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tayhan91 · ‎06-16-2014

I just recently decided to upgrade my 2-3 year old Asus g73sw with a Samsung 840 pro SSD. I consider myself tech savvy but i always watch videos and read articles before i do anything just to have some background before i kick it into gear. After reading a few install guides on forums and watching videos, i noticed a few that mention i should plug the SSD into a dock/cable and begin the install that way. Is this the proper way to do it or can i just plug it into the open (left) drive slot and proceed with the cloning process?

what i want out of this upgrade is to run my OS and main programs off the ssd and use the existing HDD as my storage drive. Is it even possible to clone my HDD while the SSD is in the second drive bay? or does it have to be done with the SSD out of the system?

billyray520 · ‎06-16-2014

No you can clone your drive while plugged into the second drive bay.

Problems to consider:

1. Is the SSD smaller than the hdd? If so find a clone software that can do it.
2. You will need to boot from a CD, DVD, or USB some software OS for cloning. (Clonezilla could do it, but it can't shrink to a smaller size disk without some special steps; like shrinking the hdd's boot partition to something small enough to fit on the SSD)

There are several very good free cloning programs out there if you search for them.

Asus Maximus V Extreme BIOS 1903, see specs above avatar.

Asus G73 jh A1 laptop, BIOS 213, vBIOS OD2, 8 GB Ram, 240 GB Intel SSD, 180 GB Intel SSD. Win 7 Pro. Purchased new from PowerNotebooks.com in May 2010.
(both have 1920X1080 hd screens, mine above, hers below )
Asus G73 Sw XR1 laptop 8 GB Ram, 160 GB Intel SSD, 80 GB Intel SSD. Purchased used >Ebay 1/10/13, Did clean install of Windows 7

tayhan91 · ‎06-16-2014

Ill be installing a 128gb ssd which is obviously smaller than my current hdd. One of the walkthroughs mentioned calculating how much my OS is currently using.which came out to about 45gbs so I have more than enough room for just my OS.

Just to make sure I understood clearly, I can take my ssd and mount it into the free drive bay, use a cloning software to clone my OS, and then swap the two so my ssd is now my main drive and the hdd would go in the alternate drive bay.

billyray520 · ‎06-17-2014

That should work. But I have experience with Windows 7 Pro 64 bit using MBR type disk, using Paragon Free or Clonezilla, and booting from a CD or USB flash drive to do the cloning. What is your OS? boot type? cloning software?

Asus Maximus V Extreme BIOS 1903, see specs above avatar.

Asus G73 jh A1 laptop, BIOS 213, vBIOS OD2, 8 GB Ram, 240 GB Intel SSD, 180 GB Intel SSD. Win 7 Pro. Purchased new from PowerNotebooks.com in May 2010.
(both have 1920X1080 hd screens, mine above, hers below )
Asus G73 Sw XR1 laptop 8 GB Ram, 160 GB Intel SSD, 80 GB Intel SSD. Purchased used >Ebay 1/10/13, Did clean install of Windows 7

tayhan91 · ‎06-18-2014

billyray520 wrote:
That should work. But I have experience with Windows 7 Pro 64 bit using MBR type disk, using Paragon Free or Clonezilla, and booting from a CD or USB flash drive to do the cloning. What is your OS? boot type? cloning software?

Im currently running win7 64-bit. I was still doing research as to what software to use to clone it and the one walk-though i was going to follow suggested using EaseUS Todo backup. I have yet to actually download the software so i have no idea how it runs or if its even free. I did read a few walk-through's that suggested using Clonezilla so maybe ill give that one a shot.

Im not exactly sure what you mean by boot type.

My plan was to clone my existing OS to the new SSD and then format my old HDD to be used solely as storage. You mentioned botting from a flash drive. Do you mean you ran the clone software from your flash drive or the actual OS?

billyray520 · ‎06-18-2014

That's right, you run the clone software from the bootable CD or USB drive. With Windows 7 you probably have a MBR boot disk (like I do.) Win 8 comes pretty standard with UEFI boot and GPT disk boot drive. You shouldn't have any trouble with your setup.

Asus Maximus V Extreme BIOS 1903, see specs above avatar.

Asus G73 jh A1 laptop, BIOS 213, vBIOS OD2, 8 GB Ram, 240 GB Intel SSD, 180 GB Intel SSD. Win 7 Pro. Purchased new from PowerNotebooks.com in May 2010.
(both have 1920X1080 hd screens, mine above, hers below )
Asus G73 Sw XR1 laptop 8 GB Ram, 160 GB Intel SSD, 80 GB Intel SSD. Purchased used >Ebay 1/10/13, Did clean install of Windows 7

tayhan91 · ‎06-25-2014

alright so i ended up buying a King-Win USB 3.0 to SATA adapter (link below) to hook my ssd up to and clone outside the computer. Problem is, once i connect it the computer makes a noise but shows nothing. i tried the same thing with a brand new 320gb HDD and i got the same response. i ran the software that came with the SSD and it was ready to clone but i held off because i didn't understand why it read in one software but no others. i tried using Easeus Todo and even Samsung magician doesn't recognize it. Is this normal or should i try a new USB 3.0 to sata cord?

Also i had to refresh the migration software that came with the SSD because it kept saying i had 1554gb of space free on the SSD. i eventually got it down to its normal 119 (128gb).

Kingwin usb 3.0 to SATA - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0064VP73O/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

billyray520 · ‎06-25-2014

It is unclear whether you are booting from the cloning software CD/USB and that is what does not recognize your ssd.

Asus Maximus V Extreme BIOS 1903, see specs above avatar.

Asus G73 jh A1 laptop, BIOS 213, vBIOS OD2, 8 GB Ram, 240 GB Intel SSD, 180 GB Intel SSD. Win 7 Pro. Purchased new from PowerNotebooks.com in May 2010.
(both have 1920X1080 hd screens, mine above, hers below )
Asus G73 Sw XR1 laptop 8 GB Ram, 160 GB Intel SSD, 80 GB Intel SSD. Purchased used >Ebay 1/10/13, Did clean install of Windows 7

Upgrading G73sw with Samsung 840 Pro SSD. Do i need a cable to clone?