Notebooks & Netbooks

[citroen]

I am intending to swap the hdd in my Acer Aspire V3-571 laptop with a Samsung 840 Pro 256GB ssd .Is it straightforward to do so and has anyone done it already and can give me any help and advice?

[mathewjg]

I have fitted the Samsung SSD to my Aspire 5920 and it works fine. I did a clean instal of windows 8 and it now goes like a rocket! But  I think windows 7 is better for non touch screen even though it will not be as fast as Win 8 for start up its very frustrating trying to move aound the Win 8 screen.

No difficulties fitting the drive - its a one for one replacement and even though it works best with SATA 3, it still fly's with SATA 2. 

My laptop still generates a fair amount of heat but not as much as with the previous drive and the battery lasts a little longer - although the difference is very small.

I am now investigating chamging the screen for a touch screen but initial findings look like its not going to cost in and not a 5 minute job (unlike fitting and SSD)

Fitting the SSD was the best upgrade that I have carried out on any computer over the many years that I have been doing this sort of thing - much more noticeable than any processor or RAM upgrade.

[voytecs]

Make sure that you have the factory recovery dvd's. Just simply swap the drives, and boot from your install disks.

SSD works perfect, I am using the OCZ vertex 4, and it boots in 10 sec flat, regardless of installed office, and more.

Highly recomended.

v

[HolyDriver]

There's very little that could complicate installing a solid state drive.

With other laptops, I've encountered issues where there were small plastic tabs that would interfere with putting in a solid state drive due to the fact that they have a very slightly different shape than a platter drive (the SATA connections on a platter drive stick out past the drive itself, but are set flush with the edge of a solid state drive).  These tabs were basically "guide rails" to help the drive slide in straight, but are not needed and could be removed.

It should be noted that removing anything like that may void the warranty - something to consider if that happens to be the case with your system.

In most cases, though, it's just simply a matter of removing one drive and installing the other.

You may want to consider cloning your OS over to the SSD to save yourself time and effort, too - I've encountered some systems that run fine with an SSD, but did not want to take a fresh install onto one.

[citroen]

Thanks to everyone for the replies.The Samsung ssd comes with migration software so I am intending to copy to ssd before fitting it into my laptop .

[HolyDriver · Accepted solution]

Just so you're aware, once you clone the software and install the drive, you'll be asked to restart your computer very shortly after windows loads for the first time.  This is to set the proper driver for your SSD into place and is completely normal. 

[citroen]

Thanks for the further info.If I think of anything else,I'll come back to the forum.At least I know there are plenty of helpful people on here to help me out.

[Rpaquin]

My ACER ultrabook came with the Samsung 256 SSD. I have used it very very little and have had, not one, but TWO total failures of the SSD. I love the computer and the advantages of SSD but caution offer thus heads up on Samsung SSD.

[miguel69]

a warning about using this method, be sure to safeguard your restore disks as you will no longer have a restore partition and can not burn another set.

safeguard options--

1. once installed use an imaging program (ex-Macrium Reflect or Acronis)to make a backup image to an external drive as a baseline restore file.

2. using either the migration software or imaging and partition software put a copy of the 'PQservice' restore partition on the SDD (you will lose 10-15GB of space but will be able to restore either directly <alt+f10> or burn another set of restore disks).

NOTE: If you have ever upgraded the OS the restore partition contains the OS installed when your system left the factory so you would need all the upgrade disks/files as well. In this case option 1 would be the best choice.