Cloning a laptop spin drive to SSD replacement drive

mattyfez · 29 Aug 2018 at 14:01

Hi all
Thinking about upgrading my dad's laptop to SSD.
Done this before with desktop PC's so I'm comfortable with the cloning aspect however will I need an internal bracket for the SSD drive on a laptop? Guessing it's existing spin drive is bigger. Or are the small form factor laptop HDD's the same size as an SSD?
Guessing I'll need an SSD external caddy or USB cable to do the clone?

Thanks

ANDARIAL · 30 Aug 2018 at 08:31

mattyfez said:
Guessing I'll need an SSD external caddy or USB cable to do the clone?

Yup
2.5 " SSD is same size as spinning rust hdd

adidan · 30 Aug 2018 at 08:42

mattyfez said:
Hi all
Thinking about upgrading my dad's laptop to SSD.
Done this before with desktop PC's so I'm comfortable with the cloning aspect however will I need an internal bracket for the SSD drive on a laptop? Guessing it's existing spin drive is bigger. Or are the small form factor laptop HDD's the same size as an SSD?
Guessing I'll need an SSD external caddy or USB cable to do the clone?

Thanks

Yup, same size, it should use the same mounting so long as it's not an ancient laptop that doesn't use a SATA connection. It usually just involves a couple of screws.

As for cloning, yeah a caddy is needed. Well the connector is needed, whether in a case or not.

I have to say because of inbuilt manufacturer partitions on my GF's laptop I used Acronis Trueimage because it was getting a tad annoying.

It came free with an SSD but meant I could hook the old and new drive up to my desktop and clone, it was a doddle and worked perfectly.

PiKe · 30 Aug 2018 at 08:49

If you have an external USB HDD, you could create an image on that from the existing drive and then put the SSD in and restore from the image.

I use Macrium Reflect.

adidan · 30 Aug 2018 at 08:59

PiKe said:
I use Macrium Reflect.

That's the one, i've been trying to think of the free version i've used in the past.

Minstadave · 30 Aug 2018 at 09:01

PiKe said:
If you have an external USB HDD, you could create an image on that from the existing drive and then put the SSD in and restore from the image.

I use Macrium Reflect.

Yup always worked fine for me this way.

mattyfez · 30 Aug 2018 at 09:51

Cool thanks.
Might as well get a caddy so the old drive can be retired to backup/portable drive duty afterwards..

It's a reasonably modern laptop sandy bridge celeron with 8gb ddr3 so an SSD should really bring it up to speed.

adidan · 30 Aug 2018 at 17:46

mattyfez said:
Cool thanks.an SSD should really bring it up to speed.

Moving from HDD to SSD several years ago will be a day that stays in my memory, it really is night and day.

mattyfez · 30 Aug 2018 at 20:58

adidan said:
Moving from HDD to SSD several years ago will be a day that stays in my memory, it really is night and day.

Thanks, yeh I'm well aware .. My dad's insisting on buying a new laptop because it's 'slow' and I know damn well why it's slow .. It's running a a slow 5400 speed laptop drive..I've cleaned it up and it's the hard drive that's slow. Lol parents.

andy_mk3 · 30 Aug 2018 at 21:02

mattyfez said:
Thanks, yeh I'm well aware .. My dad's insisting on buying a new laptop because it's 'slow' and I know damn well why it's slow .. It's running a a slow 5400 speed laptop drive..I've cleaned it up and it's the hard drive that's slow. Lol parents.

My Dad wanted a new laptop, his was getting quite old so fair enough, but I'd put an SSD in his old machine. He had a hard time believing a new laptop with a HDD would be slower than his 7 year old laptop. An SSD is essential in anything these days.

adidan · 30 Aug 2018 at 22:58

mattyfez said:
Lol parents.

Ha yeah, i'm always left to sort out laptops and be the general free IT help too.

Seems to be the law as a child no matter how old you are.