What is the best option for me putting a Solidstate drive in my son's desktop?

[Jerry Beard]

I want to speed up my son's boot up time (and maybe other stuff a little) and I am thinking about getting a SS drive for it (from like 200gb to 250GB range) and don't want to spend a fortune.
When I google for them it shows ones for laptops. Where is a good place to purchase one for a desktop, and what is the best way to move his operating system over to the drive.
dell xps8300
1 tb hd
windows 7
ty for any ideas

 

[NBSN]

There is not much of a difference other than possibly the connection cables when getting a desktop or laptop version of an SSD. You can hop onto Amazon, Newegg, or whatever retailer/etailer of choice you have and see what is out there. I got my Samsung 840 EVO from Amazon and I like it.

Some people may tell you to transfer the content from the HDD to the SSD, but it all depends. If there is a lot of content you want to transfer over, then go for it. But if there is not much of anything, you could save that data to a memory card or USB and do a clean install of the OS onto the SSD. Then format the HDD and put it as a secondary drive.

Like I said, it depends on what you prefer to do. I always like a clean install. In my case I have all of my discs, Steam keeps my saves, and anything else I need I can throw on an external hard drive.

If you want to, you may just end up transferring the OS over to the SSD from the HDD. But remember that if the HDD has a bunch of content on it that is past the amount available on the SSD, then you would end up with a big mess on your hands.

Also, just a bit more info, the size of the HDD or SSD is not the size advertised. There is a certain amount of space that is set aside and the way memory is comprised, it just is not the same. So, for all intents and purposes, a 250 GB SSD may only have 220 GB of space you can use.

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E250B-AM/dp/B00OAJ412U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433986352&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+850

is a pretty good hard drive and for the price, may be somewhat you are looking for.

 

[Jerry Beard]

There is not much of a difference other than possibly the connection cables when getting a desktop or laptop version of an SSD. You can hop onto Amazon, Newegg, or whatever retailer/etailer of choice you have and see what is out there. I got my Samsung 840 EVO from Amazon and I like it.

Some people may tell you to transfer the content from the HDD to the SSD, but it all depends. If there is a lot of content you want to transfer over, then go for it. But if there is not much of anything, you could save that data to a memory card or USB and do a clean install of the OS onto the SSD. Then format the HDD and put it as a secondary drive.

Like I said, it depends on what you prefer to do. I always like a clean install. In my case I have all of my discs, Steam keeps my saves, and anything else I need I can throw on an external hard drive.

If you want to, you may just end up transferring the OS over to the SSD from the HDD. But remember that if the HDD has a bunch of content on it that is past the amount available on the SSD, then you would end up with a big mess on your hands.

Also, just a bit more info, the size of the HDD or SSD is not the size advertised. There is a certain amount of space that is set aside and the way memory is comprised, it just is not the same. So, for all intents and purposes, a 250 GB SSD may only have 220 GB of space you can use.

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E250B-AM/dp/B00OAJ412U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433986352&sr=8-1&keywords=samsung+850

is a pretty good hard drive and for the price, may be somewhat you are looking for.

ty My main thing is I plan to let him keep the hd, but just put the operating system over to the ss drive.. (and depending on room maybe whatever is his favorite game.(he does steam too) My additional question is how I would mount a laptop drive in a minitower? I don't want it flopping around lol
Its been quite some time since I have added a drive to any computer, I hope I can even remember how. Video cards , power supplies and memory have been more to my receint undertakings.

 

[NBSN]

Mounting a hard drive depends on the case itself. If you open it up you will need to check it to see if it can easily fit the SSD... whether it is a 2.5" or not without needing any additional hardware. If you have a space inside the case to mount a 3.5" or other size hard drive but not the size for the SSD you want, then you will need to buy a drive bay converter such as this:

http://www.amazon.com/SABRENT-3-5-Inch-2-5-Inch-Converter-BK-HDDF/dp/B00G56ZNZU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433991374&sr=8-1&keywords=drive+converter

So you would end up screwing the hard drive into the drive bay or drive bay converter and that would be how it would be secured in the case.



Are you transferring the OS from the HDD to the SSD, or are you doing a fresh install?

 

[Jerry Beard]

Mounting a hard drive depends on the case itself. If you open it up you will need to check it to see if it can easily fit the SSD... whether it is a 2.5" or not without needing any additional hardware. If you have a space inside the case to mount a 3.5" or other size hard drive but not the size for the SSD you want, then you will need to buy a drive bay converter such as this:

http://www.amazon.com/SABRENT-3-5-Inch-2-5-Inch-Converter-BK-HDDF/dp/B00G56ZNZU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1433991374&sr=8-1&keywords=drive+converter

So you would end up screwing the hard drive into the drive bay or drive bay converter and that would be how it would be secured in the case.



Are you transferring the OS from the HDD to the SSD, or are you doing a fresh install?

ty on the link to the bay adapter .. it will have to be a transfer(somehow) since the dell did not
come with it on a disc (other than the hard drive) if i format the ssd to make it bootable can i just copy the files over then change the boot in the settings to the ssd?

 

[terry4536]

There are two ways that SSD's are sold. One is just the SSD itself. The other is a kit that includes the SSD and mounting hardware.

Here is an example of the kit form from Newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA3ER2H04159

Here is an SSD installation video. It is pretty easy.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/CategoryIntelligenceArticle.aspx?articleId=291#topic1

 

[NBSN]

Yes, you can migrate the data over to the SSD from the HDD.