Every day more and more users are thinking about the question: how is the HDD in a laptop replaced with an SSD? This topic is especially relevant now: the hard drive, as in a mobile computer, is becoming obsolete.

To change or not to change? That is the question

For many years there has been a debate whether the hard drive will be supplanted by solid-state drives or not. Experienced users value SSDs for their speed and reliability. However, any medal has two sides, so it should be noted that the reactivity of the drive is very expensive.

The high cost of an SSD is mostly preventing it from entering widespread use. Many owners of PCs and laptops, whose activities require the best performance indicators, still disown the HDD.

Pros and cons of SSD and HDD

The fact is that a hard disk drive has a number of disadvantages in comparison with an SSD:

As a rule, it is because of them that many decide to replace, while one cannot but take into account the advantages of hard drives over solid-state drives:

• Volume. On this moment ordinary users are available from 320 GB to 10 TB. And the same SSDs in ordinary stores can be found at a maximum of 2TB. We are not talking about drives for industrial or server equipment, but only about those that can be bought at the nearest computer market.
• Price. It is much lower. If we compare the cost of a popular 2TB hard drive with an SSD of the same capacity, it turns out that a solid-state drive is 16 times more expensive than an HDD.
• With SSDs, it is almost impossible to recover deleted data due to the storage method. The most that can be done is to take the drive to the laboratory, where the necessary equipment will be.

Based on the foregoing, we can conclude if the speed and security of data is more important than their volume. Do you value low power consumption? Feel free to upgrade to an SSD.

What HDDs are used in a laptop?

At the moment, notebooks use 2.5-inch hard drives. This means that inside there are "pancakes" of exactly this diameter. Some MacBooks have 1.8 ″ hard drives, but this is a separate topic, and there will be no talk about them.

Each disk has a set of characteristics, such as:

• manufacturer;
• volume: the amount of data to be stored, usually in GB;
• buffer memory: fast memory or cash;
• rotation speed: the number of revolutions per minute made by the spindle;
• connection interface: the connector through which the disk is connected to the board.

The price of the HDD depends on the set of these characteristics and their quality. The most common version of the hard drive at the time of this writing has:

• connection interface - SATA III;
• volume - 2 TB;
• - 5400 rpm;
• buffer memory - 32 MB.

What SSD can be installed instead of a hard drive?

The main difference between a solid-state drive and an HDD is that data is recorded in a non-mechanical way. Simply put, information is recorded on microcircuits. This achieves high and low noise levels.

These drives come in 4 common form factors:

• PCI-E AIC (add-in-card);
• M.2 2280;
• mSATA;
• 2.5 in.

In the context of this article, which is devoted to the question of how the HDD in a laptop is replaced with an SSD, all attention will be paid to drives of the latest format, i.e. 2.5 inches. They have the same shape with HDD and SATA III connection interface. A similar view allows you to remove the drive and install an SSD in its place, screwing it to the same slide and closing it with the same cover.

MSata SSD

Some laptops also support mSata. They have a special III on the motherboard and two places for screws to secure the drive. Such SSDs can be used as standalone storage devices, and when paired with depends on the design of the laptop.

In many Lenovo models, this SSD acts as an additional storage medium (cache). There are laptops in which mSata is installed in a pair to the hard disk and is used as a system partition, that is, nothing is installed on it, except for the operating system. Thanks to this solution, OS loading is accelerated, and the amount of data storage remains quite large, since the information is written to disk.

2.5 ″ SSD

To successfully replace an HDD with an SSD, you need to choose the right drive. At the moment, we managed to decide that it should be 2.5 inches and be connected via SATA III. It is also worth paying attention to the thickness of the SSD, since for hard drives it ranges from 5 to 9.5 mm. If you buy an SSD that is too thick, the laptop drive cover may not snap shut.

Further it is already a matter of taste. For home use, a sufficient volume is considered to be 100-300 GB. According to Tom Hardware, the best SSD for users is recognized with its affordable price less than $ 100, it has excellent characteristics. If you are an inexperienced user, just look for something similar in description and you will not fail.

Replacing an HDD to an SSD in a laptop

The process of changing a hard drive to an SSD is the same as installing a new hard drive.

The first thing to do, if the old hardware works, is to copy the information from it to another medium. You need to transfer important data to the cloud, USB stick or removable disk.

You can buy a case for HDD 2.5, install the old hard one in it and use it in the future as a mobile storage medium.

Replacement process

First you need to remove the battery. If it is non-removable, turn off the computer, remove the cover, and slide the battery connector from the system board.

1. Unscrew the screws that hold the disc cover and remove it.
2. Remove the screws holding the hard drive sled.
3. Pull the slide from the connector to disconnect the HDD and remove it from the case.
4. Remove the screws securing the drive to the carrier and remove it.
5. Take the drive, install it in the slide in the same way as the hard drive was, and tighten the screws.
6. Lower the SSD with sleds into the chassis and slide them into the slot to connect the drive.
7. Screw the slide rail fasteners into the housing.
8. Close the cover and tighten the screws.
9. Connect the battery in the same way as disconnected, and close the cover if necessary.
10. Turn on the laptop and check the SSD performance.

The minimum check would be to go into BIOS or UEFI and see how the drive was identified. In most laptop models, this can be done by pressing the DEL or F2 key (in some Enter) immediately after turning on.

If the drive is working and installed correctly, its name and serial number will be indicated in the information section. Additionally, you can run tests using the utility and check the rest, for example, the write speed.

The first thing to do is copy the information. This is described above. The principle of operation for all computers in this regard is the same.

1. Disconnect the battery from the HP laptop. If the battery is removable, like this model, then you can do it simply:

• unlock the battery lock;
• pull on the second lock;
• remove the battery from the connector.

2. Use a Phillips screwdriver to remove the screws that hold the hard drive cover in the case. In most models, it is small, about ½ of the entire back surface. Remove the cover, you may have to use a little force, as it can be secured to additional latches from the inside.

3. Remove the screws that hold the hard drive carrier. There can be 2 or 4. Slide the hard from the connector to disconnect it.

4. Pry the mount and remove the screws. If the hard drive is disconnected from the connector, this will be easy.

5. Unscrew the screws that hold the HDD in the carrier. Usually they are located from one end and the other, 2 pieces each.

6. Place the SSD in the carrier instead of the hard drive and tighten the screws on both sides.

7. Install the drive bracket along with the drive into the case and slide it into the slot. Screw the screws back on the slide.

8. Close the housing cover, install the screws in the same order you removed them.

9. Connect the battery, that is, install it until it clicks. Slide the battery lock back into position.

10. Turn on the laptop and check that the SSD is detected in the system, you can perform additional testing.

Thus, the HDD in the laptop is replaced with an SSD. In the vast majority of models, this work is done in the same way. The differences usually lie in the way the battery is disassembled and disconnected.

In this section, we will consider the options for upgrading a hard drive to an SSD-drive in Acer notebooks. For clarity, an example will be given a model in which the battery is built-in, and an almost complete analysis is required.

First of all, we still copy important data. The amount of information here was small, so the transfer was made to a USB flash drive. Turn off the laptop and proceed with the replacement.

1. It is necessary to remove back cover housing. To do this, remove all the screws from the back.

2. Remove the back part by gently prying it around the perimeter. If the cover does not come off on either side, stop and check if all the screws are removed.

3. Disconnect the battery. To do this, remove the cable from the connector by gently pulling it towards you. Do not cut off the plug, otherwise you will have to completely change the battery.

4. In this model, the hard drive is not fixed in a slide, but simply inserted into the connector on the board between the case mounts. In order to replace the HDD with an SSD in a laptop, it is enough to remove the old disk by pulling from the connector. Then put the drive in its place.

5. Reconnect the battery. Make sure the connector is flat and not damaged.

6. Replace the housing cover and tighten all screws. Make sure the back does not pinch the wires.

7. Turn on the laptop, check the operation of the solid-state drive in any way. If the computer does not respond to the power button, you will have to disassemble it again to check the battery.

In this way, the HDD in a laptop is replaced with an SSD for some models of the manufacturer Acer. You can rely on this instruction if you have to update other computers with a built-in battery.

Replacing HDD to SSD in Lenovo laptop

You won't be able to find a big difference from the previous two options here. It can be noted that replacing the disk with an SSD-drive in this variant combined the two previous ones. In this model Lenovo removable battery, but the HDD mount is located under the back of the case. There is no separate cover here.

Following the main principle, you need to transfer the necessary data to another location or prepare an HDD case in order to mount your old disk into it. This time we will not copy anything, we will insert the hard drive into Case and start using it as a portable "flash drive".

1. First you need to disconnect the battery. The battery of this model is removable, so you need to remove the retainer and take out the battery.

2. Unscrew all the screws at the bottom one by one. Be sure to check if your model has additional screws on the side.

3. Carefully remove the cover by snapping off each fastener one by one. If the case does not give way, check if all the screws have been removed.

4. Remove the screw that holds the hard drive carrier. In this example, there is only one. Lift up the HDD bracket and remove it from the laptop.

5. Use a screwdriver to remove the screws holding the slide on the hard side. In this model, the mounts have a shielded foil that protects the disk controller from shorting into the chassis.

6. Install the new SSD into the HDD bracket and replace it with the screw.

7. Close the laptop with the bottom of the case, gently snapping all the fasteners into place. Tighten the screws in the same order and connect the battery.

8. Turn on the laptop and test the drive in "BIOS" or some utility, for example, Victoria.

There are endless ways to change HDD to SSD in a laptop. The fact is that each model has its own disassembly principle. Therefore, if you are not qualified enough and do not have experience in this matter, it is recommended to turn to professionals.

Replacing the hard drive with a solid state drive will increase the performance of your laptop by an order of magnitude. However, be sure to take into account the parameters of the processor and the volume random access memory... If you have a very weak CPU and no more than 2 GB of RAM, then the system will slow down in any case, even with an SSD.

Evaluate your computer adequately, make only the necessary changes to it, and it will serve faithfully until you buy a new one.

Cache speeds up launch systems and programs to a level comparable to a conventional SSD, since the data is read from the solid state drive. But work The operating system and programs do not speed up the cache, as well as copying large files. However, for many programs after launch, the speed of the disk does not really matter.

Such a system allows to partially achieve a compromise between the speed of the SSD and the capacity of the HDD. Depending on the laptop model, the caching SSD is built into HDD(resulting in a hybrid disk, SSHD) or connected via the mSATA interface.

Does it make sense to install the system on this SSD

I think this is a bad idea. Sure, you can break software RAID and cram Windows onto a small SSD, but there are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Low storage performance

Yes, it will be higher than that of a hard drive, but it will not reach a "normal" SSD. For example, the Intel SSD 313 is equipped with hardy SLC memory (you won't find it in traditional drives anymore), but is limited in speed by the SATA II interface. And even if the drive supports SATA III, the controller and firmware are unlikely to be optimized to work as a system drive.

In addition, you should not expect performance miracles from it for the following reason.

2. Critical lack of disk space

To begin with, you immediately commit all 6 mistakes of people with a small system partition, and this already says a lot. It is for this reason that Pavel quickly came to the conclusion that a 32GB system partition would not be enough for long-term operation.

But let's say you screwed up and disabled / moved everything you can to the hard drive. It is not clear what you won in this case, but meanwhile, your SSD is still very full, i.e. you cannot leave the recommended 10-20% of the space unoccupied.

On eBay and in Chinese stores it costs mere pennies - look for inquiries HDD Drive Caddy, SATA HDD Caddy etc.

When choosing an adapter, consider its height (9.5 or 12.7 mm), since the dimensions of the optical drive differ depending on the thickness of the laptop.

In addition, the adapter may not be the correct depth. So, for me it is a little shorter and, as a result, is recessed into the body. But I'm not worried, because my laptop does not participate in beauty contests :)

3. Buy a good mSATA SSD

More recently available for sale mSATA SSD differed from their larger counterparts in performance for the worse, but now the situation has changed.

The big players have entered the market, and they have mSATA drives equipped with the same NAND, controller and firmware as the flagship models.

This is true, for example, for the Intel 520 and 525 pairs (on SandForce controllers), Plextor M5P and M5M (on Marvell). The cost of 1GB of disk space in mSATA drives is somewhat more expensive, but the availability in laptop hard the drive can be dispensed with with medium-capacity SSD models.

MSATA drives are much smaller in size than their older brothers, and the picture does not reflect the actual dimensions of 3x5 cm and the weight of 9 g.

If you have such a drive used for cache or have a free mSATA port, you will get a fast and sufficiently large SSD, as well as increase the total amount of disk space in the system. Preliminary make sure what's in your laptop:

1. The mSATA connector is connected to the SATA III interface of the motherboard... We once discussed this issue with Artem Pronichkin in relation to his Lenovo laptop W530. The chipset only supports two SATA III connections (they are used by the main drive and the optical drive), so the mSATA SSD has to be connected to SATA II.

   Of course, even in this case, you can use an mSATA SSD, and its speed will be higher than that of a hard drive. However, it still rests against the bandwidth of SATA II.

2. Supports booting the system from a disk connected via mSATA... Otherwise, you will need to put the boot manager on the HDD.

Information about the availability of mSATA ports and the chipset can be found in the laptop user manual (including the service manual), on the manufacturer's website or in Googleyandex. It is also useful to search the forums of the laptop manufacturer for possible obstacles or problems.

Still, is it possible to install Windows on this small SSD?

Do you want to personally step on a rake? The general requirements before installing the OS are as follows:

1. In UEFI / BIOS:

• switched on AHCI mode
• SSD is higher than HDD in the list of devices from which boot is performed (Boot Order)

SSD volume should be simple, not dynamic

Specific instructions vary by laptop model and caching technologies used.

Discussion and survey

1. Your laptop model
2. Have you considered the disk configuration before purchasing
3. What physical disks were installed in the laptop
4. Are you satisfied with the performance of the disk subsystem
5. What did you do to improve the performance of the disk configuration, and what results did it lead to?

Any other opinions on this topic are welcome!

You can mark you interesting snippets of text that will be available through a unique link in your browser.

about the author

I bought it, replaced the HDD with an SSD. Until it was completely cleaned before installing Windows 8.1, the small SSD was not used in any way, since it was not visible to the system. After cleaning, it works like a small hopper for all sorts of nonsense.

Alexey matashkin

Until recently, the main home PC was the desktop, but moved to the laptop. The choice fell on the Dell Inspiron 7720.
One of the important selection criteria was the configuration hard drives... The laptop has two baskets for HDD and a place for mSATA, albeit with nuances: mSATA is paralleled with the second HDD, so either one or the other.
It is for this reason that I took the configuration only with a 1Tb HDD and immediately bought a 256Gb SSD for it.
The system is installed on an SSD, the second disk is used to store large amounts of photos, videos and the like.
In this configuration, I did not do any additional actions, the performance is already more than enough for me.

Sergey

By the way, such an adapter with SATA and IDE interface is on sale in Yulmart. But the thickness must be specified separately.

Michael

1. Samsung NP300E7Z-S01.
2. No, I only looked at the volume of the HDD.
3.1 HDD 500GB, 5400RPM.
4. Absolutely NO, especially after seeing the speed of a PC with an SSD.
5. I bought an SSD, installed it instead of the HDD, and installed the HDD in the ODD bay using an adapter, and the plug from the drive perfectly matched the adapter.

The cache accelerates system and program startup up to levels comparable to a regular SSD, as data is read from the solid state drive.

A comma is asked after the "level".

Igor

everything is simpler and stupid for me
in the working beech there is otsz 3 on the sandforce, you can't stick anything else there. but to the laptop there is a docking station where the option with the replacement of the ODD through the adapter to the hard drive is just cranked and 640 GB from the VD sticks out. For a cold backup and not very important, there is 1 TB of hitachi (more precisely, hgst group) and a portable work box zalman ve-300 with 500 GB vd. It's on mobile.
there are servers on the atom, where I want a 60 GB ssd ssd and replace 1 TB laptop with 1.5. but there is absolutely no Windows so it does not fall into these statistics.

By the way, the same is done on the Intel atoms on the board - 1 satashnik either through a standard port, or msata. the second is just a satashnik. I understand now a lot of people began to do this.

Igor

Sergey,

we have 4 times more expensive than the Chinese (((

Basil

1. HP Pavilion Sleekbook 15..
2. Yes. I was looking for a hybrid laptop.
3. Hard disk 320 GB + SSD 32 GB
4. Completely. The fastest loading is 21.4 sec. Better than a laptop with a 120 GB SSD (the load was 23.3 seconds. I gave it to my grandson).
5. Tried installing Windows 7 on an SSD. It didn't work out. I restored Windows 8 and soon upgraded to Windows 8.1. Made the download right to the desktop. And I turn to tiles only when I need to download an application.

Arkady

Voted. Instead of a DVD drive, I have an HDD Caddy with a WD Black 500 Gb 7200 SATA2 hard drive. And the main one is SSD Corsair 128 Gb SATA3. The trick is that both drives have a 60-month warranty. Now I do not know what brakes and lags are, and even the place of the car.
Before that, there was HDD 5400, sheer hell. I don't like 5400 drives at all, they are awfully slow.

The outer panel from the drive came to the HDD Caddy and from the outside it is not noticeable at all that there is no drive inside.

Alexander

And I also used a tambourine and wasted a lot of time to boot a laptop with an mSATA SSD, when the device (BIOS) does not support mSATA as bootable. But in the end, the difference, even with a 90% full SSD, is significant.

Ivan

What do you think about hybrid hard drives (for example, Seagate ST500LM000), where 500 gigabytes of video drive itself and 8 gigabytes of NAND for acceleration?

Alexey

1. Laptop SAMSUNG ATIV Book 4 NP450R5E
2. No, I did not attach any importance to this
3. Hard disk 500gb 5400 rpm
4.not really
5.replaced the 500gb 5400rpm hard drive by 7200rpm, it is now worth windiows 8.1, the download speed has not been measured, but it loads and works quickly, quite satisfied

Alexander

Vadim Sterkin: Alexander, and how did you manage to boot from unsupported mSATA in the end?

Vadim Sterkin, cloned the OS from the HDD, leaving the MBR on it. There is a wonderful utility EasyBCD for managing the boot sector, OS boot order, etc.

Vladimir

Dear Vadim, I would like to object to your statement
“It is not clear what you won in this case, but meanwhile your SSD is still very full, that is. you cannot leave the recommended 10-20% of the space unoccupied. "
You can win this: I have only the system installed on a 32 GB SSD, the occupied volume is 13.4 GB, which leaves more than 50% free. All programs are installed on a different partition. Also, folders in which the system writes a lot have been moved to another section. The OS was installed 2.5 years ago (what is it like - long-term work?) And all this time the filling of the SSD is about the same.
As a result, the gain in download speed is noticeable very well, the longevity of the SSD should not be affected.

1) HP Pavilion DV7-7171er.
2) Yes, there were two HDDs by default (5400 rpm).
3) Toshiba, but I can't remember the model.
4) No. And at the moment I thought about the advisability of 2 TB in a laptop, if you have a home NAS.
5) Replaced the system HDD with Samsung 840 Pro.
I didn't do anything especially:
- In addition to the standard reserve area, I did not mark another 20-25 percent for longevity.
- Didn't "tune" the SSD with third-party utilities, as well as with the proprietary Magican.
- Removed SSD defragmentation - according to an article from your blog (by the way, for 8.1 is this relevant?)

The speed is quite enough - I'm happy. Although there was no need to doubt this.

Alexander

I agree that installing Windows 7 - 8.1 on a 25-35 GB SSD is not worth it. I have a 60GB SSD. After transferring the working user profiles to the HDD (but not the entire USERS folder), the paging file, and the Installer, MSOCache and Search folders, Windows 7 x64 takes about 34 GB. A freshly installed system will take less, but still not an option - it may not be for long.
In my opinion, hibernation for a system installed on an SSD is completely unnecessary. What's the point of overwriting large amounts of data to a solid-state drive once again if a clean start takes a few seconds? Again, the sleep mode has not been canceled.

Igor

Hello Vadim.

I have already consulted with you about SSD (see the letter to Gmail dated July 19, 2013) So while this business is being postponed for financial reasons, but in general I tend to buy 2 devices to replace the regular DVD-RAM drive.

At the same time, I have an interesting point regarding mSATA or a similar connector. I have a netbook ACER ASPIRE ONE D250 (without 3G module)... The question is, can you put a solid state drive on that connector? At one time I saw such SSDs on sale but did not buy because of fear of incompatibility with the connector, although they are visually similar. What do you think about this topic?

As an example, you can see it here (the slot for the 3G module is right above the fan):

Vladimir

Vadim Sterkin: Vladimir, nothing prevents you from using sleep, while the download speed does not matter. What else have you won?

Vadim, I, in fact, did not write anything about sleep or hibernation, so your answer is not to the point.
In addition to the abovementioned, another benefit is that the system disk image made by Acronis True Image has a volume of about 4 GB and is created and restored in 8 ... 10 minutes.
For me, these arguments are more than enough to use such an organization of work.
I don't use hibernation on a desktop, I use it on a laptop, but not often, because now I mostly work on it from the network.

Vladimir

Vadim Sterkin: 1. The answer is about a dream in essence, tk. if you use it, you can reboot once a month when installing updates. Everyone who does not like to start working in Windows from scratch all the time knows this :)

Vladimir: I don't use hibernation on a desktop, on a laptop - I use it, but not often, because now I mostly work on it from the network.

Vadim Sterkin: 2. Acronis does not include paging and hibernation files in the backup image, instead of them there are stubs, so they do not affect the size of the backup and the speed of its creation.

I have not stated anything of the kind. In my first post, I wrote that the system partition can be made small, which is precisely what determines the benefits in creating an image and restoring it.
In addition, transferring folders to other partitions allows you not to lose ANYTHING when restoring the OS from an image or even when reinstalling the system.

Maksim

1. Asus U500VZ
2. Yes
3.SSD RAID 0 array of two 256GB Adata drives
4. Yes
5.nothing

Vladimir

Vadim,
At the very beginning, you wrote:
Pavel Nagaev (MVP Exchange) bought himself a laptop with a large HDD and a small SSD, on which he immediately installed Windows. However, he very quickly abandoned this idea.
And further:
... Pavel quickly came to the conclusion that 32GB of the system partition would not be enough for long-term operation.
Based on this, I wrote that it was quite possible for him to work for a long time: after optimizing the OS, 13.4 GB is occupied by my system SSD from 32 GB. This is quite enough for work for 2.5 years, and for the hiberfil.sys file. In addition, transferring folders to another partition makes it possible not to lose ANYTHING in the event of a system crash and even with the complete physical destruction of the system SSD (stolen, burned out with a blue flame ...): for recovery, you only need to install a new SSD and deploy the OS to it from the image, for which it will take twenty minutes. Not more.
As a result of optimization, the gain in boot speed and system operation is noticeable very well, the durability of the SSD should not suffer, the image of the system disk is small - about 4 GB, which is also good: the time to create and restore it is 8 ... 10 minutes.

Vadim Sterkin: Vladimir, ok, I understand that your goal is to reduce the size of the system image so that it is created faster, and personal files are not lost during recovery / reinstallation.

My goal is not to reduce the size of the system image, but to ensure reliable operation of the computer: data safety (and this is facilitated, in particular, by placing data and the system on different partitions and even on different devices ah) and reliable operation of the system, in particular, its easy and quick recovery, and the small size of the image is just a nice bonus.

Vadim Sterkin: And what does SSD have to do with it? What did you gain by breaking the RAID and installing the OS there? Just in case, there is nothing in the download speed.

I did not write anything about RAID - maybe this is a question for Pavel Nagaev? I compared the boot speed and system operation on SSD and HDD.
In addition, SSD allows, so to speak, to autonomize the system on a physically separate device with a pleasant bonus in the form of a higher operating speed.

Sergey

"A typical scenario for using a mobile PC is to put it to sleep instead of completely shutting down (including standby mode with a connection on mobile PCs with Windows 8 and higher) and go into hibernation when the battery is low." - Yes. But in practice, full power on from an SSD is faster, or at least not slower than exiting from hibernation from an HDD.

Dmitriy

Vadim, good afternoon!

I just raised this topic in one of the comments a month ago and you promised to write a post about it. I was looking forward to it.

I have windows on ssd on two laptops now.
I will share with you my thoughts on this matter.
With a home laptop, everything is simple, but with a worker it turned out very interesting.

Home laptop:
Lenovo Y580
8Gb ram
was originally installed caching msata Samsung on 64Gb
Now it acts as a system drive with windows 8.

Windows was installed the most common, therefore it takes up a lot of space, all the necessary, including working software, is installed.
Of the tweaks, only hibernation is disabled, tk. the launch is still very fast and this is too obvious a way to save 8GB of disk space. The swap file is made with a floating size of up to 4GB, but it is 400MB full, it seems.
Free 22 out of 60 gigabytes.

The free space is stable and does not decrease much. If you remember that the disc is not rubber and do not use Photoshop and Corels, then the problems you described will not arise at all.

With the work laptop, about which I asked you a question last time, I had to tinker and get rid of the problems that you described.

So.
Toshiba U840
8gb ram
caching ssd sandisk 32Gb

Despite the core i5 and a large amount of RAM, all performance rested on the 5400prm hard drive.
SRT technology worked, but if you already have a computer with a system ssd in your life, then it seems like just a marketing gimmick and does not feel at all :)

The problem could have been solved by buying a larger msata, but it was unsportsmanlike.
The problem was precisely windows size after installation.
I needed 10 GB for working software and data in roaming. Adding to this 20 gigs of windows 7 head after reinstallation. I was getting a full disc. And this is just the very big minus. And also the lack of a place "prozapas" infuriated.

The problem was solved by installing a stripped-down windows distribution from one of the torrents.
Frightened by the possible curvature of the assembly, the presence of specially left holes, and so on.

Nevertheless, after installation, it turned out to be completely normal to register a license with microsoft, to install all (!) Updates from the moment of assembly. All the cut out components were really unnecessary.
As a result, I got 9GB for windows folder(5 immediately after installation), 8 GB for everything else, disabled hibernation and installed a floating swap file.
Free space is 14 GB and it is not particularly planned to increase.

For 2 weeks of testing, I did not find any glitches in the system.

I understand that in both cases, the phrase "22GB and 14GB of free space" can seem intimidating. But I prefer to keep the system partition clean and fast. If you want to put something capacious, you can always put it on the second disk and still have a super-fast system.

From here I would like to receive your comment on my way out of the problem with installing stripped-down windows.
In my opinion, the game was worth the candle :)
Prada is certainly a fly in the ointment. Ssd from sandisk is not best quality, Certainly. And in HD Tune pro, though the speed is kept at 300MB / s, at the beginning of the graph it drops significantly to 150. Nevertheless, this is only a test, it is not noticeable in operation and is still faster than hdd.

Dmitriy

The mSATA connector is connected to the SATA III interface of the motherboard. We once discussed this issue with Artem Pronichkin in relation to his laptop Lenovo W530. The chipset only supports two SATA III connections (they are used by the main drive and the optical drive), so the mSATA SSD has to be connected to SATA II.

On my Lenovo y580 I tried to solve this issue for a long time, and I don't remember how and where I got the answer :) Therefore, I ask you to help me figure it out again.

Specification Sata disk 3 (6 Gbps) (up to 500 Mb / sec)
HD Tune gives a minimum reading speed of 216 MB during testing, an average reading speed of 323, and a maximum reading speed of 396.
Does this mean that I still have sata 3 enabled on this disk?

I understand that this is a stupid question, considering that sata2 works up to 300. :) But I want to make sure for sure :)

Vladimir

Vadim Sterkin: if the laptop had SSD for cache, the SATA controller worked in RAID mode (at least in the case of SRT).

Vadim Sterkin: What did you gain by breaking the RAID and installing the OS there?

Ufff ... So it's not me, but Paul broke something there? And I was already scared that you got into my computer and found out a terrible secret that was never there ...
Generally speaking, I did not discuss the feasibility and correctness of installing the OS on an SSD, originally intended for the cache, I just comment on what was DONE:

Vladimir: Pavel Nagaev (MVP Exchange) bought himself a laptop with a large HDD and a small SSD, on which he immediately installed Windows. However, he very quickly abandoned this idea.

and tried to show that it is possible to work with 32 GB system disks.

Vadim Sterkin: But it's somehow strange that in 2.5 years the OS occupied only 13.5GB.

I don’t remember how much the OS occupied 2.5 years ago, but the image of the optimized OS after installing all the programs was then 3.2 GB, now it is 4.1 GB. That is, the size, of course, has grown.

Vadim Sterkin: And, probably, you have transferred not only files, but also% AppData%, or very few programs that store data there (even the software is installed on the HDD).

% AppData%, I have not migrated. The folders were moved:
1. My documents(more precisely, this folder has been in place since the days of Windows XP);
2. Temp(if they tell me that in this case the installation time of the programs increases, then I will answer that when installing some little thing once every two weeks, like mine, this is not essential;
3. Temporary Internet Files... They say that this slows down the browser, but with my Internet speed of about 25 Mbps, I will never notice it.
4. Mail. Base programs Windows Mail.
5. Program Files... NOT MOVED, but created! In this folder I install ALL programs. I have a lot of programs. There are not many of those that write a lot on the system partition even when installed on another: Microsoft Office (incomplete), Adobe: Acrobat and Photoshop. Acronis True Image. There are several more programs that write a mere trifle on the system partition. The rest of the programs are Portable.
6. Folders Favorites and Desktop... This is so as not to lose something when recovering.
Now for your questions.

Vadim Sterkin: 1. The safety of data on the HDD would be exactly the same, even if you did not install the OS on an SSD.

Yes it is. When I decided to install the OS on a separate medium, at first I was going to take a 30 ... 40 GB HDD. But while I was looking for such a new one, I stumbled upon an SSD and just "took a bite" on a new product that also promises some advantages.

Vadim Sterkin: 2. The media type is unlikely to affect the reliability of the system, but of course the speed.

I have not argued that the reliability of the system depends on the type of media. I don't think it does. Although I am personally familiar with two ten-year old HDDs, and with an SSD I have not even heard about five-year-olds, apparently, not much time has passed.

Vadim Sterkin: 3. Yes, the small size of the backup system image is a plus, I wrote about it. But how many times have you resorted to image restoration in 2.5 years

I didn’t count how many times I restored the system, but I think that it turns out once every two or three months. It happens that I pick up some nasty thing (no protection system gives a 100% guarantee), put a "crooked" program, the computer starts to slow down for no apparent reason ... In such cases, if I can't fix it right away, I think it won't take long - I restore the system from one of the last images: work, then only ten minutes.

Maksim

The articles are very cool, thank you very much to Vadim!
After reading several articles on ssd, I have a question.
There is a laptop Acer aspire 5750g, unfortunately it only has a sat 2 set and a 5400 rpm system hard drive to boot.
I want to install a second disc instead of a dvd drive I am not using. So the question is which drive to use? Put a small ssd (120GB) there and transfer the paging file, temporary files folder and several applications to it, or buy a hybrid disk, clone the system disk on it, put the hybrid disk in the place of the system disk, and that, respectively, in the place of the optical drive.
I can’t come on my own to the right decision, I would like to know your opinion on this matter. Thanks again for the great articles!

Maksim

Vadim Sterkin,
Yes, looking at the chipset, this is how it should be, but, unfortunately, in fact there is only Sat 2.
When choosing ssd as a system partition, another problem arises, the current size of the system partition is 680GB, but that's another story.

Maksim

Vadim Sterkin, I don't even know how Acer's "engineers" managed to cram Sata 2, but even the support service replies that this model has only Sata 2, which is actually confirmed by third-party software, I was also very surprised. I had one question, off topic, is it possible to make a "clean" installation of vin7 using the key of the preinstalled system? (this is about moving to ssd as the main drive)

Maxim

Thanks for the article, Vadim!
I am answering the questions:
1. Lenovo IdeaPad U310. One of the main parameters of choosing a laptop (besides price) was the weight and size of this device, since it was intended to be carried with you at all times.
2. The configuration of the drives mattered to me, but the size of the SSD to mSATA was not critical. In the beginning I didn't even know that it was a separate disk on a separate interface.
3.SSD, in my opinion, SanDisk 24 GB, HDD WD 500 GB
4. The performance was expected: as when working with a conventional HDD, at some points faster due to data caching on the SSD. So I worked with what I bought. The main drawback of my laptop: it is 4 GB memory, which was not enough for my work: it was not even enough for normal work, not to mention running virtual machines. When I got tired of enduring the inconvenience of working with small memory, I bought 8 GB and installed them myself. "Life has become easier, life has become more fun."
5. Then, since I already started changing the configuration, and the costs were distributed over time, I bought a Kingston 120 GB SSD and transferred the system disk to it. The improvements were immediately noticeable. Now the performance of my laptop suits me completely. I work comfortably in the main system and in a running virtual machine. The virtual machine lives on the HDD, so it runs noticeably slower than the main OS, but this can be tolerated.
Maybe there are differences between SATA and mSATA SSDs, but I didn't notice them "by eye". I have a stationary PC with Win 7 on an SSD, I don't see much difference in the speed of working with a laptop.
There are 2 things left in my laptop that I would like to fix: the screen resolution and the quality of the WiFi connection. I will not change the screen matrix, but I think I will replace the WiFi module. It will be necessary to look for which module is considered good.

Ruslan

1. ASUS K95VJ
2. I bought it precisely because of the possibility of manipulating hard drives, since there is a standard HDD 3.5 ″ (7200) plus a free 2.5 ″ slot where it was decided to buy an SSD. I chose the Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120GB 2.5 ″ SATAIII SSD. It was a bit of a hassle to transfer the pre-installed Windows 8 without losing activation, but I managed it using Macrium Reflect (by the way, a free program). At first I tried to optimize the SSD, but after reading your article on myths I refused to optimize. The difference in the operation of Windows and programs on the SSD is really very noticeable, so I was pleased with this upgrade.
Thanks for the SSD articles.

Sergey

Sergey,

After installing the ExpressCache utility that is included. the system works with 24g. as a cache .. You can see it in disk management.

Cl3r1k

Thanks for the article, Vadim!
There is no SSD available, so I can't check my theory myself. On the first screen with IRST there is an item Select the size allocated for the cache memory and two items 18.6 GB and Full disk capacity. Those. you can set a partition to cache on an SSD or an entire disk. And if we assume that a certain program with its data is always required to be kept on the SSD?
As I understand it, for this you will need to create a section for the program with data (say 4 GB), and give the rest of the space to another section, which in turn will be specified as a cache in IRST. Will the first section be visible to the system? Did you understand correctly? Or is there another solution?

And another question is not entirely in the subject, on hard drives there is such a thing as bad blocks arising for various reasons, but what about SSDs, do they have similar problems? And what happens to faulty memory cells, turn into broken ones and are also marked as non-working? In the case of HDD, it is possible to remap broken sector, and in the case of SSD? Or does the SSD not suffer from similar problems?

Alexander

I got a laptop with SSD Cache
Lenovo THINKPAD Edge E540
Now I don't understand how to use it, or is everything already set up for work?
No programs from Lenovo are installed, I found some kind of express cache called. But I haven't watched it yet.
What do you recommend to do? this is what would be more fruitful to use this cache.
thanks

Artem

Lenovo y470
Yes. Knew there was a slot for mSata
There was one 5400 НDD 500Mb
Satisfied until a friend showed the boot from the SSD
I bought 128 SSD Plextor and HDD Toshba 7200 1Tb. System on SSD, the rest of the program. Satisfied.

Nikolay

Two laptops Old / New:






I installed the system on the SSD and kept the databases with which I worked.

The operating system on the old Windows 7 on the new Windows 8 license from the manufacturer, it was transferred to the SSD

At the moment, I can't understand why the tests on a new laptop for writing show a lower result than on a new one, about 250 on the old, and almost 160 on a new one (The maximum result regardless of the testing methods)
Model mSata Kingston SMS200S3 / 120G - http://www.kingston.com/us/ssd/s#sms200s3

Bios updated,

Denis

Nikolay: Two laptops Old / New:
1.Dell Studio 1558 / Acer Aspire V5-573G
2. Attached / attached but the Processor and the matrix took its toll
3. HDD 7200 at that time SSD were still expensive / Simple HDD
4. In both laptops the bottleneck in performance
5. On the old Dell, I installed a 120G SSD instead of a CDD, and instead of an optical drive I installed a pocket with an NDD, the performance improved significantly.
5. On a new one I bought SSD 120G in MSATA (SMS200S3 / 120G),
I installed the system on the SSD and stored the bases with which I worked. The operating system on the old Windows 7 on the new Windows 8 license from the manufacturer, I transferred it to the SSD At the moment I can not understand why the tests on the new laptop for recording show a lower result than on the new one, on the old about 250, and on a new one almost 160 (The maximum result regardless of the testing methods)
MSata Kingston Model SMS200S3 / 120G - http://www.kingston.com/us/ssd/s#sms200s3
If you have any suggestions or advice on where to dig, tell me.
Bios updated,

Nikolay, perhaps the write speed of your SSD to mSATA is so ... just physically it cannot ... ..

Http://old.computerra.ru/sgolub/710560/), I agree with the author ... And therefore, several more options appeared ...

1. SSD for the system, programs and work files + HDD for dumps and archives.
Here you will need an SSD with a larger capacity, at least 500 GB, and in this design I think that the disk's resource will end faster. You can, of course, buy an SSD for the server, their resource is 1.5-2 times higher, but the price is accordingly. And the idea is to make an automatic daily backup of working files from SSD to HDD, though I don't know how yet (I will have to study this topic as well). From the pros - high speed, less noise, heating and energy consumption (on a laptop), from the minuses, if the disk is "covered" then the whole system and work for the last day will fly ...

2. SSD for the system and programs + SSD for temporary, working files and cache + HDD for dumps and archives
In this version, I think the disk resource will last longer and the second SSD with temporary files will take the main load, if it "covers", then the restoration of work will not be as long as in the second option ...

What can you say about such options?

Ruslan

1. Sony VAIO SVN1311X1RS
2. No, I didn't, I still transfer everything to SSD (32gb is not enough, and 120 will already be enough)
3.SSD 32Gb to mSATA + HDD 320 gb
4. No
5., so I rearranged the OS to SSD, but they are still not enough.

2 days with a tambourine and found a simple option to put the OS on mSATA (the boot order did not change in the BIOS). I pulled out the HDD, installed the OS and after that I put the HDD back - everything is ingenious - simple! Include in the article, I am sure that it will be useful to someone, because I will change the SSD to mSATA, after all, the extra space of a regular screw will not hurt.

As as in the sphere hardware computers constantly appear various new items and alternative technologies, not all users are able to "keep up" with them.

For this reason, self-assembly of a computer, replacing a hard disk or RAM can be a rather difficult process, even if you have already done it before.

In this article we will look at the mSATA interface, answer the question of what it is, what it is for and what features it has.

Definition

Where can a user come across this concept and what does it refer to?

The abbreviation mSATA is used for and denotes a variety of interface and form factor.

Therefore, usually the documentation for such equipment has the formulation mSATA SSD.

The advantages of the SSD format are obvious. This is speed, less heating, and almost complete absence of noise. But what features does the presence of the mSATA form factor endow it with?

In this abbreviation, m stands for mini (miniSATA), and from this it immediately becomes clear that this form factor assumes a device of relatively small or reduced size. The dimensions of this form factor are 5.95x3.0x0.3 cm.

This disk format was originally designed as a fast and stable buffer memory.

Indeed, these disks, thanks to the efforts of Intel developers, significantly increased the speed of the computer.

But at present, the standard is actively used in all compact devices, as it is able to ensure the speed of work.

For the first time, devices with this standard steel size have been marketed since 2009. It was this year that the Serial ATA International Organization introduced it.

And although this is a fairly convenient and functional type of hard drive, it has not become very widespread.

Form Factor Is an indicator that sets the dimensions of any technical product, as well as describes some of its other overall parameters. The most adequate translation of this concept into Russian will be the standard size. This indicator is important to consider when choosing a device, since it depends on it whether you can even connect a hard drive to the connector provided on your computer.

Peculiarities

The main purpose for which these disks were developed is to install them in laptops, and they are small in size, or ultra-thin.

That is, this type of disk is required in those devices in which it is impossible to install a larger disk in size.

It is believed that a mini-SATA disk combines all the advantages of SSD and HDD disks, therefore they are successfully implemented in almost all small mobile devices, starting from the very year of their release.

With its dimensions, the device remains functional and stable in operation, powerful enough. In addition, it is characterized by a high speed of operation and an almost complete absence of noise during it.

Other names that essentially also mean NGFF or Next Generation Form Factor and M.2.

Memory

There is no pronounced difference in the amount of memory between regular disks and the mini format.

For example, a mini-disk from, which provides 1TB of memory, is currently being quite successfully implemented on the market.

However, such a device costs almost $ 600.

However, there are also more budgetary and functional models with less memory.

They will be quite enough for normal functioning and work with a PC.

They are also capable of providing fast and stable operation of the device.

What devices is it suitable for?

Strictly speaking, it is suitable for any electrically compatible device that has a suitable connector for connection.

But such a device costs a little more than disks with a larger form factor with the same quality and features of work, performance characteristics.

Therefore, it is advisable to buy such a mini-disc only as a last resort, that is, for installation in devices in which it is impossible to put a larger disc.

These can be various small netbooks, ultra-thin ultrabooks, very small laptops.

Advice! Technically, the slot of this mini-disk is similar to the common and popular PCI Express Mini Card interface. These interfaces are both technically and electrically compatible. But for correct operation, it will be necessary to switch a number of signals to the controller intended for this.

However, it is important to keep in mind that not all laptops, in principle, are equipped with a slot for connecting such a disk.

And if the manufacturer did not consider it necessary to equip a laptop with it, then you will not be able to connect a disc of this format.

How do you know if your device supports this format?

Compatibility

Naturally, all the old models that came out before 2009 do not support it, since in the year of their release such devices simply did not exist yet.

If the laptop is new enough, then you can clarify the presence of the corresponding connection interface on the official website or with the help of technical documentation,

Here are some of the most popular lines of laptops from famous brands, many models of which support such disc size:

• Acer Aspire (M3, M5, R7), Timeline, Iconia Tab (W500, W700);
• Alienware;
• ASUS EeeSlate, Vivo Book, Zenbook (Ux 21, Ux 31);
• Clevo Notebook (P150, P151, P157, W350, W650, W230, W355, W651, W655, W740);
• Dell Inspiron (14, 15, 17), Precision, XPS, XPS One, Vostro;
• Fusion Garage, Futro;
• Gigabyte (Q, U);
• Google;
• HP Pavilion, ENVY, Folio, ZBook;
• Lenovo, IdeaPad, IdeaPad Yoga, ThinkPad, ThinkPad Edge;
• LG Xnote;
• Samsung, Samsung Chromebook;
• Sony VAIO;
• Toshiba Portage, Satellite;
• WeTab.

Although this is an extensive, but far from complete list of models that support this type of disc size. A complete listing can be seen on our developer website.

Advantages

This device has all the same advantages over HDDs as standard-sized SSDs - they are fast, quiet, have a longer service life and work more stable.

However, they are small enough to fit into compact, portable devices.

Thus, such disks have the main advantage - their installation can significantly improve the quality and increase the speed and stability of the operating system on a laptop.

Thus, if the speed of your device does not suit you, then you can replace the HDD disk with mSATA. On the other hand, if you already have a standard form factor SSD, then installing mSATA is pointless, since the device's performance will not change.

Installation

It is quite possible to independently install such a device into your PC.

It is enough just to have a certain amount of free time, accuracy and minimal skills in working with electronics.

However, if you do not have such skills, then it is better to entrust it to professionals, since attempts to replace it yourself can damage not only the hard drive, but also the computer itself.

Often, when working with a PC, we are faced with problems that we did not expect. For example, we don't know how to connect an SSD to a computer. It would seem that the matter is not at all complicated, but it requires care and correctness of actions. Therefore, if you decide to independently carry out components or assemble a PC, then you will need to know all about such minor difficulties.

For what?

Upgrading your computer is always a responsible business. Not all users are ready to do this. First, you need to be well versed in the components, understand the compatibility of different devices, and understand new products. Secondly, in addition to this, significant financial investments are needed, since the better the product, the more expensive it is, respectively.

Everyone will need to learn how to connect an SSD drive to a computer. It is also necessary for those who have decided to assemble a PC on their own, or those who have “passed away” from whom. There are many instructions on this issue on the Internet, so let's get started.

Peculiarities

Before we begin to understand this issue, we need to tell those who do not yet know anything about SSD.

It is a solid state drive, which is a non-mechanical storage device. It is based on a memory chip. The device came to replace the HDD. Although it is impossible to say so unambiguously, since many experienced users prefer to install in their PC and hard drive and solid state drive.

As a result, sometimes this device becomes the main one, replacing the place of the railway, sometimes an auxiliary one. In the second case, the system is loaded onto it, and personal information is stored on the railway.

Advantages

Now, not everyone needs to learn how to connect an SSD to a SATA computer, since most users still use this device in compact devices: tablets, etc.

However, in stationary computers it can also be installed because it brings additional benefits. Most importantly, it improves system performance. Compared to traditional railway drives, it has received a smaller size and weight and increased performance. Moreover, the speed was 6-7 times higher. Hence the high price tag for an SSD.

In addition, solid-state drives have begun to be built in tandem with hard drives to form hybrid hard drives. In this case, the flash memory became occupied by the buffer. Although, as mentioned earlier, it is sometimes used as a separate free space.

In addition, noiselessness has been added to the main advantages, since the device is non-mechanical and has no moving elements. Hence the high mechanical resistance. Reading files is stable, without interruptions and jumps. The read speed is close to the bandwidth of the interfaces.

Connection

So how do you connect an SSD to your computer? set by approximately the same method. Therefore, if you have ever encountered the work of a hard disk drive, then there will be no problems with a solid-state drive. The only difference is in size. You will need to fit the smaller device into the correct slot.

Start

To start the procedure, of course, you need to turn off your PC. For reassurance, it is better to do it completely from the outlet. Don't forget to turn off the power supply too. Usually the button to turn it off is located on the back, on the case.

Now you need to do the following operation: press and hold the PC power button for a few seconds. This is necessary so that all the current that remains on the board and in general in the entire case disappears. This will de-energize all circuits and keep yourself safe.

The next steps may differ depending on your needs. But in general, the connection principle is always the same.

We act

To figure out where to connect your SSD to your computer, you need to get to the case. First you need to open it. Usually it all depends on its design. But there are always small screws to remove the left panel and get to the "insides" of the PC. There are enclosures that may have access to ports from the other side, so here you need to act according to the situation.

If you are new to the design of a computer chassis, then you may have problems. But if you at least know what a railway looks like and can find it in a metal box, then half the job is done.

Usually the hard drive is placed in a special compartment. There may be several of them in the case. made specifically for the size of the 3.5-inch HDD. This is where you need to place your solid state drive.

Due to the fact that its dimensions are slightly different, since it is 2.5-inch, it will have to be well bolted on. They usually come with the device. Recently, slots in cases for SSDs have become more and more common. Therefore, perhaps the task will be simplified.

Once the drive is secured and well secured, you will need to figure out how to connect the SSD to your computer, to your motherboard. This is a little more complicated, since you have to google or figure out the interfaces.

Compound

Next, you need to take the cable that came with the drive. You will find an L-shaped port on it. This is SATA. Apart from that, the wires you have must have a power cable. It usually looks like a bunch of wires.

First you need to plug the power cable into the socket from the power supply. Then we take the SATA cable and look for the right place on the motherboard. There are usually few options. If the board has SATA III, then it is better to use this port. If there is no such option, connect to SATA II.

These two wires will now need to be connected directly to the SSD. A power cable is placed in a wider connector, a SATA cable in a narrower one.

Other options

Not everyone knows, but for a couple of years now they have been releasing SSDs of the M.2 form factor. Now these models are not uncommon. Many people prefer them. In addition, newfangled models of motherboards began to be equipped with a special connector specifically for this form factor.

As a result, the situation led to the fact that we need to know how to connect an SSD M2 drive to a computer. It must be said right away that this model has a lot of variations. Therefore, the connection may differ slightly. But the main point is that, unlike the previous version, we connect the solid-state drive to the "motherboard" not by wires, but by the device itself.

When you see the M.2 SSD in the photo, you will understand what the point is. It is not presented in a case, like the above model. It is made by a small board that has memory chips. This board has special slots for installing them on the "motherboard".

It is impossible to describe the connection for all cases, since there are really many options. But when you buy an M.2 SSD, you will have a guide that tells you how to do it right.

Customization

After you have assembled and connected everything, you can turn on the PC. During its loading, you need to call the BIOS. Here you should look for the AHCI mode, which is responsible for the operation of the solid-state drive.

For example, you are going to load an operating system onto an SSD. But besides the new drive, you already have hard drives connected. Then you will need to prioritize the devices. To do this, put the solid-state drive first in the list. We install the ability to boot the OS from a disk or flash drive.

If you need an SSD as an additional tool, then it will be enough to check that the existing hard disk drive is the first in the queue. Otherwise, the system may simply not boot. You might want to port your OS to an SSD. In this case, after you have learned how to connect an SSD drive to a computer, you will need to do a very voluminous operation. This is a topic for another article.

Laptops

When you try all the above operations by your own example, you will realize that you even know how to connect 2 SSD disks to a computer. The main thing is that there is enough space on your motherboard.

But speaking of PCs, you need to remember that initially solid state drives began to be widely used in laptops, since they are compact. Therefore, you can further learn how to connect an SSD to a laptop.

Of course, this issue is best considered with each device model, since the cases are different, and accordingly, the placement of the disk slot is also different.

Nevertheless, the main thing is to determine where the railway is located in your laptop. Usually you have to turn off the device and open the bottom cover for this. Sometimes it can be completely removed, sometimes you can unscrew the compartment panels. One of them usually houses the railway. If you can't find it, open the instructions for your laptop.

It must be said right away that hard drives in laptops are the same size as SSDs - 2.5 inches. In order to remove a hard drive, you need to not just pull it out, but first pull it to the side. This is how it attaches to the power and SATA connector.

The next step is small - just install the solid-state drive. Do not forget to secure it with screws. Since laptops usually have one place for hard drives, you will have to think in advance about how you will transfer the operating system: cloning or new installation.

conclusions

You need to learn how to connect an SSD drive to a computer in advance, and not when you unscrew, unscrew and disconnect everything. Sometimes you have to commit additional settings, think ahead about the location of the OS.

The easiest way to do this is when you only need a solid-state drive as auxiliary tool... Then it is enough to simply plug it into one more compartment and connector. If you want to make it the main one, then you need to read the instructions for cloning hard drives and SSDs, configure and think over everything in advance.

If you are assembling a PC from scratch and decided to simply install its fast "colleague" instead of a hard drive, do not forget to configure the connection in the BIOS. It is important to set the special mode and priority of the disks.

We have talked about the advantages of SSDs over classic hard drives many times: they are more energy efficient, quieter, compact, and most importantly, they are much faster. Their main disadvantage (at least for now) is still a rather high price per unit of volume and, therefore, they are more preferable in combination with a standard hard disk with a larger capacity, i.e. when the SSD is used as a system drive that has Windows and several important programs installed. This allows you to speed up the system several times, while the HDD serves as a space for storing a collection of movies and music, photos, etc.

This is, of course, the perfect combination that can be found in many desktop systems today. However, in the case of laptops, things are a little different. Since the space in the ultra-compact case of a modern mobile computer is severely limited, users often have to choose between a solid-state disk and a classic disk, that is, between high speed and less capacity, or large capacity, but with much more modest performance.

Of course, there are models on the market offering the option to mount two hard / two SSD drives or combinations of both, but these are relatively rare and therefore expensive.

Fortunately, a new and still relatively little-known alternative has existed for several years now, combining "the best of both worlds." We are talking about the mSATA (Mini-SATA) standard, which is sometimes found under the name M.2 or NGFF (Next Generation Form Factor). In all cases, we are talking about the same thing - a special class of next generation disk devices that are both fast (because they use SSD technology) and ultra compact, which makes them exceptionally suitable for laptops, ultrabooks and hybrid systems.

mSATA SSD

The main contribution to the Mini-SATA standard was made by Intel, who originally developed it as an ultra-fast buffer memory that accelerates the performance of computers using motherboards with chipsets from the silicon giant.

However, today this format is most widely used in the world. laptop computers, mainly because it is tiny and gives laptop users an easy path to SSD speeds without having to make the hard choice between SSD and HDD.

Unfortunately, not all modern laptops offer the option to use an mSATA SSD. In other words, support for the standard and the slot for installing such a device must be provided by the laptop manufacturer. But if your laptop supports this technology, then you can easily add such a drive or replace the already installed mSATA SSD with a newer, faster device with higher capacity.

How can you tell if a laptop supports mSATA SSD?

The easiest way is to look at the manufacturer's official website. If you have a Lenovo model made after 2011, then it almost certainly already uses an mSATA SSD, or at least has a slot for such a device.

Many models from Dell, Toshiba, HP, Acer and other leading manufacturers also offer support for this technology. Here is a detailed (albeit incomplete) list of models that are equipped with an mSATA SSD slot:

• Acer Aspire: M3-xxx, M5-xxx, R7, Timeline
• Acer: Iconia Tab W500, W700
• Alienware: 18, m14x r2, M17x R4
• ASUS Eee Slate EP121
• ASUS VivoBook: S400CA, S551LB,
• ASUS Zenbook: UX21, UX31
• Clevo Notebook: P150SM, P151SM1, P157SM, W350STQ, W650SR, W230ST, W350SKQ, W355STQ, W650SH, W651SH, W651SR, W655SH, W655SR, W740SU
• Dell Inspiron: 14Z (5423), 15 (7537), 15z (5523), 15R SE, 17R, 17R 5720, 17R SE
• Dell Latitude: 6430u, ST-LST01, XT2, XT3
• Dell Precision: M4500, M4600, M4800, M6400, M6500, M6600, M6700, M6800
• Dell XPS: 12, 13, (L321X), 14, 14 (L421X), 15 (L521X), 18
• Dell XPS One 2710
• Dell Vostro: 3360, 3460, 3560
• Fusion Garage JOOJOO
• Fusion Futro: S700, S900
• Gigabyte: Q1742N, U2142, U2440M, U2440N, U2442
• Google: CR-48 Chrome
• HP Pavilion: dm4t Series (DM4T-3xxx)
• HP ENVY: 15 Series (15-3xxx), 17 Series (17-3xxx), TouchSmart 15t-j100
• HP Folio: 13-1000
• HP ZBook 15: Has both a standard 2.5 "HDD / SSD bay and an additional mSATA SSD bay
• Lenovo: K26, K47A, K47G
• Lenovo IdeaPad: S210, S400, U300, Y460, Y470, Y480, Y500, Y510, Y560, Y570, Y580
• Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13
• Lenovo ThinkPad: X220, X230, T420s, T420, T430, T430s, T520, T530, L420, L430, L520, L530, W520, W530
• Lenovo ThinkPad Edge: E220s, E320, E330, E420, E420s, E430, E430s, E520, E530
• LG Xnote: P330
• MSI: Windpad 110W
• Samsung: Series 7 Slate, Series 9 Ultrabook
• Samsung Chromebook Series 5
• Sony VAIO E Series
• Toshiba Qosmio: X70
• Toshiba Portege: Z830, Z835, Z930
• Toshiba Satellite: P70, P770
• WeTab

Installation

The process of installing an mSATA SSD itself is not complicated, but it requires some technical knowledge. If you're feeling unsure, then your laptop manufacturer's official hardware support site should be your first stop. Also, information on installing an mSATA SSD can be found in the official documentation that came with your mobile computer.

The market for such devices is constantly growing and the offerings are already quite impressive - Samsung, for example, offers a model with an impressive 1000 GB (1 TB) storage capacity. The price, of course, is no less impressive - $ 600!

Of course, you can find cheap deals, which are enough for most users. They provide enough space for installing Windows and programs such as MS Office and Adobe Photoshop, and can significantly speed up both the work with them and the performance of the laptop as a whole. At the same time, the hard disk will remain for its normal function, i.e. as a place to store data less needing high-speed disks: documents, games, films, music, photographs.

Have a great day!