Computers have become a very dense part of our daily life. We use them at home, at work, on vacation and even on the road. Often, very little time is allotted to complete the task, and the computer behaves extremely sluggishly. Slow PC performance is usually hard drive related. To remedy the situation, it is necessary to replace the HDD with an SSD.
Learn more about the internal device of the SSD
An SSD or Solid state drive is a hard disk in which NAND chips act as a storage medium, and not magnetized plates, as in conventional HDDs (Hard Disk Drive). That is, it does not have any reading heads, spindle, etc. There are absolutely no mechanical components.
An SSD is made up of several parts that are assembled and foldable together. The first and most important part is the controller. It controls the operation of the drive and is a kind of "heart" of the device. The second part is a set of NAND flash-memory, where all the recorded information is stored.
Since the controller controls absolutely all the processes of reading and writing on an SSD disk, the performance of the device directly depends on this detail. Modern SSDs use controllers with 4 to 10 channels for parallel connection of memory chips. The more such channels there are, the higher the data recording speed will be.
The SSD also has its own cache memory. However, it is not used to increase the read speed, as is done in the HDD, but as a temporary data storage. Today there are SSDs with 128, 256 and 512 MB of cache on board. What memory will be used specifically for an SSD depends on its size. The larger the volume, the larger the cache, but the price will then be much higher.
What will replace HDD with SSD
If you replace today's outdated HDD with a newer and more modern SSD, the laptop user will experience a significant reduction in Windows boot time. The speed gain will be somewhere around 60% in relation to a conventional hard drive. All programs and applications will start working much faster. For example, Windows 7 fully boots on a laptop with an SSD in about 15 seconds after being turned on.
The laptop will last much longer on battery life if it has an SSD instead of an HDD. In addition, a solid-state drive (SSD), due to the lack of a mechanical component, is able to withstand much more mechanical stress.
Replacing HDD with SSD
Since all modern SSDs are made in the 2.5-inch form factor, it will not be difficult to replace a standard laptop HDD, because it has the same dimensions. First of all, turn off the laptop and remove the battery from it. This will completely de-energize the device.
Now take a close look at where the HDD is located. On all laptops, its location is usually indicated by a special icon. Once located, unscrew the screws and remove the cover. Usually, the HDD is additionally located in a special cage and is attached to it with screws, they should also be unscrewed.
Remove the HDD from a special cage, replace it with an SSD and repeat the entire procedure in reverse order. Replace all screws, replace all covers. Try to remember carefully which screws are from, so that there is no confusion. Replace the battery and charger. Be sure to install the new Windows on the SSD, no need to transfer, clone or copy the old system from the HDD. Since the old operating system was installed on the HDD, services are also launched there to work with this particular device. On an SSD, these services will not only speed things up, but they can also cause the drive to wear out faster.
Now that the laptop is assembled, turn it on and press F2 several times to get into the BIOS. You need to make special settings for the SSD. Find the Advansed / Sata Configuration section. Set the AHCI operating mode. In the Boot Priorities section, set the first bootable USB disk or CD / DVD drive, depending on what you are going to install Windows from. Save the settings by pressing F10, restart the laptop and proceed with the further installation of the system. Do not forget to specify the new SSD when choosing a system drive.
