Laptop HDD upgrade advice

This Side Up · 10 May 2016 at 21:25

Hi chaps!

I'm after some advice re: upgrading HDDs in my laptop.

Currently have a Toshiba Satellite Pro laptop which has a 500 GB mechanodinosaur HDD. I know my particular laptop is compatible with SSD drives, so have my eye on a Samsung EVO 850 at around 500 GB. That's not the issue.

The issue is I am not sure where to begin swapping them over. I'm not talking about the physical act of swapping them over, but rather moving/cloning my current HDD to the new SSD.

How would I do this? What options are available to me? One drawback... I have no working optical drive in this particular laptop.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

s452 · 10 May 2016 at 21:46

1 - obtain a USB to SATA caddy/adaptor
2 - download macrium reflect (it's free)
3 - 3 place SSD into caddy
4 - clone entire contents of HDD to new SSD with Macrium reflect
5 - remove HDD from laptop and replace with SSD from USB to SATA Adaptor
6 - boot into laptop and all your settings etc should be as before
(optional step of performing a factory reset via the manufacturers recovery options can now be performed if you wish to reset the laptop to factory default settings)

another option is to
1 - obtain ISO file of required OS + license code*(there are both legal and illegal sources out there)
*License code can be either
- found at the bottom of your laptop via a sticker
- built into the bios
- obtained via serial number retrieving software like belarc advisor or magic jellybean finder
- obtained via illegal means
2 - transfer ISO to a USB flash drive (8gb is minimum capacity recommended),microsoft has a tool for doing this (window DVD to USB tool)
3 - download at least the wireless driver from the manufacturers website
4 - remove HDD and replace with SSD
5 - boot from USB containing windows ISO and install windows + install whatever drivers are required

stewski · 10 May 2016 at 21:53

Question, slightly tangential.

If your OS has its OS key embedded in the BIOS and you have to switch off fast boot (lenovo) and/or UEFI mode to say run windows 7 as well as windows 8/10, should 8/10 see the BIOS Key or is it not available.

This Side Up · 15 May 2016 at 22:55

Many thanks, s452. Seems simple enough! I'll give it a go!

I assume I can just use the Macrium Reflect tool from within Windows (even if it is on the drive I want to clone) without having to faff about with booting to USB etc?

The hardest decision for me is whether I go for 500 GB (like-for-like size-wise) or 1TB "just in case" my goat pr0n fettish goes major league...

s452 · 15 May 2016 at 23:20

yeap, macrium reflect will run within windows, in regards to a bigger SSD or not, here are a few possible thoughts to consider

- Do you use your Laptop's optical Drive regularly (if it has one)?
- Yes, Either
- get the 1TB
or
- Get the 500GB SSD + use the old 500GB HDD in an external enclosure (from option 1, stage 5) as a storage drive
- No,
- replace your optical drive with (during option 1, stage 5 instead of using a USB to SATA adaptor) https://www.overclockers.co.uk/silverstone-sst-ts08-slim-odd-adapter-for-9.5mm-plug-ca-288-sv.html and after testing everything works*, you can format the old HDD and use it as a storage drive
*make sure your bios is set to boot into the SSD and not the HDD

This Side Up · 15 May 2016 at 23:47

I barely use the optical drive at all - in fact it currently is kaput for whatever reason (Windows can see the drive, drive does not read *any* disc).

For me, I have been considering 1 TB because "why not" (aside cost!), but I barely fill up my existing 500 GB HDD. Windows reports I have 192 GB free of 455 GB at present... and that is with a lot of, erm, *ahem*, files on it

Whether I go 500 GB or 1 TB I'll be keeping the existing 500 GB HDD and using it in an external caddy. This'll greatly reduce the amount of storage used on the primary drive regardless whether it is 500 or 1 TB.

As a left-field option, I am planning on building a fairly top-end gaming rig within the near future, and this will all but replace the laptop for my computing usage. So investing in a 1 TB HDD could be a saving in any future PC build as I can move that to the PC and reinstate the original 500 GB HDD into the laptop.

This Side Up · 21 May 2016 at 15:23

Just thought I'd give a quick update:

Have finished swapping my HDD for a 1TB Samsung 850 EVO, using Macrium Reflect it went schweet as a nut!

Many thanks s452!

Couldn't work out how to re-size the partitions (e.g. either combine the existing 500 GB "C" partition with the other 500GB unallocated) so I've created the unallocated as a separate drive (partition). No biggie. I'm happy!