128GB SSD to 256GB SSD Help

[cheekybadger]

Hi guys

So, I bought a new laptop - love it, but I've since found out that the 128GB SSD is just not big enough for what I need (albeit not by a massive amount). I have all of my music, videos, etc on my 1TB HDD which is fine and still ooodles of space on that, but of course you forget that Windows and Drivers and everything else eats up a lot of the 128GB SSD space, few programs etc etc and oops... so, I've seen lots of tutorials on how to upgrade with a PC (with both drives installed) and "clone" one to the other, but I have a laptop.

The question is, how easy is it to upgrade my 128 to a new 256 without losing everything I have installed on it already... ???

Thanks for any help as always.

Just for info I have an Acer F5 573G, Intel i5-7200 2.5ghz - 3.0ghz with GTX950M graphics, 16GB ram, 1TB HDD, 128GB SSD

 

[Wozza63]

Hi guys

So, I bought a new laptop - love it, but I've since found out that the 128GB SSD is just not big enough for what I need (albeit not by a massive amount). I have all of my music, videos, etc on my 1TB HDD which is fine and still ooodles of space on that, but of course you forget that Windows and Drivers and everything else eats up a lot of the 128GB SSD space, few programs etc etc and oops... so, I've seen lots of tutorials on how to upgrade with a PC (with both drives installed) and "clone" one to the other, but I have a laptop.

The question is, how easy is it to upgrade my 128 to a new 256 without losing everything I have installed on it already... ???

Thanks for any help as always.

Just for info I have an Acer F5 573G, Intel i5-7200 2.5ghz - 3.0ghz with GTX950M graphics, 16GB ram, 1TB HDD, 128GB SSD

If you have all of your important files and documents on the secondary 1TB drive. You may wish to just reinstall Windows and all of your programs onto your new SSD. This will have no effect on the data on the other drive. You may need to create an install disc/memory stick before you can do this.

 

[cheekybadger]

If you have all of your important files and documents on the secondary 1TB drive. You may wish to just reinstall Windows and all of your programs onto your new SSD. This will have no effect on the data on the other drive. You may need to create an install disc/memory stick before you can do this.

Heya, damn, I was hoping to avoid that.... It's a brand new laptop you see and I really don't want to reinstall Windows and programs etc - so there's no way to clone the drive that's already in there onto the new SSD and turn off, replace and boot up? :hang:

 

[cheekybadger]

Actually, can I clone the SSD drive to my HDD drive ( I have the space ) and then turn off laptop, swap over the old SSD with the new one and do it that way??

 

[ubuysa]

Actually, can I clone the SSD drive to my HDD drive ( I have the space ) and then turn off laptop, swap over the old SSD with the new one and do it that way??

You can certainly do that, tools like Acronis, Macrium Reflect and a few others will do that for you. If it were mine I would do a clean reinstall though, despite the nuisance in having to reinstall everything. It's by far the most reliable way to get a stable system.

You might actually be able to avoid the SSD upgrade at all by moving the pagefile to your HDD and by turning off hibernation if you don't use it much. With 16GB installed RAM those two things will probably save you close to 20GB of space on the SSD....

 

[Wozza63]

No it's not the only way, but in my opinion it is the easiest.

I've never cloned a drive but you could have both SSDs installed at once to clone the old to the new. Then remove the old one (make sure to format it if you are going to sell it on) and pop the 1TB back in. It should then *fingers crossed* boot up just fine and recognise both drives. But issues with cloning are fairly common and especially as it's so new, a reinstall would be less risky because you won't be losing much in the way of custom settings and reinstalling all your software shouldn't take too long.

Ninite can also make that reinstall process a little bit easier
https://ninite.com/

And to add to Ubuysa's comment. It's certainly worth looking at where your space is all going. I've got 120GB drives in 3 systems and it's sufficient for me. You can also move the downloads folder onto the other drive to stop that taking up any space.

 

[cheekybadger]

You can certainly do that, tools like Acronis, Macrium Reflect and a few others will do that for you. If it were mine I would do a clean reinstall though, despite the nuisance in having to reinstall everything. It's by far the most reliable way to get a stable system.

You might actually be able to avoid the SSD upgrade at all by moving the pagefile to your HDD and by turning off hibernation if you don't use it much. With 16GB installed RAM those two things will probably save you close to 20GB of space on the SSD....

ooh, that may well create enough space and certainly save me £100 on a new SSD - is it easy enough to do? I am intelligent enough to follow instructions lol - or if you have a link to a good source of instruction that would be great Also, I see there's a folder with Windowsold - can I just delete that? Surprised it's there tbh seeing as the laptop is new and doubt it would have had an older version of Windows on it *confused*.... Thanks... I love learning

 

[cheekybadger]

Yup, all my downloads go to my D: drive (1TB HDD) - the SSD is only used for Windows, program files etc but I use Flight Simulator so that takes up a fair bit of space Definitely be keen to shave some more space off by moving or deleting some folders as you mentions, pagefile etc

 

[cheekybadger]

No it's not the only way, but in my opinion it is the easiest.

I've never cloned a drive but you could have both SSDs installed at once to clone the old to the new. Then remove the old one (make sure to format it if you are going to sell it on) and pop the 1TB back in. It should then *fingers crossed* boot up just fine and recognise both drives. But issues with cloning are fairly common and especially as it's so new, a reinstall would be less risky because you won't be losing much in the way of custom settings and reinstalling all your software shouldn't take too long.

Ninite can also make that reinstall process a little bit easier
https://ninite.com/

And to add to Ubuysa's comment. It's certainly worth looking at where your space is all going. I've got 120GB drives in 3 systems and it's sufficient for me. You can also move the downloads folder onto the other drive to stop that taking up any space.

I've just re-read this - I think I've made this more difficult than it needed to be. So, can I put the new SSD in the current HDD Slot in order to do the clone???

 

[Wozza63]

Interesting that you have the Windows.old folder on a new PC. But yes, it can be deleted (though not normally). You'll need to run Disk Cleanup (just search in the start menu) and then you can tick "Previous windows installation" and then press ok. There may be other bits that you might want to remove through it as well.

 

[cheekybadger]

Interesting that you have the Windows.old folder on a new PC. But yes, it can be deleted (though not normally). You'll need to run Disk Cleanup (just search in the start menu) and then you can tick "Previous windows installation" and then press ok. There may be other bits that you might want to remove through it as well.

That's what I thought... this "assistant" did pop up and say "save some space by removing windowsold" I clicked but it didn't do anything lol - I'm a Windows 7 boy really, so this is all new to me... if it comes to it I'll install the new SSD and then plonk 7 back on, but thus far Win10 is working swimmingly well so... OK, I'll do the Disk Cleanup then, see how much space that frees up Thanks for all the help...

 

[ubuysa]

ooh, that may well create enough space and certainly save me £100 on a new SSD - is it easy enough to do? I am intelligent enough to follow instructions lol - or if you have a link to a good source of instruction that would be great Also, I see there's a folder with Windowsold - can I just delete that? Surprised it's there tbh seeing as the laptop is new and doubt it would have had an older version of Windows on it *confused*.... Thanks... I love learning

First the good news....

YOU DON'T NEED TO BUY A NEW SSD!

The Windows.old folder contains the version of Windows you upgraded to Windows 10 from (so it's Windows 7/8 or 8.1). It's there so you can downgrade back to your original version of Windows if you don't like Windows 10, so if you're keeping Windows 10 (or if it's more than 30 days since you upgraded) you don't need this folder any more because you won't be downgrading. So delete it. That will save you a bunch of space.

To move the pagefile and turn off hibernation (and for a bunch of other SSD tips) see https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?14728-SSD-Management.

On my 128GB SSD Windows and all my programs take up less than 35GB.

 

[Tony1044]

Also look up folder redirection.

You may as well put things like your my documents, downloads and maybe even APPDATA etc onto the HDD.

 

[cheekybadger]

Hey guys

Thanks for the additional responses.... much appreciated as always.
OK, so just to clarify, I bought this laptop new last week so was unsure why it had a Windows Old Folder, it's odd because it only contains 30mb of stuff, but I've left it anyway. I've ordered the following and it arrives tomorrow: http://www.awd-it.co.uk/crucial-mx3...nal-ssd-solid-state-drive-ct275mx300ssd1.html

Now, the question is, do I need to buy one of these in order to clone my existing SDD to the new one? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-Driv...sr=8-1-spons&keywords=external+ssd+case&psc=1 and if so, will this one do the job OK???

The way I see it going is:

1) Power up laptop
2) Plug in new SDD with enclosure to my USB 3.0 slot
3) Open up Macrium Reflect
4) Select cloning hard drives (from current installed to new on usb)
5) Perform clone and follow instructions
6) Shut down laptop
7) Swap SSD's
8) Power up laptop
9) Jump with joy that it's all OK and I now have a larger functioning SDD and everything is as it was lol

I did it with the RAM, installed another stick of 8gb and now I have 16gb and all rosey - my program "Speccy" told me so lol

So yes, is that the best and quickest way to do it? Bearing in mind that at the moment the laptop has very little on it but I know with what I need to put on it the space would run out hence the swap, then I'll format the old one and sell it on

Always appreciate and value your advice guys, nice to see you Ubuysa, you've helped me out before

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hey guys

Thanks for the additional responses.... much appreciated as always.
OK, so just to clarify, I bought this laptop new last week so was unsure why it had a Windows Old Folder, it's odd because it only contains 30mb of stuff, but I've left it anyway. I've ordered the following and it arrives tomorrow: http://www.awd-it.co.uk/crucial-mx3...nal-ssd-solid-state-drive-ct275mx300ssd1.html

Now, the question is, do I need to buy one of these in order to clone my existing SDD to the new one? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-Driv...sr=8-1-spons&keywords=external+ssd+case&psc=1 and if so, will this one do the job OK???

The way I see it going is:

1) Power up laptop
2) Plug in new SDD with enclosure to my USB 3.0 slot
3) Open up Macrium Reflect
4) Select cloning hard drives (from current installed to new on usb)
5) Perform clone and follow instructions
6) Shut down laptop
7) Swap SSD's
8) Power up laptop
9) Jump with joy that it's all OK and I now have a larger functioning SDD and everything is as it was lol

I did it with the RAM, installed another stick of 8gb and now I have 16gb and all rosey - my program "Speccy" told me so lol

So yes, is that the best and quickest way to do it? Bearing in mind that at the moment the laptop has very little on it but I know with what I need to put on it the space would run out hence the swap, then I'll format the old one and sell it on

Always appreciate and value your advice guys, nice to see you Ubuysa, you've helped me out before

The windows.old folder is much more likely to be 30GB, not 30mb.

Does your laptop not have a secondary HDD bay, in which case take out the existing hdd if you have one, then install your new drive. Run macrium reflect straight to the secondary drive. Swap drives and remove the 128gb one. Reinstall secondary HDD. Done.

You shouldn't need the enclosure if you have a secondary bay.

If you don't then it's exactly as you described.

 

[cheekybadger]

The windows.old folder is much more likely to be 30GB, not 30mb.

Does your laptop not have a secondary HDD bay, in which case take out the existing hdd if you have one, then install your new drive. Run macrium reflect straight to the secondary drive. Swap drives and remove the 128gb one. Reinstall secondary HDD. Done.

You shouldn't need the enclosure if you have a secondary bay.

If you don't then it's exactly as you described.

Excellent, thankyou - here is the screenshot of the Windows Old folder, it is 30mb, that's why I was surprised...

But perfect, I know where I'm at - I just needed to make sure that the enclosure I'm ordering will be right for the job


Thanks so much again..

 

[cheekybadger]

Thanks for the other space saving tips and the link to SSD management. I've bookmarked it for use when I'm all "swapped over" - I like to keep good housekeeping on my machine

 

[Oussebon]

Some of the things in that topic might be considered pretty out of date tbh. Like moving the page file to reduce writes and disabling indexing. That's just not an issue for modern SSD lifespan.

 

[ubuysa]

Some of the things in that topic might be considered pretty out of date tbh. Like moving the page file to reduce writes and disabling indexing. That's just not an issue for modern SSD lifespan.

Agreed, but it is a nice space saver.

 

[cheekybadger]

Just wondered if it's me or whether there's an issue somewhere - I often have content that is archived and I used to use Winrar but found it was just too slow - could anyone shed some light on how long it should take to say extract a 6GB file, such as a movie? It takes about 3 minutes for me and that's with an SSD and quite a good processor with 16gb ram etc, is that normal? Any better programs out there to use that are faster such as Powerarchiver etc?
As always I welcome any suggestions and grateful for any help..... the new SSD should be arriving momentarily so I'll post back my thanks and feedback once I've carried out the cloning Exciting stuff lol