CotS

It depends on how smart the Chipset for the card and the card driver are. If both HDDs are being accessed at the same time there will be degradation in performance, however if only one is being accessed there may well not be a performance hit.

Looing at the combo card it is described as a "PCIe 2.0 X 1 Card", so for best performance you need an X 1 slot that is at least PCIe 2.0. A X slot has 1 data lane that is shared by all devices connected to the card. To find out ithe version of PCIe supported by the main board we need the model number. PCIe slots on a main baord can have different speeds (some may the PCIe 3.0 and other PCIe 2.0).

Ian

If I plug the HDD into a SATA2 port, and plug the SSD into the PCIe card, (that has the SATA3 port,) how would the narritive change from Post #43?

" It depends on how smart the Chipset for the card and the card driver are. If both HDDs are being accessed at the same time there will be degradation in performance, however if only one is being accessed there may well not be a performance hit."

Thanks in advance,

CotS

P.S. I've been able to confirm that this motherboard has Gen2 PCI slots. Which brings up a question. Does it matter that I'd have graphics card in the x16 and this card I've been talking about: SY-PEX40039 in the x1 slot? Would having two cards in two slots have an effect on the bandwith available?

Crime of the Scene

That should work as the hd and ssd would be using different avenues of connectivity separate from each other.

using a 16x and a 1x shouldnt impact each other but you need to double check you user manual. Normally it's the 16, 8 and 4 that share with each other and the 1s are independent of each other. But lit varies. For instance if I use my 3D 1x then that drops my 4x to only 1x too. The other 1x don't impact the others.

youre probably fine leaving the hhd on the embedded sata 2 as it won't use the bandwidth anyway and dedicating the ssd to your 1x port and the add on card. That's how I'd do it.

What gave me the idea was I just found out that HDD's even on a good day only use 1/4 of the bandwith of a SATA 3 port. So what's the point?

I'll ask the guys at the HP forum if there is a manual for my motherboard.

Thanks Bobbo.

CotS

Your HDD can certainly perform to it's fullest potential on your SATA 2 ports.  As Boobo says in most cases the x1 slots have no effect nor are they effected by the other PCIe posts on board.  You would get maximum performance from an SSD on the card as performance will be dependent on the SATA controller on the add in card anyway. 

Look at it this way, an X1 PCIe card has enough bandwidth to fully support an SATA III SSD so your limiting factor will be the SATA controller that the SSD is connected to.

Correct - for a standard HD - you're lucky to see 100MB (give or take).  SATA 2 for a spinner is plenty fast.  The main concern for your add-on card to get SATA 3 would be to take advantage of that SATA 3 speed and if you're only using the one drive with your add-on card, should be able to get close to 500MB/s which is near where most SSD's will truly operate at if there rated 500MB/s or a little faster (benchmark tests are for show and you'll only see those speeds in large file tranfers).  However, the boost for small files (OS loading etc) is also really great and you'll be amazed at the boot times compared to what you're seeing now with a spinner.  Get the SSD - for $70 (plus your add-on card - perhaps another $30), it's a good investment and somethign you'll still be able to use down the road.  If technology does move along quickly (I still think SSD are plenty past), you can always use the drive as fast, light portable external storage by putting it in an external case or just getting a SATA to UsB 3.0 connector (which run about $10 on amazon).  

I just downloaded GPU-Z to test out my PCI slots. It turns out that, my board supports PCI v.2.0 and is backward compatible to v1.1.

Also, I came across this report on SSD endurance...

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYUi29UePoA (about 15 mins. long)

The Text version: http://techreport.com/review/27909/the-ssd-endurance-experiment-theyre-… (check out page 4)

CotS

All drives fail at some point - even mechanical ones.  Mechanical ones tend to fail sooner due to physical issues from constantly moving parts or impact from travel, drops, etc.  An SSD should server you for a loooong time.  

I have my first SSD (OCZ Vertex 4) that I purchased 5 years ago still going strong and performing well.  3 years is standard warranty for an SSD and many come with 5 which is pretty darn good and chances are the drive will live far past that with normal use.  But,  there are bad ones in every batch and of course, not all of them will stand the test of time either - it's just the nature of purchasing things that are mass produced.  

I rember when plasma TV's came out and they said they wouldn't last either.  We bought our 1st plasma in 2003 (gave it to my stepmother nearly a decade ago) and it still works just fine too.  Sure, it's much heavier than compared to current LED LCD's, but it's 1080P and still works just as good as the day it was purchased.  As far as picture quality goes, it still keeps pace with a lot of current TV's and if it were to die at some point now, it's had a good run.  Don't get bothered too much in the hyped articles about drives dying fast.  If they really had such a short shelf life, no one would be buying them.