Upgrading Old Desktop With New SSD

txaggie2016 · Jan 17, 2015

I have an old Dell Inspiron 530s (that's the slim version). Everything is pretty much stock but I have upgraded (years ago) to a new graphics card (to support dual monitors) and have maxed out the RAM at 4GB (It's a x32 system and running Vista Home Premium). I hardly ever use the thing anymore because I have a newer Inspiron laptop and a Surface Pro 2 but would like to upgrade my 530s pretty much just for the heck of it.

I'm not an extremely advanced user but I am well above average. Honestly, I'm lost when it comes to all of this AHCI vs RAID vs IDE stuff. All I want to be able to do is install a new SSD as the primary boot device (planning on using Windows 7) and use the existing HDD as an internal storage device for pictures / music / whatever.

What advice can you give me? I'm also open to suggestions on which SSDs to look at.

Thank you very much!

PizzaTheHutt · Jan 17, 2015

Do you know if the computer uses SATA or IDE? If it is SATA, a good and cheap SSD I can recommend from personal experience is the Crucial MX100.

txaggie2016 · Jan 17, 2015

This computer uses SATA connections.

PizzaTheHutt · Jan 17, 2015

In that case all you have to do is buy an SSD and slot it in. It should be quite quick and simple. You will want to use AHCI as the controller method. You will need an extra sata cable though as you are keeping the existing hard drive.

txaggie2016 · Jan 17, 2015

When I go into my BIOS settings, I don't see an option to use AHCI. I've found an option in the "Integrated Peripherals" menu to set my SATA mode as IDE or RAID but those are my only two choices.

Also, if my current SATA cable has an extra connector (like a daisy chain) could I just use that?

PizzaTheHutt · Jan 17, 2015

IDE doesn't support TRIM so you would have to use RAID mode. You could daisy chain it but you may end up with half the bandwidth as both hard drives are sharing the same SATA port.

txaggie2016 · Jan 17, 2015

Is there anything special I should be aware of before trying something like this? I figure I can just install the new SSD and run Windows setup like that with no strings attached. Do I need to unplug my current HDD first?

And just because I've heard of situations where it can cause problems, at what point would I switch to RAID?

Thank you very much! Y'all have been a great help so far.

PizzaTheHutt · Jan 17, 2015

You don't NEED to unplug your existing hard drive but it's just easier to as it helps you during the install. RAID mode should be enabled just before you install the SSD in the system.

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Upgrading Old Desktop With New SSD

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