how can i swap out my current hard drive with a solid state drive
- Thread starter cfboy9317
- Start date
When you get the computer and drive, put the SSD in and the windows 7 boot disc. It will ask you to format, do so on BOTH drives then create the partitions you want. Finally select the SSD as your boot volume and install windows there. The only problem that may arise is that the comp will try and boot from the mechanical HD which now doesn't have a boot sector. So easiest thing to do is to unplug it and start the boot, open bios and make sure the boot list and priority has your SSD in it. Then shut down, plug in the HDD again and check the bios once more to ensure that the SSD is still listed before the HDD. Feel free to remove the HDD from the boot list all together. My bios was a pain to locate my SSD which is why I recommend removing the HDD just for ease and convenience. After you get all the updates and crap you will be ready to go!
Benny Boy
Active Member
Ideally, for insured ssd performance and w/o running the risk of having something not work out with a clone, you should clean install the os. Windows 7 will properly align and set up the ssd on it's own(altho there are other tweaks that I would personally do). Uninstalls and erases(it's called for ssd's) degregate performance of ssd's a little each time, and benching it moreso. So the goal is to be sure of what you put on it, and know what will be stored on it by the os and progr's. A simple example would be emails, word docs, and the "my" folders.<-- All those could be mapped to store on the hdd to conserve ssd space, and writes.
I'd recommend back up of all the data on the hdd you want to keep.
Install the ssd and clean install the os. After 7 loads the files, and you get to the part of choosing where to install it, you can choose the ssd.
When Windows is up and running:
Format and partition the hdd like you want it. (I made a partition for prog's I don't want or need on the ssd)Small prog's don't benifit much from being on there, as they are small and load fast from a hdd anyways, your choice.
Change the drive path of the storage folders in 7 and other c drive prog's you install, where applicable. Some programs don't give you a choice, they just install straight away to c(ssd). There's a way to edit that in 7 so that the defualt is the hdd, then when you want to install to the ssd you can just temporarily change it,,,again, your choice
.There's more, but it's lengthy.
Edit: you can install the ssd with velcro even, but you'll probly have a bay you can put it in,,,any available bay. If not, stick it in a convienient spot.
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