Laptop- upgrade to SSD drive or replace laptop?

dinneenp

Hi,
I have a slow laptop, thinking of either replacing it or getting local store to install SSD drive (€120, including new OS).

Laptop:

Asus X55 C, 15.6 inch screen, about 8 years old
Processor: Intel Core i3-2350M CPU @2.30 GHz
Storage: Disk drive, Hitachi, 465 GB
Ram: 4 GB
Windows 10
battery: old as could be, normally use plugged in (would buy a generic replacement if keep)

Any advice please? There's probably some decent BF deals so could probably get a new laptop for a good price but if get SSD drive would this be fine for a good few years?
Thanks,
Pa.

JoyPad

It depends a lot on what you do on the laptop.
I have an 8 year old MacBook Pro (2011 model, bought in 2012).
I've replaced the HDD with an SSD, and upgraded RAM from 4Gb to 8Gb, and I still love it.

120 for a new SSD drive seems a bit steep. I assume it would be a 500Gb SATA model, which costs about 60 euro.

These days, I would attempt the replacement on my own, following instructions from the Internet.

Shlippery

I've done many SSD swaps and it's a pretty simple upgrade.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B072R78B6Q?pf_rd_r=PGETDGA845NGHVKG0YZP&pf_rd_p=7fd6a387-1657-41b5-98d0-70eb16f03c33&pd_rd_r=451c11a5-d494-4bb1-befd-da3e0874b05e&pd_rd_w=lv5Wp&pd_rd_wg=dm0fm&ref_=pd_gw_unk
(depends how much you use the laptop, as games are unlikely this could be enough)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sabrent-2-5-Inch-Adapter-Optimized-EC-SSHD-USB-3-0-SSD-SATA-2-5/dp/B011M8YACM/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=ssd+usb+cable&qid=1606496328&sr=8-4 + transfer cable.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Asus+X55C+HDD+(Hard+Disk+Drive)+Replacement/33691 - guide for your laptop. All you really need is a screwdriver


1. Plug in SSD via usb cable
2. Use a migration software to 'clone' your current HDD -> SSD
3. Power off Laptop
4. Unscrew back cover
5. Unplug HDD
6. Plug in SSD
7. Power on - everything is the same as it was, just ten times faster.

Beauty of this is, if it doesn't work, you can just put the old hard drive back in and try again. I know most people recommend doing a clean install of windows for an SSD....but I don't think it's always required ( have done it for many without issue..)


It's just another approach if you want to extend lifespan of current machine!

(but there'd be no harm getting a newer laptop altogether if budget allowed as it would probably last longer overall - the ssd replacement is probably only delaying

Lantus

I have the exact same spec laptop almost and age. The screen died a few weeks ago. They have limited lifespans. If the ssd doesn't work you can always fit into a new pc I suppose so no harm as you may get several more years...

dinneenp

Cheers for the replies. Going go do it myself so.
Do I need a Internal Hard Disk Drive and Solid State Drive Bracket as well?

Laptop won't be used for gaming at all.

Thanks,
Pa.

JoyPad

dinneenp wrote: »

Cheers for the replies. Going go do it myself so.
Do I need a Internal Hard Disk Drive and Solid State Drive Bracket as well?

Laptop won't be used for gaming at all.

Thanks,
Pa.

Most likely not. That bracket is an adapter for mounting 2.5in drives in 3.5in bays. Laptops have 2.5in drives, replacement will be like-for-like.

K.O.Kiki

dinneenp wrote: »

Hi,
I have a slow laptop, thinking of either replacing it or getting local store to install SSD drive (€120, including new OS).

Laptop:

Asus X55 C, 15.6 inch screen, about 8 years old
Processor: Intel Core i3-2350M CPU @2.30 GHz
Storage: Disk drive, Hitachi, 465 GB
Ram: 4 GB
Windows 10
battery: old as could be, normally use plugged in (would buy a generic replacement if keep)

Any advice please? There's probably some decent BF deals so could probably get a new laptop for a good price but if get SSD drive would this be fine for a good few years?
Thanks,
Pa.

I have a ThinkPad with a slightly better CPU of the same vintage (X220 with Core i5-2520M)

REPLACE

It has 2 SSDs & 8Gb RAM and yet (ever since I installed Windows 10) it is slow as molasses.

It would probably be fine in Win7 or Linux, but the former is no longer supported & the latter I couldn't be arsed learning.

wotzgoingon

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

I have a ThinkPad with a slightly better CPU of the same vintage (X220 with Core i5-2520M)

REPLACE

It has 2 SSDs & 8Gb RAM and yet (ever since I installed Windows 10) it is slow as molasses.

It would probably be fine in Win7 or Linux, but the former is no longer supported & the latter I couldn't be arsed learning.

My own laptop is 16 years old but I have Linux on it a few years now as Windows 10 makes it run to a crawl. It is built on a 65nm process.

But just to add I rarely use the device since I have Desktops for years also. I just boot it up every now and then just for the heck of it due to it's age and it still works.

Homelander

A £20 120GB SSD would be ideal. While the laptop is ancient the spec is fine for basic Windows 10.

I know someone above said their i5 laptop is really slow with Win10 but to be honest there's probably something else at play there. My parents laptop is an i5-2x CPU with a 256GB SSD and 4GB of RAM and it's lightning fast in Win10 for basic browsing and office.

2nd gen Core i3 and i5 are basically identical anyway. The i5 has higher boost clock I think and probably more cache but they are both dual core.

Saralace

Look at ebuyers and overclockers uk for laptops you should see laptop sales at Christmas

dinneenp

So would these be fine & all I need?
- Kingston 240GB A400 2.5" SATA III SSD Drive - 500MB/s (€27)


Sabrent USB 3.0 to SSD / 2.5-Inch SATA I/II/III Hard Drive Adapter (EC-SSHD)

Shilppery mentioned a transfer cable. Is that a standard USB or a specific cable?
Thanks
Pa

Homelander

You don't need anything else. You're probably better off just doing a fresh install of Windows rather than cloning.

Takes 30 minutes using the USB install option via the Microsoft Media Creation tool.

Anything you need to backup, just store temporarily on a USB stick or something.

dinneenp

Homelander wrote: »

You don't need anything else. You're probably better off just doing a fresh install of Windows rather than cloning.

Takes 30 minutes using the USB install option via the Microsoft Media Creation tool.

Anything you need to backup, just store temporarily on a USB stick or something.

Hi again,
Thanks for the reply. Going to order tomorrow, just to be 100% sure-

What exactly is the purpose of the SSD USB cable- copy everything from laptop to the SSD I presume.

I have a 1 TB external HD, can I just copy everything to this, install the SSD, then copy everything to the SSD & I don't need the above cable? I'm guessing so

A Kingston 240GB A400 2.5" SATA III SSD Drive - 500MB/s would be fine & compatible- correct? It's half the price of the SanDisk SSD.

Last q- to use the Microsoft Media Creation tool I need a license to install Windows 10. As I already have Windows 10 on my laptop, can I get the license details from laptop and use them? If so, how?

Thanks again,
Pa.

wotzgoingon

Yea you do not need the cable just do as you said transfer what you want to external and then install SSD and install Windows on there. Once that is done connect external HDD to laptop and transfer the items back to new SSD.

Windows should transfer the license back once you log in.

Cordell

Quickest way is to copy from your existing hard drive to the SSD using a cloning tool like Clonezilla.
No need to copy anything else, no need to reinstall Windows, just swap the drives and that's it.

dinneenp

wotzgoingon wrote: »

Yea you do not need the cable just do as you said transfer what you want to external and then install SSD and install Windows on there. Once that is done connect external HDD to laptop and transfer the items back to new SSD.

Windows should transfer the license back once you log in.

Thanks, ordered.

dinneenp

Hi,
I followed steps below but get stuck at step 7-
Inaccessible boot drive, see attached

Any ideas please? In the meantime I've reinstalled the old HDD

1. Plug in SSD via usb cable
2. Use a migration software to 'clone' your current HDD -> SSD
3. Power off Laptop
4. Unscrew back cover
5. Unplug HDD
6. Plug in SSD
7. Power on - everything is the same as it was, just ten times faster.
Thanks,
Pa

dinneenp

Hi,
I followed steps below but get stuck at step 7-
Inaccessible boot drive, see attached

Any ideas please? In the meantime I've reinstalled the old HDD

1. Plug in SSD via usb cable
2. Use a migration software to 'clone' your current HDD -> SSD
3. Power off Laptop
4. Unscrew back cover
5. Unplug HDD
6. Plug in SSD
7. Power on - everything is the same as it was, just ten times faster.
Thanks,
Pa

TallGlass2

What does the BIOS setup look like?

Stating the obvious here! But basically, the BIOS/Boot file/Loader cannot access the disk to load the OS.

Did the clone software ask anything about file systems etc.. ?

Is there a specific reason your not just installing a fresh copy, it would clear any legacy issues you might not even be aware you have.

dinneenp

TallGlass2 wrote: »

What does the BIOS setup look like?

Stating the obvious here! But basically, the BIOS/Boot file/Loader cannot access the disk to load the OS.

Did the clone software ask anything about file systems etc.. ?

Is there a specific reason your not just installing a fresh copy, it would clear any legacy issues you might not even be aware you have.

HI,
Thanks for the reply.
TBH I don't know what BIOS setup is. I used a tool for backup/clone (AMOEI or similar) and copied everything to an external HD. then swapped HDD for new SDD and encountered the message when I turned the laptop on.

I don't remember if the clone softward asked me anything re file systems. If you can recommend a straight forward one I'll try again with that.

I'd be happy to do a fresh copy (you mean copy everything to external HD and then copy onto SSD when in laptop?) but what happens to the OS/Windows 10, are they copied without any isssues?

Thanks again,
Pa.

Shlippery

Hmm, lets see.. did you put the old hdd back in and it worked again?

If so, can you start it up and plug the ssd into a usb port and it should show two hard drives in 'my computer'

Something like this, and they should both show up as identical , if it 'cloned' successfully.



edit:(sorry - I read it again..
If you're doing a fresh install you need to create a windows 10 install usb - https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10


When you turn on pc hit delete or f2 and it will ask you which device to 'boot' from ...select the USB...and then it wil prompt you to install Windows and you should be able to select the SSD

dinneenp

Shlippery wrote: »

Hmm, lets see.. did you put the old hdd back in and it worked again?

If so, can you start it up and plug the ssd into a usb port and it should show two hard drives in 'my computer'

Something like this, and they should both show up as identical , if it 'cloned' successfully.



edit:(sorry - I read it again..
If you're doing a fresh install you need to create a windows 10 install usb - https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10


When you turn on pc hit delete or f2 and it will ask you which device to 'boot' from ...select the USB...and then it wil prompt you to install Windows and you should be able to select the SSD

Thanks. Yes, installed old HDD and laptop works.
Is it called a fresh install- I'm copying all from current laptop to external HD and then copy all to SDD?
So, just to be 100% sure I need to download Windows 10 'installation media' from that link (using the tool to create installation media(USB flash drive or DVD)...' option?
This bit throws me- "A blank USB flash drive with at least 8GB of space or blank DVD (and DVD burner) if you want to create media. We recommend using a blank USB or blank DVD, because any content on it will be deleted."

So if I already have everything copied to external HD should I use a seperate, blank USB to download the Windows 10 tool? And then when SDD is in, hit delete/F2 and select the usb with Windows first, once that's installed, copy all from external HD? Is this what you call a fresh install and recommended?

Lastly, if I just inserted SDD now, hit F2/delete selected external HD would Windows not copy/be installed as I don't have the Windows tool installed?

Thanks yet again,
Pa.

TallGlass2

If your confident that the copy worked, I would Google, work over the steps, you might find what is going wrong. I suspect boot files are missing from clone drive.

Google -> SSD drive won't boot after copying HDD

EG. https://www.ubackup.com/windows-10/cloned-ssd-wont-boot-windows-10-4125.html

If you want fresh install some tips

1. Take note of what programs you have installed, so you can download them again, any bookmarks etc, sync them.
2. Files etc.. on desktop, create or use your OneDrive account or similar and put your files up into the 'cloud'

Download installation media tool from MS, will require a USB stick, this stick will be wiped clear by the tool

dinneenp

TallGlass2 wrote: »

If your confident that the copy worked, I would Google, work over the steps, you might find what is going wrong. I suspect boot files are missing from clone drive.

Google -> SSD drive won't boot after copying HDD

EG. https://www.ubackup.com/windows-10/cloned-ssd-wont-boot-windows-10-4125.html

If you want fresh install some tips

1. Take note of what programs you have installed, so you can download them again, any bookmarks etc, sync them.
2. Files etc.. on desktop, create or use your OneDrive account or similar and put your files up into the 'cloud'

Download installation media tool from MS, will require a USB stick, this stick will be wiped clear by the tool

Thanks again!
Last question (hopefully). Would you recomment a fresh install? If so, what's the advantages please?
Cheers,
Pa.

After doing this process a few times, id recommend one, as long as you are careful to follow the advice above about the files and programs you'll want after

Fresh install leaves you with a clean registry and no legacy programs or crud that might have built up- likely to be quicker all round

Cordell

dinneenp wrote: »

Thanks again!
Last question (hopefully). Would you recomment a fresh install? If so, what's the advantages please?
Cheers,
Pa.

From what I'm seeing you are trying to copy a 500G HDD to a 240G SSD, this is not easy nor safe. Backup tools will work assuming that the data fits into the smaller disk, but disk cloning will result in unusable drives, as you got.

A fresh install is probably your only option.

TallGlass2

dinneenp wrote: »

Thanks again!
Last question (hopefully). Would you recomment a fresh install? If so, what's the advantages please?
Cheers,
Pa.

As another user mentioned, clean, cleans register, unwanted programs fully removed, good to do give you more information on how your laptop is working, it's a bit fiddly doing your first one, but they are not as hard as you think.

Maybe watch a YouTube video on it first, will make it easier on yourself.

After the installation, I would check for updates right after it.