Installing an SSD on ASUS G75

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russell_314

New Member
I'm thinking about replacing the factory installed 500 GB, 7200 RPM Seagate Momentus ST9500423AS hard drive with an SSD on my ASUS G75VW-NS71.

What's the easiest way to get the OS and data from the installed drive to the SSD? The second hard drive slot is empty. The laptop originally came with Windows 7 Home Premium but I've upgraded to Windows 10 Home.

Will this upgrade give me much of a performance boost other than faster startup?

Can anyone recommend an SSD brand or model? I would like to get at least 500 GB so I don't lose space.
 
Laquer Head

Laquer Head

Well-Known Member
I think the G75 was the laptop I had a few years back.. I was able to run dual SSD's in RAidO and it was day/night difference from stock.

Does your laptop have dual hard drives? also what chipset. I'm not 100% I had the G75 but it sounded familiar. I think it was HM77 chipset..

EDIT: apparently I missed the part where you mentioned dual slots, lol...
 
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Intel_man

Intel_man

VIP Member
russell_314 said:
What's the easiest way to get the OS and data from the installed drive to the SSD? The second hard drive slot is empty.
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Install the SSD into the second drive. Boot into Windows normally. Typically, the SSD will come with a free copy of a cloning software (software and how to run the program varies depends on which drive you buy). Then clone the drive using the said software. Restart computer and it will boot via SSD. Then you can proceed to wipe your HDD.
russell_314 said:
Will this upgrade give me much of a performance boost other than faster startup?
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Yes
russell_314 said:
Can anyone recommend an SSD brand or model?
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Anything Samsung really. The 750 Evo is the basic model. Not great, but not bad. Warranty is mediocre. The 850 Evo has a better warranty and slightly better performance. I'd probably recommend that one. If you feel like getting a really robust drive, the 850 Pro is the way to go. A bit expensive, but it has a stupid long warranty period and is rated for even higher performance.
 
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russell_314

New Member
Thanks for the replies. I didn't even think about RAID 0 so that would mean 2 x 250 GB SSD would equal 500 GB if my understanding of RAID 0 is correct. This would also allow me to save money over a 500 GB SSD.

One of the reviews mentioned the instructions says use a SATA to USB adapter to transfer the "content" of the old HD to the SSD. He wasn't specific as to if he meant the entire drive included Windows or just files. The reason I'm thinking about this is if I installed two SSD I wouldn't have the empty slot for the old HD.

How reliable is an SSD compared to a HD? I'm not too worried about data loss since I backup but don't feel like replacing them every six months either.


Any thoughts on these? Is it worth the extra $80 for pro?

SAMSUNG 850 EVO (2 x $100 = $200)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=20-147-372

SAMSUNG 850 PRO (2 x $140 = $280)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=20-147-360

Edit: Just thought of more questions LOL

If I wanted to fresh install a copy of Windows 10 is there a way I could do this by somehow downloading a Windows 10 ISO and using my product key or is this a no go because I upgraded from Windows 7?

Will I need an adapter or anything to mount the SSD?
 
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johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
russell_314 said:
If I wanted to fresh install a copy of Windows 10 is there a way I could do this by somehow downloading a Windows 10 ISO and using my product key or is this a no go because I upgraded from Windows 7?
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If you have already upgraded from windows 7 then once you fresh install 10 it will automatically activate once you are at the desktop since you have a digital entitlement. It will just look for the activation string on MS servers.
russell_314 said:
Will I need an adapter or anything to mount the SSD?
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Since this is a laptop, no.
 
Laquer Head

Laquer Head

Well-Known Member
Grab 2 850 Evo, use the hdd/ssd caddy pieces (if the G75 has them, I cant recall) screw it in and then set your RAID array, install windows..and your install will activate, as @johnb35 mentioned once your on the desktop and it connects to the MS server.

EDIT: Just use the caddy things (with tabs) that came with the machine, attach the drive to them, then screw them both into the holes attached to laptop..

Capture.JPG
 
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russell_314

New Member
Okay I ordered two Samsung 850 Evo and a StarTech USB 3.0 to 2.5" SATA III Hard Drive Adapter Cable from Newegg. I figured I'll need the cable even for a clean install to save my documents from the old HD. It's been in "Packaging" status for a few days so it looks like they're carefully placing it in a box as I type this :D

So the SSDs should just just attach to the hard drive caddys. I was just wondering if the SSD was exactly the same dimensions as the regular laptop HD. I guess it would make sense if they were but you never know with how things are made nowadays LOL.

I'm guessing RAID settings would be in the BIOS.

I'm downloading a 64 bit Windows 10 ISO from MS right now so once that's complete I'll burn it to a DVD or would USB be preferred?

Hopefully I'll receive them in the mail within a week or so.
 
Laquer Head

Laquer Head

Well-Known Member
russell_314 said:
Okay I ordered two Samsung 850 Evo and a StarTech USB 3.0 to 2.5" SATA III Hard Drive Adapter Cable from Newegg. I figured I'll need the cable even for a clean install to save my documents from the old HD. It's been in "Packaging" status for a few days so it looks like they're carefully placing it in a box as I type this :D

So the SSDs should just just attach to the hard drive caddys. I was just wondering if the SSD was exactly the same dimensions as the regular laptop HD. I guess it would make sense if they were but you never know with how things are made nowadays LOL.

I'm guessing RAID settings would be in the BIOS.

I'm downloading a 64 bit Windows 10 ISO from MS right now so once that's complete I'll burn it to a DVD or would USB be preferred?

Hopefully I'll receive them in the mail within a week or so.
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The 'caddies' will fit right over the new SSD's, they are the same 2.5" size and the holes will line up.. should be like 4 screws for each, then whatever ones attach on top to secure each to the laptop.

RAID in BIOS yes, before you install windows fresh, you'll need to build the RAID volume.. should be ctrl+i to open the RAID settings panel, then you choose raid 0, raid 1..etc

I'd download windows 10 64 bit right onto a blank USB drive and do it that way.. dont even need a disc/dvd
 
R

russell_314

New Member
Okay my order is finally shipped and is expected to be here Friday. I can't wait to test it out.


In this video
he goes through the steps of building the RAID setup then installing Windows 7. As he's installing Windowsw at about 4:10 he installs an Intel raid drivers using a USB drive. Will I need to do this with Windows 10 and if so where do I get this? Of course the download driver link in the video doesn't work

I found this site http://www.driverscape.com/manufacturers/asus/laptops-desktops/g75vw/463 and they had "Intel(R) 7 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller" driver listed under "Hard Disk Controller Drivers". Is that what I'm looking for?
 
Laquer Head

Laquer Head

Well-Known Member
That video is good help, but dont worry.

Windows 10 will typically do the needed updates for you.

On the off chance it doesn't, Asus will have RAID downloads right on product page...

EDIT: BTW I looked back at old receipts and it was indeed the same laptop I had.
 
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R

russell_314

New Member
Okay I installed both SSD then did a clean install of Windows 10 from a USB drive.

The Samsung 850 Evo SSD doesn't come with screws. It's just a bare drive, a CD and instructions. Since I didn't want to wait another week for screws to come in the mail I used two for each and it seemed secure. The SSD was thinner than the original hard drive but that wasn't a problem.

It didn't ask for RAID drivers so perhaps Windows 10 has them. It must have USB 3.0 drivers because it didn't ask for those. The video was accurate on how to enable RAID in the BIOS and setup the RAID except for the "CSM" setting. I couldn't find that in my BIOS.

When I installed Windows it did have a space for a product key but it said it was only required for new systems so I skipped that. I haven't had a chance to play around with it much but it seemed faster. When I get everything updated I'll let you guys know how it's going. Thanks for all the advice.
 
Laquer Head

Laquer Head

Well-Known Member
russell_314 said:
Okay I installed both SSD then did a clean install of Windows 10 from a USB drive.

The Samsung 850 Evo SSD doesn't come with screws. It's just a bare drive, a CD and instructions. Since I didn't want to wait another week for screws to come in the mail I used two for each and it seemed secure. The SSD was thinner than the original hard drive but that wasn't a problem.

It didn't ask for RAID drivers so perhaps Windows 10 has them. It must have USB 3.0 drivers because it didn't ask for those. The video was accurate on how to enable RAID in the BIOS and setup the RAID except for the "CSM" setting. I couldn't find that in my BIOS.

When I installed Windows it did have a space for a product key but it said it was only required for new systems so I skipped that. I haven't had a chance to play around with it much but it seemed faster. When I get everything updated I'll let you guys know how it's going. Thanks for all the advice.
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Yeah, using 2 and 2 on the screws will be fine..no moving parts anyhow, so even a bit of vibration isn't going to be an issue. Yeah, SSD tend to be slimmer but the length 2.5" and screw hole locations are the same!

Glad you got it setup.. I assume you went with a RAID 0 setup for performance?
 
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