Upgrading my laptop with a SSD possible?

[Silvercrest]

Hello everyone,

I'm a student and currently my laptop is taking up a lot of time when opening a simple word document. I have a 4 years old laptop and I am thinking of upgrading it with a SSD. I made a few pictures and I was curious if my laptop is compatible for a SSD upgrade.

Also I opened my laptop and looked around a bit. I noticed a big gap in the left upper corner of the picture which has M2.5*6L written in it multiple times. Now I am wondering what that exactly is.

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Closer picture of the space:

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My laptop type is:

Acer Aspire 7750
Intel Core I5 2450M
6GB DDR3 memory
500GB HDD
Intel HD graphics 3000

Thank you in advance for reading this post!

 

[mcnumpty23]

a defrag might help a little bit

but if its never had a clean reload of windows in 4 years its probably just an accumulation of stuff--a clean reinstall would certainly help

but adding an ssd will make a huge difference especially at start up since a laptop has a simpler bios and less stuff to check than a desktop

it will make it hit the desktop and be ready to use so fast you wont know what hit you

I will make sure to run a clean reload of windows. Perhaps you also know which SSD is currently a viable option to go with?

samsung 850 evo is my usual choice though there are others that people might reccomend

as for thickness--you could measure the thickness of your existing hard drive--then test it in the second slot to make sure the cover goes back on ok

as ssds used to come in 7mm and 9mm thick far as i recall

 

[mcnumpty23]

One more thought on installing Windows on your SSD. Make sure you disconnect the existing HDD before installing Windows. If the Windows installer detects more than one storage drive, it may load some boot files on the second drive. Then if that drive is formatted or removed, your computer won't boot up. So after installing Windows on the SSD, reboot the computer several times before re-connecting the HDD.

Ah that sounds complicated, but doable. So basically I remove the HDD and insert the SSD in the slot to make sure there is only one drive active. Boot windows from an USB-stick and install it on the SSD followed by a few reboots to make sure it works properly? And after that I plug my old HDD back in and everything should work as it used to be?

yes with the exception that both drives will have a boot record on them so you may need to use bios or boot menu key to make it boot the ssd instead of the original drive

 

[mjslakeridge]

One more thought on installing Windows on your SSD. Make sure you disconnect the existing HDD before installing Windows. If the Windows installer detects more than one storage drive, it may load some boot files on the second drive. Then if that drive is formatted or removed, your computer won't boot up. So after installing Windows on the SSD, reboot the computer several times before re-connecting the HDD.

Ah that sounds complicated, but doable. So basically I remove the HDD and insert the SSD in the slot to make sure there is only one drive active. Boot windows from an USB-stick and install it on the SSD followed by a few reboots to make sure it works properly? And after that I plug my old HDD back in and everything should work as it used to be?

Yes, that is basically it. But you will want to re-format the HDD once you re-install it, otherwise you will have 2 operating systems installed into your laptop. (Not a problem in and of itself, but no real reason for it).

 

[mjslakeridge]

What is the exact model number of your 7750? I tried looking on a few sites to see if it listed the compatible SSD's for the laptop, and there is no mention of a second drive bay (although we all seem to agree that you have one). The sites I visited just mentioned a 500GB or 640GB HDD.

Edit: For example

https://www.cnet.com/products/acer-7750g-6662/specs/

 

[Silvercrest]

a defrag might help a little bit

but if its never had a clean reload of windows in 4 years its probably just an accumulation of stuff--a clean reinstall would certainly help

but adding an ssd will make a huge difference especially at start up since a laptop has a simpler bios and less stuff to check than a desktop

it will make it hit the desktop and be ready to use so fast you wont know what hit you

I will make sure to run a clean reload of windows. Perhaps you also know which SSD is currently a viable option to go with?

What amount of storage or what is the budget?

My budget is around €130.- it is probably not enough for something high end. I just need something that makes my laptop survive college for one more year.

edit: I am not playing any games on it or downloading big files. I am mostly handling word documents and statistic documents which are barely 10mb each.

 

[Silvercrest]

What is the exact model number of your 7750? I tried looking on a few sites to see if it listed the compatible SSD's for the laptop, and there is no mention of a second drive bay (although we all seem to agree that you have one). The sites I visited just mentioned a 500GB or 640GB HDD.

Edit: For example

https://www.cnet.com/products/acer-7750g-6662/specs/

yes, that is the strange part. My laptop is for some reason nowhere to be found. I tried looking for it earlier. But this might hopefully help:

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[Silvercrest]

One more thought on installing Windows on your SSD. Make sure you disconnect the existing HDD before installing Windows. If the Windows installer detects more than one storage drive, it may load some boot files on the second drive. Then if that drive is formatted or removed, your computer won't boot up. So after installing Windows on the SSD, reboot the computer several times before re-connecting the HDD.

Ah that sounds complicated, but doable. So basically I remove the HDD and insert the SSD in the slot to make sure there is only one drive active. Boot windows from an USB-stick and install it on the SSD followed by a few reboots to make sure it works properly? And after that I plug my old HDD back in and everything should work as it used to be?

yes with the exception that both drives will have a boot record on them so you may need to use bios or boot menu key to make it boot the ssd instead of the original drive

Will do! I was already wondering about the booting sequence.

 

[mjslakeridge]

OK, I went to the ACER website and typed in your serial number and it identified your specific model, but still no mention of the second drive bay, or the compatible SSD's it can accept:

http://www.acer.com/datasheets/2011/4876/7750/LX.RB002.062.html

Your best bet may be to Contact ACER using the info on this page:

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support

Or borrow a HDD or SSD from someone and install it in the second drive bay to make sure it is recognized in the BIOS and/or Device Manager.

 

[mcnumpty23]

OK, I went to the ACER website and typed in your serial number and it identified your specific model, but still no mention of the second drive bay, or the compatible SSD's it can accept:

http://www.acer.com/datasheets/2011/4876/7750/LX.RB002.062.html

Your best bet may be to Contact ACER using the info on this page:

https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support

Or borrow a HDD or SSD from someone and install it in the second drive bay to make sure it is recognized in the BIOS and/or Device Manager.

no need to just move the existing hard drive to the second connection to test

 

[mjslakeridge]

I finally found a site reviewing the 7750G series, and it mentions the second drive bay! It refers to it as a "hard disk compartment", but if it can accept a hdd, it will accept a ssd. Scroll down quite a ways on this page on the right hand side:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Acer-Aspire-7750G-Notebook.45861.0.html

 

[rehed21]

I reviewed a youtube video for the Acer 7750g. In order to get his SSD to fit in the second bay, he had to take the ssd apart and use a dremel to cut away the ribs on the cover. It can be done, but it takes some work. Here's a link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDUxJfBUUqo

 

[mcnumpty23]

the 7750g may be different from a plain 7750--usually the g denotes a gaming version

though as i said earlier just move the existing hard drive over and see if the cover goes back on or not

 

[Silvercrest]

the 7750g may be different from a plain 7750--usually the g denotes a gaming version

though as i said earlier just move the existing hard drive over and see if the cover goes back on or not

I switched the HDD to the other slot and the laptop still booted up as normal. This confirms that this slot is actually working right?

 

[Silvercrest]

I reviewed a youtube video for the Acer 7750g. In order to get his SSD to fit in the second bay, he had to take the ssd apart and use a dremel to cut away the ribs on the cover. It can be done, but it takes some work. Here's a link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDUxJfBUUqo

thanks for the video I will need this one for the future, since I also bumped into this problem when I moved my HDD to the second slot and tried to close it.

 

[Silvercrest]

I finally found a site reviewing the 7750G series, and it mentions the second drive bay! It refers to it as a "hard disk compartment", but if it can accept a hdd, it will accept a ssd. Scroll down quite a ways on this page on the right hand side:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Acer-Aspire-7750G-Notebook.45861.0.html

Thats nice! thank you for finding the right page

 

[mjslakeridge]

the 7750g may be different from a plain 7750--usually the g denotes a gaming version

though as i said earlier just move the existing hard drive over and see if the cover goes back on or not

I switched the HDD to the other slot and the laptop still booted up as normal. This confirms that this slot is actually working right?

Yes, without a doubt. But you say you can't put the cover back on? I though all 2.5" hdd's were a standard size.

 

[Silvercrest]

the 7750g may be different from a plain 7750--usually the g denotes a gaming version

though as i said earlier just move the existing hard drive over and see if the cover goes back on or not

I switched the HDD to the other slot and the laptop still booted up as normal. This confirms that this slot is actually working right?

Yes, without a doubt. But you say you can't put the cover back on? I though all 2.5" hdd's were a standard size.

I thought so too. But apparently the original slot where the HDD is residing is sinked into the laptop deeper than the second one. Also the ribs on the backpanel are trimmed to a different size than the other side. Maybe they added the extra ribs on the other side to prevent the other side from inflating or to make it more resistant? Anyway, I have a few tools that could prove usefull if it is needed to remove them. I'll wait for the SSD to come in and see for myself if it will fit or not

 

[mjslakeridge]

I would think the SSD should be a little thinner than a hdd. So maybe you won't have to modify anything. Good luck and let us know how it works out!

 

[Silvercrest]

I would think the SSD should be a little thinner than a hdd. So maybe you won't have to modify anything. Good luck and let us know how it works out!

Let's hope so! I will keep this page updated of my findings!

 

[mcnumpty23]

the 7750g may be different from a plain 7750--usually the g denotes a gaming version

though as i said earlier just move the existing hard drive over and see if the cover goes back on or not

I switched the HDD to the other slot and the laptop still booted up as normal. This confirms that this slot is actually working right?

Yes, without a doubt. But you say you can't put the cover back on? I though all 2.5" hdd's were a standard size.

I thought so too. But apparently the original slot where the HDD is residing is sinked into the laptop deeper than the second one. Also the ribs on the backpanel are trimmed to a different size than the other side. Maybe they added the extra ribs on the other side to prevent the other side from inflating or to make it more resistant? Anyway, I have a few tools that could prove usefull if it is needed to remove them. I'll wait for the SSD to come in and see for myself if it will fit or not

one way or another you will get it in there even if a bit of diy is needed

thats why earlier i said measure the thickness of the original drive--then you will know if its thicker than a ssd

 

[Silvercrest]

I completely forgot to keep you guys updated on this matter!

A few days ago I bought the SSD and installed it in my laptop. I never thought I would see my laptop boot up this quick. Thanks everyone for responding on this thread!

Also: I had to remove my HDD and put my SSD in the sunken socket. I did this because even the SSD would not fit in the second slot, which basically makes the second slot useless. I also did not want to lose my warranty on the new 240 gb SSD from Kingston.

 

[mjslakeridge]

Glad you got the new ssd installed! When you say the ssd would not fit in the 2nd slot, do you mean it fits in the space, but the cover could not be put back on because the ssd is too thick? I don't know why they would advertise a second drive bay if it is useless, as you say.

 

[lakimens]

You could put it in the CD DRIVE bay.

 

[Silvercrest]

Glad you got the new ssd installed! When you say the ssd would not fit in the 2nd slot, do you mean it fits in the space, but the cover could not be put back on because the ssd is too thick? I don't know why they would advertise a second drive bay if it is useless, as you say.

I know right! It is kinda strange in my opinion. With not fitting I meant the lid could not be put back on again, which is a pity. Maybe they were not suspecting SSD's to be put in this laptop since this one is over four years old now? But then again, it is strange because a normal HDD is not able to fit in it either!

 

[Silvercrest]

You could put it in the CD DRIVE bay.

Put it in the drive in terms of taking my current CD drive out and replace it with my HDD? If so, wouldn't that leave me with a uncomfortable gap in the side?