How to install Solid State Drive in PC

How to install Solid State Drive in PC

What is SSD – According to Wikipedia SSD (Solid State Drive) is a data storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies as memory to store data persistently. SSD technology uses electronic interfaces compatible with traditional block input/output (I/O) hard disk drives, thus permitting simple replacement in common applications. SSD use Nand based flash memory, which retains data without power. In this post we will explain you How to install Solid State Drive in PC.

SSD does not have any moving or spinning part or mechanism like conventional hard drives where data written/ read over a magnetic disc with using a movable read/write heads. SSD is just like a pendrive or RAM sticks where memory written and read using electronic based chips.

Why Solid State Drive – SSD have very fast data read and write speed compared to normal Hard Disks thus makes all computer processes faster and smoother , like copying, boot and shut down etc. So overall performance of computer improves using SSD, following are the advantages of SSD over HDD:

1. Faster Boot and Shut down time : S S D uses 5-7 times less time to boot up and shut down, for an old laptop or desktop with older hardware it gives just like a new life where booting and shut down takes a very long time.
2. Faster response to applications & programs: Using S S D programs just like MS Word, MS Excel, MS Power Point, Adobe Photoshop works faster and smoother.
3. High Speed data transfer: Using S S D copying and data transfer is very faster because high read/write capacity of S S D.
4. No Need of Hibernation: With S S D as boot up is faster we can disable hibernation to save storage.
5. As there is no any movable parts S S D saves power and consumes very less power.
6. Compared to conventional HDD weight of S S D is very light
7. Can be used in both desktop or laptop: using 3.5 inch aluminum chassis same 2.5 inch S S D can be used in desktop and laptop.
8. No need of disk defragmentation: in S S D no need to disk defragmentation so thus not slows down performance of PC after long usage.

Disadvantage of Solid State Drive:

There is only one disadvantage that is Price of S S D that is very high compared to conventional HDD. (a 120 GB SSD is around Rs. 6000/- , 250GB S S D is around Rs. 9000/- and 500GB S S D is around RS. 22000/-)

How to install Solid State Drive  in desktop:

For desktop if you want to upgrade to SSD you have to buy additionally chassis for S S D, you see this link in amazon to buy chassis. Also if your PC doesn’t have spare power and data cable you have to buy same also. In desktop it is easy to install S S D as there is spare space in HDD/DVD drive bay also mother boards have extra spare sata ports generally to accommodate extra HDD.

You can choose first booting drive as S S D in BIOS setup and install OS to S S D. S S D have very high price compared to normal HDD so a 64GB or 120GB S S D can be purchased to install OS and program files and normal HDD can be used for data storage like media, MS office files etc. See the video below for how to install SSD in Desktop-

How to install Solid State Drive in Laptop:

There are many things to know if you want to install  SSD inside your laptop, first one is that as like desktop CPU there is not easy to accommodate two drive simultaneously if you have old laptop. In some new laptop hybrid hard drive come by default       SSD like 16GB/32GB for OS and 500GB etc. for data storage. Generally these Laptop doesn’t have DVD drives like ultrabooks.

If you have good budget you can go for 250GB or higher S S D and existing HDD can be used as external drive using external drive casing to use data storage. To upgrade open your back panel screws and remove by sliding HDD now insert new S S D and pack the back panel by tighten the screws. Now you have to install OS and other programs inside S S D. Some blogs have suggested that by taking windows image backup you can again restore your existing HDD without installing windows or program files but for me it didn’t work may be some hard-drive ID is also associated with the image backup that is difficult to change. I think this is due to stop the piracy because any one can install like this to any laptop from same windows license. Some HDD cloning tools are also available like Conezilla you can see this on PC Mag Post . But problem is that there is condition that target drive should have larger storage from existing HDD. Example if your new S S D is 500GB and existing drive is 250GB it is ok, but you have existing HDD of 500GB and targeted S S D is 120 GB it will not work.

I have just install windows and other programs into S S D because it was finally option works for me.

Now problem is that due to low memory you have to carry an external HDD with you to store your media like movies, songs, images, other files.

I found a solution of this by searching over google that we can remove our existing DVD drive and can install original laptop HDD inside a caddy and replace that in place of DVD drive (Please confirm the Caddy model from seller so that you can install as per your laptop). In some laptop removing DVD drive is very easy like HP Pro Book 4430s where just from one screw you can remove the DVD drive by sliding and install HDD inside caddy. See the video below how to install SSD in laptop-

But in my dell studio it was a little hard but I have complete the process by seeing youtube video how to install caddy by removing DVD. See in video how-

DVD drive external casing is very low price available I found on Ebay and install my existing DVD drive into that. Now I can use DVD drive also externally and can also use it with any laptop or even my Acer Iconia W4 tab.

So if you want to upgrade your laptop with SSD I suggest these steps-

1. Buy a S S D generally 120GB is ok, even 64GB will work as you are installing windows and programs.

2. Buy a Caddy for your Existing hardrive , and install in place of DVD drive, If you found this difficult you can done this by some local laptop repair shop by paying some bucks

3. Buy external casing for DVD drive so that can install programs from DVD and can also use DVD drive.