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RFI - SSD replacement drive


Tony Parsons

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I am considering replacing my current hard drive (software only - data stored on satellite drives) with an internal SATA SSD drive - of those who have done this, are there any snags for which I should look out, or any problems (and hopefully solutions) which you have run into ?

 

Many thanks

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Cloning the original disk to the SSD was the only hurdle to overcome. I used 'Clonezilla', which runs under Linux; booted from a USB stick.

 

It all went reasonably smoothly. However, Clonezilla is a bit opaque to debug if things don't go right first time. As I found out when trying to move the OS on another machine to a larger HDD. Just keep your fingers crossed!

 

Prepare a USB stick with Clonezilla and a cut-down Linux version - all instructions are on the Internet. Test that the USB stick boots into Clonezilla, and you should be good to go after hooking up the SSD.

 

The SSD upgrade is definitely worth it. Booting time to the OS is at least halved, and programs start almost instantly. Plug-in things, like SD cards and USB sticks, are recognised very quickly as well.

 

Oh, on the hardware side: If you're replacing a 3.5" HDD, you might need a cradle to hold the SSD, since they only come in 2.5" size.

Edited by rodeo_joe|1
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The "retail" boxes for SSDs often contain a mini CD or a URL for download of free cloning software AND the cradle. When I had my IT business, I upgraded a lot of workstations with Intel SSDs which included a version of Acronis that would function only if an Intel SSD was detected. Crucial offers a similar customized Acronis download. Samsung has a data migration tool.

 

I have used Acronis (both retail and free versions) with no problems. The customized versions automate the process - much simpler than Clonezilla and other full featured imaging software. I haven't tried the Samsung data migration tool. I recently purchased Macrium for image based backup. I prefer Macrium's user interface to Acronis and I easily migrated boot disks to SSDs.

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When I replaced my wife's older 2009 Macbook Pro HD with an SSD,, it didn't seem much of an improvement, but I then ran into an article describing how often various computers suffered from a damaged power ribbon to the HD.

 

I saw that the MBP power ribbon position under the HD made for some very tight bends so I replaced it hoping for results, and yep, that did it.

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Why do I say things...

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Thank you all very much - my intention is to do a clean Win 10 install, then just install the software I need, instead of all the 'It seemed a good idea at the time' stuff I currently seem to have, instead of cloning the original. This may be a long-winded way of doing things, but, oddly enough, at the moment I seem to have time on my hands, for some reason !

 

Thanks, @eric for the advice, but this new drive will slot into place where the current one is, in my Acer laptop, so that should not be an issue. Now that you have mentioned it, however, I will certainly check, just in case.

 

Thanks, @rodeo_joe, but the old one is 2.5", so the new one should just slide into place, with screws to retain it.

 

Cheers guys.

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Good luck! I love the WD 500 GB SSD I installed as the C drive on my new desktop in December. I just used the Acronis migration tool that came with the drive to reassign drives as primary and secondary. My new computer had a native M.2 port on the motherboard, so easy-peasy. The 1 TB disk drive is now my primary data drive.
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Thank you all very much - my intention is to do a clean Win 10 install, then just install the software I need, instead of all the 'It seemed a good idea at the time' stuff I currently seem to have, instead of cloning the original. This may be a long-winded way of doing things, but, oddly enough, at the moment I seem to have time on my hands, for some reason !

 

Thanks, @eric for the advice, but this new drive will slot into place where the current one is, in my Acer laptop, so that should not be an issue. Now that you have mentioned it, however, I will certainly check, just in case.

 

Thanks, @rodeo_joe, but the old one is 2.5", so the new one should just slide into place, with screws to retain it.

 

Cheers guys.

 

Clean install is probably a good idea, especially where Windows is concerned. I switched my laptop over to a SSD with no issues, cloning the very complex boot loader setup I need in order to work around a bios bug.

 

On that note, if you're starting from a clean install, read up a bit on EFI and partitioning beforehand. I've come across a few EFI implementations that are quite simply broken and only work with something identical to the original partitioning scheme.

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I have used Acronis (both retail and free versions) with no problems.

Hmmm. I recently needed to replace a cramped 1TB HDD with a 2TB upgrade - also an HDD, not SSD. Clonezilla failed 2 or 3 times with a block size error. I tried Acronis, and that hung the computer on reboot. ( It seems Acronis does the cloning under its own small OS that bypasses Windows after a restart.)

 

I ended up doing a complete system backup, and restoring to the new disk from a bootable repair USB stick. That didn't go smoothly either. The backup file refused to restore. After a web search, the issue was that the boot USB stick needed to be pulled at the point just before the restore was initiated. Microsoft's own 'help' forum was useless. The solution came from an online IT magazine article. Bl**dy Windows!

 

Anyhow. I hope your SSD upgrade goes more smoothly Tony.

Edited by rodeo_joe|1
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Well, many happy returns then Tony! Have as good a celebration as possible in these circumstances.

 

I'm hoping that lockdown is lifted before my own birthday in June.

 

Thanks, Joe - many happy returns for then. A friend has her birthday in June, and we usually have a day out at Wells-next-the-Sea, but who knows what will happen ? Anyway, should have my new drive fitted and working by then - i hope !:)

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