Easy SSD Upgrade?

[Rocko1976]

My pops is wanting to upgrade his laptop with a SSD. I recommended the Crucial MX100. I also suggesting adding the SSD as a second drive via drive caddy that replaces the cd-rom bay. Is there a free, easy to use cloning software he can use? He knows just enough to be dangerous around a computer. Thanks.

 

[USAFRet]

Disclaimer - I almost always recommend a clean install on a new SSD.
With that out of the way:

There are multiple things you need to consider before attempting a clone operation, no matter what software.

Primarily - How much space is used on the current HDD, and how large is the proposed SSD?

 

[Rocko1976]

Disclaimer - I almost always recommend a clean install on a new SSD.
With that out of the way:

There are multiple things you need to consider before attempting a clone operation, no matter what software.

Primarily - How much space is used on the current HDD, and how large is the proposed SSD?

The old hard drive has about 20gigs. It's only Win 7 and Office. Not much else. The new SSD has 128g. He does not have the COA on for the OS or I would help him install as fresh.

Is there a easy to use program to clone?

 

[JohnnyLucky]

^5 +1 what USAFRet said.

I have been recommending a fresh clean install for years. Cloning software works reasonably well but sometimes glitches develop that cause problems. In addition Microsoft Windows has a tendency to accumulate files that are no longer needed.

I maintain the ssd database listed in a sticky at the very top of this forum section. Here is the link:

http://www.johnnylucky.org/data-storage/ssd-database.html

Scroll down to the Crucial MX100 section and follow the links to the technical reviews. You may want to take a look at the new Crucial BX100 which is a new value drive that performs well.

 

[popatim]

I cant recall any new SSD not coming with cloning software which should work fine for your needs but if you do forgo a new windows install please at least fully back up the old HDD first... just in case.