Adding an SSD...

[yo1mcool]

Ok, so just a minute ago I decided to crack open the back of my Asus G50vt-X5.

It appears that is has 2 hard drives slots. Described as M2.5X7.

Looking through Newegg at the pictures of SSD's, it appears I have SATA II.

If I were to buy one, is there a good way to go about moving my OS to the new drive, or would I have to completely re-install it?

If it makes any difference, my OS is Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.

Thanks!

 

[MindoverMaster]

You would have to re-install it if you want to put it on a new OS.

 

[Hefemeister]

I would give clonzilla a shot although I have yet to test it with win7. Could not hurt to try.

Clonezilla

 

[synergy]

You could try imaging to the SSD, but you will want to use the Win7 installation DVD to create the partitions or else you will get incorrect alignment for the SSD and you performance will suffer.

SSDs install programs so quickly that I find it's just easier to do a fresh install and avoid potential headaches.

 

[yo1mcool]

I'm curious, lets say I take out my original hard drive, and put in the SSD.

Could I install the OS onto that, then somehow plug the other HD back in and remove the OS from it?

Just thought I'd ask cause I have a lot of data I'd have to back-up somehow, and no way to do it currently.

Thanks. =)

 

[Hefemeister]

yep that would be the best way.

 

[synergy]

I'm curious, lets say I take out my original hard drive, and put in the SSD.

Could I install the OS onto that, then somehow plug the other HD back in and remove the OS from it?

Just thought I'd ask cause I have a lot of data I'd have to back-up somehow, and no way to do it currently.

Thanks. =)

Yea. I actually did that in my desktop...although I didn't even remove the OS. That would also work well because you don't want data storage on an SSD anyway. Their capacity is so small for the price and you want to keep as much free space on them as you can. I even have all my games on a mechanical as games are mostly sequential reads and mechanicals perform fine in that area.

 

[yo1mcool]

Yea. I actually did that in my desktop...although I didn't even remove the OS. That would also work well because you don't want data storage on an SSD anyway. Their capacity is so small for the price and you want to keep as much free space on them as you can. I even have all my games on a mechanical as games are mostly sequential reads and mechanicals perform fine in that area.

Hmm, I don't know much about this whole process right now, still need to study and research it.

But how does it work out having an OS installed on 2 HD's at the same time like that? How does it know which to run off of?

How would I go about uninstalling an OS anyways?

 

[Ste]

I think windows 7 will detect older versions (Xp) and present a boot menu choice when you turn on the computer.

I wouldn't even bother with XP if all your games and apps work on 7, which they should.


Here's what I would do.

Turn off computer, install SSD, disconnect the SATA cord from the XP drive(Leave power connector in), turn on comp, install W7 on the SSD, after the OS is running, connect the SATA to the XP drive (SATA is plug and play), copy over whatever you need, then format the drive in disk management.

 

[yzmxer608]

He is using 7 now though, not XP.