Page 4 of Buying an SSD to upgrade a 4yo laptop

Just going to borrow this thread quickly if I may.

The Old HDD is dead (see other thread for details), all attempts to recover the OS is met with a spiteful BSOD. So...




Samsung EVO 1TB. Now, I've bought the conversion cradle, which also came with a dock to use the SSH as an external data storage device, that I can plug into my laptop.

Should I do that first to initialise/format the SSD, or just bung it in the tower to use as an empty boot drive. Neither item came with anything resembling instructions so I thought I'd ask the experts before resorting to google.

EDIT:

Just realised my laptop uses exactly the OS as my PC. I may be able to clone this OS onto the SSD and then just install it in the tower? Or is that too simple?

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Writer`s Release

This item was edited on Thursday, 28th April 2022, 19:24

i wouldn't clone from the laptop to the drive going into a different machine.

when windows starts it will probably get a bit upset you've changed lots of hardware and will probably want you to phone MS etc.

if it doesnt do that it may work but get confused about different drivers etc, it could be fine, but if it goes wrong soon, you'll be kicking yourself for taking shortcut earlier.

i'd just bung the new ssd in the tower, use your install media to install windows refresh, it will ask if you want it to just set it all up or you can choose to make partitions etc.

then hopefuly, when that is all running, you can plug in the old drive and get off any files you want.

https://admars32.wordpress.com/
https://mobro.co/admars?mc=1

Explain what you're trying to do.
You've bought a new SSD (SSH is summat else..).
You want this to replace the drive in the tower - but that boot disk is dead?
You can't clone the laptop OS to the new SSD and use that in the desktop. Well, you 'could' but there would be so much to go wrong - all the drivers and everything else associated with the tower software/hardware would be trying to 'run' and find devices on the desktop it's being installed on.
If the main disk has indeed died (a BSOD doesn't mean it's failed) then, unless you have a backup, you need to reinstall Windows from scratch. However, be prepared to be totally amazed at the performance difference you will get with an SSD and regret why you didn't do it years ago....
Depending on how the previous system license was activated (M$ account?), the PC should be OK and activate Windows 10. How are you installing W10 though? If it was previously activated, you should be able to just boot up from a USB with a W10 image created via Media Creation Tool and take it from there - no need to format in advance - that will create all the partitions and UEFI etc. (depending on mobo).
I can't imagine using a mechanical HDD again.
EDIT: took too long, as above... 😀

Ste

This item was edited on Thursday, 28th April 2022, 20:26

great minds :) at least we're on the same page, and not offering 2 equally valid different alternatives :)

https://admars32.wordpress.com/
https://mobro.co/admars?mc=1

Out of interest, how were you thinking of cloning your laptop disk?

Ste

Quote:
sj says...
"Out of interest, how were you thinking of cloning your laptop disk?"


Well, TBH, thanks to some absolute pony hardware from Argos, it looks like Cloning anything is off the cards. As the SSD is in a dock Samsung migration can't see the drive, only the PNY docking software and what amounts to a storage device on the other end.

One saving grace is that I have been able to initialise/format the SSD using the dock, so it's blank and ready to accept my (licensed) fresh install using the creation media I've got very familiar with over the last few months, which I will be doing in the tower to save what sounds like a lot of hassle. Thankfully I had the laptop available as I'm not sure I even would have had a usable drive to start with without it

I will be writing a scathing review of the PNY dock once they ask me. Even the 'free cloning software' advertised isn't offered by the hosting company anymore. It may come in handy at one point, plus the cradle, screws & leads were included, so it wasn't a total loss.

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Writer`s Release

how odd, maybe it tries to be too clever, the cheap and cheerful usb - sata converters/docks/leads etc have all worked fine.

for cloning I currently use

https://rescuezilla.com/

it's a free nice gui for clonezilla (which is great but involves reading)

rescuezilla makes it more suitable for non geeks to use

https://admars32.wordpress.com/
https://mobro.co/admars?mc=1

The biggest stumbling block I have is that while the file system on the defunct HDD is probably intact, the OS is borked. I'm not getting the friendly 'we can help you' BSOD, it's the nasty 'yeah, you're f***ed mate' BSOD with all the numbers. So I'm pretty sure I couldn't clone that if I wanted, and if I did manage to, the corrupted OS would probably go with it.

Quote:
admars says...
"how odd, maybe it tries to be too clever, the cheap and cheerful usb - sata converters/docks/leads etc have all worked fine."
Yeah, in hindsight I should have just got a £3.99 USB/sata adapter as it really sounds like the dock software is getting in the way, but if I had, I probably would have installed for the laptop and found myself in a cul-de-sac begging for more help tomorrow.

Well, I'll drag everything to work with me tomorrow morning and try an install then. 


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Writer`s Release

Have you got a link to the thing you bought - and what you were wanting to do with it?
Nothing you described sounds unusual to me and I wouldn't expect much (bar Windows Disk Management) to see a brand new unformatted disk.
The OS being borked doesn't mean much regarding data recovery and I'd hope you can still connect it via USB to a PC and recover data - as long as it hasn't physically failed.
A USB3 to SATA cable is a very handy thing to have - the amount of trouble you seem to have with PC's/HDD's I'm surprised you didn't already have one.
For cloning disks I still use Macrium Reflect - it creates all the partitions needed too (inc UEFI etc. if needed).

Ste

This item was edited on Friday, 29th April 2022, 16:19

Quote:
sj says...
"Have you got a link to the thing you bought"
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8188625

I bought it solely as I needed the conversion cradle and as there is literally one place in my whole home town where you can buy something like this that isn't (*vomits in mouth*) PC world.

In all honestly, the dock was an afterthought, and I wasn't expecting to use it at all, but it's galling that it's advertised as giving you a serial to some third-brand cloning software (Acronis true image HD), which no longer exists and the serial number given isn't valid for the alternative, plus the dock prevents your SSD's brand's own proprietary cloning software from detecting the drive in the first place.

I've got a lot of experience of harvesting files & data from older hard drives, even going back to the pre-SATA days when tower cases were full of cumbersome ribbons getting clogged up in the cooling fans. So I'm pretty confident that the long weekend ahead will be taken up largely by watching transfer progress bars

Quote:
sj says...
"the amount of trouble you seem to have with PC's/HDD's I'm surprised you didn't already have one."
Just this PC, it seems, which may be the result of an unexpected power cut during the very first installation of Windows 7, from which I upgraded to 10.

It would seem I've had this particular HDD a little longer than I originally thought, in retrospect.



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Writer`s Release

This item was edited on Friday, 29th April 2022, 23:07