Upgrade Laptop to SSD

[Abe_FX35]

Hello all,

I purchased the following Laptop a few years back :

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314534

It is SLOW AS CHRISTMAS, but the specifications seem pretty good with lots of ram and i7 CPU, so i said to myself im sure an SSD drive would increase performance by alot, loading windows can take 5 minutes on its slow 5400 RPM drive. The unit came with an official copy of windows 8.1 which i just recently upgraded to windows 10 for free through MS.

I need to know step by step how to get a fresh clean install of windows 10 on my new SSD drive i just ordered , and install it as the main and only drive in the laptop, i tried putting it in, and trying to boot from USB windows 10 install, but it would not do anything just kept saying insert media etc. so i put back the original hard drive and its working fine.

i have an external sabrent USB to SATA connect cable, do i clone the drive and put it on the new SSD ? if so how do i do that ?

In closing i need full performance on my laptop with this new SSD, i want a fresh windows 10 install or exact clone of the fresh install i just put on it but on the old HDD.

Sorry if this was unclear, feel free to ask any questions, thank you all for your advice and help.

 

[USAFRet]

Cloning...just like this:
(this was written for a desktop. Adjust as needed for laptop and your external USB-SATA cable)
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Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe as necessary.
Delete the original boot partitions, here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/4f1b84ac-b193-40e3-943a-f45d52e23685/cant-delete-extra-healthy-recovery-partitions-and-healthy-efi-system-partition?forum=w8itproinstall
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[Abe_FX35]

Thank you very much, i am in the process of doing this now, im making the recovery bootable USB , will i need one of those for this ? or just the macrium software for cloning.

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you very much, i am in the process of doing this now, im making the recovery bootable USB , will i need one of those for this ? or just the macrium software for cloning.

The Macrium bootable recovery? It is a good idea to have that, but not necessary for this operation.
Just the Macrium software will do the clone thing.

 

[captaincharisma]

Thank you very much, i am in the process of doing this now, im making the recovery bootable USB , will i need one of those for this ? or just the macrium software for cloning.

yes you will but you would create a rescue disk with macrium reflect too so you will be able to load the clone or image onto your new SSD drive