Upgrading from HDD (2 TB) to SSD (120GB upwards)

daraghwal

Hi, I am having some issues with my laptop. I suspect that the hard drive is the problem. It is a HP ENVY x360 15-w050sa.

Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-5200U with Intel HD Graphics 5500 (2.2 GHz, 3 MB cache, 2 cores)
Processor family: Intel® Core™ i5 processor
Memory: 8 GB DDR3L-1600 SDRAM (1 x 8 GB)
Storage: 1 TB 5400 rpm SATA (TOSHIBA MQ02ABF100)
Video: Intel HD Graphics 5500

Although the laptop is just over 1 year old, I want to replace the HDD with an SSD and use the HDD as an external backup for my pc and other devices. The one thing I am having trouble with is picking an SSD. I can spend up to about €90 and have been using pricespy.ie but I don't know what a lot of the stuff in the filters mean. I am looking to maximise speed at an affordable price. Something that will last for as many years as I can get out of it. I am not a big data user and don't do gaming but I have no patience! The biggest problem I am finding is programmes and windows explorer stop responding for a moment and then work as normal. Really just a bit overwhelmed by the selection of specifications etc. on pricespy. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance

daraghwal

Also out of curiosity, what would my pc be worth now?

Venom

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-inch-Solid-State-Drive/dp/B00P736UEU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474121591&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+evo+850+250gb

I'v been using the above Samsung EVO 850 250GB as my boot drive for my main PC and it flies along. I reckon you will need to keep an eye on drive space seeing as your coming from a 2TB drive tho but sticking a good SSD in a laptop will really make it motor.

KERSPLAT!

Venom wrote: »

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-inch-Solid-State-Drive/dp/B00P736UEU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474121591&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+evo+850+250gb

I'v been using the above Samsung EVO 850 250GB as my boot drive for my main PC and it flies along. I reckon you will need to keep an eye on drive space coming seeing as your coming from a 2TB drive tho but sticking a good SSD in a laptop will really make it motor.

Same. I replaced the disk drive with my old HDD and use it for all media files, helps keep plenty of space on the SSD

daraghwal

Space is not a problem anyway. Only using 80GB including all files and the OS . Thanks for your help!

Venom

KERSPLAT! wrote: »

Same. I replaced the disk drive with my old HDD and use it for all media files, helps keep plenty of space on the SSD

A new GPU and SSD always offers the best bang for buck when upgrading a PC imho.

daraghwal

I'm thinking of doing a clean install of windows 10. What steps would I do to take this? I downloaded Windows 10 last year and used the media creation tool to put it on a USB. Can I do it from that and would my license still be in place when I do/if I can?

Venom

daraghwal wrote: »

Space is not a problem anyway. Only using 80GB including all files and the OS . Thanks for your help!

I felt the same way but and its a big but, most program installs tend to default to the C: drive and when your used to having a massive amount of space on the OS drive, ya gets lazy when picking where it goes

daraghwal

Venom wrote: »

A new GPU and SSD always offers the best bang for buck when upgrading a PC imho.

Would a new GPU make any difference to me when I don't really do much graphics wise? Microsoft Office and converting jpg to pdf books and opening a huge amount of tabs in chrome seem to be the most intensive things I do with my pc. Might watch the odd bit of netflix but that's about it.

scamalert

think samsungs offer 3 yr warranty on their ssd drives,pick any evo you can afford and youll be set.As mentioned space might become issue,so 250gb is worth amount for foreseeable future and good investment in general.

Putting ssd in any laptops specially i5 will be massive performance improvement.

you cant fit gpu into laptop - and for what its worth gpu isnt worth money investing into if doing word excel stuff thats cpu intensive more,and i5 is more then enough for such tasks.

daraghwal

Venom wrote: »

I felt the same way but and its a big but, most program installs tend to default to the C: drive and when your used to having a massive amount of space on the OS drive, ya gets lazy when picking where it goes

My entire library of files comes to just 20GB and 80GB including Windows 10 and every programme on my pc.

daraghwal

scamalert wrote: »

think samsungs offer 3 yr warranty on their ssd drives,pick any evo you can afford and youll be set.As mentioned space might become issue,so 250gb is worth amount for foreseeable future and good investment in general.

Putting ssd in any laptops specially i5 will be massive performance improvement.

Thanks, can I ask why especially i5? Never upgraded a pc berfore!

daraghwal

Hmmm... http://pricespy.ie/product.php?j=2880214,2724060

Venom

daraghwal wrote: »

Hmmm... http://pricespy.ie/product.php?j=2880214,2724060

Buy from amazon or overclockers, costs slightly more but double the hard drive space. If 120 GB is all you need then get that one from either of the above just not an Irish brick and mortar shop. Remember tho, you will need to format the SSD to install windows and that will lose you 10-15% of its size.

KERSPLAT!

You're hard set on a 120Gb SSD. Future proof, get the 256Gb for the few extra €€, it'll save you time, effort and probably money in the long run.

daraghwal

Venom wrote: »

Buy from amazon or overclockers, costs slightly more but double the hard drive space. If 120 GB is all you need then get that one from either of the above just not an Irish brick and mortar shop. Remember tho, you will need to format the SSD to install windows and that will lose you 10-15% of its size.

Sorry for all the questions, new to the whole upgrading business. Why not an irish brick and mortar shop? And do you mean SSD is good especially for i5 because the HDD is holding it back?

Venom

daraghwal wrote: »

Sorry for all the questions, new to the whole upgrading business. Why not an irish brick and mortar shop? And do you mean SSD is good especially for i5 because the HDD is holding it back?

Irish brick and mortars along with some e-tailers (Elara) will charge you alot more for what you can get the same product for online from the likes of Amazon and Overclockers. It's nothing to do with the i5, just SSD'd are stupidly fast compared to mechanical HD's.

daraghwal

Do I need to buy any additional connectors etc. to do a clean install of Windows 10 from the USB Media to the new SSD? What are the steps I have to take to install both the SSD and the OS onto the SSD? And get my laptop up and running again? Also is this device alright for the old hard drive? http://www.ebay.ie/itm/2-5-External-SATA-Data-Caddy-Hard-Disk-Drive-Enclosure-Case-to-USB-3-0-Win-10-/261712285648?hash=item3cef448fd0:g:~wUAAOSwUdlWd76R
Thanks in advance!

magentis

You wont be able to upgrade to windows 10 now with that usb.Your existing os had to be upgraded by the end of july for the free upgrade.And I would agree with other posts,you should get a 250gb/256gb ssd as a minimum.Take a look on adverts,amazon and memoryc.ie

magentis

daraghwal wrote: »

Do I need to buy any additional connectors etc. to do a clean install of Windows 10 from the USB Media to the new SSD? What are the steps I have to take to install both the SSD and the OS onto the SSD? And get my laptop up and running again? Also is this device alright for the old hard drive? http://www.ebay.ie/itm/2-5-External-SATA-Data-Caddy-Hard-Disk-Drive-Enclosure-Case-to-USB-3-0-Win-10-/261712285648?hash=item3cef448fd0:g:~wUAAOSwUdlWd76R
Thanks in advance!

That enclosure would be grand for your existing drive,but they can also be got on adverts or memoryc £4.99 postage is a bit steep.

daraghwal

magentis wrote: »

You wont be able to upgrade to windows 10 now with that usb.Your existing os had to be upgraded by the end of july for the free upgrade.And I would agree with other posts,you should get a 250gb/256gb ssd as a minimum.Take a look on adverts,amazon and memoryc.ie

I already have an activated version on my pc, I upgraded when win 10 came out. Can I use the USB when I have already upgraded or will I loose my activation? Yeah I've decided I'm going with the one recommended by the guys earlier in the thread. If I can't use the usb, how do I do a clean install and do I have to reactivate windows in some way? Also can someone take me through the steps from shutting down my laptop with the old hdd to booting up with the new ssd and a clean install of windows 10?

daraghwal

Is it literally just turn off laptop, plug out hdd, plug in ssd and boot from usb?

scamalert

daraghwal wrote: »

Thanks, can I ask why especially i5? Never upgraded a pc berfore!

well you have a laptop,but that applies to pcs as well,basically the slowest part is bottleneck in any system,and and this case hdd is bottleneck,since on laptops most upgrades can be either ram or hdd thats where any upgrading ends.

Since i5 is quite powerful and more then enough for MS apps ,after getting ssd you'll notice quite performance in boot up/application speed,and general write/read performance.

Yeah ssd's are plug and play ,pop old one out, new one in,boot from usb cdrom and away you go.

daraghwal

scamalert wrote: »

daraghwal wrote: »

Thanks, can I ask why especially i5? Never upgraded a pc berfore!

well you have a laptop,but that applies to pcs as well,basically the slowest part is bottleneck in any system,and and this case hdd is bottleneck,since on laptops most upgrades can be either ram or hdd thats where any upgrading ends.

Since i5 is quite powerful and more then enough for MS apps ,after getting ssd you'll notice quite performance in boot up/application speed,and general write/read performance.

Yeah ssd's are plug and play ,pop old one out, new one in,boot from usb cdrom and away you go.

Exactly what I wanted to hear

daraghwal

Thanks for the help everyone! I ended up going with this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-inc...+evo+850+250gb and have bought an enclosure for my current hard drive to use as external storage/a back up. It would be a shame to waste a 2TB HDD that's only a year old. I was looking up some videos and for my laptop it seems to be a very basic install. Would anyone be able to have a guess as what my laptop is worth before and/or after upgrading to the SSD?

magentis

daraghwal wrote: »

I already have an activated version on my pc, I upgraded when win 10 came out. Can I use the USB when I have already upgraded or will I loose my activation? Yeah I've decided I'm going with the one recommended by the guys earlier in the thread. If I can't use the usb, how do I do a clean install and do I have to reactivate windows in some way? Also can someone take me through the steps from shutting down my laptop with the old hdd to booting up with the new ssd and a clean install of windows 10?

Ah!!
I misunderstood,i thought you still had win7 or 8 on the machine.Yes you can use the usb for a fresh install on the new ssd.Great choice on the drive btw,you can't go wrong with those samsung drives.

daraghwal

Started off yesterday knowing absolutely nothing about what to buy or what the process was. Thanks everyone!

daraghwal

I cannot find the option in BIOS to go from IDE to AHCI. Is my laptop already in AHCI mode when it's only a year old or what's the story? Also what other ways are there to optimise using the SSD?

scamalert

daraghwal wrote: »

I cannot find the option in BIOS to go from IDE to AHCI. Is my laptop already in AHCI mode when it's only a year old or what's the story? Also what other ways are there to optimise using the SSD?

ok had a look at mine laptop which is at least 3 years old by now ,i5 similar config acer make,and it has AHCI,so could be actually that your current drive doesnt have that option and it doesnt show up there yet,or just need bios update.


as for backing your old files,your better off getting 64gb usb key and transferring your essential files there and then formatting old one into ntfs and using it as backup drive.

daraghwal

scamalert wrote: »

just google your laptop make model and type in AHCI support option etc.to see if theres bios upgrade thats has it,think in general not many laptops have that function then again yours is only 1yr old so it might.

at worst youd be looking at some performance loose around 25% but thats in intensive queing jobs which say required several large applications running at the same time,but more likely wouldn't notice it without doing benchmarking.

I see it does support TRIM. Would that make it less likely to loose the 25% also the hard drive that is in it at the moment is on Sata III with 6Gb/s support

Cuddlesworth

daraghwal wrote: »

I see it does support TRIM. Would that make it less likely to loose the 25% also the hard drive that is in it at the moment is on Sata III with 6Gb/s support

I doubt it even does IDE mode, no need to implement it on new UEFI motherboards.

daraghwal

Oh, I just found "Standard SATA AHCI Controller" in Device Manager. Does this mean it is already in AHCI mode? Is there anything else I should do to make the most of my SSD before/after I install it? Also I did see UEFI mentioned in the BIOS. I have updated to the latest BIOS available too.

daraghwal

Is there another forum I should be asking this question in seeing as I've picked the SSD and everything?

Cuddlesworth

daraghwal wrote: »

Is there another forum I should be asking this question in seeing as I've picked the SSD and everything?

There isn't a chance in hell IDE mode is enabled if its even there, those devices don't require it. Besides, its been a good 8 years since I have seen a laptop shipping with IDE enabled by default. Install the SSD, don't worry about TRIM or IDE mode. Or the variant of Sata. It makes very little difference to day to day use.

daraghwal

So I got the SSD, installed it and now there is a different thing in device manager. It used to come up the way it was in the screenshot two posts back but now it is different after a clean install of windows 10?? I have attached a screenshot. Any ideas how to fix this? Also in Samsung Magician it comes up that it isn't enabled. I have attached two screenshots showing device manager and magician. Thanks!

Shlippery

Just run the performance test and post a screenshot of the results. You might be ok if the operating system is working and you've everything installed? I don't think it makes a huge difference!

I do recall having to do this in the past -http://www.tenforums.com/drivers-hardware/15006-attn-ssd-owners-enabling-ahci-mode-after-windows-10-installation.html

But that was just something I had to adjust after cloning an old hard drive to get it into AHCI mode, I can't quite be sure you've same issue if you just did a fresh install..


Just be careful, if the peformance test results are good, you might be best leaving it off, because messing with the BIOS can cause more trouble than it's worth if anything goes tits up.

daraghwal

Does this look ok to you? I don't have a clue about the benchmarks Also there is actually no mention of ahci or ide or sata, nothing like that in the bios.