SSD upgrade how I did it

Weldingblues · 15 Dec 2015

I bit the bullet and purchased a 250GB Samsung 850 Evo from Amazon and a mounting bracket again from Amazon.

Before I commenced the install I made sure that Windows 7 64bit had all the latest updates installed.

The box contains a simple instruction sheet, CD and the SSD. The instructions said to connect the SSD to your computer using a USB lead. I used my USB 3 Dynamode external hard disk enclosure to facilitate this, that's when I ran into problems.

After installing the software and updating to version 3.0.0.49 from version 2.7, I connected the USB lead and waited. Windows did not "see" the drive and it did not show in device manager either. A quick look on the internet and other people have experienced the same problem, the suggestion was to connect it directly to the SATA cables in the computer.

Success, or so I thought. With the Samsung software running I selected the clone function and watched the progress complete, but the Samsung software could not clone the existing drive as there where problems with the file structure etc. I then ran a scan of my hard disk, turned the monitor off and went to bed.

When I switched the monitor on the next day windows was waiting for me. Crunch time again and this time the process was completed correctly.

I swapped the SSD and old HDD over, configured the boot sequence and now my computer is fast, and my Windows Experiance Index has risen from 5.9 to 7.0, result all round.

I hope people can benifit from the above information.

My next update will be to Windows 10. There could be more problems ahead.

Regards

depicted · 15 Dec 2015

Weldingblues said:
My next update will be to Windows 10. There could be more problems ahead.

If you're going to all that effort then I'd personally do a fresh install of Windows 10. You have to upgrade to 10 first, then do a clean install but the results are a lot better.

I recently installed W10 on 3 PCs - two were upgrades, one was a fresh install. The fresh install was perfect, both the upgrades were slow and buggy (icons missing, error messages, things timing out). I then did a fresh install of W10 on those 2 and all 3 machines work perfectly now.

neil_g · 16 Dec 2015

done a few upgrades, all gone fine. taken a little while to settle down and one machine needed a few updated drivers but ultimately okay.

Weldingblues · 17 Dec 2015

Thanks for the replies, I have done 2 upgrades one on a PC and the other was my laptop both OK. I aim to upgrade on Friday !!!

redhed17 · 22 Dec 2015

When I updated my desktop with a SSD, and I may be wrong, but I read that if the ACHI setting was not enabled on the motherboard, then I would not be getting the full benefit of any speed increase. I don't think you can go into the BIOS and just change it, as it needs to be set during a clean install. When I later bought a new motherboard, the ACHI setting was enabled by default in the BIOS.

I'm sure if I'm wrong, someone will correct me. I'm no computer expert.

alsuser · 28 Dec 2015

redhed17 said:
When I updated my desktop with a SSD, and I may be wrong, but I read that if the ACHI setting was not enabled on the motherboard, then I would not be getting the full benefit of any speed increase. I don't think you can go into the BIOS and just change it, as it needs to be set during a clean install. When I later bought a new motherboard, the ACHI setting was enabled by default in the BIOS.

I'm sure if I'm wrong, someone will correct me. I'm no computer expert.

That is correct. You cannot just change the AHCI mode on the motherboard from ATA otherwise Windows would just blue screen when trying to boot up so you would need to change it back to ATA or do a clean install

PeterTheJet · 28 Dec 2015

You Can, not tried it on 10 but it worked on 7

redsnappa · 28 Dec 2015

I would have preferred if you had not have chosen to use a six year old OS as the basis of your tutorial, there issues with security with operating systems that old.. There are newer and more secure operating systems available that would be better suited for general use.

redhed17 · 28 Dec 2015

PeterTheJet said:
You Can, not tried it on 10 but it worked on 7

I'd rather do a clean install rather than mess about with the Registry, especially as I don't have a clue about the Registry.

As that guide says though;

Warning
Changing values in the Windows registry can disable your machine; if you're not sure how to do this please post a question in this tutorial and someone will be glad to help you.

As long as you go into it eyes open, you choose how you want to do it. But as I wrote earlier, just adding an SSD may not suddenly speed up your machine.