Upgrading laptop with SSD

[StaffCorporal]

So I recently bought a Dell Vostro 3559. It has a mechanical hard drive. I have bought a OCZ TR150 240 GB SSD.

 

I want to replace the HDD with the SSD, but without doing a clean install. What is the best way to proceed?

 

Also is there any problem with transferring an OS partition from a HDD to an SSD?

[m0k]

You will have to use a Cloning software like Acronis True Image to clone your old HDD to your SSD, this will be the best way to ensure all the boot sectors are copied correctly 

[Enderman]

Don't clone or migrate.

If you want to switch to a different drive you should always do a clean install.

Otherwise you will most likely run into a ton of issues, which you can see by googling "issues after cloning to ssd"

[m0k]

Also ensure you have downloaded the latest firmware update for your SSD https://ocz.com/us/download/

[pwn_intended]

I definitely recommend clean install when going to SSD.

[TheGlenlivet]

Agreed.  Unless you are willing to buy a Samsung 850 Pro or Evo and use their Migration Software.  I've done 8 different laptops and never had an issue using their soft and hardware.

[Catsrules]

As others suggested is it best to do a clean install, and honestly depending on the situation it can be easier.  But if you don't want to, you will need to clone the drive.

Acronis True Image works very well, but if you want free check out clonezilla, it is a little big more challenging to use but not bad. If your Hard drive is bigger then your SSD it make is more challenging and may not be possible. As you will need to shrink your drive's partition first using Disk Management then clone the drive. I think Acronis can do this automatically.

 

You will need to connect both drives to the laptop at the same time using a USB to SATA or something similar. Or if you have an external drive you can make an image of your hard drive and save it to the external drive then take out the hard drive and put in the SSD and restore the image to the ssd. 

[StaffCorporal]

14 hours ago, Catsrules said:

As others suggested is it best to do a clean install, and honestly depending on the situation it can be easier.  But if you don't want to, you will need to clone the drive.

Acronis True Image works very well, but if you want free check out clonezilla, it is a little big more challenging to use but not bad. If your Hard drive is bigger then your SSD it make is more challenging and may not be possible. As you will need to shrink your drive's partition first using Disk Management then clone the drive. I think Acronis can do this automatically.

 

You will need to connect both drives to the laptop at the same time using a USB to SATA or something similar. Or if you have an external drive you can make an image of your hard drive and save it to the external drive then take out the hard drive and put in the SSD and restore the image to the ssd. 

Will making an image using windows and then restoring it to the SSD cause any troubles or is it a "perfect" solution (like a clean install)?

[JMMonteiro]

When I upgraded my laptop (replaced ODD with SSD), I made a clean install on the new disk, and "deleted" windows from the HDD (the process was somewhat confusing).

 

IMO, the best option is doing a bootable USB/DVD, (saving the files you want to migrate, just to make it easier), swapping drives and making a clean install of windows on the new drive. This way, you also can control how much bloatware you get installed on your pc.

 

[pwn_intended]

9 hours ago, StaffCorporal said:

Will making an image using windows and then restoring it to the SSD cause any troubles or is it a "perfect" solution (like a clean install)?

IIRC, using the built in windows imaging tool requires the source drive to be same size or smaller than the destination. So you will have to re-size your partition before you make the image.