[SOLVED] ThinkPad laptop upgrade advice

[aden.anderson2001]

Hello. I have a ThinkPad E550 with the following specs:
Ram 8 gb
Cpu Intel core i7 5500u
Gpu amd Radeon r7 m265 2gb
WD hard drive 5400rpm

I want to replace my hdd with and SSD. I have two questions. One is that can I use both an hdd and ssd at the same time on my own laptop? Also what connection should the ssd have to fit and work on my laptop? What ssd would you recommend me to buy which has a long life span and is fast enough for my laptop?
I've checked my hard drive with crystal disk info and speccy they both say the reallocated sectors count is 140 out of 200 and the health status is good. But I've read that if the reallocated sectors count is something else than 0 there is a chance that the hard drive can stop working at any second. Also read error rate is 51 out of 200. Should I worry about the health of my hard drive?


Here is a picture of my laptops back

https://imgur.com/a/OPNij6B

View: https://imgur.com/a/OPNij6B


Also I have another question. Do you think it's worth to buy an extra ram module as I have an empty slot? Would it be a wise choice while my cpu is low performance to buy another ram module?
Please help me out. Thanks in advance

 

[richiestang_78]

To answer your RAM question, unless you are maxing out your RAM adding a second stick of RAM will probably not do anything for performance.

As far as your storage question goes unless there is a second spot to put a drive you can only have an SSD or HDD.

As far as what SSD you should pick, any 2.5inch SATA SSD will work such as the Crucial MX500, Samsung 860, WD Blue etc. Personally I would get a Curcial MX500 in either 500GB or 1TB.


If you do swap out your HDD you will need to reinstall Windows again, or if you want you can clone your HDD to the new SSD using a program like Macrium Reflect https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree. To make it really easy you can buy a cheap USB to SATA adapter like this https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-SATA-USB-Cable-USB3S2SAT3CB/dp/B00HJZJI84, plug in your new SSD to the SATA end and the USB to your laptop and follow the instructions to clone. After the cloning is down, swap the HDD for the SSD and you should be good to go.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LClr3FPg4_4