SSD installation

[Ron Hunter]

My PC is 4 years old and has gotten sluggish to the point that no one in my family wants to use it anymore. I've read good things about SSDs and decided to take the plunge. Here is my story, if you are interested...

I purchased a 500GB Samsung 850 EVO. The objective was to clone my current "C" boot drive (HDD) onto the SSD, and then use the SSD as the boot drive. I only wanted to clone the OS and programs onto the SSD. I would then use the old HDD as a media storage drive.

I connected the SSD to a SATA data and power cable inside the PC. (You can also use a special USB-to-SATA adapter cable that allows connection to a USB port, but I didn't have that.) Samsung provides "Data Migration" software that clones the drive for you; it is very simple to use and made the process easy-peasy. One caveat here; the process is easiest if the files from your source disk completely fit on the SSD. For example, I had over 1TB of files on my HDD, but the SSD was only 500GB. The Data Migration software scans your HDD and suggests files (mostly media) that you can stop from being cloned. However, in my case the Data Migration software didn't find lots of unnecessary files that I didn't need cloned, so I went into Windows Explorer and manually moved/deleted files as necessary until the HDD file size would fit in the SSD.

After cloning I launched Samsung's "Magician" software that helps you optimize the SSD. On subsequent boot-up I entered BIOS and (1) enabled AHCI mode for the SSD and (2) changed the boot order so the SSD would boot first. And voila! The process was finished.

Was it worth it? Yes. I performed a "how quickly does the PC boot test" by measuring the length of time from PC power up until a web browser with Google search engine was on screen available for use:
Old HDD: 4 minutes.
New SSD: 55 seconds.

Here are some performance numbers from Crystal Disk Mark (drive performance test program):
HDD performance:

HDD.jpg

And here is the SSD:

SSD.jpg

My PC motherboard only supports the older SATA3 standard, otherwise the performance may have been better! And all programs launch faster and run faster. Even web pages load faster. The SSD has breathed life into this older PC and I think I will be able to get more use out of it as a result.

Definitely recommend doing this!

[sidd finch]

Ron I agree I recently did that to one of my machines I used EaseUS (freeware) and the result is like going from Standard Definition to 4k.

Sidd

[Bob]

I like the Samsung SSDs. I've had a model 840 PRO for years and it's been fast and trouble free

[Chuck Engels]

The new solid state drives just don't sound anything like the warm tone of a great tube hard drive.... Opps, we are talking about hard drives not guitar amplifiers

Now you've got me thinking that it might be a good idea to look into an SSD to speed things up a bit

[Ron Hunter]

Another tip for those considering this upgrade. You will need an adapter to allow the 2.5" SSD to fit into a 3.5" HDD bay, at least for a desktop installation; laptop may be different. The adapter will run you $5-$10 depending on where you get it.

[Ron]

Now you've got me thinking that it might be a good idea to look into an SSD to speed things up a bit

I did this a couple of years ago. Night and day as far as performance and speed difference. Desktop & laptops - it was like getting new computers!

[Dave McElderry]

This might be just what I need to breathe new life into my old Windows 95 machine!

[Chuck Engels]

This might be just what I need to breathe new life into my old Windows 95 machine!

[Peru]

This might be just what I need to breathe new life into my old Windows 95 machine!

...after upgrading to 256 MB RAM.

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

256MB????

But Bill Gates said no-one would ever need more than 64k!

[Chuck Engels]

256MB????

But Bill Gates said no-one would ever need more than 64k!

Tell that to my Laptop after I just added 16GB !!