Replacing my disk drive with a ssd

[choppalouie88]

im looking to get a solid state drive to speed up my pc, i have a one 900gb disk drive, should i replace it with the ssd, or is there anyway to have them both in there at the same time?

 

[why_wolf]

If this is a desktop you can usually have multiply hard drives installed at once. Laptops can have two at most but the bulk only support one.

 

[USAFRet]

Desktop or laptop?

 

[Preecher]

I'm assuming your motherboard is has multiple sata ports (and we are talking about a Desktop), especially if the PC is only a few years old. In which case yes, you can support multiple harddrives. I recommend removing the HDD, installing the SSD and then installing windows on the new drive. Then re-install the old HDD (it should become the D: or E: drive more than likely). Then you can scavenge what you want off the HDD, then reformat it to start clean there too. Now you have a storage drive. You will notice an amazing difference in boot times and responsiveness with the SSD as your boot drive. Please note that you may need to purchase a SATA cable if the SSD doesnt come with one.

Cheers.

 

[USAFRet]

im pretty good with video cards and motherboards, i dont know a huge amount about hard drives though. does anyone have a tutorial or something i can use, so i keep all my info intact but have the ssd as my main drive to boot from. and what purpose would my normal disk drive use if i dont want to do raid

OK.
Assuming this is a desktop. you can almost certainly install more than 1 drive.

For an SSD, you want your OS and applications on that.
How to get it there?

2 options:

1. Clean install of the OS and applications on that new SSD.
This requires that you have the OS install disk and the license key handy.
You will also have to reinstall all of your applications
Highly recommended.


2. Migrate from the old HDD to the new SSD
This requires that the total used space on the current drive be significantly below the size of the SSD.
For instance...a 250GB SSD, you need the total current used space to be below 20GB.


Now...what size SSD are you considering, and how much actual used space is on your current drive?

 

[choppalouie88]

I'm assuming your motherboard is has multiple sata ports (and we are talking about a Desktop), especially if the PC is only a few years old. In which case yes, you can support multiple harddrives. I recommend removing the HDD, installing the SSD and then installing windows on the new drive. Then re-install the old HDD (it should become the D: or E: drive more than likely). Then you can scavenge what you want off the HDD, then reformat it to start clean there too. Now you have a storage drive. You will notice an amazing difference in boot times and responsiveness with the SSD as your boot drive. Please note that you may need to purchase a SATA cable if the SSD doesnt come with one.

Cheers.

im pretty good with video cards and motherboards, i dont know a huge amount about hard drives though. does anyone have a tutorial or something i can use, so i keep all my info intact but have the ssd as my main drive to boot from. and what purpose would my normal disk drive use if i dont want to do raid

 

[choppalouie88]

im pretty good with video cards and motherboards, i dont know a huge amount about hard drives though. does anyone have a tutorial or something i can use, so i keep all my info intact but have the ssd as my main drive to boot from. and what purpose would my normal disk drive use if i dont want to do raid

OK.
Assuming this is a desktop. you can almost certainly install more than 1 drive.

For an SSD, you want your OS and applications on that.
How to get it there?

2 options:

1. Clean install of the OS and applications on that new SSD.
This requires that you have the OS install disk and the license key handy.
You will also have to reinstall all of your applications
Highly recommended.


2. Migrate from the old HDD to the new SSD
This requires that the total used space on the current drive be significantly below the size of the SSD.
For instance...a 250GB SSD, you need the total current used space to be below 20GB.


Now...what size SSD are you considering, and how much actual used space is on your current drive?

used space is around 636gb on my old hard drive. the space on the ssd i was getting is 1 tb. so i would have to delete some stuff off my older hard drive? is there any way to just copy all my crap to the ssd after it has the os on it? i dont mind starting over so far as settings but, can i get all my info and stuff to this ssd?

 

[USAFRet]

used space is around 636gb on my old hard drive. the space on the ssd i was getting is 1 tb. so i would have to delete some stuff off my older hard drive? is there any way to just copy all my crap to the ssd after it has the os on it? i dont mind starting over so far as settings but, can i get all my info and stuff to this ssd?

Given a 1TB SSD, no, you do NOT have to delete anything from your existing drive.
If you are getting a Samsung drive, then either the Samsung Data Migration will work, or Macrium Reflect

If you're getting some other make drive, then Macrium Reflect.

Again, given that used space and a 1TB SSD, you do not have to delete anything.

What make/model drive will this be?

 

[USAFRet]

However....1TB SSD's are pretty pricey.

Maybe consider a 500GB, and use the 1TB for other stuff. I'm sure there is a significant amount of junk on your current drive that does not need to go to the SSD.

Either way.

 

[choppalouie88]

However....1TB SSD's are pretty pricey.

Maybe consider a 500GB, and use the 1TB for other stuff. I'm sure there is a significant amount of junk on your current drive that does not need to go to the SSD.

Either way.

ok, im pretty sure i get what you're saying. so i should get a 500gb ssd and use this for my os and what else?

 

[USAFRet]

However....1TB SSD's are pretty pricey.

Maybe consider a 500GB, and use the 1TB for other stuff. I'm sure there is a significant amount of junk on your current drive that does not need to go to the SSD.

Either way.

ok, im pretty sure i get what you're saying. so i should get a 500gb ssd and use this for my os and what else?

OS, ALL applications, and a few games as fits.
On your current drive, how much space is consumed with music/video/downloads?

 

[choppalouie88]

However....1TB SSD's are pretty pricey.

Maybe consider a 500GB, and use the 1TB for other stuff. I'm sure there is a significant amount of junk on your current drive that does not need to go to the SSD.

Either way.

ok, im pretty sure i get what you're saying. so i should get a 500gb ssd and use this for my os and what else?

OS, ALL applications, and a few games as fits.
On your current drive, how much space is consumed with music/video/downloads?

i have a lot of music, and a couple movies. the ,main thing im wondering, is the ssd is gonna make things go faster. so i would put on the games i play most often and the os right?

 

[USAFRet]

i have a lot of music, and a couple movies. the ,main thing im wondering, is the ssd is gonna make things go faster. so i would put on the games i play most often and the os right?

Yes.