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Silly question regarding SSD installation

Fyx
Level 7
Hey all,
I recently ordered a G750JW, and an SSD drive(Samsumg 840 128gb) separately that I plan on installing in the second slot, but I've never actually modified a laptop before, I've always been a desktop guy. Anyway, my question is, do I need to buy separate SATA III cables to do the install or will I have everything I need in the laptop itself? Also, Samsung supplies software to clone the drive so I can copy over my OS and ask that, should I be using that software or are there others you recommend?

Thanks!
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11 REPLIES 11

iChun
Level 8
No, you don't need separate cables, you plug the SDD right into the slot on the drive bay, so basically everything you need's in the laptop.

You probably should be able to use Samsung's cloning software, I've no experience with it, but I used macrium reflect free to clone my HDD to the SDD.

Just be careful of the back cover. Take note of this: http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?34021-Back-cover-warning&country=&status=

Also note that the back cover uses a great deal of force to pry off the first time.

Fyx
Level 7
Thanks for the response. Hopefully I don't break any clips.

Take a look at this thread - I did this just a few days ago.

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?33828-Trying-to-move-OS-to-SSD&country=&status=

I don't know if the Samsung software works but I used Macrium Reflect (free) and it went through fine. I had to downsize the OS partition using Computer Management (my SSD is 240 GB) and I think Macrium Reflect also needs some space because I was unable to clone the last recovery partition due to lack of space (even though there was plenty of space on the SSD).

I also did the same thing as you, except I bought the Samsung 840 series 250gb. The way I did it was put the SSD in slot 2 (the open one), boot to windows and initialize the drive (this scared me cause when I was troubleshooting an old hard drive and initialized it, it turned to a brick, but don't worry, this won't happen to you)* then once it's initialized, DOWNLOAD** the samsung magician and cloning software from the 840 series driver page and install them. From there, it can update the firmware of the SSD, and with the cloning software, clone the OS and data from the 1tb that came with it, over to the SSD, then what I did after all that, was swap the hard drives around internally (maybe just piece of mind, not sure if it's actually reqd) and booted from the OS on SSD, then formatted the 1tb (which is 2 partitions stock, made it 1) and voila!!

This laptop REALLY shines with an SSD installed. Hope that helps and is not too confusing.

* - I say this won't happen to you because the "old drive" I initialized was already initialized and was a crappy drive on it's way out the door. However, if your Samsung SSD doesn't need initialized (if it shows as a disc drive and with 128gb free space) than don't initialize it.

** - I say DOWNLOAD because the drivers on the disc aren't recommended by the 840 SSD community.. the downloaded software works perfectly fine for me.


Fyx wrote:
Thanks for the response. Hopefully I don't break any clips.
Asus G750JW-DB71

Xbcxbc
Level 7
Just a note: if you format your original drive after cloning the OS to the SSD, you'll lose your recovery partition - if you need to RMA your laptop, you'll have to send it with your SSD and some of your personal data to ASUS. I kept my original (pretty slow and worthless) HDD in an antistatic bag in original condition and just bought a new, faster HDD for $100.

Fyx
Level 7
Thanks to everyone for all the help. I set up my SSD with no problems. I haven't yet formatted my old HDD. Where is the recovery partition located?
Not sure if I'll ever use the 1TB anyway, so I may just keep it there but make sure the OS is always booted from the SSD. To do this, I updated the boot order in the BIOS, I'm assuming that's all I need to do right? Any real way of confirming it?

Thanks again!

Fyx
Level 7
Ok I'm getting some weird errors trying to do some clean up and trying to install some stuff. My question is, if I still have my old HDD in there, with the OS still there, could it be causing problems? Should I just format it and forget it?

rewben
Level 13
@Fyx, yes, normally it will create some funny OS-related side effects. it's better to take it out of the system, unless you wanna convert it into storage only.

basically if you wanna have a functional recovery partitions via f9 recovery, then you should keep the stock drive intact, like what @Xbcxbc suggested.

Fyx
Level 7
@rewben where is the recovery partition located? Could I just copy that somewhere?

Also, what would be the best method to format my old HDD? Thanks!

EDIT: Ok I took out the old HDD just to make sure everything is stable. I had trouble booting up, so I had to edit the registry and rename my SDD to C: and now it looks all set.

What is the best and cleanest way to format my HDD? I'm worried about booting off my SSD, trying to format the HDD through Windows 8 and getting an error because the OS's are running through both drives.