# computer nerds, please help



## Pluto (Sep 12, 2013)

I have a fairly powerful notebook which is painfually slow because the OS is on a HDD. It also has a 32Gb M2 ssd cache which is supposed to improve performance but to me seems ineffective. so the plan is to replace the small ssd with a large capacity one, and move the OS to the ssd and keep the Hdd for storage. Anyone know of a computer forum that might walk me through this, or have any idea of how to do this. Maybe I should just go to a pc shop and pay them to do it all?


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## Mike-RetireEarly (Feb 28, 2016)

Since it’s a notebook you are better off bringing it in to a PC repair shop, some laptops can very tightly packed and difficult to fix. You should do a search online to see how easy it is to repair your notebook, you can start with ww.ifixit.com to see if they have a tear down of your notebook. Then just start doing searches for your notebook brand and model for reviews on it that might tell you how easy it is to fix.

Depending upon the age of the notebook you might be better off just replacing it.


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## Jerm (Jun 2, 2016)

Not only is the hardware side of things more difficult on a laptop but once you have windows reinstalled you'll likely require fairly specific drivers for the various components of the laptop. You'd probably either need to re-image the entire contents of the mechanical drive onto the SSD or use a built in "recovery" type function to set the OS back to factory defaults (which includes all drivers). 

I consider myself fairly computer savvy but I probably wouldn't touch this project. 

It also seems very odd that a laptop would include both a SSD and mechanical drive but have the OS installed on the mechanical drive.


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## 319905 (Mar 7, 2016)

Pluto said:


> I have a fairly powerful notebook which is painfually slow because the OS is on a HDD. It also has a 32Gb M2 ssd cache which is supposed to improve performance but to me seems ineffective. so the plan is to replace the small ssd with a large capacity one, and move the OS to the ssd and keep the Hdd for storage. Anyone know of a computer forum that might walk me through this, or have any idea of how to do this. Maybe I should just go to a pc shop and pay them to do it all?


From what I've read, the M.2 as cache is a bit dated and wonky requiring a RAID configuration. If it was me I'd go into the BIOS, disable the RAID, install a new M.2 and clone the HDD to it ... I just installed a 1TB M.2 SATA SSD $179.99 Amazon and used the free easeUS utility to clone my previous Win10 SSD to the M.2 ... worked just fine. Just saying, best get a knowledgeable buddy to help you out with this.

Fwiw: WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB PC SSD - SATA III 6 Gb/s M.2 2280 Solid State Drive - WDS100T2B0B


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## Pluto (Sep 12, 2013)

Ok thanks. Its a 2017 era xps 15 dell, so the hardware isn't too old and worth upgrading. It was their base model that's why the os was on the hdd. 

Anyway, based on advise, I think discretion is the better part of valor here, which means I'm going to get some professional help with this. thanks alot for the feedback.


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

Pluto said:


> Ok thanks. Its a 2017 era xps 15 dell, so the hardware isn't too old and worth upgrading. It was their base model that's why the os was on the hdd.
> 
> Anyway, based on advise, I think discretion is the better part of valor here, which means I'm going to get some professional help with this. thanks alot for the feedback.


Your plan seems like a good one. Use the M2 slot for a new SSD and keep the existing drive for additional storage. I have my Lenovo set up just like that. I did do it myself, but luckily Lenovo has very good on-line instructions on how to get at the M2 slot. Just how the 32Gb flash memory is supposed to work with the HDD needs reading up on. I think it just stores data from HDD as you go and then can retrieve it more quickly when you next access it. 

It's surprising that you would find that computer slow. There is probably another reason. Maybe defragging the drive, searching for malware, changing Windows settings etc may speed it up without adding the SSD? Also make sure all of RAM is properly seated and being used. 8Gb should suffice, more better. An SSD as the main drive will speed up boot time and disk access. But not processing speed.

A 256GB SSD doesn't cost much these days. I have this size - It stores OS plus frequently used programs and data. Still have 140G free space. Other drive is also 256GB and has 120Gb free. These days with cloud storage on Dropbox and OneDrive etc, don't need much storage unless user is into movies or other storage hogs.

A shop that sells SSDS should be able to move your existing install over to the SSD. An external drive is sometimes needed when doing this so better let them do the whole job. Good Luck


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## Pluto (Sep 12, 2013)

Good intel agent 99. thanks.


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## 319905 (Mar 7, 2016)

My opinion, with the low cost of SSD e.g. 1TB $180 or so, there's just no excuse for laptops/notebooks not to use SSD vs HDD especially since they're purpose built for travel, portability. Anecdotal ... a buddy had a laptop with hdd go through an airport security "shakedown" ... the hdd did not survive.


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## Pluto (Sep 12, 2013)

^
Well I only have myself to blame, as its what I ordered, and I had the option of a ssd. Came to regret it. Now fixing the mistake.


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## 319905 (Mar 7, 2016)

^ To clarify, assemblers, high-capacity SSDs, going forward ...


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

Really no need for high capacity SSDs or HDDs these days. They can bog down the computer, for example, when being virus checked. If more storage is needed, better to put it on cloud or maybe an external drive. 

For me, 2x256GB is more than enough. One 500Gb SSD would also do it. My laptop actually had a third drive with Win 10 on it, mounted in DVD bay adapter. I only used it to test out Win 10, which I abandoned . Come to think of it, I should run it again and update Win 10.

PS: Just remembered - my Lenovo SSD is an mSATA, not M2 (which is faster)


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## kelaa (Apr 5, 2016)

Once you have a SSD, I wouldn't bother with an onboard HDD. Would the weight and power draw of the additional space be worth it? I would think an USB HDD when needed would be acceptable enough.

I bought a Crucial SSD to upgrade my laptop in 2014. The OEM cloning software didn't work. But it was not that big of a loss as it was a brand new laptop and HP still supplied the system install CDs.


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## Pluto (Sep 12, 2013)

Well its in the shop getting the M2 ssd upgraded, a speedy Samsung 970 EVO. $25 install fee. Fee to clone OS to ssd is 150. Yikes. Fee to install os to ssd is 100. Hmmm. Shop tech said the OS is embeded on the MB so I could install it myself no problem. Or I could clone it myself as well. So I think I'll try that when I get it back. (The huge 1TB HDD was to store digital music collection. I mostly only use the notebook to stream music to HiFi. I don't take it on the road.)


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## P_I (Dec 2, 2011)

Samsung EVO SSDs come with Magician Software for cloning your existing HD to the new SSD. I've got Samsung EVO SSDs in most, if not all, my PCs (desktops and laptops) and have always used their Magician Software to clone to the new drive. It is easy to use. Save yourself the cost of having the shop do it.


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

Pluto said:


> Well its in the shop getting the M2 ssd upgraded, a speedy Samsung 970 EVO. $25 install fee. Fee to clone OS to ssd is 150. Yikes. Fee to install os to ssd is 100. Hmmm. Shop tech said the OS is embeded on the MB so I could install it myself no problem. Or I could clone it myself as well. So I think I'll try that when I get it back. (The huge 1TB HDD was to store digital music collection. I mostly only use the notebook to stream music to HiFi. I don't take it on the road.)


OS embedded on MB? Never heard of that. Maybe he meant BIOS?

However, seeing you will have new SSD in the M2 slot and still have your HDD installed, then it should be easy to clone the hDD to the SSD. Just have them make sure HDD boots in normal way after the SSD install. If software that comes with SSD doesn't work or is hard to use, there are many others free of the net. Macrium is one. AEOMI backupper is another that I use. Both will clone one drive to the other. Sometimes size of one relative to other is an issue. You cant clone from large to small without changing partition sizes. Finally, you will need to go to BIOS and change the boot drive from HDD to SSD.


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## Pluto (Sep 12, 2013)

^
Yep, that's what he said. Dell laptops now have win 10 embedded on the MB. Apparently, then, its a matter of following protocol outlined in the manual to install OS to the ssd, then wipe the OS off the HDD. Alternately, clone the OS to the new drive. Everything should go smooth.


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

Pluto said:


> ^
> Yep, that's what he said. Dell laptops now have win 10 embedded on the MB. Apparently, then, its a matter of following protocol outlined in the manual to install OS to the ssd, then wipe the OS off the HDD. Alternately, clone the OS to the new drive. Everything should go smooth.


Maybe it is the Win 10 product key that is embedded. That would be needed when doing a clean windows install. Cloning followed by changing boot drive may be best bet.


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## 319905 (Mar 7, 2016)

Pluto said:


> ^
> Yep, that's what he said. Dell laptops now have win 10 embedded on the MB. Apparently, then, its a matter of following protocol outlined in the manual to install OS to the ssd, then wipe the OS off the HDD. Alternately, clone the OS to the new drive. Everything should go smooth.


I suggest a fresh win 10 install if you can ... cloning can result in partition misalignment. Hope your transition from the mechanical age to the digital age goes well ... enjoy the day


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## Pluto (Sep 12, 2013)

^^
I think you must be right, its the key that's embedded. I must have misunderstood the guy.


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## OnlyMyOpinion (Sep 1, 2013)

Windows 10 :eek2: Check behind your right ear, beneath the skin. It's there.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

The price of SSD drives has come down tremendously. It could be that when the laptop was made, the M.2. style of SSD was quite expensive so they just squeezed a small disk in there. Kind of a dumb idea, with little benefit. To get the huge performance benefits of SSD, you definitely want the primary operating system to be on the SSD.

So your idea of installing a new, big SSD and using it as the primary disk is a good idea. The key is to have Windows (or whatever OS) as well as all applications on the SSD.

All of this is straightforward for a new install but shifting from what you have right now is a lot more difficult in practice. You really should re-install the OS from scratch. It will mean actually reinstalling everything... OS, drivers, applications you use. That means you will have to have license information for each of those because it's like starting from scratch again.

I have no idea how to do that on Windows, but reinstalling computers from scratch is a good thing to practice. You're going to have to do it once in a while anyway, so might as well learn to experience the pain. Eventually your hardware will fail and you will have to do it anyway, or the OS version will get out of date or become infected with a virus or compromised by a hacker -- reinstalling from scratch is the solution to all of those problems.

Back up everything before you even start trying to do any of this. You could possibly lose all of your current data.


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## Pluto (Sep 12, 2013)

^
Yeah, that makes sense - do clean install on the ssd. Now that I look into it, its actually a Win 10 download from microsoft, then follow Dell protocol. I don't have much other stuff installed on it. Just Foobar, and some music files that are backed up elsewhere.


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## Pluto (Sep 12, 2013)

OK mission accomplished. Shop installed bigger M2, Brought it home, downloaded Win 10 from Mr. Sifty, and installed it. Only hicup was, it wouldn't boot as I for got to make the new drive active. Once done, it booted fast and is a very speedy laptop. Faster than my desktop. Its rediculous. Thanks all.


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## agent99 (Sep 11, 2013)

Great that you got it done.


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