Upgrading existing hard drive to SSD instead of purchasing new laptop

Having Lenovo ThinkPad laptop for about two years, I thought maybe it is time to purchase a new laptop. Perhaps a laptop with more processing power and a must have Solid State Drive (SSD). I did not really care much about the touchscreen feature even though it is a plus to have.

However, over the past two years, not much have changed with respect to hardware and even the software. Computer Processors (Intel, AMD, etc.) did not advance much as far as processor clock speed, conventional hard drives did not change much either with exception to higher capacity.

The primary focus of computing systems manufactures seem to to be revolving around touchscreen displays, look & feel of products and partially or fully offering built-in SSD.  

On the other hand, Microsoft realized that Windows 8 operating system was a failure and pretty much is just rolling back to Windows 7. In reality, Windows 10 is simply Windows 7 & Windows 8 combined. I remember when I purchased my Lenovo laptop, there were only few laptops available that are running Windows 7. Currently, I have Microsoft Windows 7 running on my laptop. Despite the fact that I keep getting annoying popup message with an offer to upgrade to Windows 10 for FREE but I have no plan of upgrading my existing OS.

On Cyber Monday, I purchased Microsoft Surface Pro 4 from Costco for $749 after $250 in discounts in which I ended up returning it. At the same time, I ordered HP ENVY – 15t Touch Laptop from HP for $629 after $330 in discounts in which I also just sent back.

You’re probably wondering why did I send both of them back?

Wonder no longer! See the comparison chart below:

After comparing both laptops to my existing Lenovo ThinkPad, I realized it is not really worth purchasing new laptop but upgrading the standard hard disk with SSD.

I did some research about available internal SSD in the market today and finally decided to get the Samsung SSD 850 EVO 2.5″ SATA III 500GB mainly because of the many positive reviews about the product.

The product includes a CD with Samsung Data Migration and Magician software which makes the installation process very easy.

However, the SSD 850 EVO does not include data transfer cable nor power cable needed to migrate data. Therefore, unless you have SATA III 2.5″ Hard Drive Adapter, you will have to purchase it to complete the migration process before installing anything. You’ll need a transfer cable for data transfer and a power cable to power the SSD. The SATA 2.5” Kit or something similiar to it is what you’ll need to clone your existing hard drive.

Data Migration Step:

• Turn your laptop on and make sure it is connected to the power outlet.
• Connect the SSD EVO 850 to USB port on your laptop, using the SATA Kit. Please note, the SSD EVO 850 must be receiving power for it to work. Connecting data cable only won’t cut it.
• Once connected, your laptop should identify a new USB device connected to it.
• Install the migration software using the CD provided with the product (if you do not have CD-ROM drive on your laptop, click here to download the migration software of Samsung website).
• Run the migration software which will clone your entire system. The process will take hours depending on how much data you have on your old hard drive.

In my case, the migration process took little over three hours, to clone about 300 GB of data, so be patient. Once the migration process completes, power down your laptop.

Installation Step:

• Turn off your laptop and unplug any power source connected to the laptop.
• Take out the laptop battery.
• Use Flip screwdriver to take out the back cover screws.
• Locate the old SATA 2.5” hard drive. It should be secured using four screws or so.
• Take out the four screws and gently pull out the old hard drive.
• To use the old hard drive housing for the SSD, you will need to take out its side screws. There should be four screws.
• Use the old SATA 2.5” housing to install the SSD inside it.
• Install the SSD by gently sliding it into the SATA adaptor on your laptop.
• Secure the SSD by installing the four screws back.
• After making sure everything is on place, put the back cover back.

Put the battery back on the laptop and start it. The laptop should start exactly the same way it always does with exception to performance.

You will notice improvements in speed and performance the minute your start your laptop. Most of the performance will be noticed when launching system intensive applications like Photoshop and the like.

Most importantly, you do not have to worry about a hard drive crash that could cost you loss of all of your data. It is very easy to recover data of a SSD than conventional hard disks in the event of system failure.