Is it possible to put an ssd in a laptop. Installing an SSD in a laptop - all the nuances

I remember that when I bought the Samsung R720-FS04 about 5 years ago, I couldn’t be happier with it - then it was, of course, not a “top-end” laptop, but very solid. Core 2 Duo, 3 gigabytes random access memory and Radeon HD 4650.

A lot of time has passed since then, the laptop went through a whole series of events - my missus drenched it in milk (after which it was disassembled and put back together), its matrix “died”, which I also changed myself, I also repaired the speakers, and then, it seems, and something else. Windows Vista pre-installed with . And so... A fresh story about when he was the height of dreams, and I was already thinking about how to make the “old man” more agile.

There were unexpectedly few options:

— the processor and video card in a laptop cannot be replaced;

- 3 gigabytes of memory (two sticks - 1 and 2 GB, respectively), but can only be expanded to 4. It’s a necessary thing, but it’s too late to drink Borjomi - it’s almost impossible to find a 2 GB “laptop” (SODIMM) DDR2 stick on sale. And adding one gigabyte won’t make a big difference;

— HDD. “What about the hard drive?” - many people probably thought. His task is to store all sorts of good things - photographs and films. And so it will be with him. It has an average volume of 320 gigabytes. Not a fountain, but you can live. And they thought wrong! It is the hard drive that is the weak (or rather, slow) link in the entire configuration.

What kind of hard drives are installed in laptops? Right. To keep the noise down and consume less electricity. And hardware that meets these requirements, as a rule, is also the slowest. And the disk subsystem is already the slowest in modern computers.

Therefore, the obvious and perhaps the only way to make an elderly laptop faster was to install an SSD instead of a hard drive. SSD (Solid-State Drive) are modern solid-state drives. In short, their design is similar to flash drives. Here are their advantages compared to classic “screws”:

- absolute silence. There are simply no moving parts - nothing to make noise;

— low power consumption;

- shock resistance;

- and most importantly - speed of work. She several times higher than conventional HDDs.

Of course, there are some downsides, and they are:

- limited number of rewrite cycles. That is, the durability is worse.

— price. SSDs are more expensive.

In view of all this, an “ops” was planned to buy an SSD and install it in the laptop. However, long conversations with the toad brought up the following problem - the SSD will have a capacity of 120 gigabytes, otherwise it (the toad) will strangle me.

In this regard, the task has become more difficult. Installing an SSD instead of an existing hard drive is generally a piece of cake. And I wanted to put them together. That is, leave the old 320 GB hard drive for storing photos, films and other sentiments, and install the system and all programs on a 120 GB SSD, which will have an extremely positive effect on their (system and programs) operating speed.

Some laptops have space for a second hard drive, some even have three! But this is not my case. The Samsung R720 only has space for one HDD, which means there will be sacrifices. Moreover, you don’t have to choose for a long time here - you can install an SSD in only one way - instead of an optical drive. Personally, I hardly use it, so I part with it without regret. And as a last resort, I have a USB drive, fortunately they cost pennies now.

To install a hard drive or SSD instead of an optical drive, you will need a special adapter. In principle, you can go the other way - leaving optical drive and installing the SSD to use a USB hard drive. They're not expensive either. Or buy a special container to connect via USB the hard drive that you remove from the laptop. Shouldn't good things go to waste?

But I chose the first method - namely installing an SSD instead of a DVD - firstly as the most difficult, and secondly as the most interesting. In addition, I will put the old hard drive in the optical drive bay and the SSD in its place. This is not important, but if I suddenly want to return the DVD to the laptop, then certainly not instead of the SSD, so the decision to install this is more than obvious. Actually, I can say in advance that the idea was a success. Below you will find a detailed report on the SSD installation, with photos, of course :)

Let's shop

To implement the plan, I purchased the SSD itself - my choice fell on the SSD 120GB, 2.5″, SATA III, Kingston V300, SV300S37A/120G model. Price 3300 rubles.

In addition, for installation instead of an optical drive you need a special adapter. I chose the Espada SS12. The price of the adapter is 1100 rubles. In fact, this or a similar adapter can be found much cheaper, for 700 - 800 rubles. However, this one was sold right next to my house and this became the decisive argument.

So, our expenses are 4,400 rubles.

Go!

To begin with, I will briefly outline the action plan:

— remove the optical drive;

- remove the hard drive;

— remove the plug from the optical drive and place it on the adapter;

— remove the carrier from the hard drive and install the SSD in it;

— put the hard drive in the adapter;

— put the adapter with the hard drive in place of the DVD;

— We put the SSD in place of the hard drive;

— we check the “visibility” of the SSD in the BIOS, set the correct boot priority, install or transfer Windows to the SSD.

Well, now everything is the same in detail. Let's start by removing the optical drive. In the Samsung R720, and in many other laptop models, all you need to do is unscrew one screw and pull the drive towards you. This screw is usually marked with the letters ODD (Optical Disc Drive).

After this, we simply pull the drive towards ourselves.

Secondly, remove the hard drive. In my case, it is located behind a separate cover, which can be easily removed by unscrewing 2 screws. As a rule, the cover under which the hard drive is hidden is marked with the letters HDD. On some laptop models there is one cover, under which both the hard drive and memory are hidden.

The hard drive itself, in my case, is placed in a special slide, but is not screwed in anything else (it is held in place by the same screws as the cover) - in order to disconnect it, you need to move it away from the SATA connector; there is just enough space in the compartment for this.


The next task is to disconnect the cover of the optical drive itself from itself - it is separated, and it can be attached to the adapter so that the aesthetic component is not damaged. The lid is held on by latches, you must act decisively, but carefully :)

Now we install the cover on the adapter and install the hard drive there. Pay attention to the plastic plug opposite the connector in the adapter - you may need to pull it out to install the hard drive. The hard drive is attached (in my case, since adapters are different) with two screws on the sides of the adapter.

We put the SSD in the sled.

Well, now, in fact, we install a hard drive instead of a DVD, an SSD instead of a hard drive, close everything and screw it up. I had one difficulty here - the “lug” that was on the original drive and clung to the screw is not on the adapter. However, it already sits quite tightly in the socket, so I didn’t do anything about it (alternatively, I could push a piece of paper so that the adapter fits tighter).

That's all! I start the computer, go into the BIOS - both disks are detected, everything works!

Of course, in order to experience all the advantages, the OS must be transferred to an SSD. There are various programs that allow you to do this, but I didn’t bother and just installed Windows from scratch.

Result

So what's the result? A reasonable question. Why was all this started? After spending a couple of tens of minutes with a stopwatch, I’ll share some results.

Starting Windows from pressing the power button to the “can run” state:

- up to - 50 seconds;

- after - 12 seconds.

Launch FireFox:

- up to - 5 - 7 seconds;

- after - 1 - 2 seconds.

- up to - 1.5 - 2 minutes;

- after - 15 - 25 seconds.

As you can see, the performance gain is 4-5 times! Of course, this applies to various processes that are somehow related to writing or reading from a disk - launching various programs, downloading something, etc. However, as it turned out, this is not so little. Of course, you shouldn't expect improved graphics. However, the number of lags and freezes in some games has noticeably decreased (and in some they have disappeared altogether) - apparently, they “laged” due to the small amount of RAM coupled with a very slow “native” hard drive.

Underwater rocks

Let's start with the fact that the procedure may differ slightly depending on different models laptops. The differences may be in how the hard drive and DVD are mounted and in which compartments it is all located.

Now let’s talk about how to avoid unnecessary purchases, or not buy something that won’t suit you.

We'll start by entering into Google or Yandex: laptop model - SSD installation. And we honor what we can find.

Further. I already mentioned that some laptops have extra bed for a hard drive, so before buying an adapter, make sure there is no space. Because if it is, you don’t need an adapter.

If there is space, don't rush. You need to understand whether all the necessary wires are connected there. To do this, we move the main hard drive into the second compartment and see whether it works or not.

If it works, we’re not in a hurry again. We need to figure out how to secure it there. There are two options here - buying a sled on eBay \ some flea market or “crazy hands”. If the disk in the second place does not work, most likely the wires are not connected there and this is not always easy to do, so perhaps it makes sense to remember about the adapter.

— the adapter must be the same thickness as the optical drive in your laptop. And they come in two types - 12.7 mm (the most common) and 9 mm (also found). I have not yet seen adapters for 9 mm, although I do not exclude the possibility that they exist;

- SSD. Please note that SSDs also come in different thicknesses. As well as compartments for hard drives in laptops. Don't get into trouble by buying a thicker SSD than you can fit.

Software difficulties.

Here we have three points at once. First, you may need to update the laptop BIOS. Some models without it will not see an SSD and/or hard drive instead of an optical drive.

Second. Many laptops (lately almost all) contain a partition on their hard drive with a Windows distribution, from where it is installed. By switching to an SSD, you lose this opportunity, so you need to take care in advance about how you will install Windows later. There is an option to transfer the service partition to a new hard drive, but personally I would regret giving up 10 - 15 gigabytes of such expensive disk space for the OS distribution. In addition, this article will help Windows Vista\7 owners. If you have . Follow the method described there, with the only difference being that a clean copy of Windows is installed on the SSD.

Well, third. Many people believe that Windows needs to be somehow specially optimized to work with SSDs. I won’t hide it - I am against all these recipes aimed at extending the life of SSDs. Whether they prolong life is a big question, but they slow down the operation of the computer and can even affect stability. Therefore, if you want to pass your laptop on to your grandchildren, just don’t buy an SSD 😉 For those who want to argue on this topic, I send you to read 12 myths about SSD optimization that will never die.

Don't burn bridges.

Buy components from a place where you can safely return them. When installing the SSD and adapter, try not to leave scratches or abrasions on them - this will make it easier to return them to the store if anything happens. A fairly large number of discounted SSDs with the wording “with traces of installation” in the store where I purchased them indirectly indicates that there may still be problems in the process.

At one's own risk.

As usual at the end of this kind of article, wishing you good luck, I will mention: the author is not responsible for any consequences of unsuccessful installation of an SSD in a laptop.

Good day!

Today work on a laptop (PC) without SSD drive- this, I tell you, is quite painful and painful. And in order to realize this, you need to work at least once with the system where it is installed: fast loading of the OS, instantly opening applications and documents, no freezing or loading the disk at 100% after turning on the device.

So, okay, to the point... In this article I will go through the step-by-step process of installing the “newfangled” M2 SSD in a standard laptop. Actually, there is nothing complicated about this, but there are quite a lot of questions regarding this disk format (and I decided to collect some of them here, summarize my past materials, and answer at once...).

Addition!

An SSD drive can be installed not only in the M2 slot. There are several more options for how you can connect 2-3 drives to a laptop (I recommend you check them out):

1) Drive selection

I think this is the first thing to note. The fact is that there are several types of M2 SSDs: SATA, PCIe (and these, in turn, are divided into several subtypes). It’s easy to get confused in all this diversity...

Therefore, before choosing and purchasing an SSD M2 drive, I recommend that you read this article:

For those who doubt whether to switch to an SSD drive, I recommend that you read this material:

By the way, I also want to note here (since I’ve been asked more than once): the difference between switching from HDD to SSD (SATA) is noticeable to the naked eye, even a weak laptop begins to “fly”. But the difference between SSD (SATA) and SSD (PCIe (32 Gb/s)) is invisible unless you look at the test results (at least if you don’t work very actively with the disk).

Personally, I think that for most people there is little point in chasing a “super” SSD (PCIe), but adding some kind of HDD to a classic solid state drive, definitely worth it!

2) What do we need

3) Installation process (consider a couple of options)

There are dozens of laptop models on the market now. Conventionally, in relation to our topic, I would divide laptops into 2 parts:

  • those devices where there is a small lid for quick access to slots for installing RAM, disks, etc.;
  • and devices that must be completely disassembled before the drive can be connected.

I'll consider both options.

Option No. 1: the laptop has a special one. protective cover for quick access to components

1) First turn off the laptop. We disconnect all devices from it: mice, headphones, power cable, etc.

2) Turn it over. If you can remove the battery, remove it.

Paying attention!

That before replacing or adding memory, disk, etc., some laptops (which have covers for quick access to memory, disk, but the battery is hidden inside the device), you need to switch to battery saving mode. For example, the HP Pro Book G4 (in the example below) needs to be turned off, connected to the power adapter, and press Win+Backspace+Power at the same time, then disconnect the power adapter. After the operation has been completed, the laptop will not start until the power adapter is connected, and you can safely upgrade the components.

3) Then unscrew the fastening screws that hold the cover. As a rule, there are 1-4 of them. (see example below).

In my example, by the way, I used an HP Pro Book G4 laptop - this line of HP laptops has very convenient maintenance: access to the disks, memory, and cooler can be obtained by unscrewing 1 screw and removing the protective cover.

Unscrew the screw securing the protective cover // HP Pro Book G4

4) Actually, under the cover we find the M2 slot - insert the drive into it (please note: the drive should fit into the slot without much effort, look carefully at the keys!).

5) Let me add that M2 SSD drives are secured at the end with a screw. It prevents the drive from accidentally flying out of the slot (the screw usually comes with the SSD. Don’t neglect fixing it!).

6) Well, all that remains is to put the protective cover back and secure it. Next, turn the laptop over and turn it on...

Paying attention!

After Windows boot You may not see this disk in “My Computer” or in Explorer! The fact is that many new SSDs come unformatted.

To see the disk, go to disk management and format it ( approx. : to open disk management, press the Win+R button combination, and enter the command diskmgmt.msc in the Run window).

Option No. 2: there is no special device on the laptop. caps (complete disassembly...)

As a rule, there are no special covers on compact laptops (as well as on those devices with a metal body).

By the way, I’ll give you one piece of advice: before you start disassembling your laptop, I highly recommend watching a video of a disassembly of the exact same device model online. I especially recommend this to everyone who doesn’t do this very often...

I hasten to remind you that disassembling and opening the device casing may result in denial of warranty service.

1) The first step is similar: turn off the laptop, disconnect all the wires (power, mouse, etc.), turn it over.

2) If you can remove the battery, remove it (usually secured with two latches). In my case, the battery was located inside the case.

3) Next, unscrew all the mounting screws along the contour. Please note that some of the screws may be hidden under stickers and rubber feet (which are often present on the device to reduce vibration).

For example, on the laptop that I disassembled as a test subject (ASUS ZenBook UX310) - two screws were under the rubber feet!

Remove the cover - fastening screws || ASUS ZenBook UX310

4) Next, before touching anything or connecting/disconnecting, be sure to disconnect the battery (if you have it inside the case, like me. Simply, in the absence of a protective cover for quick access to the memory slots - usually the battery is located inside the laptop).

Typically, the battery is secured with several screws. After unscrewing them, carefully examine the cables: sometimes they go on top of the battery and if you remove them carelessly, you can easily damage them!

5) Now you can connect the M2 SSD by inserting it into the appropriate slot. Don't forget to secure it with the mounting screw!

6) Then you can assemble the device into reverse order: Reinstall the battery and protective cover and secure it with screws.

By the way, as I said above, many programs in Windows (including Explorer) may not see your SSD. Therefore, you need to use either or the tool that is available in Windows - disk management .

To open disk management: press the Win+R button combination, enter the command diskmgmt.msc and press Enter. See two screenshots below.

4) Process of transferring old Windows | or installing a new OS

After the disk is installed in the laptop and you check that the device recognizes it and sees it, there will be 2 possible scenarios:

  1. You can install a new Windows OS on the SSD drive. For information on how to do this, see here:
  2. or you can transfer your “old” system from the HDD to the SSD. I also described how this is done in one of my articles: (note: see STEP 2)

Perhaps the only point worth noting: by default, your “old” Windows OS will boot from your hard drive (HDD) first. To change this, you need to go to the BIOS/UEFI section BOOT (boot) and change the priority (an example is shown in the photo below).

After reboot, by default it should load new system from an SSD drive.

By the way, you can also select the OS that is considered the default in Windows settings: To do this, open the control panel at - Control Panel\System and Security\System. Next, open the “Advanced system settings” link (in the menu on the left).

The "System Properties" window should open, we need the "Advanced" tab: it has a subsection "Boot and Recovery" - open its parameters.

In this subsection, you can choose which OS of all installed ones is considered the default and loaded when you turn on the laptop/PC.

Well, or, if you don’t get tired of it, you can manually specify the boot system every time you turn on the computer (see example below, a similar window should pop up automatically after installing the 2nd, 3rd, etc. OS) ...

In general, that's all...

Every day more and more users are thinking about the question: how to replace the HDD in a laptop with an SSD? This topic is especially relevant now: a hard drive as in mobile computer is outliving its life.

To change or not to change? That is the question

For many years, there has been a debate about whether the hard drive will be replaced by solid-state drives or not. Advanced users SSDs are valued for speed and reliability. However, every medal has two sides, so it should be noted that the reactivity of the drive is very expensive.

The high cost of SSDs for the most part prevents them from becoming widely used. Many owners of PCs and laptops, whose activities require the best performance indicators, still renounce HDDs.

Pros and cons of SSD and HDD

The fact is that HDD has a number of disadvantages compared to SSD:

As a rule, it is because of them that many decide to replace them, while one cannot ignore the advantages of hard drives over solid-state drives:

  • Volume. At the moment, ordinary users have access to from 320 GB to 10 TB. And the same SSDs in regular stores can be found with a maximum capacity of 2TB. We are not talking about drives for industrial or server equipment, but only about those that can be bought at the nearest computer market.
  • Price. She is much lower. If you compare the cost of a popular 2 TB hard drive with an SSD of the same capacity, it turns out that a solid-state drive is 16 times more expensive than an HDD.
  • With SSD, it is almost impossible to recover deleted data due to the storage method. The maximum that can be done is to take the drive to a laboratory where the necessary equipment will be available.

Based on the above, we can conclude that if the speed and security of data is more important than its volume. Do you value low power consumption? You can safely switch to an SSD drive.

What HDDs are used in the laptop?

Currently used in laptops hard disks form factor 2.5 inches. This means that inside there are “pancakes” of this exact diameter. Some MacBooks have 1.8″ hard drives, but this is a separate topic and we won’t talk about them.

Each disk has a set of characteristics, such as:

  • manufacturer;
  • volume: the amount of data that can be stored, usually in GB;
  • buffer memory: fast memory or cash;
  • rotation speed: the number of revolutions per minute made by the spindle;
  • connection interface: connector through which the drive is connected to the board.

The price of the HDD depends on the set of these characteristics and their quality. The most common option hard drive at the time of writing this article has:

  • connection interface - SATA III;
  • volume - 2 TB;
  • - 5400 rpm;
  • buffer memory - 32 MB.

What SSDs can be installed instead of a hard drive?

The main difference between a solid-state drive and an HDD is that data is written non-mechanically. Simply put, information is recorded on microcircuits. Due to this, high and low noise levels are achieved.

Such drives have 4 common form factors:

  • PCI-E AIC (add-in-card);
  • M.2 2280;
  • mSATA;
  • 2.5 in.

In the context of this article, which is devoted to the question of how to replace the HDD in a laptop with an SSD, all attention will be paid to drives of the latest format, i.e. 2.5 inches. They and the HDD have the same shape and SATA III connection interface. A similar view allows you to remove the disk and install an SSD in its place, screwing it to the same slide and closing it with the same lid.

mSata form factor SSD

Some laptops also support mSata. They have a special III on the motherboard and two places for screws to secure the drive. Such SSDs can be used either as independent storage devices or in combination with one, depending on the design of the laptop.

In many Lenovo models, such an SSD drive acts as additional storage (as a cache). There are laptops that have mSata installed in conjunction with the hard drive and used as a system partition, that is, on it, except operating system, nothing is installed. Thanks to this solution, the loading of the OS is accelerated, and the data storage volume remains quite large, since the information is written to disk.

SSD form factor 2.5″

To successfully replace an HDD with an SSD, you must choose the right drive. At the moment, we managed to decide that it should be 2.5 inches and connected via SATA III. It is also worth paying attention to the thickness of the SSD, since for hard drives it ranges from 5 to 9.5 mm. If you buy an SSD that is too thick, the disk lid on your laptop may not close properly.

Then it's a matter of taste. For home use, 100-300 GB is considered sufficient. According to Tom Hardware best SSD recognized by users for its affordable price of less than $100, it has excellent characteristics. If you are an inexperienced user, just look for something similar in description and you won’t go wrong.

Replacing an HDD with an SSD in a laptop

The process of changing a hard drive to an SSD is the same as installing a new hard drive.

The first thing to do if the old hard drive is working is to copy the information from it to another medium. Important data must be transferred to the cloud, to a USB flash drive or removable drive.

You can buy a case for HDD 2.5, install the old hard drive in it and use it in the future as a mobile storage medium.

Replacement process

First you need to remove the battery. If it is non-removable, turn off the computer, remove the cover, and remove the battery connector from the motherboard.

  1. Unscrew the screws that hold the disk cover in place and remove it.
  2. Remove the screws holding the hard drive slide.
  3. Pull the slide away from the connector to disconnect the HDD and remove it from the case.
  4. Remove the screws securing the drive to the slide and remove it.
  5. Take the drive, install it in the slide in the same way as the hard drive was, and tighten the screws.
  6. Lower the SSD and carriers into the case and slide them into the slot to connect the drive.
  7. Screw the slide fasteners into the housing.
  8. Close the cover and tighten the screws.
  9. Connect the battery in the same way as you disconnected it and close the cover if necessary.
  10. Turn on the laptop and check the functionality of the SSD.

The minimum check would be to go into the BIOS or UEFI and see how the drive was detected. In most laptop models, this can be done by pressing the DEL or F2 key (in some Enter) immediately after turning it on.

If the drive is working and installed correctly, its name and serial number. Additionally, you can run tests using the utility and check other things, for example, recording speed.

The first thing to do is copy the information. This is written above. The principle of operation for all computers in this regard is the same.

1. Disconnect the battery from the HP laptop. If the battery is removable, like this model, then you can do it simply:

  • unlock the battery lock;
  • pull the second latch;
  • remove the battery from the connector.

2. Using a Phillips screwdriver, remove the screws that hold the hard drive cover in the case. In most models it is small, about ½ of the entire back surface. Remove the cover; you may have to apply a little force, as it may be secured with additional latches from the inside.

3. Unscrew the screws that hold the hard drive carrier. There may be 2 or 4 of them. Move the hard drive away from the connector to disconnect it.

4. Pry up the mount and remove the screws. If the hard drive is disconnected from the connector, this will be easy to do.

5. Unscrew the screws that hold the HDD in the slide. Usually they are located at one end and the other, 2 pieces each.

6. Install the SSD in the carrier instead of the hard drive and tighten the screws on both sides.

7. Install the disk mount along with the drive into the case and push it into the slot. Screw the slide screws back in.

8. Close the housing cover and install the screws in the same order in which you removed them.

9. Connect the battery, that is, install it until it clicks. Push the battery lock back into position.

10. Turn on the laptop and check that the SSD is detected in the system; you can perform additional testing.

This is how the HDD in a laptop is replaced with an SSD. In the vast majority of models, this work is done the same way. The differences usually lie in the way the battery is disassembled and disconnected.

In this section, we will look at options for upgrading a hard drive to an SSD drive in laptops manufactured by Acer. For clarity, an example will be given of a model in which the battery is built-in, and almost complete disassembly is required.

First of all, we still copy important data. Here the amount of information was small, so the transfer was made to a USB flash drive. Turn off the laptop and start replacing.

1. Must be removed back cover housings. To do this, remove all the screws from the back side.

2. Remove the back part, carefully prying it around the perimeter. If the cover does not budge on any side, stop and check that all screws are removed.

3. Disconnect the battery; to do this, remove the cable from the connector by gently pulling it towards you. Do not break the plug, otherwise you will have to completely replace the battery.

4. In this model, the hard drive is not secured in the slide, but is simply inserted into the connector on the board between the case mounts. In order to replace the HDD with an SSD in a laptop, just remove the old disk by pulling it away from the connector. Then put the drive in its place.

5. Reconnect the battery. Make sure that the connector is straight and not damaged.

6. Replace the housing cover and tighten all screws. Make sure that the back does not pinch the wires.

7. Turn on the laptop, check the functionality of the solid-state drive in any way. If the computer does not respond to the power button, you will have to disassemble it again to check the battery.

In this way, the HDD in a laptop is replaced with an SSD for some models from the manufacturer Acer. You can rely on these instructions if you need to update other computers with a built-in battery.

Replacing HDD with SSD in Lenovo laptop

You won’t be able to find a big difference here from the previous two options. It can be noted that replacing the disk with an SSD drive in this option combined the two previous ones. This Lenovo model has a removable battery, but the HDD mount is located under the back of the case. There is no separate cover here.

Following the main principle, you need to transfer the necessary data to another location or prepare an HDD case to mount your old disk into. This time we won’t copy anything, we’ll insert the hard drive into the Case and start using it as a portable “flash drive”.

1. First you need to disconnect the battery. The battery of this model is removable, so you need to remove the lock and remove the battery.

2. Unscrew all the screws located at the bottom one by one. Be sure to check if your model has additional screws on the side.

3. Carefully remove the cover, unsnapping each fastener one by one. If the case does not budge, check that all screws have been removed.

4. Remove the screw that holds the hard drive carrier. In this example there is only one. Lift the HDD mounts and remove it from the laptop.

5. Use a screwdriver to remove the screws that hold the slide to the hard drive. In this model, the mounts have shielded foil, which protects the disk controller from shorting to the case.

6. Install the new SSD drive into the HDD mount and return it to its place, securing it with a screw.

7. Close the laptop with the bottom of the case, carefully snapping all the fasteners into place. Tighten the screws in the same order and connect the battery.

8. Turn on the laptop and test the drive in Bios or with some utility, for example, Victoria.

The ways to change an HDD to an SSD in a laptop can be listed endlessly. The fact is that each model has its own disassembly principle. Therefore, if you are not qualified and have no experience in this matter, it is recommended to turn to professionals.

Replacing your hard drive with a solid state drive will increase your laptop's performance by an order of magnitude. However, be sure to take into account the processor parameters and the amount of RAM. If you have a very weak CPU installed and no more than 2 GB of RAM, then the system will slow down in any case, even with an SSD.

Evaluate your computer adequately, make only the necessary changes to it, and it will serve faithfully until you buy a new one.

If you are the owner of a laptop and you are not entirely satisfied with the speed of its operation, especially the loading speed, and you are increasingly thinking about upgrading or even replacing the entire laptop, then do not rush. We offer an upgrade option for almost any full-size laptop for reasonable money.

The fact is that the processor is not the first freshness, a small amount of RAM and a built-in video card are not the main culprits of the system’s “brakes”. The main reason is a slow hard drive. We propose replacing it with a more modern analogue - SSD. But you probably thought about such a purchase yourself, but to fully use a PC you need a lot free space on the information storage device - at least 500-750 gigabytes. And the prices for SSDs of such capacity are very, very high.

And when buying a 60-120 gigabyte SSD, there will only be enough space for the system and applications, there can be no talk of any media content. Therefore, you need to look for another solution, one in which you can increase the speed of the system and not lose disk capacity, and without spending too much money. We understand you perfectly and offer just such a method.

Why do you need a DVD drive?

No, seriously, what do you need it for? Any films or music can be downloaded on the Internet, which almost everyone has, information that does not require constant access can be stored either in the cloud, of which there are now countless, or on an external hard drive, the prices of which are completely “ridiculous” today. I wouldn’t trust optical disks with important information - they get scratched quite easily and become unusable.

So, if you really don't need a DVD drive on your laptop, then we suggest installing an SSD instead. And again, don’t be alarmed - you won’t have to break anything, and you won’t have to “tinker” either - we promise to leave the beautiful appearance of your beech intact.

What do we need?

First, we need an SSD and connectors to connect it. In principle, a 60 GB disk for the system will be enough for us, but it’s still better to buy 128 - in this case, you won’t worry about running out of space and you can always put some large program on the SSD, or one that is demanding on input operations\ output the game (after all, this is exactly why we buy an SSD). In addition, the prices for this gadget of such volumes are quite low and the purchase of such a part will not hit your wallet.

In addition to the SSD, we will need a seat for it, or rather an adapter that will replace the DVD drive. At various foreign auctions and in online stores this is called “HDD-Caddy” (in our country it is most often referred to as “Adapter for connecting HDD 2.5 to the laptop drive bay”). Buy this device only for your laptop model.

Actually, this is all we need to purchase. The tools we need are a screwdriver and... nothing else.

What is the best place to put it?

It's up to you to decide. You will have unhindered access to the device installed instead of the DVD drive, that is, it is better to install a media device there - a hard drive (movies, music, photos, etc. will be stored on it). In this case, you can always quickly take out the HDD and, using a special device (pocket), connect it to a DVD to watch movies or connect it to another PC as a bulk flash drive.

On the other hand, the heat dissipation of the drive is worse, and there will be more vibrations here, and it is also difficult to say about the protection from mechanical damage of this place. And an SSD is much smaller than a hard drive and is afraid of vibrations, high temperatures, etc. That is, as far as performance properties are concerned, it will be better here than a hard drive.

In any case, it’s up to you, depending on how you plan to use these devices and depending on the configuration of your laptop model.

Let's get started

In principle, the procedure is quite trivial. First you need to remove the DVD drive - in many laptop models you don’t even need to remove the case - they are held on by one bolt, after unscrewing which they are simply pulled out of the laptop.

When you have the DVD drive in your hands, you will need to remove the cover on which the compartment opening button is located and move it to the purchased HDD-Caddy. Now we perform the reverse procedure - install the adapter in place of the DVD drive. Don't forget to secure it with a bolt. Well, that's all - all that remains is to install the SSD here (or a hard drive, and the SSD in place of the hard drive).

Installing or migrating an operating system

Next, you need to install the operating system on the SSD, having first removed the system partition from the HDD and attached it to the partition on which the media information is stored. Installing the operating system will be no different from the process you are used to.

But, if for some reason you want to keep your old system, then before deleting the partition from the HDD you need to “clone” it to the SSD. This can be done by any program for working with hard drives in boot mode. For example, Acronis Partition Director or Mini Tool Partition Wizard will do - in general, the choice is yours.

Instead of conclusions

After the replacement, you will be surprised how much more responsive and fast your operating system has become. In addition, if you previously did not have enough space on your hard drive, now you will free up space previously occupied by the operating system.

If, however, the only thing stopping you from such an upgrade is that to use the DVD drive you will now need to twist the adapters every time, then we will reassure you - you can buy a special “pocket” for the DVD drive and connect it to any PC via USB interface.

Modern technologies do not stand still. More are constantly appearing modern devices, which are distinguished by a greater range of capabilities, better quality and higher performance. One such device is a solid-state hard drive. In this regard, the question often comes up: how to install an SSD in a computer?

But before we proceed with the installation, let's figure out what it is and why this device is needed?

What is SSD

SSD stands for Solid-State Drive, which translated into Russian roughly means a solid-state hard drive. But why is it needed? This is a new type of hard drive that is characterized by high speed of reading and writing information. In other words, if you compare SSDs with older HDD drives, the former have much higher data transfer rates.

This, in turn, increases PC performance and reduces operating system boot time. But there is also a drawback. Such drives have certain restrictions on the number of writes and deletions of files. In other words, if the hard drive is constantly copied and deleted on the SSD various files, then it will fail after some time, which cannot be said about HDD drives.

But still, even with such restrictions, the service life of the drive is quite long. And the performance increase, even in games, is quite noticeable. It is worth noting that modern HDD drives They have the same connection interface as their solid-state counterpart, making installation of an SDD drive into a computer easy and quick, without much expense or difficulty.

Hot keys in Windows 8. Hot keys Windows 8: Video

How to choose a solid-state hard drive

So we come to the question of how to install an SSD in a computer. Everything is simple in principle. First, let's look at what the interfaces for connecting a hard drive can be. There are several of them:

  • ATA (the so-called IDE) is an outdated interface that has not been used for quite some time. The data transfer speed in this case is low, and if you have an outdated computer model that uses such a connector, there is simply no point in buying an SDD.
  • SATA is more new interface, which replaced the previous one. It has a higher information transfer rate. In turn, SATA is divided into three types:
    • SATA 1.
    • SATA 2.
    • SATA 3.

These types also differ in the speed of data exchange. For example, the speed of SATA 2 is higher than that of SATA 1, and SATA 3 is the most modern and fastest interface.

Thus, before buying an SSD, you should find out which connector is available in your PC. For example, there is no point in taking an SSD with a speed rating of 600 MB/s if it is connected to SATA 1, since the connection itself will limit the speed to 150 MB/s.

It is worth noting that all SATA interfaces are interchangeable. This means that if motherboard equipped with SATA 2, you can connect a SATA 3 or 1 cable to it.

How to install gadgets for Windows 8: Video

How to install SDD

So, we have made our choice. Now you can move on to the question of how to install an SDD in a computer. What does this require? First of all, you need to make sure that the interface controller is operating in AHCI mode. This can be done in the BIOS, in the SATA Mode item. .

If your computer has the ability to use additional hard drives, then you just have to disassemble system unit and connect the SSD to one of the SATA interfaces. Most likely, Windows will require you to format the new drive. This is necessary because during the formatting process Windows writes file system to the drive for further work with it.

In this case, you can boot the operating system and copy all the necessary data to the new hard drive. However, due to the fact that SDD has the above disadvantage, it is not recommended to use it for storing files. Typically, it is used to install the operating system. In this case, in order not to reinstall Windows after replacing the hard drive, you can install it on a solid-state analogue.

Thus, you will be able to use your usual and customized system, but on a new, faster and quieter SDD drive. If the computer does not provide the ability to use several hard drives at the same time, as, for example, in most laptops, then you will have to perform certain actions.

In the case of a laptop, you will have to disconnect the old hard drive from the computer interface. We see that the device is located in a special housing. We need to remove it and replace it with a new solid-state analogue. As a rule, the housing is secured with 4 bolts. After reinstalling the case, insert the hard drive back in the same way as you took it apart, only in reverse order.

This completes the installation of the SSD drive. No special drivers are required. The operating system already contains everything you need software. After the first boot, Windows will detect the new device and automatically install the driver. After this, the system will ask you to restart your PC.

How to install an SSD hard drive in a computer: Video

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