Installing an SSD in my Laptop

[wwagnerjr]

I have a Acer Aspire 7750G with 8 GBs of Ram and a 500 GB 5400 RPM HD. It came with 4 GBs of Ram and had an extra Memory slot so I added 4 GBs to get it to 8 GBs of Ram. It also has a 2nd HD bay and with SSD prices dropping I've been thinking about adding a 120 GB SSD Drive to hold my OS and maybe my Browser, Google Chrome. I'd like my OS to load faster when booting up.

I'm a novice when it comes to adding anything, but Ram to a computer and ended up having to take my laptop to a computer repair shop when trying to replace my keyboard and not being able to remove the old one. Anyway with an extra HD bay I'm guessing it's a fairly easy install of the SSD drive. What is it just one cable that has to be attached? and I'm assuming since the bay is there the place to connect the cable is right there. Do SSD drives come with a kit to hold it in place since it is much smaller in size?

Now the real questions as I guessing I can figure out how to put it where it belongs inside my laptop. However what I don't know is how I safely move my OS from the 500 GB HD to the new 64, 120, or 240 GB SSD Drive? Do these SSD drives come with software that helps with moving what I want from the old drive to the new SSD drive? You don't have to move everything from the old drive to the new drive for it to work do you? Like I said I'd prefer to move either just my OS, Windows 7,or my OS and my Browser, Google Chrome. How do I do move it to the new SSD drive if it doesn't come with any software? Also once my OS is moved to the new SSD is there anything I must do in Bios to make sure on boot up it now looks for my OS on the SSD drive and not where it's been looking for the OS since we bought the laptop. I don't mess with Bios so I'm hoping the software takes care of any when it's moving the OS to the new SSD drive. Lastly is there any other advice you can give me to make this hardware install go smoothly. Will I see noticeably faster booting times? Will the laptop run faster in general? Other then the OS what are some of the best things to move over to the SSD drive? If I have the room should I just move everything from the old drive to the new SSD drive?

 

[dustinhunt78]

This little number right here is what you want:

http/www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE120BW/dp/B00E3W15P0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396590552&sr=8-1&keywords=Samsung+840+evo+120

Not only is this one of the fastest and most reliable SSD on the market, but it comes with the Samsung Magician disk cloning software for free. I own a Samsung 840 Pro, which also came with this software. I was able to completely transfer anything and/or everything from my HDD to my new Samsung SSD.

I PROMISE you that you will not be sorry for purchasing this SSD. It's going to blow your knickers off whenever you see how fast it is! LOL

 

[wwagnerjr]

Thanks Dude! Since I'm just putting it into an open 2nd HD Bay I don't need any cables, right? Does that SSD come with everything I need to put it into the open spot? I seen people asking about mounting kits. Is that something I need to worry about?

Also after adding the SSD and then transferring the OS to it will Bios know to boot up from the SSD drive without me doing anything? That's all I need is to move the OS to the SSD and the laptop not booting up because it's still looking for my OS on my HDD. That's been my biggest worry all along.

 

[Mac2PC]

What is it just one cable that has to be attached? and I'm assuming since the bay is there the place to connect the cable is right there. Do SSD drives come with a kit to hold it in place since it is much smaller in size?

With SSD installation on my MacBook pro, I used screws that secured the thinner SSD into place. I could not find good pictures to see the set up of the hard drive bay to say the same for your Acer. In addition, the "cable" your referring to might just be a port or the male end of a cable to connect your SSD.

 

[dustinhunt78]

What is it just one cable that has to be attached? and I'm assuming since the bay is there the place to connect the cable is right there. Do SSD drives come with a kit to hold it in place since it is much smaller in size?

With SSD installation on my MacBook pro, I used screws that secured the thinner SSD into place. I could not find good pictures to see the set up of the hard drive bay to say the same for your Acer. In addition, the "cable" your referring to might just be a port or the male end of a cable to connect your SSD.

Nearly all SSDs are connected through SATA connections. The only exceptions would be PCI-e SSDs, but they are EXTREMELY expensive.and you would definitely know if you had one - if not by the price, the looks would give it away. They plug into your motherboard just as a GPU would. But even if your computer isn't SATA compatible, you can get adapters to make it work. The speed won't be there like it would if your computer was SATA compatible, but it will still work for you.

 

[PCGameFan2]

Watch this video for installing a SSD into a laptop. It's a pretty standard process for all laptops.

http/youtu.be/IWmjqDVLomA

 

[wwagnerjr]

Thanks for posting that! The one question it does bring up for me is since I'm putting the SSD into a 2nd empty bay will I need to buy those 4 studs that keep the SSD in place from somewhere? I ended up purchasing the SSD drive posted for me in this thread and I'm pretty sure it doesn't come with any mounting stuff.

 

[dustinhunt78]

Thanks for posting that! The one question it does bring up for me is since I'm putting the SSD into a 2nd empty bay will I need to buy those 4 studs that keep the SSD in place from somewhere? I ended up purchasing the SSD drive posted for me in this thread and I'm pretty sure it doesn't come with any mounting stuff.

Different laptop models typically have different mounting solutions. I would definitely purchase the correct hardware that you need. Without it your drive will not stay mounted. I've been down that road before......never again. LOL

 

[PCGameFan2]

Thanks for posting that! The one question it does bring up for me is since I'm putting the SSD into a 2nd empty bay will I need to buy those 4 studs that keep the SSD in place from somewhere? I ended up purchasing the SSD drive posted for me in this thread and I'm pretty sure it doesn't come with any mounting stuff.

Different laptop models typically have different mounting solutions. I would definitely purchase the correct hardware that you need. Without it your drive will not stay mounted. I've been down that road before......never again. LOL

Really the only thing you need to worry about is whether you need a 9mm or 7mm drive. Your laptop should already have all of the mounting pieces that you need installed. You would just need to reuse them on your new drive. I've never had a problem putting new drives into laptops and I've done it a few times.

 

[dustinhunt78]

Thanks for posting that! The one question it does bring up for me is since I'm putting the SSD into a 2nd empty bay will I need to buy those 4 studs that keep the SSD in place from somewhere? I ended up purchasing the SSD drive posted for me in this thread and I'm pretty sure it doesn't come with any mounting stuff.

Different laptop models typically have different mounting solutions. I would definitely purchase the correct hardware that you need. Without it your drive will not stay mounted. I've been down that road before......never again. LOL

Really the only thing you need to worry about is whether you need a 9mm or 7mm drive. Your laptop should already have all of the mounting pieces that you need installed. You would just need to reuse them on your new drive. I've never had a problem putting new drives into laptops and I've done it a few times.

This was a second additional hard drive. I don't think it would have the mounting hardware in it for a secondary hard drive. On the primary drive, you are 100% correct in the fact that the old hardware can and should be reused. But I don't think that the same thing can be said about mounting hardware for the "slave" drive.

 

[wwagnerjr]

Thanks for posting that! The one question it does bring up for me is since I'm putting the SSD into a 2nd empty bay will I need to buy those 4 studs that keep the SSD in place from somewhere? I ended up purchasing the SSD drive posted for me in this thread and I'm pretty sure it doesn't come with any mounting stuff.

Different laptop models typically have different mounting solutions. I would definitely purchase the correct hardware that you need. Without it your drive will not stay mounted. I've been down that road before......never again. LOL

Really the only thing you need to worry about is whether you need a 9mm or 7mm drive. Your laptop should already have all of the mounting pieces that you need installed. You would just need to reuse them on your new drive. I've never had a problem putting new drives into laptops and I've done it a few times.

This was a second additional hard drive. I don't think it would have the mounting hardware in it for a secondary hard drive. On the primary drive, you are 100% correct in the fact that the old hardware can and should be reused. But I don't think that the same thing can be said about mounting hardware for the "slave" drive.

Exactly must I buy some kit or something to mount it then? I also heard something about using Velcro to keep him in place. Does that work?

 

[dustinhunt78]

Thanks for posting that! The one question it does bring up for me is since I'm putting the SSD into a 2nd empty bay will I need to buy those 4 studs that keep the SSD in place from somewhere? I ended up purchasing the SSD drive posted for me in this thread and I'm pretty sure it doesn't come with any mounting stuff.

Different laptop models typically have different mounting solutions. I would definitely purchase the correct hardware that you need. Without it your drive will not stay mounted. I've been down that road before......never again. LOL

Really the only thing you need to worry about is whether you need a 9mm or 7mm drive. Your laptop should already have all of the mounting pieces that you need installed. You would just need to reuse them on your new drive. I've never had a problem putting new drives into laptops and I've done it a few times.

This was a second additional hard drive. I don't think it would have the mounting hardware in it for a secondary hard drive. On the primary drive, you are 100% correct in the fact that the old hardware can and should be reused. But I don't think that the same thing can be said about mounting hardware for the "slave" drive.

Exactly must I buy some kit or something to mount it then? I also heard something about using Velcro to keep him in place. Does that work?

Give me the exact make and model of your laptop and I'll do some digging to see what your best option is. Ideally, if they do make a "kit" to install a second drive, I'd go with it. I don't like the idea of my hard drive being unsecured. The fact that it is an SSD makes it a bit better, as they aren't prone to "shock damage" like an HDD, but still I want it secure, as I'm sure that you do as well.

 

[wwagnerjr]

Thanks for posting that! The one question it does bring up for me is since I'm putting the SSD into a 2nd empty bay will I need to buy those 4 studs that keep the SSD in place from somewhere? I ended up purchasing the SSD drive posted for me in this thread and I'm pretty sure it doesn't come with any mounting stuff.

Different laptop models typically have different mounting solutions. I would definitely purchase the correct hardware that you need. Without it your drive will not stay mounted. I've been down that road before......never again. LOL

Really the only thing you need to worry about is whether you need a 9mm or 7mm drive. Your laptop should already have all of the mounting pieces that you need installed. You would just need to reuse them on your new drive. I've never had a problem putting new drives into laptops and I've done it a few times.

This was a second additional hard drive. I don't think it would have the mounting hardware in it for a secondary hard drive. On the primary drive, you are 100% correct in the fact that the old hardware can and should be reused. But I don't think that the same thing can be said about mounting hardware for the "slave" drive.

Exactly must I buy some kit or something to mount it then? I also heard something about using Velcro to keep him in place. Does that work?

Give me the exact make and model of your laptop and I'll do some digging to see what your best option is. Ideally, if they do make a "kit" to install a second drive, I'd go with it. I don't like the idea of my hard drive being unsecured. The fact that it is an SSD makes it a bit better, as they aren't prone to "shock damage" like an HDD, but still I want it secure, as I'm sure that you do as well.

Acer Aspire 7750G-6645
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2450M CPU @ 2.50GHz, 2501 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
x64 bit
8 GBs Ram
500GB HD

If you need anything else let me know, but that is what I could find. Thx for the help

 

[dustinhunt78]

I do think that this is what we need:

http/www.notebooksolutions.ca/zc/acer-original-bracket-for-hdd-right-ac44160-46966.html

It should be like the one you currently have. They show a pic, show you shold be able to tell. Let me know if this is it, if not, I will continue the search.

 

[wwagnerjr]

I do think that this is what we need:

http/www.notebooksolutions.ca/zc/acer-original-bracket-for-hdd-right-ac44160-46966.html

It should be like the one you currently have. They show a pic, show you shold be able to tell. Let me know if this is it, if not, I will continue the search.

OK so I entered my S/N to check for compatibility and it said it's compatible. However I noticed the part says it's a replacement part for the original bracket. So does that make any difference since I'm not replacing the original bracket, but adding a new HD in the open bay slot? I just don't want the bracket to be backwards or not fit because it's not the same HD spot.

 

[dustinhunt78]

I do think that this is what we need:

http/www.notebooksolutions.ca/zc/acer-original-bracket-for-hdd-right-ac44160-46966.html

It should be like the one you currently have. They show a pic, show you shold be able to tell. Let me know if this is it, if not, I will continue the search.

OK so I entered my S/N to check for compatibility and it said it's compatible. However I noticed the part says it's a replacement part for the original bracket. So does that make any difference since I'm not replacing the original bracket, but adding a new HD in the open bay slot? I just don't want the bracket to be backwards or not fit because it's not the same HD spot.

One sec. I'll see if the brackets are "mirrored" to one another.

 

[dustinhunt78]

Ok....there IS two different brackets. The first one I sent you was a "right" bracket. This one is "left":

http/www.notebooksolutions.ca/zc/acer-original-bracket-for-hdd-left-ac44159-46965.html

 

[wwagnerjr]

Ok....there IS two different brackets. The first one I sent you was a "right" bracket. This one is "left":

http/www.notebooksolutions.ca/zc/acer-original-bracket-for-hdd-left-ac44159-46965.html

Now I just have to hope they get more in stock sometime soon. I appreciate your help though.I would have never found that on my own.

 

[jarotech]

Hi, this is what you need : http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA3AN1415946

 

[wwagnerjr]

Hi, this is what you need : http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA3AN1415946

While that's great it doesn't come with any screws.Where would I then find screws to fit it?