Installing new ssd in laptop. questions

[weedn]

Hi everybody. I recently bought a new open box laptop from best buy for $299. Its an Asus k55n with 4gb ram (has 8 now) a 500gb HDD and an a8 4500m. http/m.bestbuy.com/m/e/product/detail.jsp?skuId=6087209&pid=1218717240847

I wanna get a Samsung 830 256 GB ssd for it and had a quick question about disk cloning. I wanna get a USB 3.0 external enclosure and wanted to know if that being plugged into the usb 3 port with the ssd and macrium or similar software would be sufficient for the process. Or do I need to throw both these drives in my desktop to do it.

Also. The current HDD is partitioned terribly with half for system and half storage. (Manufacturer fail) and wondering how that would affect the cloning process

Also if someone could suggest me a good enclosure for a decent price. Not to exceed $25 if possible for my needs. Either off amazon or new egg preferably

Thank you

 

[kenrivers]

You can purchase the Samsung 830 256 GB drive with a full laptop installation kit at Newegg: http/www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147138

You do not need to put both drives in a desktop to clone the drive. I have cloned the drive on one of my laptops without using a desktop computer. I used the installation kit USB cable and included software to clone the drive.

Is there anything on the second (data) partition that you need to keep? If not then you could delete the second partition and extend the first partition. Use caution doing this and make absolutely sure there is nothing on the second partition that is critical to the OS. YouTube video on how to merge partitions: http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=beXqc8htfGs

What are the sizes of the partitions? 250 and 250?

 

[weedn]

Yeah the partitions are roughly that. I have nothing on the data partition. So I'll merge them as you showed me. Thanks for the video.

As far as getting the laptop upgrade kit. I thought if I was gonna spend another $20 it might as well be on an enclosure as opposed to a cable and software when there are many free options available.