256GB Crucial m4 2.5" SSD with Data Transfer Kit (HELP)

[jays4lyfe]

Hello All,
I will start by saying; I know nothing concerning Solid State Drives, I only purchased this one because my buddy was selling it for $75 with the transfer kit and once I searched the going price I knew it was a deal I could not refuse. With that being said, I've done some research on this drive and many are stating different procedures of how to configure your laptop before installing.

Such as; disabling disk defragmenter in Windows 7, booting in RAID, setting ACHI in BIOS ect......... and there's a whole lot more. So know I'm confused and cautious even to install this Solid State Drive. I don't want to damage my laptop in any kind of way.

So here's my device;

HP Compaq 8510p - Business Notebook
2.0 GHz Intel Duo Core CPU
4GB Ram
Currently installed; Samsung 160 GB Hard Drive
Windows 7 Ultimate

So here's my question?

Can I clone my Hard Drive to the Solid State Drive and simply install the Solid State Drive into my HP laptop and boot it up and surf the web?

Do I have to configure anything in Win 7 or in my BIOS?

I also read something concerning NAND and TRIM and want to know if I have to tamper with and of those settings within the Solid State Drive?

Someone please help.......................!

 

[rolli59]

Yes you can do the clone!
Use this optimizing guide and make sure your controller is set to ACHI mode http://thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/optimization-guides/the-ssd-optimization-guide-2/
Just make sure trim is enabled in the guide.
More good info http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/270102-32-useful-articles-part

 

[jays4lyfe]

Thank you! I will give this a try and definitely let you know the results. It may not be right away but once this is done I will post results.

 

[ram1009]

I used the transfer kit from Apricorn to clone my M4 and it worked perfectly just as you wish to do. Plug the dongle into the SSD and a USB port and run the software disk. It will take several hours. Just curious why your friend didn't like the M4. I love mine.

 

[jays4lyfe]

Actually he needed the money and was selling somethings that he owned!

 

[RetiredChief]

While the cloning does work, in fact used the same program that ram1009 used a couple of weeks ago on my wife's system.
Since the "cloning" programs have improved going from HDD -> SSD the biggest single advantage is that it CLEANs up the registry, much better than the registry cleaner programs.

However, I do prefer the "Clean Install" when going from a HDD -> SSD.

One question, How was your HDD setup, ie was the Bios set to IDE, or AHCI.
The EZ GIG II (If that is what you have google EZ Gig and down load the newest version IV) will:
Set the partiton alignment.
will Enable trim (But for trim to work must be in ahci mode).
Believe it disabled defrag on the SSD.
My wife's HDD was setup using AHCI, so not sure if that will correct if HDD is set to IDE.
However that is easily fixed BEFORE doing the clone.
GOTO : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976
mid way down you will see "Fix it for me" and you can click on " Fix this proble" Or you can scoot down a little farther and do the fix yourself.
NOTE - Do NOT change bios to ahci untill after the fix!!

Not sure what setting is, two ways:
(A) go into bios and look.
2) or down load as ssd, install and run (DO NOT need to run benchmark) just look ui upper left. and it will show the driver being used, pcide = IDE and msahci is waht you want to see.

 

[jays4lyfe]

I cant even find those options in my BIOS! Maybe I'm doing something wrong, I will do some research on this and provide that information once I have obtained it.

I currently only have 1 partition and that's local (C) not sure if that's good or not good?

I prefer to do the clone because I will loose some applications that I don't have the activation key to any longer or the disk and some are outdated, it would also be very time consuming.

So to see if I understand correctly, you are suggesting to install the non formatted SSD and do the fix (which I did install on a flash drive), and then do the clone?

I don't mean to sound so illiterate but this is all new to me since I'm ol school when it comes to technology.

 

[RetiredChief]

The "Fix" you mention is only if your HDD was set to IDE, and the "fix" would be applied to the HDD.
However, you could try doing the Clone with the Bios set to AHCI. when the clonning is completed, disconnect the HDD, connect the SSD and see if it boots. If the clonned windows is still set to IDE and the Bios is set to AHCI the SSD will give an error message and not Boot. In this case you would then go back into bios, change back to IDE. This should then allow the SSD to BOOT - IN THIS case you would then need to apply the "fix" to the SSD

I did NOT mention anything about a flashdrive.

Before messing with the BIOS, Find out if you need to.
As I indicated you can download and run AS SSD, it will show you what driver is Being used.
... If it shows "pcide" this has to be fixed eith by the clonning program, or By you.
... If it shows msahci, Forget it, just do the clone.

"I'm ol school ", you're probably new compared to me, I use to teach Vacumn tube electronics, the only computers were Slide rule, log tables, and fingers + toes.

 

[jays4lyfe]

I just figured it out my BIOS is set to ACHI, it was kinda hard to figure out so I turned to HP for help with that and found that it's displayed as SATA Native and has to be set to enable and mine is already set so thats good.

HP also said; I hope the drive works in your notebook, because support for SSD's in HP business notebooks was not added until the 8530p was introduced.

While Crucial states that the drive is compatible with the notebook.

So I'm gonna do more research because I don't want to damage anything and depending on my findings I may proceed with the clone and install.

Thanks! I will post the results!

 

[RetiredChief]

If Notebook has sata II, you are not going to damage anything. WORST CASE, The bios will simply not recognize it and therefore no windows install. Personnally I think it will work. I have a SSD in my OLD Toshibia A205 notebook. About the same vintage

Since you have a Intel CPU, you most likely have an Intel CHIPset for controlling your HDD which is a PLUS.

Your next job after taking the plung is to findout what chipset you have. If it infact is INTEL you could probably download the latest intel RST driver (Works slightly better than MS default msahci.

 

[jays4lyfe]

Intel (R) ICH8M Ultra ATA Storage Controller 2850

Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller

Is this the CHIPset?

 

[RetiredChief]

Yes, Might be a le to use intelos rst driver. will check

 

[jays4lyfe]

ok! Thank you!

 

[RetiredChief]

Check this out
http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/highlights/chpsts/imsm
it will scan your system and identify Intel drivers that can be up graded.

 

[jays4lyfe]

I did utilize the link and actually was able to download 3 OEM Intel drivers .So now my system should be able to accept the SSD install ?

Thank you!

 

[jays4lyfe]

I haven't performed the clone just yet I have had some recent misfortunes and haven't had the time but I should be good to go this weekend and will update once its completed. (Status Update)

 

[jays4lyfe]

The "Fix" you mention is only if your HDD was set to IDE, and the "fix" would be applied to the HDD.
However, you could try doing the Clone with the Bios set to AHCI. when the clonning is completed, disconnect the HDD, connect the SSD and see if it boots. If the clonned windows is still set to IDE and the Bios is set to AHCI the SSD will give an error message and not Boot. In this case you would then go back into bios, change back to IDE. This should then allow the SSD to BOOT - IN THIS case you would then need to apply the "fix" to the SSD

I did NOT mention anything about a flashdrive.

Before messing with the BIOS, Find out if you need to.
As I indicated you can download and run AS SSD, it will show you what driver is Being used.
... If it shows "pcide" this has to be fixed eith by the clonning program, or By you.
... If it shows msahci, Forget it, just do the clone.

"I'm ol school ", you're probably new compared to me, I use to teach Vacumn tube electronics, the only computers were Slide rule, log tables, and fingers + toes.

I'd like to say thank you (RetiredChief) I followed everything you suggested and the clone is working like a charm thus far. When the clone completed it read ; (verified with errors) not sure what thats about but my laptop boots fine and everything seems to be A ok.

Thanks again !

 

[jays4lyfe]

Best answer selected by jays4lyfe.