Hi all! It's the end of 2018 and there's no better way to speed up your laptop than to replace an old and slow HDD with an SSD (solid state drive). Why else might you need to install an SSD in a laptop? - It's just ... a laptop mobile device, and classic HDDs are mechanical and terribly afraid of shaking, and I was always surprised by laptop users who dragged laptops around the office or around the house. SSD has no moving parts and if you drop the device you will most likely break the display, break the connector... but the SSD will most likely survive, and the HDD, in turn, will have to be replaced with a 99% probability (if it was dropped on)!
Why isn't SSD installed everywhere? — The main problem is the price. Classic hard drives are still in the lead due to their relative cheapness, but the available performance is sorely lacking. Storing movies or rarely used data on an SSD is completely irrational. I remember at the very beginning of my acquaintance with computers I allocated space on the drive for the system (Disk C) and for games and other files (Disk D).
Now the situation is repeating itself, only for the system I use a high-speed SSD drive, and for storing large amounts of information, classic mechanical HDD drives. Recently, consumer solid-state drives are becoming more affordable and a 120 gigabyte disk (in my opinion, optimally for a system) can be bought within 2,000 rubles, even taking into account the space dollar exchange rate.
Now it is worth talking about some of the nuances. Now I can’t say for sure, but since 2005, almost all laptops have had a SATA interface for connecting hard disk - they are easiest to replace with an SSD (just open and change them). Hard drives for laptops (form factor 2.5) had two standard thicknesses (9.5 and 7 mm), so try to choose a 7mm SSD drive (I have not seen others, but just in case)- after all, 7mm will definitely fit in instead of 9mm ... but on the contrary, nothing will come of it!
Currently, the M.2 connector is gaining popularity (including on classic computers) - they can also work using the SATA or NVME protocol. Visually, they can hardly differ - so you should read the documentation for your laptop to find out what type of SSD it supports (and it happens that you can plug both an NVME and a SATA drive into one connector ... of course, not at the same time)
So…to summarize! We found out that SSDs come in several form factors:
- SATA 2.5 SSD
- M.2 SSD (SATA or NVME)
We take the right SSD and get ready for the replacement!
Installing an SSD in a laptop instead of an old HDD
What will be needed? A bright head, the SSD itself and a screwdriver (usually a small Phillips one) ... and it will not be superfluous to prepare external HDD to copy data
Before proceeding with the analysis of the laptop, I strongly recommend that you look on Youtube and look for your laptop model to see how you have to get to the installed HDD. For some laptops, this is done elementarily, and in some models, you may have to sort out half of the device to get to the drive.
We simply replace the HDD with the purchased SSD and we can reinstall the system (or transfer the existing one to a new drive ... but I recommend doing a clean install!)
What to do with the old HDD
If you have forgotten when you used the DVD drive, then the best option for you is to install the old HDD in the optical drive bay. The cost of this thing (called optibay) is about 200 rubles on Aliexpress (if you don’t know how to order there, read the note about the online store) ... however, there are some nuances here, just like with the HDD. Notebooks use standard drives and slim (thin) - hence the optibay must be a certain size ... there are thicknesses of 9.5 and 12.7 mm - make no mistake when buying!
Why exactly HDD in optibay and not SSD? is a logical question! The first thing that comes to mind is performance ... for the sake of which we take an SSD, everything can be leveled by low throughput drive in such an adapter. Well, not every laptop will be able to start correctly with an SSD in the DVD bay.
Will it spoil the look of the laptop?- on the appearance device is absolutely not affected! All drives in laptops are standard, so the external socket is removed from the old DVD and transferred to Optibay - you will even have a button to open the drive ... only there will be no sense from it anymore!
And lastly, you can make an external one from your old HDD HDD and use it like a huge flash drive. There are still people who need a DVD drive and in no case should it be occupied. Such a stray costs about 500 rubles and does not require any special skills - you put it in and it works!
As you can see, you will always find a place to attach an old HDD - there are no problems with this ...
What to do with the operating system?
Ideally, of course, to rearrange a clean OS from scratch - the benefit is that it takes quite a bit of time. However, there are utilities for migrating to SSD without data loss - but this topic is quite extensive and draws on a whole series of notes, so I see no reason to voice it here.
If there is room for M.2
If your laptop is equipped with an m.2 connector, then you are lucky - just buy a drive of the right volume and size (usually 2280 - where the first two digits are the width, and the second two are the length). Well, the subsequent reinstallation of the system or cloning from your old HDD. The undoubted plus is that the old HDD will remain in the laptop and no additional devices no need to buy (and DVD drive should not be removed from the system).
conclusions
What do we have? - Installing an SSD in a laptop will give the most noticeable performance boost in everyday tasks like surfing the internet and working with files. It does not make sense to replace an old HDD if you want to increase the gaming performance of your system - an SSD will only help speed up loading, which in general will have a minimal effect on the number of FPS in games ...
SSD drive– a non-volatile secure solid-state device for persistent data storage, built on the basis of flash modules. It consists of a memory controller, DRAM volatile memory chips and NAND-flash non-volatile memory chips.
Positive and negative sides
The advantages of using solid-state storage media are undeniable: here are improved performance indicators, increased shock resistance, vibration resistance, and low power consumption. Such devices do not contain moving mechanical parts, so they do not heat up, are not afraid of bumps and even falls. They are suitable for use in harsh environments, in which the HDD would simply not be able to work.But today, massive use of SSD interfere high price and relatively small storage capacity. The capacity of HDD drives has already reached more than a terabyte, and such volumes are still unimaginable for solid state drives. Another significant disadvantage is limited quantity overwriting(no more than 10,000 times). Winchesters are successfully overwritten up to 1,000,000 times.
What to look for when choosing an SSD?
Capacity. Operating system with installed applications already occupies about 35 GB. On a budget, a 64 GB drive may be enough if available. external hard disk, resource-intensive programs such as video and photo editing are not installed.Interface. In modern laptops, the SATA interface is usually used to connect the optical drive and hard drives. SATA bandwidth is 150 MB/s, SATA II 300 MB/s, SATA III 600 MB/s. In a laptop, the read speed of an average HDD is about 70 MB / s, and an SSD is 500 MB / s. Therefore, a solid-state drive bundled with SATA gives a speed increase of only two times, and with SATA III it is seven times faster. In this way, maximum speed data exchange will be limited by the type of SATA interface. Does it make sense to install an expensive SSD and be limited to the old interface?
Form Factor. As a rule, HDDs with a width of 2.5 inches are installed in laptops, less often 1.8. For tablets and ultrabooks, specially designed thin drives have been created, for example, Plextor's M5M with a thickness of 3.6 mm.
Installation
The drive can be installed in a laptop in three ways:1. In a separate compartment. There are laptops that provide space for installing multiple hard drives. This is the simplest and best option: the SSD drive, on which the operating system and programs are installed, provides a quick start and quiet operation, and the HDD drive is used exclusively for data storage.
2. Instead of a standard hard drive. The high cost does not allow you to install large-capacity solid-state drives. Here, the laptop owner needs to decide what is more important for him - to save a large amount of data storage or to get more speed.
3. Instead of an optical drive. Many users, to save extra volume disk space, install instead of a standard hard drive SSD drive, and a hard drive in place of the largely unused CD/DVD-RW optical drive. It is worth noting that this option is valid for installing a solid-state drive with a SATA interface. Otherwise, a low-speed port will negate all the advantages of an SSD. Also, in the optical drive bay, things are worse with cooling. This fact is not significant for SSD, but it can be critical for HDD.
For installing a hard drive or SSD in a bay DVD drive special OptiBay adapter. The thickness of the OptiBay container for the MacBook is 9.4 mm, for the rest - 12.5 mm. Today, metal and plastic containers are produced. Metal models have more weight, but are resistant to vibrations and are recommended for HDD drives. As for OptiBay, you can pay attention to the products of Espada, which are universal products suitable for most laptops.
After installing the solid state drive, you need to reconfigure the parameters of the built-in SATA controller in the BIOS - select AHCI mode. The fact is that the SSD controller will be able to receive a command TRIM only in this mode. TRIM is natively supported in Microsoft Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7, MacOS and Linux. For the rest, you will have to use third-party utilities.
Where to put CD / DVD-RW?
The removed optical drive using a special container can be easily turn into external drive . Whereas conventional external containers are designed to accommodate only a DVD drive or hard drive, multifunctional external containers provide additional features. They allow you to install optical disc and another HDD drive, have several USB ports and a built-in card reader.Who to entrust the installation
Unlike personal computers, upgrading laptops is a more complex process. This is due to the fact that the component parts are placed in the housing more tightly and compactly, which makes the upgrade process difficult. Some laptop models require complete disassembly just to remove the hard drive. Easier and safer install the SSD drive in an authorized service center . The cost of work is 500 - 1000 rubles. When you may need to replace a hard drive and how to do it yourself. Replacing hdd hard drive with ssd solid state drive.120 r. RUB
Even the strongest thing can break at any moment. This is true for the hard drive as well. The hard drive may fail, or it may not suit the memory capacity.
The cost of the service is 120 R.
A task worth entrusting to professionals! We will fulfill it with a guarantee and in the shortest possible time!
Regardless of why you decide to replace the hard drive, you need to understand that replacing a hard drive is not the same as installing other PC parts - everything is much more complicated here. The hard drive contains the operating system, many important files and programs.
And if personal data can be easily transferred from one hard drive to another, then everything is more complicated with the OS and service files.
Therefore, before replacing the hard drive, you need to Windows tools postpone important information from the old device to the new one. This is done through the "Backup and Restore" section in the Control Panel. You need the item "Create a system image". 
You select the disk where you save the image and archive it, and when you install a new disk, you restore the system. 
How to replace a hard drive
Before you change the hard drive, of course, you need to buy a new one. You need to check that the interface of the new disk is suitable for your computer. It's best to change old disk to a new one with the same controller interface, size and power connector. 
If you cannot choose a drive that is similar to the previous one, you need to carefully compare the characteristics and choose a device that will fit in all respects in place of the old drive.
The hard drive can be with SATA or PATA controller interface. SATA comes in three flavors, so you need to determine which interface is right for you. In addition, a hard drive can be of different physical sizes. 
Before replacing the hard drive, you need to ground yourself so as not to damage computer components. This problem is solved with the help of an antistatic bracelet, or you need to constantly touch the PC case. 
Next, the replacement of the hard drive is carried out as follows:
- Unscrewing the computer case
- The hard drive is disconnected from all cables
- The disk itself is in the case - you need to unscrew the fasteners and remove the old disk from the case.
- We put a new one in place of the old disk, fix it with bolts and connect all the cables back.
An SSD is a solid state drive. This component has more high speed performance than HDD, but the price is much higher and the capacity is lower.
If HDDs can now have a capacity of up to a terabyte, SSDs will not be able to reach such figures anytime soon. In addition, an SSD drive can be rewritten no more than 10,000 times, while for HDD this figure is 1,000,000 times.
There are many ways to install an SSD drive in a PC:
As you can see, there are many nuances that need to be considered before replacing the HDD. Much depends on the model of the drive that you decide to install instead of the old drive. In addition, you have to carefully choose the size of the disk and the place under it, so that there are no problems in the future.
SSD drives are solid state devices designed for permanent storage of data. They are resistant to harsh operating conditions, many times faster and designed to improve the quality of work at the computer, compared to hard drives.
Choosing an SSD for an Asus laptop
When choosing a solid state SSD drive, you need to pay attention to its capacity. It should be noted that the OS takes up about 35 GB of disk memory, so it is recommended to purchase devices with a capacity of 64 GB or more.
The SATA interface is used to connect the SSD. There are three types of interface that differ from each other in bandwidth (150 MB/s, 300 MB/s and 600 MB/s, respectively). The speed of an SSD drive directly depends on the type of interface.
The physical size of the installed HDD in a laptop is usually 2.5"", therefore, the purchased SSD drive must be of the same size.
Ways to install an SSD drive in an Asus laptop
Some models have bays for installing multiple hard drives. In this case, installing an SSD solid-state drive will be the best option for installing an operating system on it. If the laptop has a single bay, then the solid-state SSD can be replaced with the HDD installed by the manufacturer. Replacing the hard drive with a solid state greatly improves the stability and performance of the device.
Instructions for replacing HDD with SSD on Asus laptop
Please note that the sequence of operations and the drive installation option may differ depending on the device model.
1. Purchase an SSD drive with the same physical size as the previously installed HDD.
2. Duplicate all the important information stored on the laptop to an external drive.
3. Before replacing the HDD with an SSD, disconnect the laptop from the mains and remove the battery.
4. Lay the laptop on the table with the monitor facing down. Locate the HDD bay cover on the bottom of the case. As a rule, it is marked "HDD" or similar symbols.
5. Loosen the screws, remembering their location, and remove the compartment cover.
7. Then unscrew the screws on the bay that secure the drive directly.
8. Carefully remove the hard drive.
9. Install the SSD in the bay in the same position as the old device.
10. Screw the drive to the bay and install the assembled assembly into the laptop in its original place.
11. Check that all slots on the device are in place. Gently press the SSD bay onto the side slots and secure with screws.
12. Install the drive bay cover.
In conclusion, it is necessary to check the performance of the device. To do this, you can connect mobile version OS on a flash drive. If the SSD drive is working correctly, the OS should start within 5-10 minutes. After successfully verifying the health of the device, you can install or
Hello admin. I read your article about replacing on a laptop hard drive to an SSD and want to ask you.
I have an ASUS K50C laptop and before it is slow (Celeron 220 1200 MHz processor and 2 GB DDR2 800 MHz memory), which is just tin. What do you think, in my case, replacing the HDD with an SSD will make the laptop faster? I increased the 2 GB RAM to 4 GB and nothing has changed, the brakes have not disappeared. I don't play games, I work in office applications and use the internet.
I would like from you not just words that yes, everything will work faster, but also the results of some tests. And another question, if after the replacement I install the HDD left from the laptop instead of the drive (using the SlimDVD adapter) , then whether it will be determined in the BIOS and whether it is possible to install operating system?
Hi all! I read this letter while at work and thought where to get a similar model, we haven’t been selling it for a long time, and it’s not being dismantled, and then the idea crept into my head to disassemble my partner’s work laptop, just ASUS K50C, because it I disassembled my new laptop ten times and experimented with something, so we will analyze its device today for the sake of a scientific experiment, I think he will not mind
The ASUS K50C laptop reviewed today is budget model and was created not for games, but for everyday work in office applications and the Internet.
How will it behave on a normal budget laptop, is there any point in such a replacement? Whether our laptop will become faster after installing an SSD in it, we will find out about this at the end of the article!
Before replacing the HDD with an SSD, let's test the hard drive of the well-known CrystalDiskMark program, this small utility will measure the speed of reading and writing data to the hard drive. After installing an SSD solid state drive on a laptop, we will also conduct tests and compare them with those obtained earlier from a simple HDD.
Official website of the CrystalDiskMark program
http://crystalmark.info/download/index-e.html
CrystalDiskMark is downloaded in the archive, unzip it into a folder and run executable.
CrystalDiskMark writes and reads information on the hard disk in blocks (1024Kb, 512Kb, 4Kb);
Select drive C:, click on the button All and happens:
Seq: Sequential write/read test (block size= 1024Kb);
512K: Random write/read test (block size = 512Kb);
4K : Random write/read test (block size = 4Kb);
Friends, let's remember the test results, but I especially advise you to remember the one hushed up by all manufacturers hard drives- random write speed in blocks of 4 kb (later we will compare it with SSD). In actual operation, the hard disk, for the most part, writes data in small blocks and inin our case, the write speed is awfully low 0.385 (this is typical for most conventional HDDs).
Disassembling the ASUS K50C laptop
Disassembling the ASUS K50C is very easy.
We turn off the laptop and disconnect it from the mains, turn it over. Remove the battery cover.
Carefully press the two latches and remove the battery (this must be done).
We unscrew the first screw securing the cover.
We unscrew the four screws located on the back of the laptop in two; left and right
We do not remove the back cover of the laptop, but shift it.
We unscrew the screw securing the drive and remove it. We also unscrew the four screws securing the hard drive and carefully pull the silicone tab to the right, remove the hard drive.
Unscrew the four screws and remove the "sled" from the HDD.
laptop HDD and SSD have the same 2.5-inch form factor, which means that the sled can be installed on the SSD without any problems.
Where to put the laptop hard drive?
Option two.
For a laptop HDD, you can buy a nice one and use it as a portable USB hard drive.
In short, there are many options, choose any.
In this article I propose install laptop HDD in adapter Slim DVD instead of a disk drive the installation process itself is described in detail in the article, the link to which I gave a little higher, here I will only note that you need to fix the HDD in the adapter SlimDVD as expected
then transfer a special mount to it from the drive
We install a solid-state drive and an adapter from the HDD into the laptop.
Everything is fixed with screws.
We put in place and fasten the laptop cover with five screws. We put the battery and close it with a lid.
We turn on the laptop and go to the BIOS in the Boot tab, here we need an option Hard disk drives (defining the primacy of hard drives).
searching results
We enter it and see that both of our drives are defined: a regular Seagate HDD connected via a SlimDVD adapter and a solid state drive SSD Kingston, we can make any of them a priority for loading a laptop and we can install an operating system on any of them. Usually, an operating system is installed on the SSD, and a regular HDD is used to store files.
Install the operating system on the Kingston SSD Windows system 7 and run the drive test in CrystalDiskMark.
Result
Test of sequential writing / reading information in blocks 1024- 512Kb on SSD is twice as fast as on HDD, and 4Kb blocks by 20-30 times.
AT in real conditions of hard disk operation, writing / reading small blocks will occur much more often than large ones, so the solid state drive will work faster than a regular HDD.
Conclusion:
Friends, I do not urge anyone to urgently change the laptop hard drive to a solid state drive, and the article is given to you first of all for your information.
If you computer enthusiast, I will advise you this; install an SSD drive on the laptop and install Windows 7, 8.1 on it, work like this for several days, and then return the regular HDD back to the laptop and you will immediately feel the difference in speed.