[SOLVED] Newbie needs help buying & installing an SSD for the first time on a Desktop PC!

[louweed]

Hello I recently purchased an HP 590-p0053w Pavilion i5-8400 2.8GHz 8GB RAM 1TB HDD Win 10 Home Desktop PC and for the first time would like to install an SSD to make my PC faster and more efficient when I'm using it for tasks like eBay, TD Ameritrade's Think or Swim trading platform, email, etc. (I am NOT a gamer). I also plan on doing a clean reinstall of Windows 10 Home in hopes of getting rid of all the extra garbage software that comes pre-installed on most HP PCs (but that's my second step.) So my questions are:

1.) What type of SSD and accessories (SATA cables, etc.) will I need to purchase to install this on my own? (again I know nothing about SSDs - brands, sizes, speed etc.)

2.) How much storage will I need to do the all the tasks above? (250GB, 500GB, 1TB, etc.)

Thanks in advance for anyone' help! and PS if there is a good online tutorial or video to walk me through the process of installing an SSD on this PC that would be just as helpful!

 

[USAFRet]

The easiest upgrade would simply be to a 1TB SATA III SSD.
Direct plug in replacement for your current HDD.

Samsung 860 EVO or Crucial MX500 would be the 2 default choices.

 

[louweed]

The easiest upgrade would simply be to a 1TB SATA III SSD.
Direct plug in replacement for your current HDD.

Samsung 860 EVO or Crucial MX500 would be the 2 default choices.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Inch-Internal-MZ-76E1T0B-AM/dp/B078DPCY3T

this one above?

 

[USAFRet]

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Inch-Internal-MZ-76E1T0B-AM/dp/B078DPCY3T

this one above?

Yep, that one.

To prepare, create a Win 10 USB.
Here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

On another USB, find and save all the drivers for your hardware. Get these direct from HP.
Here: https://support.hp.com/gb-en/drivers/desktops

Once you have all the stuff, this:

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

If you buy another SATA data cable ($1), you can have the HDD connected as well.
Why?
Because you need to consider this:

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[louweed]

Yep, that one.

To prepare, create a Win 10 USB.
Here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

On another USB, find and save all the drivers for your hardware. Get these direct from HP.
Here: https://support.hp.com/gb-en/drivers/desktops

Once you have all the stuff, this:

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

If you buy another SATA data cable ($1), you can have the HDD connected as well.
Why?
Because you need to consider this:

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

forums.tomshardware.com

Thanks for all the info above!! Last question... do I do a clean reinstall on WIN10 first or install the SSD first? Or does it matter? Thanks again!

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks for all the info above!! Last question... do I do a clean reinstall on WIN10 first or install the SSD first? Or does it matter? Thanks again!

Assuming you already have powered up the system and activated the preinstalled OS:
Disconnect the HDD
Install the SSD
Do the OS install on that SSD.

Reconnect other drives later, if desired.