Today, most new PCs ship with an inside solid-state drive put in. Nonetheless, should you’re nonetheless utilizing a standard spinning exhausting disk, you are lacking out. Swapping it out for a SSD is without doubt one of the finest upgrades you can also make to hurry up your pc. It’s going to boot quicker, applications will launch immediately, and video games will not take as lengthy to load. You could possibly reinstall Home windows from scratch, and in some conditions, which may be preferable—however with the correct instruments, you’ll be able to stand up and working a lot faster by copying your complete drive over to the brand new SSD.
Purchase the Proper SSD
(Credit score: Joseph Maldonado)In case you’re trying to improve, we’ve got suggestions for the perfect total drives and worthwhile cheaper alternate options. Make sure that to purchase the correct type issue in your pc (some laptops will use 2.5-inch drives, whereas others use the “gumstick” M.2 format). You additionally need one large enough to suit your information. When you have a 500GB drive now, you most likely need a equally sized (or bigger) SSD.
The one exception is should you’re on a desktop pc and have room for a number of exhausting drives. In that case, you could possibly retailer Home windows and your applications on the SSD whereas placing your music, films, and different media on a second, bigger exhausting disk—although this could be a bit extra difficult, as we’ll talk about under.
1. Again Up Your Knowledge (and Free Up Area)
(unknown)Earlier than you begin messing round together with your drives, it is completely essential to first again up your information. An unintended click on may end up in you erasing all the pieces, so don’t proceed till you’ve got backed all of it up.
If you do not have a backup resolution but, take a look at our favourite software program for the job. Home windows additionally has File Historical past for backing up necessary paperwork, and a picture file can save your complete system. Copying necessary information to an exterior exhausting drive will even do in a pinch.
In case you’re upgrading to an SSD that is smaller than your present exhausting drive, you will wish to take further care right here. This is not as frequent because it as soon as was, thanks to greater, inexpensive SSDs, but when that is the case for you, you will must delete some information and unlock house in your exhausting drive earlier than cloning it. In any other case, your information will not match on the brand new drive. As soon as your information is secure and safe, proceed to the subsequent step.
2. Plug In and Initialize Your SSD
Throughout this course of, you will want each your SSD and outdated exhausting drive related to your pc on the similar time. In case you’re utilizing a laptop computer with just one exhausting drive slot, which means you will want an exterior adapter, dock, or enclosure that may join your naked SSD to your pc over USB.
Once more, desktop customers could not want this if they’ve room for 2 drives inside their PC. On this case, you’ll be able to simply set up it internally alongside your outdated exhausting drive.
(unknown)Plug your SSD into the adapter, then plug that into your pc. If it is a brand-new drive, you most likely will not see the drive pop up in File Explorer, however don’t be concerned; it simply must be initialized first. Open the Begin menu and sort “partitions” within the search field. Click on the Create and format exhausting disk partitions choice, and Disk Administration will open. It’ll immediate you to initialize the drive utilizing both the GPT or MBR partition desk.
I will be utilizing GPT for my SSD, since I’ve a contemporary PC with a UEFI firmware. When you have an older PC with a standard BIOS, you might want to make use of an MBR partition desk. In case you aren’t positive, search for your particular PC mannequin (or motherboard should you constructed your pc) to see which sort of firmware it makes use of.
In case you aren’t prompted to initialize the drive, and do not see it in Disk Administration, double-check that it is correctly related to your pc, and that the enclosure or dock is powered on (if mandatory). See our information to troubleshooting a tough drive that will not present up for extra.
As soon as the drive has been initialized, it is best to see it present up within the backside pane of Disk Administration as unallocated house. From there, you need to be good to go.
3. Clone Your Drive
(Credit score: PCMag / DiskGenius)There are lots of completely different drive-cloning instruments available on the market, and sadly, there are few free one-size-fits-all choices anymore. In case your drive producer has its personal migration program, that is likely to be your finest guess. For instance, should you purchased a Samsung SSD, we advocate downloading Samsung Knowledge Migration and following the directions within the consumer information. Western Digital and SanDisk customers can use WD’s model of Acronis True Picture to repeat their information utilizing these directions.
For this information, we used DiskGenius—a free drive-cloning software that works with any model of exhausting drive and SSD. Simply obtain the installer for the free residence model and run by way of the wizard to get it up and working in your PC. It is out there to anybody, it doesn’t matter what model drive you might have, so in case your drive producer would not provide a migration software, DiskGenius is your subsequent finest guess. For step-by-step directions, see our information on cloning your exhausting drive.
4. Set up Your SSD
(Credit score: Whitson Gordon)Subsequent, shut down your pc. It is time to set up that SSD in your machine completely. When you have a desktop PC with multiple exhausting drive slot, you’ll be able to go away your outdated exhausting drive in as further storage, and simply set up your SSD alongside it.
When you have a laptop computer or desktop with just one exhausting drive slot, you will must take away your outdated exhausting drive and exchange it together with your SSD. This course of is a bit completely different on each laptop computer, so verify the documentation equipped by the producer of your pc (or your motherboard, should you constructed the PC).
5. Reboot From Your New Drive
(Credit score: Whitson Gordon)When you’re completed putting in the SSD, you will want to inform your pc besides from it. (This is probably not mandatory on laptops with only one drive, however should you expertise issues booting, it may well assistance on some PCs.) Flip your pc on and enter its BIOS/UEFI setup. You are able to do this by urgent a particular key—akin to Del or Esc; it will say on the display—as the pc boots.
From there, search for the boot choices within the BIOS menu. We won’t let you know the precise location, because it differs relying in your pc’s producer. As soon as you discover the boot menu, choose the choice to vary the boot sequence. Select your SSD from the checklist as the primary boot drive, then head again to the primary BIOS menu, save your settings, and exit.
Your pc will reboot, and if all went properly, it ought to plop you again into Home windows quicker than ever earlier than. Open File Explorer and verify to verify that your SSD is, the truth is, the C: drive. If all the pieces appears to be like good, you are able to rock. In case your outdated drive continues to be put in, you’ll be able to erase it and use it to retailer further information, or you’ll be able to disconnect it fully.
