Replacing HDD with SSD

TELLIT01

I'm trying to get a sense of how long the entire process would take to replace the HDD on a laptop with SSD.  Drive in question is 1TB with approximately 400 GB used.  Also how straightforward, or otherwise, would the physical replacement be to do?  It's a Dell Inspiron if relevant.  Back in the olden days I used to add hard drives and memory to desktop and tower systems so have a reasonable idea of how things plug together.

debitcardmayhem

Depends on the Lappy what is it, model ? If you put the dell service tag (or whatever it’s called) , it may have m2 slots ,but unlikely as it has hdd.

Neil_Jones

TELLIT01 said:

I'm trying to get a sense of how long the entire process would take to replace the HDD on a laptop with SSD.  Drive in question is 1TB with approximately 400 GB used.  Also how straightforward, or otherwise, would the physical replacement be to do?  It's a Dell Inspiron if relevant.  Back in the olden days I used to add hard drives and memory to desktop and tower systems so have a reasonable idea of how things plug together.

It depends on the speed of the computer, the speed of the controllers, the make-up of the data (lots of big files copy quicker than loads of tiny ones), so the answer to the question is:  Don't know.

This might be of interest as an overview as this phenomenon isn't unique to copying from HDD to SDD the way you ask about, it affects all types of copying:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZnLZFRylbs

I'd suggest budget an overnight. in terms of timescale for the cloning, though it will probably be quicker just to shove the new drive in and stick a new copy of WIndows (10?) on it and set it up from fresh, set up your programs and  then just copy your data back.

flashg67

I've just changed HDD in both Dells at home - lots of screws to undo and wincing/breath holding as you initially pull the first bit of the casing apart.... small phillips screwdriver and a credit card usually is all that's needed. I  try to find a you tube of the same/similar model as a guide.
On one of mine it was just screws at the back, the other had screws under the keyboard to remove as well

Veteransaver

The physical replacement is just a straight swap, the HDD which I assume is 2.5inch is the same size as the SSD, and assuming too that its SATA its as simple as changing a lightbulb. As long as you can get to the HDD easily of course. On some laptops you need to remove the keyboard which makes it more fiddly
The issue is getting them both connected in order to clone, so I usually put the SSD in a USB caddy and do it that way (which does make the copy process a bit slower.
There are free cloning / imaging programs like Macrium which should do it, but I've never had much joy with them recently (always seem to get issues with the extra security in W10) so generally now I just backup all my personal files and do a fresh windows install onto the new drive.
The fresh windows install doesn't take long, then it's just a case of installing any other programs and your personal files.

TELLIT01

Thanks for all the info and advice.  I'll have a think on it.

Marvqn1

Veteransaver said:

The physical replacement is just a straight swap, the HDD which I assume is 2.5inch is the same size as the SSD, and assuming too that its SATA its as simple as changing a lightbulb. As long as you can get to the HDD easily of course.

One thing to keep in mind if its a SATA drive, an SSD is thinner than a HDD so a spacer will be required so the SSD connects properly. Some SSD's include a spacer.

outtatune

Marvqn1 said:

Veteransaver said:

The physical replacement is just a straight swap, the HDD which I assume is 2.5inch is the same size as the SSD, and assuming too that its SATA its as simple as changing a lightbulb. As long as you can get to the HDD easily of course.

One thing to keep in mind if its a SATA drive, an SSD is thinner than a HDD so a spacer will be required so the SSD connects properly. Some SSD's include a spacer.

Many SSDs are 9.5mm. Any time I've fitted a 7mm SSD in a slot initially designed for a 9.5mm HDD the connectors have always been aligned to match either way. Even if you did have the exception and you didn't have a spacer you could just tape a bit of card to the SSD to make it snug.

It's not really something the OP needs to worry about.

Murmansk

Just in case it's of any help, I can tell you I had a local computer shop add some memory and change the hard drive for a solid state drive, it transformed the laptop and cost £110 - I thought this was very reasonable

Neil_Jones

Murmansk said:

Just in case it's of any help, I can tell you I had a local computer shop add some memory and change the hard drive for a solid state drive, it transformed the laptop and cost £110 - I thought this was very reasonable

That depends on what type of memory it was, how much memory you hadadded  and how big the hard drive was.

SSDs have fallen through the floor cost wise and you can get a 240Gb SSD for less than £15, or a 500Gb for less than £30.

Memory again is dirt cheap.but less than £20 for laptop memory.

£110 will include labour but it sounds like a lot was whacked on under labour...  IMO.

Neil49

Virtually all of the free cloning software now excludes copying over the operating system (which is a way of getting you to pay for the full product).

I installed an ssd recently and went down the route of a fresh windows install. All went very well although time consuming. Just back everything up and verify before starting.