How To Add Larger Ssd To My Laptop

Make your laptop run similar new again with this uncomplicated upgrade.

There's no better style to boost the performance of a laptop than to replace its mechanical hd with a solid-country disk. SSDs accept read and write speeds many times greater than classic hard disks, and while they're more expensive, the performance benefits can exist felt throughout your PC.

Booting into Windows volition become from taking minutes to seconds; programs, too, volition take no fourth dimension to load; and searching for files will be snappy. If y'all don't desire to trounce out on a brand-new laptop then it's well worth the investment.

Video: How to cull a laptop in 2016

Before you lot upgrade

Before y'all buy an SSD for your ageing laptop, there are a few things you lot need to consider.

Showtime, you demand to ensure that information technology's possible to get inside the laptop. While virtually devices will allow you to remove a potion of the underside of the laptop to get to the hard bulldoze within, others such as super-thin UItrabooks will be more challenging.

Related: Best SSDs to buy right now

It could simply exist a instance of removing a single screw and sliding out i side to reveal the hard drive. Or, it may involve taking off the entire back of the laptop, and so a few components, followed past an aluminium guard and the cradle in which the hard disk drive sits.

Past the end of which you'll be surrounded by tiny screws and a number of the components of the laptop; this can be a daunting prospect for some. Never fear, though: laptops are designed to be opened upwards and fiddled with, and in the principal fit together like a jigsaw. Just don't lose any of the pieces.

Note that opening up your laptop and switching out the SSD will almost certainly void your warranty, though. If you lot damage your motorcar, you're unlikely to get a free repair since any technician worth his or her common salt will easily be able to effigy out that yous've been messing effectually within. You have been warned.

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Finally, ensure that your model of laptop is uniform with the SSD. Although the majority of laptops from the past 10 years use a SATA connection between the difficult bulldoze and the motherboard, older models might use a parallel ATA connector. You'd be wise to check this before shelling out on an SSD, as you'll struggle to fit a converter between your SSD and the connector within the laptop.

Consider the electric current size of the difficult bulldoze and the expense of an upgrade too. Although SSDs take dropped considerably in price over the past few years, a 500GB SSD will still prepare you lot back effectually £150.

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An equivalent mechanical hard deejay of the same capacity will cost only around £40/50. Furthermore, if you're using well-nigh all of the 500GB of your current hard drive, then yous're going to demand clean out files y'all don't desire before attempting to clone your bulldoze.

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To check all of the above, consult the laptop transmission, contact the manufacturer, and bank check out the forums and technical support relating to your disk's make and model. In that location are countless laptops out there, and so it's prudent to do a little research earlier attacking the laptop with a screwdriver.

Of course, the most important point here is to recall that whatsoever upgrade of this type can also put your information at take a chance. Nosotros'd strongly recommend that you support your data to an external hard disk before embarking on any of this, as things can go wrong.

The upgrading process

There are two ways in which you tin upgrade your laptop's hard drive to an SSD:

i) Swap out the erstwhile drive for a new SSD, providing yous've taken into consideration all the above, and re-install the operating organization, along with all your programs and data – if you've got an upwards-to-date backup.

2) Clone your current hard drive and transfer everything stored on the laptop to the new SSD.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both methods. With a clean install of Windows on a new SSD, yous'll exist removing any bug that you may accept experienced on your former installation.

For instance, in that location will be no more than lost Registry links for programs you've installed and removed in the by, your temp files won't be hanging effectually, and yous tin install only the programs you're actually going to utilize this time around. Plus, any sneaky malware y'all may take picked up over the years will be banished forever.

The disadvantage here is the time it volition take to re-install everything, the potential for losing some data or programs – although that should still be rubber on the former bulldoze – and any lost product keys that will stop you lot from re-installing the operating arrangement or any programs.

The advantage of cloning your electric current hard drive to an SSD means that you lot'll be up and running in a matter of minutes, yous won't lose whatsoever work or programs, and your desktop will be every bit yous left it before starting the upgrade.

A disadvantage of cloning is that whatever issues with the old installation of Windows and its programs will naturally be transferred to your new SSD. Also you may not have enough space on the new SSD to fit the install of Windows, programs, games and information. Plus, whatever irritations such equally malware, pop-ups and junk files will keep to haunt you.

Here, we're going to take the road of cloning. If you're planning on a re-install, skip to afterward in the commodity where we talk over plumbing fixtures the SSD.

To successfully clone your current hard bulldoze to an SSD, you'll need a way to attach the new SSD to the laptop, so information technology's recognised as another hard drive. You can either buy an SSD upgrade pack, such equally one offered past Kingston SSDs, where in that location's a USB enclosure complete with cables that volition allow you lot to attach the SSD to the laptop and thus communicate with it. Or you tin can opt to purchase a SATA to USB adapter.

Side by side upward yous'll require cloning software. Y'all can either pay for a more detailed product, with actress features. Or you can opt for a complimentary cloning product, such as AOMEI Backupper.

Get-go by connecting your SSD to your laptop via the USB cable. So download the cloning software and run the installer.

Accept the usual hallmark box to install software, likewise as the licence agreement for the software itself.

It'southward usually all-time to opt for the defaults for the cloning software, unless of course you have a specific expanse where yous install programs, or you're a little suspicious as to what else might be installed alongside the program.

When the install is complete, click on Finish, and launch the cloning software via the newly placed icon on your desktop.

In the example of AOMEI Backupper, click on the Clone tab located on the left, followed by Deejay Clone from the three possible options.

If your SSD has been plugged in to the USB port, and it'south recognised past Windows, and so information technology should appear underneath the currently installed hard drive.

Unremarkably, the installed hard bulldoze is Disk0, and the SSD volition exist Disk1, but that depends on the number of disks you lot already have installed in your laptop.

Take a moment to double-check the disk sizes as shown under the "Disk0" or "Disk1" label to the left; if y'all have a 500GB hard bulldoze, and your new SSD is a 1TB model, then yous'll be able to recognise the difference. Of course, your new drive volition be completely empty, which will be a fairly big hint.

You'll need to select the Source disk, which is your electric current hard disk, by clicking on the correct deejay entry followed by Next. And so you'll be asked to select the Destination disk, which is the new SSD you've connected to the laptop via USB; and click on Next to proceed.

When both Source and Destination disks are selected, you'll be given a brief outline of the process that'south about to take place. If everything looks okay, click on the Showtime Clone button.

The cloning of the drive may take some time depending on how large the bulldoze is, and the speed of the connection to the destination SSD. When information technology's done, click the Stop button and exit from the cloning software.

Fitting the new drive

Equally we mentioned earlier, this next stage all depends on the make and model of your laptop. In our case, nosotros're using an older Dell E6410. Pulling out the hard drive here is simply a matter of removing two screws and sliding the drive out from the side of the laptop chassis.

With the old hard bulldoze removed, we can transfer the chassis take hold of by extracting the screws on either side at the superlative of the hard drive and moving them across to the new SSD that we've just cloned the erstwhile hard drive to.

The last pace in this procedure is to slot the new SSD into place, and replace the screws holding the drive.

Checking the BIOS

Well-nigh of the time, just power up the laptop and the new drive volition be instantly recognised. But there are occasions when you may need to tweak the BIOS first to ensure that the drive has been detected and that the laptop volition boot from it.

To do this, yous'll demand to enter the BIOS on your laptop. Again, this is something that'southward unique to your make and model of laptop. More often than not speaking, the BIOS is usually accessed by pressing the F2, F12, or Del keys on first bootup, before it begins to effort to access the operating system on the hard drive. In the case of our old Dell laptop, it's the F2 fundamental that gets us into the BIOS/Setup screen.

Bank check that the newly installed SSD has been recognised, you can find this in the System Information section, commonly. And bank check that the SSD is the first boot choice in the available Boot Sequence.

If the SSD fails to exist recognised, it could be that it hasn't been refitted correctly. Power off the laptop and double-check that you've pushed the SSD into the SATA connexion on the laptop correctly and all the way in; also double-check that by screwing it all back up again y'all're not moving it from the connexion.

If it continues not to exist recognised then may need to double-cheque that the SATA connection inside the laptop is capable of accepting that particular make of SSD.

Savour the benefits of an SSD

All being well, you lot'll now be enjoying the fact that your laptop is booting to the Windows desktop in mere seconds, as opposed to being able to make a loving cup of tea while you lot await for Windows to warm upwards.

Got your own method? Let united states of america know in the comments below.