How to install a second ssd disk on a computer. How to install SSD on laptop and PC? Several reliable methods. Installing a new disk in a desktop computer

Solid state drives, which are popularly called SSD drive ami are gaining more and more popularity every year. Their production is becoming cheaper, more and more affordable models are appearing in the store for customers, and the number of users who decide to install them is increasing.

Installing an SSD into a desktop computer or laptop is an excellent solution if you want to increase operating speed operating system. It doesn’t really matter how fast the solid-state drive you buy; even the slowest SSD drive is tens of times faster than a standard HDD.

Having purchased an SSD drive, it is important to install it correctly. In this article, we will look at how to install a drive in a computer or laptop.

Please note: To notice the performance improvement from installing on your computerSSD disk, you need the operating system to be located on it.

How to install an SSD drive in a computer system unit

The procedure for installing an SSD drive in a desktop computer is almost identical to how to install an HDD drive, with the exception of small nuances. The main caveat is that a regular HDD for a desktop computer is 3.5 inches in size, while an SSD drive is 2.5 inches in size; therefore, to install the drive you will need a special adapter, which can be purchased inexpensively at any computer store.

Overall installation processSSD drive in system unit computer looks like this:

When all the steps described above have been completed, you can proceed to setting up the SSD drive. To do this, go to the BIOS and select AHCI mode for the installed SSD drive. If you plan to use an SSD drive for the operating system, install it first in the list of disks to boot and install the operating system (or transfer Windows from the old disk to the new one).

How to install an SSD drive in a laptop

Installing an SSD in a laptop is an extremely simple procedure that takes no more than 10 minutes if done correctly. The fact is that laptops are initially equipped with 2.5-inch disks, so no additional effort is required to properly secure the disk. All you need to do to install an SSD in a laptop is:

Once the SSD drive is in place of the HDD drive, you will need to install the operating system. This can be done from a flash drive or disk.

Please note: If your laptop hasCD/A DVD drive that is not in use can be removed from the computer and replaced with a special mount forSSD drive to use it without removing the main one HDD.

I have already mentioned SSD drives more than once in my articles, saying that they are faster than regular ones and can be used to upgrade your computer. And it would seem that their installation is a trivial thing, what could be simpler, remove old hard disk, install a new SSD , install Windows on it and rejoice, but in reality everything is not so simple. The fact is that in order to squeeze maximum speed from an SSD drive (otherwise why use it), you need to switch to AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) mode in the BIOS. And this is where the surprises can begin...

So, I have old computer, who decided to upgrade and install an SSD drive. I switched the AHCI mode in the BIOS. To do this, go into the BIOS (press the Del or F2 button (there may be other keys depending on the model motherboard), when turning on the computer) in the "Main" menu, selected "Sata Configuration".

And in "Configure Sata as" I chose "AHCI"

I saved the settings, restarted the computer and started installing Windows. But that was not the case, an error occurred:

I started changing the BIOS settings, even updated its version , the result was the same - this error constantly appeared. In the end, I decided to select IDE mode in the BIOS and install Windows.
The installation was successful, then I decided to try switching back to AHCI mode in the BIOS, but a similar trick failed and Windows simply did not boot (in principle, I expected a similar result). Then I decided to do this - switch back to IDE mode, go into Windows and change the mode to ACHI in the registry editor.

Having returned to IDE mode, Windows booted successfully; now you need to make changes to the registry. To do this, open the registry editor - press the key combination "Win" + "R" and enter regedit.

In the registry editor, go to the path "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci", find the "Start" parameter, open it by double-clicking. In the "Value" field, enter "0".

That's it, the system can be rebooted and AHCI mode can be set in the BIOS. As a result, everything worked, the SSD disk worked in ACHI mode. Windows booted successfully and worked many times faster than with a regular hard disk.

So, if your old computer has stopped pleasing you with the speed of its operation, installing an SSD drive, in my opinion, is the ideal solution. But don't forget about the minimum size random access memory- 2GB and a processor, preferably 2 cores of at least 2 GHz.

I hope this article helped you avoid the mistake:

Installing Windows on this disk is not possible. Possible equipment of this computer does not support booting from this disk. Make sure that the controller for this drive is enabled in the computer's BIOS menu.

And it helped to upgrade your computer and increase its performance and performance.

(speed of operation, fault tolerance, low energy consumption, etc.)

Our reader Mikhail Ivanovsky noticed that even if the selected laptop model does not have an SSD, you can easily install it yourself. At the request of the editors, Mikhail wrote a simple and understandable guide for installing an SSD for a laptop.

For those who prefer to watch, we have prepared a video version of this article:

While Windows was loading, you managed to forget why you turned on the laptop in the first place? So it's time to change something. And this “something” is not necessarily the entire laptop.

The reasons for slow loading may vary, but they all affect the speed of the system and installed programs. Only one thing can be said for sure - a system installed on a good old hard drive (HDD) is, in principle, incapable of breaking records. But don’t despair and stock up on glycine!

If previously few could afford a laptop with an SSD drive, today such models are becoming more affordable. Alas, manufacturers are not yet in a hurry to install them on all laptop models, since such an option will still significantly affect the price. Not everyone is ready to overpay for a laptop with an SSD, especially if the purpose of use does not go beyond the usual scope.

Especially for those who want to enjoy all the advantages of a system on a solid-state drive, but do not have the desire or opportunity to purchase a top-end laptop, we have prepared this guide. With its help, you will be convinced that installing an SSD with your own hands is not at all difficult (easier than assembling a chest of drawers from IKEA).

Moreover, the increase in laptop performance and the pleasure from the work done are not comparable with the effort expended.


There may be several installation options. It all depends on your needs, as well as the size and configuration of the laptop. Let's consider the most common case, when an SSD is installed in the standard place of a native hard drive(HDD), and that, in turn, replaces the optical drive. This configuration is recommended, since the interface for connecting an optical drive is not always able to provide the SSD with the required data transfer speed.

Whether we like it or not, CD and DVD drives are laptop computers become an atavism and will probably soon disappear completely (as once happened with floppy disks and dinosaurs). Remember the last time you inserted a disc into your laptop? But the drive takes up space, periodically hums, consumes electricity, and even gets hot.

So, here's what we need for the upgrade:

• SSD standard size 2.5"
• Adapter for HDD\SSD 2.5" for laptop drive
• Utility for transferring system and programs from HDD to SSD

Adapter

The installation process in general looks like this:

• Turn the laptop over and remove the battery
• We find the cover with the disk storage marking, unscrew the screw securing it (it may be hidden by a plug), remove the cover and carefully remove the HDD, having first disconnected the cable with the wiring
• We install our SSD in place of the HDD, insert the cable, return the cover and tighten the screw
• We install the HDD into the adapter and secure it to it with the screws included in the package.
• We find the screw (may be hidden by a plug) with the drive marking and unscrew it. In most laptops, this is all that holds the optical drive.
• Open the tray using a needle (the hole next to the button) and, holding the laptop with one hand, carefully remove the optical drive with the other

• We remove the front panel with the button from the tray and replace it with the adapter so that the surgical intervention does not affect the appearance laptop

• Insert the adapter from the HDD into the drive location and tighten the screw
• Don’t forget about the plugs, if there were any.
• Turn on the laptop

Mikhail Ivanovsky

Today we will look at:

Today, solid state SSD drives are the best choice when upgrading your PC if you want to start with a hard drive. First of all, such a replacement will significantly affect the speed of the system, and secondly, the SSD drive does not make unnecessary sounds and takes up much less space in the system unit.

Of course, for everything to work, you need to know how to properly install SSD drives on your computer or laptop. And depending on the device you are using, the SSD installation process will be different. Let's look at how to properly install an SSD drive for computers and laptops.

Connecting an SSD drive to a PC

To begin with, if you have installed an HDD on your computer before, then the process here will be similar, except that the width of the SSD is 3.5 inches instead of 2.5.

If you haven’t done this, here’s a little instruction on how to properly connect an SSD to a personal computer:

If you want to install Windows on an SSD, then this article will help you do it right. Here you will learn how to enable AHCI mode.

Connecting an SSD to a laptop

Ready. Now all that's left is to transfer to your new SSD drive.

Bottom line

That's how easy it is to replace an outdated HDD with a fast and quiet SDD without any outside help. We hope that our instructions were clear to you. Otherwise, post your questions here.

Frequently asked questions about solid state drives

Before we answer any questions, we'd like to remind you that we are convinced that SSD storage for laptops and desktops (as well as for enterprise servers) has a bright future ahead of it. SSD is truly capable of providing high performance, improved system responsiveness, increased time battery life, high reliability, faster loading, reduced vibration and noise. As prices come down and storage quality improves, we believe more and more computers will be sold with SSDs instead of traditional HDDs. With this in mind, we have focused the necessary engineering efforts to ensure that users can fully experience the benefits of working with a new type of storage device.

Q: Will Windows 7 support tweaking?

Oh yeah. This has already been discussed above.

Q: Will defragmentation be disabled by default for SSDs?

Oh yeah. Automatically running the defragmentation task will not include partitions created on the SSD or identifying themselves as such. Moreover, if system partition shows random read performance higher than 8 MB/s, it will also be excluded from the list for defragmentation. Performance levels were determined through internal testing.

The threshold performance level test was added to the final version due to the fact that only a few of the SSDs on the market identify themselves as SSDs in the system. 8 Mb/s is quite modest. SSD performance ranges from 11 to 130 MB/s. We tested 182 HDDs, and only 6 of them exceeded the 2 MB/s bar in the random read test. The results of the remaining 176 lie between 0.8 and 1.6 Mb/s.

Q: Will Superfetch be disabled for SSDs?

A: Yes, for most computers with SSD. If the drive is an SSD, and if it shows adequate random write/overwrite results, then Superfetch, Prefetch for loading and running applications, ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive will be disabled.

Initially, these features were supposed to be disabled for all SSDs, but we found that this resulted in poor performance on some systems. While investigating the possible causes of this situation, we found that some early SSD models have serious problems with random writes, ultimately leading to the fact that reading from the disk stops altogether and for a long period of time. With Superfetch and Prefetch enabled, performance in everyday use again improved noticeably.

A: Compressing files helps save disk space, but requires additional processor power for compression and decompression, which leads to increased power consumption on laptops. Strictly speaking, for folders and files that are used very rarely, compression can serve as a good tool for saving expensive SSD space - if the free space is really so necessary.

However, we do not recommend using compression in cases where folders and files are constantly in use. Your Documents folders and the files in them are not a problem, but temporary Internet folders and mail directories should not be compressed, since they are constantly writing and rewriting a large number of files in batch mode.

Q: Is the indexer working differently? Windows search on SSD?

Q: Is Bitlocker encryption optimized to work with SSDs?

A: Yes, on NTFS. When Bitlocker is first configured for a particular partition, it is read in its entirety, encrypted, and written back. As soon as this happens, file system will issue a command to carry out adjustments that optimize the operation of the drive.

We encourage all users concerned about the safety and protection of their data to use Bitlocker on their drives, including SSDs.

Q: Does Media Center do anything special when configured on an SSD?

Oh no. Although SSDs have advantages over traditional HDDs, the price per 1 GB for SSDs is still significantly higher than for conventional drives. For most users, an HDD optimized for multimedia content is still the best option, since such content requires a significant recording and playback load that has sequential read/write characteristics.

Q: Does write caching make sense for SSDs and how does Windows 7 help support write caching if the SSD supports it?

A: Some manufacturers install RAM chips on their devices not only to operate controllers; they should, as with traditional disks, cache reads and, if possible, writes. For drives that cache writes in fast, non-volatile memory, Windows 7 assumes that the presence of overwrite and write-queue commands will be no less effective than for HDDs. Additionally, Windows 7 assumes that user settings that disable caching will be treated by the SSD as if it were a regular drive.

Q: Does it make sense to configure RAID for an SSD?

Oh yeah. The reliability and performance gained by configuring RAID on traditional drives is maintained when using an SSD.

Q: Do I need to place the page file on the SSD?

Oh yeah. The main operations with the paging file are random writing of small volumes or sequential writing of large amounts of data. Both types of operations work fine on an SSD.

By analyzing telemetry focused on estimating writes and reads for the pagefile, we found that:

reading from Pagefile.sys takes precedence over writing to pagefile.sys in a 40:1 ratio,
The read blocks for Pagefile.sys are typically quite small, with 67% of them being less than or equal to 4 KB and 88% being less than 16 KB.
The write blocks in Pagefile.sys are quite large, 62% of them are greater than or equal to 128 KB and 45% are almost exactly 1 MB.
Generally speaking, the typical page file usage patterns and SSD performance characteristics fit together very well, and it is the file that is highly recommended to be placed on the SSD.

Q: Are there any restrictions for using hibernation mode with an SSD?

A: No, hiberfile.sys is written and read sequentially in large blocks, and can be located on either an SSD or HDD.

Q: What changes have been made to the Windows Experience Index to correctly reflect SSD performance metrics?

A: In Windows 7, these are new criteria for evaluating random writes, overwrites, and reads. The best samples can receive an index from 6.5 to 7.9. To qualify for this range, drives must have outstanding performance for the specified types of operations and be able to withstand heavy loads of these types.

During the Windows 7 beta testing, there were cases where the index varied from 1.9 to 2.9, or as if the drive (SSD or HDD) was not performing as expected at all when running a performance benchmark. We received a lot of feedback on this issue, most objecting to such low ratings. As a result, we have simply banned SSDs with potential performance issues from competing for the 6.0+ and 7.0+ tier ratings that were recently added. SSDs that aren't among the favorites in this type of race will end up with indexes that are roughly the same as they would have been in Windows Vista, without benefiting much from the random write performance gains in Windows 7.

Michael Fortin

program manager of the Fundamentals team