Question Looking to replace SSHD with SSD

[Tommy Sawyer]

I currently have a 1 TB SATA Solid State Hybrid Drive with 8 GB flash acceleration cache in my HP Sprout 23-s020 computer. I was thinking of getting a Western Digital 2TB WD Blue 3D NAND Internal PC SSD 2.5".
Would I need the SATA to USB Cable - USB 3.0 to 2.5” SATA III Hard Drive Adapter for cloning my current drive? And then use Acronis True Image for the cloning?
Any other things I need to know before starting this process?
Would I notice a difference with this change in SSD? What areas would there be improvement?

 

[hotaru.hino]

Yes, you can use the tool to clone to the SSD. However, you'll have to expand the partition from there as the clone may not expand it for you. Or you can make a separate partition out of the leftover space if you want.

Otherwise you shouldn't have to do anything else. You'll see an improvement in loading times for sure.

 

[Tommy Sawyer]

Yes, you can use the tool to clone to the SSD. However, you'll have to expand the partition from there as the clone may not expand it for you. Or you can make a separate partition out of the leftover space if you want.

What exactly am I doing when expanding the partition ... and I'm guessing you mean on the new 2 TB SSD, right? Why am I making a separate partition?
How do you expand the partition?

 

[hotaru.hino]

What exactly am I doing when expanding the partition ... and I'm guessing you mean on the new 2 TB SSD, right? Why am I making a separate partition?
How do you expand the partition?

Judging by the PC, you only have one slot for storage. If you're the kind of person who likes to refresh Windows once in a while, having a separate partition will allow you to have a place to store data so it won't get erased from the Refresh/Reset. But if you have a back up drive for this, then never mind. You can expand the partition by using Windows' Disk Management tool in Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management. If it won't let you for some reason (like the boot loader partition is somehow in the way), then you can use some other partitioning tool.

Oh I forgot one thing: Do not access the clone partition from the original boot drive. i.e., don't verify the clone was successful by trying to access when booted from the SSHD. Replace the SSHD with the SSD and verify that it can get into Windows. If you try to access the clone from the original boot drive, Windows will generate a new partition ID for it. This can be a problem, as cloned Windows is expecting the original partition ID.

 

[Tommy Sawyer]

Yes, you can use the tool to clone to the SSD. However, you'll have to expand the partition from there as the clone may not expand it for you. Or you can make a separate partition out of the leftover space if you want.

Otherwise you shouldn't have to do anything else. You'll see an improvement in loading times for sure.

I also have recovery image D: on that drive ... about 18Gb of about 20Gb. That will just clone over how it's supposed to, correct?

 

[hotaru.hino]

I also have recovery image D: on that drive ... about 18Gb of about 20Gb. That will just clone over how it's supposed to, correct?

Cloning will copy over everything. Also it'll be very likely that the D:\ partition will be in the way of C:\, so you'll have to use a third party partition tool to expand C:\

I've used stuff from easeUS and MiniTool. I'm sure someone else may have another recommendation.

 

[USAFRet]

Please show us a screencap of the current Disk Management window.

 

[Tommy Sawyer]

Judging by the PC, you only have one slot for storage. If you're the kind of person who likes to refresh Windows once in a while, having a separate partition will allow you to have a place to store data so it won't get erased from the Refresh/Reset. But if you have a back up drive for this, then never mind. You can expand the partition by using Windows' Disk Management tool in Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management. If it won't let you for some reason (like the boot loader partition is somehow in the way), then you can use some other partitioning tool.

Oh I forgot one thing: Do not access the clone partition from the original boot drive. i.e., don't verify the clone was successful by trying to access when booted from the SSHD. Replace the SSHD with the SSD and verify that it can get into Windows. If you try to access the clone from the original boot drive, Windows will generate a new partition ID for it. This can be a problem, as cloned Windows is expecting the original partition ID.

Yes, one slot. So basically run the clone to the new drive and when it's done, unplug the SATA usb and then swap out the drives and then start up and see what happens?
So in opinion a separate partition is better than an expanded one?

 

[Tommy Sawyer]

Please show us a screencap of the current Disk Management window.

https://imgur.com/a/pXWMmIe

View: https://imgur.com/a/pXWMmIe

 

[hotaru.hino]

https://imgur.com/a/pXWMmIe

View: https://imgur.com/a/pXWMmIe

Yeah, you have to use a third party tool to expand the C:\ drive.

Alternatively if you don't care about the recovery partition, after cloning you should be able to delete the two partitions after the C:\ drive on the SSD and still retain the Windows recovery environment at least. You can always keep the partition on the SSHD if you care about doing a "proper" factory reset.

 

[USAFRet]

You can clone directly from the current 1TB to the new 2TB, in a proper enclosure.
Using Macrium, you can also manipulate the partition sizes in the process. No 3rd party tool needed.


-----------------------------
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, install the relevant driver for this new NVMe/PCIe drive.
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive

If you are going from a smaller drive to a larger, by default, the target partition size will be the same as the Source. You probably don't want that
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specifiy the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------

 

[Tommy Sawyer]

You can clone directly from the current 1TB to the new 2TB, in a proper enclosure.
Using Macrium, you can also manipulate the partition sizes in the process. No 3rd party tool needed.


-----------------------------
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, install the relevant driver for this new NVMe/PCIe drive.
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive

If you are going from a smaller drive to a larger, by default, the target partition size will be the same as the Source. You probably don't want that
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specifiy the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------

I changed out my old Solid State Hybrid Drive with a WD Blue 2.5 1TB SATA and everything is so much faster. I went from a 2 minute start up time to 13 seconds.
Now I have my old SSHD in a SATA enclosure and want to use it for storage. Do I need to wipe in completely clean? can I just delete what I don't want or that doesn't really work for the best storage? How to clean if I have to? What if I already have tons of photos and videos on it and don't wanna hassle with saving all that again.
Thanks for any guidance.

 

[Bob.B]

I changed out my old Solid State Hybrid Drive with a WD Blue 2.5 1TB SATA and everything is so much faster. I went from a 2 minute start up time to 13 seconds.
Now I have my old SSHD in a SATA enclosure and want to use it for storage. Do I need to wipe in completely clean? can I just delete what I don't want or that doesn't really work for the best storage? How to clean if I have to? What if I already have tons of photos and videos on it and don't wanna hassle with saving all that again.
Thanks for any guidance.

Wait.....at the start you said the blue was 2TB now your saying it's 1TB.
Has the hybrid disk also changed?

 

[Tommy Sawyer]

Wait.....at the start you said the blue was 2TB now your saying it's 1TB.
Has the hybrid disk also changed?

haha! why would I lie about that? I said, I was thinking of getting a Western Digital 2TB WD Blue
I changed my mind and went with the 1TB.

 

[USAFRet]

I changed out my old Solid State Hybrid Drive with a WD Blue 2.5 1TB SATA and everything is so much faster. I went from a 2 minute start up time to 13 seconds.
Now I have my old SSHD in a SATA enclosure and want to use it for storage. Do I need to wipe in completely clean? can I just delete what I don't want or that doesn't really work for the best storage? How to clean if I have to? What if I already have tons of photos and videos on it and don't wanna hassle with saving all that again.
Thanks for any guidance.

Yes, you wipe it clean. All partitions.

The easiest way is probably the commandline function diskpart, and the clean command.

How to Diskpart Erase/Clean a Drive Through the Command Prompt | Support Seagate US

This article explains the Microsoft Diskpart Erase utility. The command that erases the drive during this process is "Clean". In this article "Clean" and erase are used interchangeably. Cleaning or erasing a storage device removes all data and partitions from the drive.

www.seagate.com

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/format-hard-drive-command-prompt,37632.html

 

[Bob.B]

I changed out my old Solid State Hybrid Drive with a WD Blue 2.5 1TB SATA and everything is so much faster. I went from a 2 minute start up time to 13 seconds.
Now I have my old SSHD in a SATA enclosure and want to use it for storage. Do I need to wipe in completely clean? can I just delete what I don't want or that doesn't really work for the best storage? How to clean if I have to? What if I already have tons of photos and videos on it and don't wanna hassle with saving all that again.
Thanks for any guidance.

If you cloned the sshd to the ssd then the pics and vids should now be on the ssd.....verify that.

If true then you can wipe the sshd and set it up the way you want.

 

[Tommy Sawyer]

Yes, you wipe it clean. All partitions.

The easiest way is probably the commandline function diskpart, and the clean command.

How to Diskpart Erase/Clean a Drive Through the Command Prompt | Support Seagate US

This article explains the Microsoft Diskpart Erase utility. The command that erases the drive during this process is "Clean". In this article "Clean" and erase are used interchangeably. Cleaning or erasing a storage device removes all data and partitions from the drive.

www.seagate.com

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/format-hard-drive-command-prompt,37632.html

Thank you. I cleaned it and now I'm formatting it.