SSD upgrade help

Hi there, wondering if I could get a bit of advice please on installing a SSD in my Acer Aspire 5750G laptop (i5-2450M 2.5GHz chipset)? I have never upgraded computers before, and although technically minded, I would just like a bit of guidance on a couple of issues.

I have bought a Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD. I have found this helpful guide How to upgrade your laptop hard disk to an SSD - PC Advisor and it seems straight forward enough to do the actual upgrade. However, there are a couple of optimization tips that will help get the most out of the SSD which I am unsure about.

1. It talks about making sure the laptop is compatible. It is running Win 7, tick, I'm guessing it has a SATA connector, tick. But it goes on to talk about SATA 2 & 3. After doing some research I understand a SATA 2 laptop will run a SATA 3 SSD but not at it's full potential. Can anyone tell me what my laptop is? And is the 840 Pro SATA 3?

2. The guide also mentions that you should make sure the BIOS supports a SSD. Also that the BIOS should be the latest version for the laptop otherwise it can hinder the performance of the SSD. Can anyone help shed any light on my BIOS situation?

After spending £170 on this SSD I really want to make sure I'm getting the most out of it! Thanks in advance for any advice!!!

 

People claim to get SATA III speeds with this laptop in this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/575726-aspire-5750g-review.html. So, I'm assuming it's SATA III.

To answer your second question, they're probably referring to the settings: SATA, AHCI, RAID. You'll want to set it to AHCI.

 

^Yea what he said but any newer machine is most likely compatible but make sure you set AHCI in bios and if you want to tweak/optimize then you can download SSD magic magician (i think its called that and its from samsung) and they provide some tweaks and Firmware update which increases speed but there are many guides on tweaks and if you search windows 7 ssd optimize tweaks or something like that on youtube there are many tutorials, and i read that more you store on it the slower it gets ,its better to use the ssd for the OS and use a seperate Hard drive to store stuff on

 

Thanks for the advice guys!

When in the process of swapping to a SSD should I be changing the BIOS settings to AHCI?

And I have also read that people with this particular laptop having problems physically fitting the SSD in the laptop and having to break bits of plastic to get it in?? Can anyone shed any light on this?

Thanks

 

Power down and unplug all power sources to the Acer, swap the hard drives, then enter the BIOS at next power on and change to AHCI.
Verify that the height of the SSD you purchased matches the spec. for the laptop 7 MM vrs 9.5 MM
Here is a related discussion http://forum.notebookreview.com/solid-state-drives-ssds-flash-storage/566969-7mm-ssd-list.html

 

Thanks, Josea.

Just measured the SSD and it's about 7mm so fingers crossed I should be OK. I will let you know how I get on

 

Oh and by the way i have a samsung 840 pro in my alienware m17x and it works fine and its the same size as a laptop sata HDD

EDIT: its same size as standard laptop drive 2.5

 

so how did it go?

 

Link to Samsung's Magician 4.0

 

Hi i am new here and need some help please , Iam owner of Alienware M18x R2 right and have just upgrade ssd so i remove old hdd replaced with ssd 512 gb then i connect old hdd as second drive installed new OS Win 7 ultimate on ssd works fine also old hdd is visible in bios or even device manager but it cannot be seen in my computer (old hdd) so i go to manage option from my computer and also there i can see old hdd but every single restart i have to go manage choose letter for old hdd then works and is visible in my computer but when i restart it same problem came back cannot see old hdd in my computer .

 

Do you still have the OS installed on the HDD?

Did you clone the SSD or New install the OS?

More info will help, but if you still have the OS on the HDD, check if it is Active - you wouldn't want this.

Also, check your folder options to show hidden files folders and drives.

Assign a letter that isn't already taken.

- A few things to try until you get back to us with more info.

 

Under Disk Management, left hand column, does it say the HDD is "Online" after a restart? If it doesn't say "Online" right click and choose it.

 

hdd was formated few times already . First time when i install OS on SSD (fresh install) i format both disk SSD and HDD .

 

Bullrun yes its online but still not visible in my computer, if i want to make it visible i have to add always letter to HDD then it comes up in my computer but after reset same issue

 

Xavier,

Disk 1 should not be active (note it says active, primary partition). You can only have one active partition at a time, system reserve has this designation already.

Open command prompt as administrator, type: diskpart. At diskpart prompt type: list disk. The one you want should be Disk 1 (double check that) then type: select disk 1. then type: list partition. Select partition n (the partition on disk 1). Partition n is now the selected partition. Type: Inactive.

Consider changing Disk 2 partition D to partition letter E. Make Disk 1 partition letter D.

Hope this helps.

 

i have done this in cmd . What after ? type exit and reset laptop . Sorry iam noobish here just playing games when free lol.
Thanks anyway

 

Exit and Exit. Reboot or Cold boot. Check that your letter assignments have taken hold.

Hey, everyone has to start somewhere, no time like the present

 

also i change Disk 2 partition D to partition letter E. Make Disk 1 partition letter D and still same problem after restart OS Disk 1 is not visible in my computer...


should me setup up like this?

 

Um, sorry, but DVD player would have to adjusted to "F", Disk 2 "E", Disk 1 "D"

Try folder options: Uncheck / hide empty drives.

Not sure what is going on here but you may want to remove all your files from that Disk and then use Diskpart CLEAN command. Then create a brand new partition.

 

ok i setup the letter as u said .will do now reboot . i have only drivers for now on this hdd so i can do what i like now . just need some help from u if reboot dosnt help

 

still the same problem hdd is empty so can u help me do this using diskpart?

 

Ok, pretty straightforward. you may want to move all your drive letters forward to accommodate the assign letter. make sure the disk you clean is correct otherwise disaster.

Command prompt as admin type: DISKPART
LIST DISK

SELECT DISK n (number of that disk giving you the trouble, I think you say it's 1, be sure that it is correct)

CLEAN (takes up to 30 seconds)

CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY

FORMAT FS=NTFS QUICK (takes up to 60 seconds)

ASSIGN LETTER=D

 

Drive Letter assignments in registry - Disk Management - Windows XP

maybe you hdd has a drive letter conflict with the original optical drive which has its driver letter assigned and left in the registry upon booting

also check with your task scheduler for weird activities and BIOS to see if your bios chose to boot the hdd first, it might have picked up the hdd, assigned C drive, then found no boot record, moved to ssd and reassigned drive C on the SSD and booted from the SSD boot record which caused the missing hdd, originally assigned and removed the C drive letter

 

Problem resolved . After done all in diskpart including format etc i reboot pc and finally i open my computer check disk and hdd disk now is visible as should be


Thanks Very Much Guys