upgrading from hard drive to smaller ssd

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glasshalffull

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Apr 21, 2010
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I want to upgrade a laptop that's 1 year old from the 500gb hard drive to a smaller samsung ssd.

Would this be ok to do?

Main goal is to increase windows startup time and other program startup times.

the hard drive is 450gb total and 399gb are free...only using 51gb. i don't expect that to change very much

the laptop is about a year old, running windows 7 has an intel i5 3rd gen chip

Very little data is stored on it and the laptop is mostly used for browsing the net.

Wondering if I could replace the 450 hard drive with the samsung 840 evo 120 gb?

would that provide enough room. I understand that the 250gb would be better but it's twice the price and this is mostly a secondary computer.

Not needing to receive the greatest performance boost, just a significant amount of it.


thanks for the help!!
 
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enemy1g

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Oct 3, 2013
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Unless you have the key that came with the laptop (which in my experience, none of them do) you'll have to get a new OS to pair with the new SSD. I don't see why 120GB wouldn't be enough, seeing as you're only using ~50GB. After Windows is installed, you should have 91-99GB free to use.
 
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Dblkk

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To your question as to if you can replace your existing hhd with a new ssd. based on the size difference and how much you have on it. yes, the Samsung evo is a great ssd which will definitely increase boot times and decrease program loading times. The size to size doesn't matter as long as you have enough space on the ssd for the amount you have used on your hhd. If you have less that 120gb on your hhd then a simple clone to the ssd will go nicely. Samsung also includes a disk which has the program you need to run to clone the drive.

On another note, the 256 gb isn't that much more than the 128gb and will give you more space. You might not use that much now, but you could later on. But either way you'll be fine now without any problems. but you will need an external 2.5" enclosure or some kind of reader to hook the new hhd up via usb in order to copy your files and windows. Best buy sells a external usb3.0 2.5" enclosure for like $20. If you picked that up, use that to clone your hhd while its in the laptop to the ssd which will be in the enclosure. Then after your done, put the ssd into your laptop and take the hhd out. Then since you have the enclosure, put your 450gb hhd into the enclosure and use that as an external hhd. all for $20 total not including ssd price. but that way you have 128gb ssd and use your existing hhd for external for all your data files. You should then easily have enough space for your needs.
 
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Dblkk

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and you don't need a windows key or buy another windows copy. The Samsung migration software will install all that off your existing hhd to the new ssd. Along with liceansing info and all that.

All three of my laptops have now been switched over to Samsung evo drives and not a single one have I had to rebuy windows for.
 
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glasshalffull

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thanks everyone for the awesome info.

I forgot to mention that i'd be cloning the existing drive by either using the samsung software that comes with the ssd or my copy of acronis true image 2013 (have not checked to see if it can be installed on more than 1 computer as i have it on my main pc)

microcenter has a 2 day sale on the samsung ssd's and i'd spring for the 256 gb if i wasn't needing to upgrade my graphics card in my main computer that gives the performance i need and that's going to cost close to $400 (gigabyte gtx 770...probably)

again....thanks for the excellent help!
 
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Dblkk

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$400 for a gtx 770 must mean 4gb model. Which unless your going sli you really dont need 4gb. I have sli 770's and both are 2gb models and never run into problems. You can get 2gb models for lower $300's.

And if you think 128gb is big enough then no worries. I for one am a data killer, but i also video edit, 3d content create/render which eats up space like its nothing. But in just personal email/web browse laptop i only have 256gb and i dont think it ever goes obove 80gb used.

Also, id just use the samsung software. It copies everything so theres realy no reason no to use it. Plus you'll want to install the samsung magician software. It will enable you to tweak ssd settings and enable rapid mode. Rapid mode is the only thing that gives teh 840 evo decent performance, so make sure you enable that.
 
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