Laptop Needs Bigger Hard Drive

[SWharton]

I need to put in a larger hard drive in my laptop. I understand this can be a challenge since I am now running on Windows 10. Can I do this myself or should I buy the hard drive and take it to the computer store for installation. If I take it to a store anyone have any feel as to $$?

[wildmandmc]

You can download an then burn an iso file on your laptop,get a usb data storage,, then send what you want on it to it.(pictures/documents) take out old one , install new one. then put iso disk in re install windows,

go to microsoft web site, to get the iso. you will need key's (sticker on other side of laptop to put into website, then MS will allow you to d/l the iso

[wildmandmc]

some computer shops may charge you about 75 bucks to do this.

[wildmandmc]

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO

 

above is link to download iso for win 10

[jpatrickc]

Are you looking to copy everything from the old drive and have a working new drive with all your files and programs or do you want to load a clean copy of windows on the new drive?

If you want to move everything to the new drive you should be able to use a program like REDO to create an image to a USB attached storage device and then restore the image to the new drive. I have not tried REDO on windows 10 yet but it should work. There are other drive image programs out there like Clonezilla but I find REDO is much easier to use. I have made hundreds of inages and never had a problem.

[SWharton]

I would like to copy everything from the current HD to a new HD. From the ittle I read there is a seial number or something that is on the HD for W10 and it is not easily available to the user. I will read about Redo and the others and see what they say about W10. I know this is a simple change, W10 just throws a little curve.

[Pieere]

I used a program called KeyFinder to get the 25 digit Product Key #'s.

[RV_]

OK you want to clone the old drive to the new drive and pop the old one out and the new one in working perfectly right? Easy peasy! Just be a bit patient and get the Apricorn Drive wire kit and wait until it comes in. The link is below.

 

Couple of questions first. What size is the current drive and did you already buy the new drive? If so what size? If not do you want to go with an SSD or HD? SSD like putting a turbo on your laptop.

 

The easiest way is to buy the kit from here: http://www.amazon.com/Apricorn-Notebook-Upgrade-Connection-ASW-USB3-25/dp/B005C983NA That Apricorn SATA Wire Notebook Hard Drive Upgrade Kit is all you need for $23.60 to clone your current drive while it is still installed, to your new drive connected by that drivewire to your USB port on the laptop and the other end to the new bare drive. Follow directions in the DriveWire kit as it comes with the software. They also have good phone support. Using this you do not have to remove the drive, then after cloning is complete, you remove the old drive from your laptop and install the cloned oned and boot. It will do some adjusing and then say you must restart it again and then it will boot just like the old drive was in it. All your programs are transferred as well as your data and Windows 10 system. IT only takes a few hours with USB 2.0 and about an hour or two with USB 3.0 high speed if that is on your laptop.

 

Now if you look under it there is a bundle with a Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD and a mounting kit for a desktop. All you need is the Apricorn Drive Wire, and the disk cloning software that comes with it and that SSD and you are ready upgrade in both size and speed. That is if 500GB is big enough for you. If you need 1 TB then a HD will be more affordable however the prices on SSDs are coming down weekly. BY the time you receive the drive wire, there may be a sale on. But if 500GB is good enough I would buy it and the drive wire together and you do not need the Sabrent 2.5 inch yo 3.5" disk mounting kit as that is only for a desktop. Your laptop already has a 2.5" HD in it and he 2.5" SSD will fit right in.

 

That Apricorn system is what I use. And after you buy it you can use their online version instead of upgrading to future versions, and all for free once you buy the drive wire.

 

That's easiest, and cheapest. Also you will then have your old drive as a spare, or to do backups on using your old drive and the drive wire.

 

EDIT:

Here is the actual website for the software and drive wire. Disregard that they have not upgraded that page to say it supports Windows 10 it does. And they still provide free phone support for the newbies. Here is that page which also has the toll free number for any questions. I have used their drive wire and software for about ten years or so. https://www.apricorn.com/products/software/ezgig.html

[docj]

I would like to copy everything from the current HD to a new HD. From the ittle I read there is a seial number or something that is on the HD for W10 and it is not easily available to the user. I will read about Redo and the others and see what they say about W10. I know this is a simple change, W10 just throws a little curve.

 

You don't need to worry; the product key is embedded in the computer's UEFI firmware if it had had Windows 8, 8.1 or 10 originally installed. Changing out the drive doesn't affect it. I recently had to replace the HDD on a computer which had originally had Windows 8; I inserted the new drive and proceeded to load a clean copy of Windows 10 without any problems

[chirakawa]

RV, thanks for the link to that hardware and the information.

 

How do I identify which of my four usb ports are 2.0 and which are 3.0?

[RV_]

The USB 3 ports will either be blue in color inside, and/or have an ss for super speed printed next to them. Go to this link of pics of USB3 logos, scroll down and you will see pics of it on laptops and other devices so you can be sure: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=usb+3.0+logo&qpvt=USB+3.0+logo&qpvt=USB+3.0+logo&qpvt=USB+3.0+logo&FORM=IGRE

 

The ones without the SS label , and/or gray colored ones, are your 2.0 ports.

[SWharton]

OK you want to clone the old drive to the new drive and pop the old one out and the new one in working perfectly right? Easy peasy! Just be a bit patient and get the Apricorn Drive wire kit and wait until it comes in. The link is below.

 

Couple of questions first. What size is the current drive and did you already buy the new drive? If so what size? If not do you want to go with an SSD or HD? SSD like putting a turbo on your laptop.

 

Current drive is 500G. I have not bought a new drive yet, just scoping out what I need. Plan to get 1-2tb drive. HD. I have looked at SSD on new computers but they never came very large. I am into photography and love to collect random information, all on my hard drives(mostly EHD). My laptop HD is getting filled up with my collected info and some large databases for the info. I could move everything to the EHD but it would be inconvenient. Pictures on the EHD are OK but that is about it. I never understood getting a new computer with only a 250G SSD drive. Seems like a step backward. I am not in need of a speedy PC, so it is not a critical feature.

 

The easiest way is to buy the kit from here: http://www.amazon.com/Apricorn-Notebook-Upgrade-Connection-ASW-USB3-25/dp/B005C983NA That Apricorn SATA Wire Notebook Hard Drive Upgrade Kit is all you need for $23.60 to clone your current drive while it is still installed, to your new drive connected by that drivewire to your USB port on the laptop and the other end to the new bare drive. Follow directions in the DriveWire kit as it comes with the software. They also have good phone support. Using this you do not have to remove the drive, then after cloning is complete, you remove the old drive from your laptop and install the cloned oned and boot. It will do some adjusing and then say you must restart it again and then it will boot just like the old drive was in it. All your programs are transferred as well as your data and Windows 10 system. IT only takes a few hours with USB 2.0 and about an hour or two with USB 3.0 high speed if that is on your laptop.

 

Now if you look under it there is a bundle with a Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD and a mounting kit for a desktop. All you need is the Apricorn Drive Wire, and the disk cloning software that comes with it and that SSD and you are ready upgrade in both size and speed. That is if 500GB is big enough for you. If you need 1 TB then a HD will be more affordable however the prices on SSDs are coming down weekly. BY the time you receive the drive wire, there may be a sale on. But if 500GB is good enough I would buy it and the drive wire together and you do not need the Sabrent 2.5 inch yo 3.5" disk mounting kit as that is only for a desktop. Your laptop already has a 2.5" HD in it and he 2.5" SSD will fit right in.

 

That Apricorn system is what I use. And after you buy it you can use their online version instead of upgrading to future versions, and all for free once you buy the drive wire.

 

That's easiest, and cheapest. Also you will then have your old drive as a spare, or to do backups on using your old drive and the drive wire.

 

EDIT:

Here is the actual website for the software and drive wire. Disregard that they have not upgraded that page to say it supports Windows 10 it does. And they still provide free phone support for the newbies. Here is that page which also has the toll free number for any questions. I have used their drive wire and software for about ten years or so. https://www.apricorn.com/products/software/ezgig.html

 

I will continue with my reading bu this system sure sounds easy.

 

I had no idea how to do this but this thread has helped immensely. My biggest concern was not having a serial number for my Windows 10(upgrade from W7).

 

Thanks everyone.

[RV_]

Serial number is a non issue with clones and System images. It adjusts to the new drive as a primary on first boot, that is built into Windows. Now if you were to try to load a bootleg copy of 10 from scratch, depending on your hardware that may or may not work. Seagate is really discounting their hybrid 32GB SSD 1TB drives like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178869 I had the older 8GB version and it cost me more than that does today with 32 GB of flash built in. What you do is identify the flash part and right click on properties and make the whole 32GB a dedicated readyboost partition and it does even better than just stock.

 

Trust me on the Apricorn drive wire. But if you have an external dock that can do 2.5" drives then you can get by with Macrium reflect for cloning very easily and it is free if you already have a drive wire or drive docking station. http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx I used Macrium easily too. for just cloning it is free.

[SWharton]

Wow, that is a good price. I will go with the SSD if I can get a good price when I am ready to do this. I need to finish a couple of things up(like income tax) before I go ahead. I had checked out larger SSD drives and they wee in the $250-$300 range.

 

Thanks to all for I am now prepared to go ahead and do the switch.

[RV_]

That is a 2.5" hybrid drive not an SSD it has a 32GB SSD cache and total storage for it and the Hard drive part is 1 TB. It speeds up some of the functions over a plain hard drive, but is still a slower than full SSD and a bit faster than a plain HD only.

 

It isn't a HD, it isn't an SSD, it is an SSHD. (Hybrid)

[SWharton]

Got it, kind of halfway product. Do I control what goes on the SSD portion or does the system do its own thing?

[chirakawa]

The USB 3 ports will either be blue in color inside, and/or have an ss for super speed printed next to them. Go to this link of pics of USB3 logos, scroll down and you will see pics of it on laptops and other devices so you can be sure: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=usb+3.0+logo&qpvt=USB+3.0+logo&qpvt=USB+3.0+logo&qpvt=USB+3.0+logo&FORM=IGRE

 

The ones without the SS label , and/or gray colored ones, are your 2.0 ports.

 

Thanks.

[RV_]

No problem bud!

 

 

Safe computing!