My Aspire X3-710 i7 desktop with 2TB HDD needs an SSD as boot, HDD for data. Be glad of advice?

The mobo has 2 SATA connectors, 1 hdd 1 DVD. I can fit an SSD physically and am intending to use the hdd power plug and SATA cable to power it, after migrating data from the hdd via a usb3 port (I hope!). That leaves the hdd sitting there with no power and no data i/o cable. There are no spare power connectors so I guess I'll need to double up on the DVD cable, it will normally not be using power anyway. I am then thinking there must be a way to connect the hdd via a usb3 port or the PCIe x1 or x16 slots. I'm not into gaming so won't need a graphics card installed.

Any advice on how to do it and what to use would be much appreciated.

Podmonger.

Accepted answers

Podmonger

I found it impossible to use a recovery USB drive and f12 at boot to install Win10 etc to the m.2 2280 SSD. IronFly couldn't see why it didn't work, nor could I. What did work was 'Paragon Migrate' which formatted the m.2 drive, migrated the OS and programs from the 2TB hdd, reset the drive order in the UEFI, and restarted the desktop ready for me to log in. I guess other free programs would do as well but this one worked well and it is low cost. By the way, the 2TB drive is still in place with the original WIN10 OS intact. It just doesn't get loaded at boot. I may remove it but it seems ok at present.

Boots really well now and Dragon speach to text is amazing thanks to the i7 CPU and 8GB RAM, no doubt, as well as the m.2 SSD.

Podmonger

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laurent_14

Hello,

Hmmm... You should have a M.2 2280 SATA SSD socket on your motherboard?

DT-AXC-710-MSS

Podmonger

Hmmm ... so there is!!! I couldn't see it tucked right under the drive bays and it doesn't seem to be mentioned in the X3-710 specification. So, thank you so much for showing me exactly where to look. My only query is whether, when I've fitted the m.2 2280 SSD card, I will be able to migrate the data and Win 10 from the hdd to it, configure it as the C:\ boot drive, then re-configure the hdd as a secondary drive. I've read that not all motherboards/UEFIs will accept an m.2 ssd as the boot drive. Any advice would again be appreciated.

Thanks again,

Podmonger

laurent_14

Hello,

I advise you to perform a new installation from your factory recovery media instead of cloning HDD/SSD. Don't forget to disconnect the HDD before.

Sometimes there are issues with the cloning like this (E.g. Windows 10 upgrade):

"During system clone, no error messages appeared. Why can’t Windows boot from the new SSD?

After confirmed by Microsoft technical expert, upgraded Windows 10 will record authorized information about the computer's hardware, such as motherboard and storage drive.

When restoring the OS from the original drive to the new SSD, inconsistent information is detected during boot up, which result in a blue screen with an error message (error code: 0xc0000225).

The authorized issue will not occur when you directly install Window 10 and activate on your computer.

It is a limitation of Windows OS and there is no effective way to avoid this issue." (Source: Transcend)

In this case, it's not a problem from UEFI bios but from the cloning.

IronFly

Add the fact that from windows 8 and up, OS triggers some tweaks (performance and maintenance) when clean installed on a SSD drive, tweaks that are not available on HDD.

laurent_14

Ironfly, Thanks for this additional information. Smiley Wink

Podmonger

Many thanks for all the help. I am finding it hard to find a supplier who will say their m.2 ssd is compatible with an Acer X3-710. They want me to go the route of cloning and replacing the 2TB hdd with a 2.5" SATA sdd. I then have the problem of what to do with the hdd, presumably put it in a caddy and plug it into a usb port. No one has recommended a PCIe x16 alternative either. Currently feeling a bit sad at the situation and thinking I chose the wrong PC in the first place. I hadn't imagined there'd be no spare SATA port for an SSD. Acer just tell me to go to a local technician ... who'd surely find the same problems that I have. Hey Ho! Happy Christmas everyone.

Podmonger

I found it impossible to use a recovery USB drive and f12 at boot to install Win10 etc to the m.2 2280 SSD. IronFly couldn't see why it didn't work, nor could I. What did work was 'Paragon Migrate' which formatted the m.2 drive, migrated the OS and programs from the 2TB hdd, reset the drive order in the UEFI, and restarted the desktop ready for me to log in. I guess other free programs would do as well but this one worked well and it is low cost. By the way, the 2TB drive is still in place with the original WIN10 OS intact. It just doesn't get loaded at boot. I may remove it but it seems ok at present.