Upgrading laptop HDD to SSD

[petermik]

Gents.....I have a Lenovo ideapad 305 running win 10 and I,m contemplating upgrading my hard drive to a solid state one...is it a fairly simple process to clone my existing operating system and files etc to the SSD? I see there is free software out there to enable me to do this which one is relatively simple and reliable to use,any help would be welcome.

[sammieuk1]

I cloned a 1tb to 1tb intel ssd I bought here about 2 years ago cant remember what programme I used to clone other than it was free if you cant find one that works ok first time just format and clone again with another one you will defiantly see the difference in speed ???? 

[Don Mega]

Is a nice fresh clean install not an option ?

[OneMoreFarang]

Cloning is no problem if the destination disk is the same size or bigger.

Some programs don't close the additional small (normally invisible) Windows partitions correct.

If you are not experienced it's probably easiest to look for a shop where you buy the SSD and let them transfer it.

Maybe it cost 100B more but it safes you a lot of possible headache. And you will be sure that the new SSD is compatible with your notebook.

 

[Peterw42]

There are some great cloning docks available nowadays, literally as easy as put both drives in the dock, source/target, and press one button. no software or plugged into a computer. and quicker than usb speed.

I have an Orico one from JIB and have cloned win, linix etc

[BestB]

Can just get a shop to do it for 500 baht , cheaper than buying software 

[JamJar]

11 minutes ago, BestB said:

Can just get a shop to do it for 500 baht , cheaper than buying software 

 

Buy what software? 

Why on earth would you, firstly. give strangers full access to the data on your PC hard drive and, secondly then pay them 500 baht for doing something so ridiculously simple?

[shady86]

Some ssds come with free disk migration software as free download like western digital. I would suggest fresh install if you can do manual backup.

[katana]

Guide to cloning using the free software Macrium Reflect.

 

[petermik]

22 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Cloning is no problem if the destination disk is the same size or bigger.

Some programs don't close the additional small (normally invisible) Windows partitions correct.

If you are not experienced it's probably easiest to look for a shop where you buy the SSD and let them transfer it.

Maybe it cost 100B more but it safes you a lot of possible headache. And you will be sure that the new SSD is compatible with your notebook.

 

I have a little knowledge of pc,s and enjoy taking on tasks like this so I will give cloning a go....some differing points of view out there as to whether a fresh install is better or not,some say yes others no.....I don,t use my pc for anything more than everyday browsing and my current HDD takes up 80gb whereas the SDD will be 240gb which I think will be fine...plenty of info out there as to how to do it so I,ll go with the cloning.....thanks for all your input anyhow gents

[OneMoreFarang]

28 minutes ago, petermik said:

I have a little knowledge of pc,s and enjoy taking on tasks like this so I will give cloning a go....some differing points of view out there as to whether a fresh install is better or not,some say yes others no.....I don,t use my pc for anything more than everyday browsing and my current HDD takes up 80gb whereas the SDD will be 240gb which I think will be fine...plenty of info out there as to how to do it so I,ll go with the cloning.....thanks for all your input anyhow gents

If you don't mind installing Windows from scratch, transferring your settings and data, etc. then that is obviously a good way to have a clean system.

I cloned many PCs simply for the reason because it's fast and the user gets exactly the same as before. Often it's not enough to transfer data. Many users don't remember the passwords which are saved in the browser, maybe the forget to transfer some data like contacts or calendar and later wonder how that got lost, etc. If you clone it nothing get's lost, nothing!

And Windows is smart enough to detect that now it works on a SSD. I.e. it won't do automatic defragmentation anymore because that is not necessary anymore.

[JamJar]

33 minutes ago, petermik said:

I have a little knowledge of pc,s and enjoy taking on tasks like this so I will give cloning a go....some differing points of view out there as to whether a fresh install is better or not,some say yes others no.....I don,t use my pc for anything more than everyday browsing and my current HDD takes up 80gb whereas the SDD will be 240gb which I think will be fine...plenty of info out there as to how to do it so I,ll go with the cloning.....thanks for all your input anyhow gents

 

Forget about the cloning. A clean install is best. Otherwise you are just moving old rubbish on to a clean install.

Since you don't use your PC for anything other than basic tasks, a clean install is the way to go.

Cloning may be for those who have a complicated setup and don't want to go through having to set it up in a particular way all over again.

 

[OneMoreFarang]

2 minutes ago, JamJar said:

 

Forget about the cloning. A clean install is best. Otherwise you are just moving old rubbish on to a clean install.

Since you don't use your PC for anything other than basic tasks, a clean install is the way to go.

Cloning may be for those who have a complicated setup and don't want to go through having to set it up in a particular way all over again.

 

But maybe his current installation is not rubbish. If people take care not to install lots of rubbish then you don't have to worry about copying rubbish. There is nothing wrong with cloning is the existing installation works fine.

[JamJar]

1 minute ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Yes and no. The actual cloning is sometimes done in 10 minutes. It depends on the "disks" and the amount of data.

But then there is the additional work of opening the computer, changing the disks, maybe in stalling SW, etc.

 

Then that's a no, isn't it. Even if the cloning alone took ten minutes, there are all of the other operations involved. So cannot then be five to ten minutes. So that is just a no.

 

 

[Farangwithaplan]

To the OP, anytime I have done a swap out of an HDD to an SSD for someone with a laptop, I buy a cheap drive enclosure. Search that term for a photo. Your local PC parts and cable shop, Lazada and Shoppee have plenty of them.

 

You can use the enclosure to assist with cloning to the new SSD. You can then swap the drives and put the old backup HDD into the enclosure and keep it as a backup or wipe it and use it for other storage.

 

 

Edited August 16, 2019 by Farangwithaplan
Made a slight wording change. I didn't want the pedant police to call me out.

[JamJar]

5 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

But maybe his current installation is not rubbish. If people take care not to install lots of rubbish then you don't have to worry about copying rubbish. There is nothing wrong with cloning is the existing installation works fine.

 

All consumer laptops are supplied with bloatware.  For example, the vulnerable Lenovo UpdateAgent.

 

I always prefer to do clean installs for myself, than to allow someone else to do it for me.

[BestB]

12 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Yes and no. The actual cloning is sometimes done in 10 minutes. It depends on the "disks" and the amount of data.

But then there is the additional work of opening the computer, changing the disks, maybe in stalling SW, etc.

Had it done less than 10 days ago and it took about 10 mins, extra 5 mins for me to check if all was working properly 

[OneMoreFarang]

5 minutes ago, JamJar said:

 

Then that's a no, isn't it. Even if the cloning alone took ten minutes, there are all of the other operations involved. So cannot then be five to ten minutes. So that is just a no.

 

 

Not everything is IO.

It depends on what you count. And technically it's not incorrect to say cloning is sometimes done in 10 minutes.

 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 minute ago, BestB said:

extra 5 mins for me to check if all was working properly

If you are able to check within 5 minutes if ALL is working properly then you are a) a genius or b) there is very little you check or c) you ignore lots of things

[BestB]

Just now, OneMoreFarang said:

If you are able to check within 5 minutes if ALL is working properly then you are a) a genius or b) there is very little you check or c) you ignore lots of things

Did not need to check every single file . And have not had a problem since it was done with any files 

[JamJar]

3 minutes ago, Farangwithaplan said:

To the OP, anytime I have done a swap out of an HDD to an SSD for someone with a laptop, I buy a cheap drive enclosure. Search that term for a photo. Your local PC parts and cable shop, Lazada and Shoppee have plenty of them.

 

You can use the enclosure to assist with cloning to the new SSD. You can then swap the drives and put the old backup HDD into the enclosure and keep it as a backup or wipe it and use it for other storage.

 

 

 

Quote

Made a slight wording change. I didn't want the pedant police to call me out.

 

So you decided to call yourself out? ????  You should have left it rather than attract attention to it.

I'm almost afraid to point out that Shopee has only one 'P'. ????

I've found that the enclosures are unreasonably expensive in Thailand. 160 baht via eBay. 

 

Example here; https://shopee.co.th/Hard-Drive-Enclosure-2.5-นิ้วสำหรับ-Samsung-SSD-i.131624263.2020411547

Hopefully not arriving via China. Can't tell.

[JamJar]

5 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Not everything is IO.

It depends on what you count. And technically it's not incorrect to say cloning is sometimes done in 10 minutes.

 

 

He wrote that the job will take five to ten minutes whilst you wait. Nothing about the cloning on it's own.

Paying 500 baht for five to ten minutes work that you can do by yourself, seems more than pathetic.

Seems that you can be quite pedantic all by yourself...."technically it's not incorrect...." Really?

 

[Isaanbiker]

   Please use Macrium, it's free for private users. You'll have to go to Macrium  Reflect Defaults to get into the Clone mode.

 

   Then you can choose different types of cloning. Please see screenshot

 

   

[JamJar]

As an aside, let's imagine you could max out the original HDD at 100 MB/s. That 6 GB per minute.

So if there is just the OS and very little stored data on the drive, it might take five to ten minutes for the cloning alone.

The more data, the longer it will take. Then, as aforementioned, there are the operations around just the cloning.

 

Either way, I recommend a clean install over a clone and Windows 10 Pro over Home. I'm guessing that the OP is running Home.

[BestB]

Oh OP, forgot to mention very important piece of information.

 

mine is also Lenovo ideapad but 330

 

it would not accept any other SSD but Samsung Nano something .

 

All other brands did not work, we tried 3 or 4 brands but no luck .

 

now I am unsure if it was m2 issue or general Lenovo issue. Some light research I found Lenovo does have this problem and works only with Samsung . On the up side Samsung is the fastest one, on the down side it is the most expansive one.

[Jai Dee]

Several troll posts and replies have been removed.

[johng]

I used NTFS clone  a Linux program and probably not for "beginners" as there is reading and understanding about partition layouts to understand but its free and worked very well for me and I learnt something along the way.

http://edoceo.com/exemplar/ntfsclone-transfer-windows

https://www.systutorials.com/docs/linux/man/8-ntfsclone/

[JamJar]

26 minutes ago, BestB said:

Oh OP, forgot to mention very important piece of information.

 

mine is also Lenovo ideapad but 330

 

it would not accept any other SSD but Samsung Nano something .

 

All other brands did not work, we tried 3 or 4 brands but no luck .

 

now I am unsure if it was m2 issue or general Lenovo issue. Some light research I found Lenovo does have this problem and works only with Samsung . On the up side Samsung is the fastest one, on the down side it is the most expansive one.

 

It doesn't pertain to the OP's device. It's not limited to Samsung SSD. You problem was more likely linked to a whitelisted PCIe device or an incompatibility with NVMe modules.

 

The OP's device takes a 2.5" SATA 3 and thus there will be no issue with compatibility.

[OneMoreFarang]

37 minutes ago, BestB said:

Oh OP, forgot to mention very important piece of information.

 

mine is also Lenovo ideapad but 330

 

it would not accept any other SSD but Samsung Nano something .

 

All other brands did not work, we tried 3 or 4 brands but no luck .

 

now I am unsure if it was m2 issue or general Lenovo issue. Some light research I found Lenovo does have this problem and works only with Samsung . On the up side Samsung is the fastest one, on the down side it is the most expansive one.

That is one of those reasons why it make sense to let a shop do the job - if you are not a professional.

If the shop or you in the shop chose and incompatible SSD then no problem, try another one.

But if you buy it (on or offline) and then you find out that it is not compatible, then you can buy a new SSD because it's unlikely that they let you exchange the SSD only because it's not compatible with your PC.

[BestB]

11 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

That is one of those reasons why it make sense to let a shop do the job - if you are not a professional.

If the shop or you in the shop chose and incompatible SSD then no problem, try another one.

But if you buy it (on or offline) and then you find out that it is not compatible, then you can buy a new SSD because it's unlikely that they let you exchange the SSD only because it's not compatible with your PC.

Nothing to do with comparability , Lenovo has a known issue , light research will show this to be common problem and again since I did it 10 or so days ago   I would say I know and understand little more what shops would or would not do instead of speaking in hypotheticals