Swapped hard drive for solid state drive

[jdandy]

My new Samsung EVO 860 1TB solid state drive arrived. I have been planning on replacing my office desktop computer's C: drive, a 1TB Hitachi 7200 RPM hard drive. The computer has two 1TB hard drives installed. The second hard drive is for backup.

I was inspired to give this installation a try after watching a YouTube video channel called ExplainingComputers. This link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTsq-HHz0Ss explains the hard drive cloning process and recommends a specific cloning software (Macrium Reflect) that can be downloaded free at www.macrium.com/reflectfree . The video is educational and worth watching if you are considering upgrading a hard drive to a solid state drive.

The cloning of my C: drive to the SSD was straight forward. I opened the desktop computer, disconnected the power and SATA cables from my backup hard drive, connected them to the Samsung SSD, then followed the instruction in the YouTube video on how to use Macrium Reflect cloning software. It was easy, and 2 hours and 1 minute later the complete clone of my C: drive was complete. I removed the SSD from the backup drive cables, reconnected that hard drive, removed the C: drive, then installed the SSD in a Corsair dual SSD mounting bracket that allows the 2 1/2" SSD to be installed in a full size hard drive cavity. Once slid in place and secured I connected the power and SATA cable, crossed my fingers and pressed the computer's power button. My desktop computer booted up immediately, fully configured as it was from the hard drive, all applications, files, wallpaper, app icons, even the task bar icons were intact, identically located and functioning properly. Microsoft Office and Norton 360 migrated properly, as well.

Did I mention this Samsung 860 EVO SSD is FAST? My boot time is now less than 30 seconds. My log-in screen appears in 12 seconds. Applications open so quick it is almost like they were already open and minimized. Web pages pop up faster, documents, files, pdf's, and photos appear immediately. This has produced a pleasant upgrade to my office desktop computer. Even the shut down is quick at about 8 seconds. Quite remarkable. Now my Hitachi 1TB hard drive is stored in the closet and will become my rescue drive if I ever need to recover from some catastrophic issue.

I got the Samsung SSD and mounting bracket from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Inch-...b+ssd+internal . They just lowered the price to $127.98 a couple days ago. It had been $149.98 before that. The Corsair mounting bracket was $7.77 https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Dual-...unting+bracket , and 2-day Prime shipping was free. For less than $136.00 I am now enjoying the remarkable speed improvement of this new solid state drive. Well worth it in my opinion.

[cleeds]

W-o-w! Very impressive, Dan! Thanks for sharing. You've inspired me to similarly upgrade my computer's HD. I really had no idea that the price of SSDs had fallen so far, so fast.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by cleeds

W-o-w! Very impressive, Dan! Thanks for sharing. You've inspired me to similarly upgrade my computer's HD. I really had no idea that the price of SSDs had fallen so far, so fast.

Curtis.......Swapping the out the hard drive for the Samsung SSD was easier than I anticipated. I watched Christopher's YouTube video several times to be certain I would not miss any important steps. I also purchased a USB to SATA adapter in case I might need it in the future on a computer with only a single hard drive, or a laptop without an internal SATA cable and power connector. Since I was able to open my desktop computer and make use of the backup hard drive's SATA and power connectors I did not need to use the USB to SATA adapter, but still a good connector to own. Booting my computer this morning was so quick. Everything is moving along and loading considerably faster. Color me a happy camper.

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-...ter+with+power

[Yamaki]

Dan... you made a great choice!

I replaced the HD in my laptop with a Samsung SSD a couple of weeks ago as it was starting to make that noise. The laptop is much much faster to boot up and load programs.

When I built my music server and loaded my NAS box with drives I used Samsung SSD units in those as well.

[jdandy]

Michael.......Thanks for your comments. Samsung SSD's seem to get a lot of good press. It seemed like my best choice. The speed difference has been amazing. In the morning when I boot the computer I have been used to a 2+ minute boot. I find myself smiling when the machine is ready to go in 30 seconds. Gotta love modern technology.

[The Lost Bears]

I went to a Samsung SSD a number of years ago and it is much faster. It is the only way to go. If you are using a swap file you might want to turn it off. It is not really necessary with an SSD and can put extra wear on the drive.

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by Yamaki

Dan... you made a great choice!

I replaced the HD in my laptop with a Samsung SSD a couple of weeks ago as it was starting to make that noise. The laptop is much much faster to boot up and load programs.

When I built my music server and loaded my NAS box with drives I used Samsung SSD units in those as well.

Michael... did you use this same SSD drive?

[The Lost Bears]

My drive is a Samsung 850 EVO SSD. I read quite a bit at the time and there were a few setting changes that should be made after installing an SSD. The most important was the swap file. There was little performance gain and the constant reading and writing was not good for solidstate drives. This was not specific to any drive but for SSD drives in general.

[djwhog]

Good job on the SSD, best way to go and even the EVO samsungs are among the best drives, only bested a bit by the PRO series drives and a few Intel models.

Glad the prices are better than even a year ago!

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by The Lost Bears

My drive is a Samsung 850 EVO SSD. I read quite a bit at the time and there were a few setting changes that should be made after installing an SSD. The most important was the swap file. There was little performance gain and the constant reading and writing was not good for solid state drives. This was not specific to any drive but for SSD drives in general.

The Lost Bears.......Thanks for the tip about Windows swap files. I don't use swap files so one less thing to worry about.