Well, the deed is done. My first attempt at cloning failed because of a sector error on the old hard drive. I cleared all extraneous files with Norton Utilities and defragmented the old hard drive. I also turned off Norton antivirus until the next reboot, and disconnected the computer from the Internet. Then I ran the data migration software again, and it did its job quickly and correctly.
My next problem was figuring out how to boot from the SSD. I suppose I could have gone to the BIOS, but what I did was switch SATA cables and reboot the computer, with only the SSD connected. It booted very quickly, and all the programs ran smoothly. I couldn't believe how fast I was able to start Microsoft Office.
Now, my next job is to reconnect all the data folders from the new hard drive.
Wish me continued luck. This job was a lot harder than I expected it to be, but the results are wonderful - so far. At least for now, I feel like I have a new computer. I hope I didn't lose too many files in the process.
-Joe-