Swapping HDD for SSD on new computer

[z10566sa]

Got a new HP computer, comes with 1 TB hard drive.

I would like to change out the HDD for an SSD
250 GB SSD seems to be workable for me with room left over.

My question is how to approach this. without an HP install disk
1. I would like to keep the HP Brand of Win10 (maybe)
2. Make an image of whats on the HDD by using Macrium
(I believe that the image only copies the data on the disk not the
empty space ?)
3. Swap out the HDD with the SSD and bring the image in.
(not sure how this would work since there is nothing on the SSD
to talk to Macrium)
4. OR ....Crete an ISO file with Win10 and install that on the SDD
5. Install programs as needed
Any one with better procedures or different or easier ways to do this
or may indicate where this is no wokable?

 

[Tim Locke]

I presume this is a desktop?

If so.
Download Paragon free disk utilities.
Plug the SSD into a spare SATA slot on the mother board.
Use Paragon to clone the HDD onto the SSD.
Unplug both disks from the motherboard.
Plug the SSD into SATA 0 which is where the HDD was. Leave the HDD unplugged
reboot. The machine should come up and work just fine.

Turn the machine off. Plug the HDD into a spare SATA slot . Reboot. Go to disc management and reformat the HDD and add some partitions to it as you choose.

If the machine is a laptop. They usually only have one SATA socket.
Open up the machine and make sure that the power and data connections to the HDD are standard and match the SSD
Download Paragon as before.
You will need a device that has SATA plugs on one end and USB on the other. USB3 preferred of course if the laptop supports it. SSDs sometimes come with one in the box. Your local computer store should have one somewhere. Or buy a permanent enclosure which you'll use later for the HDD.
Plug the SSD in that way using that gadget
Clone as before with Paragon.

Replace the HDD with the SSD and boot. Check everything is OK.

At this point I put the HDD into a powered enclosure ($40 for a good one) and plug it in USB and reformat as above.

Notes. I use Paragon as it is free. There are other free programs to do this. Windows 10 is clever and will turn on TRIM as soon as there is a SSD installed...no more defragging.

Note. Some laptops have small M2 SSD installed that is used for a cache for the HDD. When you have an SSD as the main disk this is not needed. but it does no harm to just ignore it.

THis way has worked for me several times without a problem.

 

[Comp Cmndo]

If it's a desktop, I use MiniTool Partition Wizard to cone the drive.
If it's a laptop. I use Macrium. The image contains the entire drive or just the partitions you select. You have to create a bootable CD/DVD or USB flash drive. to restore the image to the SSD. The image will be on a USB hard drive.

 

[Tim Locke]

The way I have done it, the SSD is bootable as is after the clone process.

 

[z10566sa]

Got a new HP computer, comes with 1 TB hard drive.

I would like to change out the HDD for an SSD
250 GB SSD seems to be workable for me with room left over.

My question is how to approach this. without an HP install disk
1. I would like to keep the HP Brand of Win10 (maybe)
2. Make an image of whats on the HDD by using Macrium
(I believe that the image only copies the data on the disk not the
empty space ?)
3. Swap out the HDD with the SSD and bring the image in.
(not sure how this would work since there is nothing on the SSD
to talk to Macrium)
4. OR ....Crete an ISO file with Win10 and install that on the SDD
5. Install programs as needed
Any one with better procedures or different or easier ways to do this
or may indicate where this is no wokable?

Thanks Tim,
Appreciate your help.

 

[Tim Locke]

If you buy a Samsung SSD you can download their cloning software.

Note that cloning an HDD to an SSd has a hidden but essential step...cloning programs all do this invisibly. SSDs, to work at full speed, need data arranged on specific boundaries...I think it is 128bytes but I don't remember.

Re my note about the small M2 drive. My Lenovo has/had one. You can tell if it is there as Intel RST will be running. I turned that off and replaced the 22Gb drive with a 128Gb drive as a data drive.

 

[T_J]

Is the Paragon Backup & Recovery 16 Free > Free or a 30-day free trial? I went to their website and saw 30-day free trial mentioned.

Jan 2013 I installed Ghost 15 on my 2012 W7 Dell. Ghost 15 was Norton's last version, and is no longer supported. Advice from Norton (Ghost) forum was to move on, since it has installation problems on W10 and may or may not function correctly.

 

[Norton]

I use two imaging programs, one of which is (free) Aomei Backupper. Aomei is an excellent backup/imaging/partitioning software program, versatile and a breeze to understand and navigate. Aomei is one of the best and has very high reviews in the PC World.
Unfortunately the System Clone from your system to SSD or other is the Pro version which is very reasonably priced for the included features.

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[Tim Locke]

Paragon used to be free but I would believe it if is now 30 days trial or even having to buy the advanced version. Which of course is more expensive for only one PC.

 

[T_J]

While Symantec Norton 'Ghost 15' is listed in the W10 Settings / Apps, I can't run, uninstall, or install it from W10, get errors. Ghost functioned in W7, then got W10 upgraded.

However I can run Ghost 15 from the CD (emergency boot disk). On box > 'Professional-grade backup and recovery'. Ghost 15 makes an image a lot faster than 'Backup and Restore (Windows 7)' which I have been using.

Thanks for the reply

 

[z10566sa]

Thanks Tim,
Appreciate your help.

The HP 570-p026 Desktop only has 1 SATA HDD connection on the MO.
1. Can I use the connection to the CD/DVD optical
drive to connect the SSD for the cloning operation OR
2. Do I need a USB adapter cable to the SSD
3. If an adapter cable is needed, Please the name and number if possible

 

[Tim Locke]

1: Is the CD drv sata? Then I don't see why not. Easy experiment, unplug the dvd and plug in the SSD and if disk management recognizes it as a disc you can do it

2: The answer is that it can be done that way. I have two 1 made by Apricorn and one that just says made in China. An SSD takes a small enough power load that they should be fine. They are just USB to SATA cables and rely on the USB port to power the disk. I have used them and they work.

I have a better suggestion. Get an Enclosure with its own power supply that is big enough to hold the 3.5" disk you are taking out of the PC. Vantec make several. Temporarily mount the SSD in that and plug it in USB to do the cloning. Then put the old spinner in there for permanent use as a data drive.


Note that with the new disk on USB the cloning will take much longer...so what ...you will only do it once.

 

[Comp Cmndo]

The HP 570-p026 Desktop only has 1 SATA HDD connection on the MO...

Look again, your motherboard has 2 SATA connections. 1st one I've seen that didn't have 4.
If the DVD/CD drive is plugged into the white, remove it. You don't need it for this. USB flash drives are faster & can do everything an optical drive does.

 

[Tim Locke]

The Mobo has an M2 socket as well. I have never cloned onto an M2 drive...never had a machine with one. I wonder if that would be the real answer if more expensive to buy the drive,

 

[stephenchamlee]

I've got a Dell studio the hdd crapped out so upgrade to ssd but I don't have a windows disk is there any work around not buying a copy of windows