Toshiba Satellite C660 SSD upgrade

Aidanmc

I'm upgrading a Toshiba Satellite C660-26h laptop with a new MX500 250Gb SSD. I will need to transfer existing files and operating system to new ssd.

What is best process to transfer the info across?

Do i first remove the old drive and fit the new SSD.

Neil_Jones

A cheap USB enclosure will house the old drive and you can just connect it to the USB port as an external drive.

grumpycrab

Aidanmc said:
I will need to transfer ... operating system to new ssd.

Clean install Windows10 to the new ssd is preferred.  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10    Read from "Create Windows 10 installation media".   License is automatically re-instated.

Aidanmc

Neil_Jones said:

A cheap USB enclosure will house the old drive and you can just connect it to the USB port as an external drive.

Thanks, yes i'm getting a usb enclosure for the job. I want to copy everything from the old drive to the new ssd. Do i copy this to the ssd first before physically fitting it in the laptop. What is the best software to do the copy with?

aerostar

Remember when installing your new operating system, it will/may not have all the Toshiba drivers for the computer. You will have to go to Toshiba site and hunt for them.

You could clone your current drive to SSD - Mini partition Manager or Aomei and others can do this.for you running from your original installation.

Frozen_up_north

aerostar said:

You could clone your current drive to SSD - Mini partition Manager or Aomei and others can do this.for you running from your original installation.

Crucial supply Acronis True Image with the MX500 and have a video on their web site showing how to clone the original HDD. The whole process takes perhaps 20 to 30 mins and is straightforward.

The sluggish startup, and slow program loading, associated with a spinning disk HDD is gone when you use an SSD.

While in an ideal world you would want to do a clean install on the SSD, you will also need the drivers from Toshiba, plus disks for printers and software you use. It’s a few hours work compared to a relatively simple clone job, which is why Crucial advocate cloning. Windows 10 is far better at keeping itself clear of clutter than XP was, the regular large updates effectively re-install Windows every 6 months or so.

IMO, it is so easy to clone the original and see how it performs. If it seems slow, you have lost nothing by trying a clean install afterwards. You can still clone over the new install if you wish, nothing is lost as you aren’t writing to the original HDD. Before cloning the old disk, clear out the junk files with Bleachbit or CCleaner to save space.

TheRightOne

Frozen_up_north said:

aerostar said:

You could clone your current drive to SSD - Mini partition Manager or Aomei and others can do this.for you running from your original installation.

Crucial supply Acronis True Image with the MX500 and have a video on their web site showing how to clone the original HDD. The whole process takes perhaps 20 to 30 mins and is straightforward.

The sluggish startup, and slow program loading, associated with a spinning disk HDD is gone when you use an SSD.

While in an ideal world you would want to do a clean install on the SSD, you will also need the drivers from Toshiba, plus disks for printers and software you use. It’s a few hours work compared to a relatively simple clone job, which is why Crucial advocate cloning. Windows 10 is far better at keeping itself clear of clutter than XP was, the regular large updates effectively re-install Windows every 6 months or so.

IMO, it is so easy to clone the original and see how it performs. If it seems slow, you have lost nothing by trying a clean install afterwards. You can still clone over the new install if you wish, nothing is lost as you aren’t writing to the original HDD. Before cloning the old disk, clear out the junk files with Bleachbit or CCleaner to save space.

You won't need Drivers with Windows 10. 
I would never clone unless my system was optimal in the first place. So an SSD should be the place to make a fresh start with new settings, for privacy etc
It's a ten year old CPU, so it needs all of the help it can get. Carrying over crud from an already slow install will never be recommended, unless you have a really complicated set up that will take an inordinately long time to replicate. I don't. So a clean install every time. 

Frozen_up_north

TheRightOne said:

You won't need Drivers with Windows 10. 

Who are you kidding? That is one of the reasons why there are many reported “issues” with the recent Win 10 ver 2004 upgrade (and the 1903 /1909 ones). Do not rely on Microsoft to have the correct drivers for your hardware, their generic ones don’t always work correctly.

My Dell desktop has a Dell supplied AMD optional graphics card to drive dual monitors... guess what, neither the Dell Support Assistant (software updating package), nor the Microsoft Win 10 Pro upgrade, installs the driver that will spread the desktop across 2 monitors, I get the generic Windows driver with fuzzy graphics and fonts and no 2nd screen recognition.

Many office installations have dual digital monitors, yet the drivers for a very common graphics card are not catered for in the Windows upgrade, either from the DVD iso file, or via the internet upgrade route. Fortunately, it’s an easy fix to download the drivers from AMD.

debitcardmayhem

aerostar said:

Remember when installing your new operating system, it will/may not have all the Toshiba drivers for the computer. You will have to go to Toshiba site and hunt for them.

You could clone your current drive to SSD - Mini partition Manager or Aomei and others can do this.for you running from your original installation.

Frozen_up_north said:

TheRightOne said:

You won't need Drivers with Windows 10. 

Who are you kidding? That is one of the reasons why there are many reported “issues” with the recent Win 10 ver 2004 upgrade (and the 1903 /1909 ones). Do not rely on Microsoft to have the correct drivers for your hardware, their generic ones don’t always work correctly.

My Dell desktop has a Dell supplied AMD optional graphics card to drive dual monitors... guess what, neither the Dell Support Assistant (software updating package), nor the Microsoft Win 10 Pro upgrade, installs the driver that will spread the desktop across 2 monitors, I get the generic Windows driver with fuzzy graphics and fonts and no 2nd screen recognition.

Many office installations have dual digital monitors, yet the drivers for a very common graphics card are not catered for in the Windows upgrade, either from the DVD iso file, or via the internet upgrade route. Fortunately, it’s an easy fix to download the drivers from AMD.

You may have to re-install drivers, but I've said this before and will say it again https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/68426-backup-restore-device-drivers-windows-10-a.html  No need to search for what you already had.

Aidanmc

Ok, thanks for replies. Think i will try and do clean install first onto new ssd. If the drivers becomes a complicated issue for me can i then clone over the SSD again without issues?

When doing a clean install, do i need to enter the product key from existing windows 10 during the setup?

Thanks

J_B

Aidanmc said:

When doing a clean install, do i need to enter the product key from existing windows 10 during the setup?

No, it will auto-find it from 'within'!

However, you will probably need product keys for any paid for programs you have e..g. MS Office

The free version of this will help with that https://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/