ssd drive


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Old 11-25-18, 05:24 AM
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ssd drive

I have an hp laptop. I have been reading that people are replacing their hd drives with ssd drives. my laptop is a couple years old and works ok, but kind of slow on the boot up. I was wondering if anyone on here has done this replacement. how hard it is to do, how to move your current software and data to the new drive. how big of a ssd drive would I need? my current hd is 500 gb. I am sure there are things on the internet that would lead me in the right direction, but I was looking for someone who might have done it and was it worthwhile or not. thanks

frank
 
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Old 11-25-18, 05:46 AM
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Frank, first, its not worth it to me. But thats me personally. SSD drives are faster, but they arent so much faster that its worth it for me to spend the money & have it changed out. Nor do I think the SSD drive is going to make it that much faster.

I think there are other things a person can do to make the computer faster. At two years old, it may have multiple programs in the startup process that are unnecessary & is slowing down the startup process.

I used to work on my own computers but technology has out run my self taught ability, until I dont fool with it much anymore. The hard drive & RAM used to be just under a little door on the bottom of the computer, but now they dont make them like that any more. It used to be extremely simple to change them out. Now, you have to go in from the keyboard side. Take all the case apart, remove the keyboard, take out the CD drive, all sorts of things to get to the HD. Personally, its to much trouble for me. I just wont do it, especially for the little bit of speed you might notice from upgrading to a SSD drive.

Just my opinion... good luck.
 
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Old 11-25-18, 07:00 AM
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I do computer repair work and a number of my clients have had me switch them from a HD to an SSD. All have been very happy they did so. In virtually every case, the decrease in boot-up time was very noticeable.

Some SSD drives come with "cloning" software which will copy everything from your HD to the SSD. After doing that, you pull out the HD and replace it with the SSD. If the SSD you want to purchase doesn't come with cloning software, you can download Macrium Reflect Free (free version). It supports cloning.

You will need some way of connecting the SSD to the computer so you can clone the HD to it. I have a small 2.5" enclosure that I use. I picked it up for a few dollars on sale. I put the SSD into the enclosure and connect the enclosure to the computer via the USB connector (mine has USB3 so it's very quick on a newer computer with USB3 ports). You then run the cloning software and tell it to clone the HD to the SSD. Be careful here, as it will show you both drives (HD & SSD). It will ask you which is the source drive. Be sure you select the HD. If you accidentally select the SSD, you will effectively erase your HD.

As for the size of the SSD. It's always easiest if the SSD is the same size as the HD. However, if you're only using 150GB of your 500GB HD, and you don't expect to put much more on the computer, you could put a 240/250GB SSD in. The cloning is a little more difficult since it's not a 1-for-1 match in terms of size, but it can be done (I've done it numerous times).

Good luck, Frank! If you don't feel up to doing it yourself, perhaps you could find a knowledgeable friend who has done it before and would be willing to do it for you.
 
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Old 11-25-18, 07:10 AM
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are the ssd drives model specific? what is the best brand to get?
 
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Old 11-25-18, 11:12 AM
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If you have a few minutes go to Crucial. They are an online company that can help you with what you need. I have purchased several drives from them. They offer free cloning programs. The cloning cable you need is around $10 and they sell that too. They will scan your computer and tell you what you have and what they recommend for upgrades depending on what you are looking for. Their scan does not put any crap on your computer. It is not spyware. Their prices are competitive with other retailers. They even have step by step videos of the exchange.

Crucial
 
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Old 11-25-18, 03:08 PM
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I agree with Pete. Crucial is a good vendor to buy from. They have excellent products and fair prices. You can sometimes find another brand on sale for a few dollars less, but unless you know what you're buying, you're better off sticking with a name brand such as Crucial or Samsung.
 
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Old 11-25-18, 09:42 PM
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When trying to 'fix' a slow computer, I like to look at the performance in Task Manager so you can see the bottleneck. If it's the C drive, upgrading to an SSD will probably help. If it's the CPU or RAM, probably not.
 
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Old 11-26-18, 04:50 AM
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I have used crucial before and as you say they were good. I will try their software and see how it turns out. thanks guys for the help.

frank
 
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Old 11-26-18, 10:57 AM
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The Crucial scan is just to determine your operating system and hardware you have. It's used solely for making hardware upgrade recommendations. It won't diagnose slow performance of the computer..
 
 

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