Hard Drive Upgrade

pasta-solo

Hello all, I'm hoping ye can help me out with something. In the last year or so, ive been turned around to the joy of PC gaming, after being console only for a long time. I bought a PC a while ago from Terrorfirmer on Adverts, and it's been a revelation! I've eased myself in with Steams big picture mode and a wireless 360 controller, and the PS4 now seems slow, weak and boring in comparison. (Never giving up on the beautiful Wii U though...)

Anyway, the PC only has a 250gb hard drive, which has been fine, but means I often have to remove/reinstall games etc, so I'd like to upgrade it... But I have no idea how! Basically, the case is quite small so I don't think there's room for a second hard drive. I can swap out the drives myself, that's no problem, but I'm just wondering how to transfer the contents of the 250gb to the upgrade that I'll be buying as it has the OS installed on it. I have a laptop that I could use if that helps!

Any advice/guides would be greatly appreciated! I can post photos/more detailed info this evening after work if that's necessary also!

Thanks again!

Edit - here's a link to the PC for when I bought it - http://www.adverts.ie/9294053

TerrorFirmer

You could install a 250GB SSD to accompany the 250GB HDD for your most commonly used games, that way you get the benefit of an SSD which makes a huge difference. The other option is to straight replace the 250GB with a 1 or 2TB. It's a standard 3.5" drive.

You can use software to clone the drive to a new drive but these days a fresh install of Windows from USB is so quick and painless it's what I always do rather than clone the drive.

Lu Tze

The other benefit of am ssd is you don't really need a mount for it, a bit of Velcro tape and stick it anywhere you can find space in the case!

Bongalongherb

An ssd drive is the best way to go for sure for gaming. Is this one any good for a desktop computer ? I haven't being keeping up to date with this ssd stuff.

Product Description Price €56.69

Kingston HyperX FURY - solid state drive - 120 GB - SATA 6Gb/s
Type: Solid state drive - internal
Capacity: 120 GB
Form Factor: 2.5"
Interface: SATA 6Gb/s
Data Transfer: Rate 600 MBps
Features: Synchronous flash memory, SandForce SF-2281 controller, 2.75 DWPD
Dimensions (WxDxH): 69.8 mm x 100.1 mm x 7 mm
Weight: 90.03 g
Manufacturer Warranty: 3 years warranty

Korvanica

Sorry to Hijack the thread, but don't see the point in making another one for almost the exact same reason.

Looking into a Hybrid drive as a secondary drive, for games and other applications. Anyone have any recommendations on them?

Shlippery

Korvanica wrote: »

Sorry to Hijack the thread, but don't see the point in making another one for almost the exact same reason.

Looking into a Hybrid drive as a secondary drive, for games and other applications. Anyone have any recommendations on them?

I had an "SSHD" in my Lenovo y50 laptop that I got Jan 2015, , seemed like it made minimal difference and I ultimately ended up swapping it out for a proper SSD recently. Maybe slightly better as a secondary drive, but really didn't see much difference between that and a mechanical one!

Redfox25

I think the SSHD idea was a good one but the SSD part is usually tiny in those drives so its not really going to speed up the entire process.
Get a SSD and go with that and never look back.

Redfox25

Bongalongherb wrote: »

An ssd drive is the best way to go for sure for gaming. Is this one any good for a desktop computer ? I haven't being keeping up to date with this ssd stuff.

Product Description Price €56.69

Kingston HyperX FURY - solid state drive - 120 GB - SATA 6Gb/s
Type: Solid state drive - internal
Capacity: 120 GB
Form Factor: 2.5"
Interface: SATA 6Gb/s
Data Transfer: Rate 600 MBps
Features: Synchronous flash memory, SandForce SF-2281 controller, 2.75 DWPD
Dimensions (WxDxH): 69.8 mm x 100.1 mm x 7 mm
Weight: 90.03 g
Manufacturer Warranty: 3 years warranty

If you can afford it get a bigger one, they tend to fill up quick.

Bongalongherb

Redfox25 wrote: »

If you can afford it get a bigger one, they tend to fill up quick.

Yes, I'd go for the bigger one definitely.

pasta-solo

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

You could install a 250GB SSD to accompany the 250GB HDD for your most commonly used games, that way you get the benefit of an SSD which makes a huge difference. The other option is to straight replace the 250GB with a 1 or 2TB. It's a standard 3.5" drive.

You can use software to clone the drive to a new drive but these days a fresh install of Windows from USB is so quick and painless it's what I always do rather than clone the drive.

Maybe a small SSD, 120gb or something and then a 1tb/2tb for everything else!

So you reckon it's easier to just reinstall Windows and start from scratch? Can I use the the key from Windows thats already on the desktop or do I need a new one?

It's no hassle really to reinstall all the games and stuff if I'm doing a clean install, as I said I was pretty much doing that anyway, just whatever game I'm currently playing installed and one or two more. Would love to have lots installed at once so it's easier to switch games!

Shlippery

pasta-solo wrote: »

Maybe a small SSD, 120gb or something and then a 1tb/2tb for everything else!

So you reckon it's easier to just reinstall Windows and start from scratch? Can I use the the key from Windows thats already on the desktop or do I need a new one?

It's no hassle really to reinstall all the games and stuff if I'm doing a clean install, as I said I was pretty much doing that anyway, just whatever game I'm currently playing installed and one or two more. Would love to have lots installed at once so it's easier to switch games!

I've cloned a few HD to SSD's lately (3 or 4 in past month anyways for friends and family!) and it's a very pain free process, where all you do is plug in the new ssd via usb, run a piece of software, and then when it's complete just do a straight swap and everything runs smoothly out of the box. I found this handier than reinstalling windows, but each to their own I guess!

Samsung have their own migration software and SSD program which is pretty nifty and straight forward but only works with their hardware. Can't go wrong with a 250gb or 500gb samsung 850 evo (in my opinion)!

Bongalongherb

OP, is your HDD a SATA 2 or 3 ? My own is only the SATA 2 so not sure how much extra HD speed it will see with windows and games. I think I'll purchase this one myself next week from Newegg for 158 dollars... SAMSUNG 850 EVO 2.5" 500GB.

pasta-solo

Bongalongherb wrote: »

OP, is your HDD a SATA 2 or 3 ?

This I dont know, I'm afraid.

While an SSD would be nice down the line, right now I'm looking more for bigger capacity, so I think I'm just gonna look at getting a 2TB and maybe do a fresh Windows install on that. Thanks for your input folks!