Getting ready to install SSD

Retired_at_55

poppellerant wrote: »

I only seem to having a problem downloading display-20131016101804.zip - I don't think the file size helps, especially when coming from such a slow server.

I have just tried this one again, poppellerant, (twice) and it definitely failed! Do you think my system will come to any harm without this one?


Retired at 55

Retired_at_55

dipsomaniac wrote: »

4 pages to switch a drive?

Yes, dipsomaniac, I am a bit overwhelmed as it is not what I expected. Still working on it with very limited success so far.


Retired at 55

Retired_at_55

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

The huge problem with laptops that came with Windows 8 (or Win 7), is there may not be compatible drivers for Windows 10. I don't know about Toshiba, but my OH has an Acer that I updated to Win 10, it produces an error on booting which is related to either the backlight or battery, basically the auto dimmer when on battery. I contacted Acer Support about a Windows 10 driver and was told they didn't support Win 10 on that model. I had a similar issue with my Asus. In both cases the workaround was to disable the driver, not ideal but it stopped the error messages.

A friend who was head of IT in a large organisation said to be very wary of updating laptops unless the manufacturer specifically states the particular model is compatible, as drivers for laptops can be a big problem.

I assume your old hard drive is still in it's original state, so you could return the laptop to its previous state by swapping drives? In which case you haven't reached a point of no return.

Oh Frozen_up_north - my heart is sinking. I'm still trying, with limited success, to soldier on. I'm so grateful to everyone for their interest and help.


As far as I know (no one else has touched it) my original old hard drive is still in it's original state. By returning my laptop to its previous state (swapping drives!) seems so tough after all the great help I have received from everyone (especially Everywhere and grumpycrab). The time involved so far has been huge.


Would all that not be a really retrograde step - and where would the SSD go - ? into my pile of tehnical 'failures' pile - I hope not.

I have extracted the zip folders (the ones I managed to download) and it took me ages to find the files in 'This PC Downloads' - I now need to open them and see what happens - having tried this I am abandoning it for now as I seem to be going round in circles.

It is good of everyone to be interested and offer help, thank you.


Retired at 55

dogmaryxx

dipsomaniac wrote: »

4 pages to switch a drive?

Thanks to posts like this.

dipsomaniac wrote: »

I have put win10 on 2 x laptops running xp with no problems

Shame you did not offer help then


EveryWhere knows what he is doing and I'm sure he will see the OP has best installation possible.

Retired_at_55

dogmaryxx wrote: »

Thanks to posts like this.



Shame you did not offer help then


EveryWhere knows what he is doing and I'm sure he will see the OP has best installation possible.

Thanks very much, dogmary. I do appreciate and value the help - I am (honestly) wondering if I just don't have the 'expertise' - even with all the help (Mostly EveryWhere, grumpycrab -and others) to be able to co-operate well enough to follow the instructions.


I seem to start off reasonably and very soon become muddled again.


Your post is encouraging, thank you. I'm logging off for now - to have a bit of a break as my head is spinning!


Retired at 55

dipsomaniac

dogmaryxx wrote: »

Thanks to posts like this.



Shame you did not offer help then


EveryWhere knows what he is doing and I'm sure he will see the OP has best installation possible.

Too many cooks....

but not quite as many thanks as you

EveryWhere

Frozen_up_north wrote: »

Retired at 50, you seem to tackled the simple job of swapping to an SSD in the hardest way possible, not helped by the "re-build your system from scratch" advice.

While a clean install is no doubt a great benefit, may I suggest the easiest method by a country mile is to follow the instructions offered by Crucial (who are sellers of memory and SSD drives)... they suggest putting the old drive in a USB caddy and using Acronis backup software (they supply a copy for this purpose) to transfer the contents to the SSD drive. I recently installed an SSD from Crucial into my Asus laptop, the whole job took less than an hour.

I can, of course, do a complete fresh install over this older one on the new drive, back up everything to an external drive, etc.

The bottom line is that swapping to an SSD is very easy, not to be confused by a complete re-build from a generic version of Windows, including try to find drivers... the recommended method to re-build the O/S on a laptop is by using the disks originally supplied or the restore facility in the case of many laptops these days.

You post is complete crud. If you aren't sure about something, you should ask before blundering through the door.

There is a related thread, together with this one that explains why it has to be done in this particular way.

EveryWhere

poppellerant wrote: »

This is how I would install a new SSD drive in a laptop:

1. Buy a SATA to USB caddy
2. Backup all your essential data to a USB flash drive and/or to CD/DVD
3. Download Windows 10 from Microsoft and also copy this to a USB drive and/or DVD drive
4. Remove existing hard drive from laptop and install into the caddy, then set to one side
5. Install SSD drive into laptop
6. Use the Windows 10 installation media to install Windows 10
7. Use Snappy Driver Installer Origin to quickly and easily install the latest drivers for practically all your hardware
8. Install your programs, customising each one to avoid bloating the laptop
9. Restore your data
10. Enjoy!

Steps 2 and 3 can be performed while you wait for your caddy to arrive.

This is not your thread, nor your circumstance. The OP chose 8.1 Update and that is what we are doing.

Next time, peruse the thread before posting, as you are confusing the OP and annoying me.

EveryWhere

poppellerant wrote: »

No problem, just as long as you aware that there are easier methods available to you.

I see what you mean about downloading the drivers - I would say slow and unreliable, but you will get there if you persist.

Nonsense.

The alternatives were;
1: To clone the crud that was slowing the machine down in the first place. Not even mentioning that the HDD is five times the size of the SSD.
2: To use the Toshiba Recovery Media to restore the Original OS; Windows 8.....which would then need to be upgraded to Windows 8.1 Update anyway, which would also entail following the Toshiba Driver instructions. So no quicker and a LOT more Bloatware.
3: A clean install of Windows 8.1 Update in the first instance.

So which would you choose when advising a novice via a forum?

It's annoying when someone jumps in without reading what has gone before and post what they imagine is the oracle.

Next time, read and digest before posting.

EveryWhere

Retired_at_55 wrote: »

Thanks very much, dogmary. I do appreciate and value the help - I am (honestly) wondering if I just don't have the 'expertise' - even with all the help (Mostly EveryWhere, grumpycrab -and others) to be able to co-operate well enough to follow the instructions.


I seem to start off reasonably and very soon become muddled again.


Your post is encouraging, thank you. I'm logging off for now - to have a bit of a break as my head is spinning!


Retired at 55

You are too modest. Perhaps falsely

You have done yourself proud. Contrary to what the other two have been asserting, who clearly haven't bothered to properly read either of the related threads, you are doing exactly the right thing.
They haven't even noticed that you have chosen to install Windows 8.1 Update as opposed to Windows 10.
You can safely take no notice and they should apologise for disrupting your thread.
On the other hand propellerant made the effort to check the Driver downloads for you.

I appreciate people jumping in and helping whilst I'm away. But they should really follow the thread before posting.