If I replace the SSD on my Predator PO5-600s will this reinstall windows 10 etc

JIMBOB62
JIMBOB62 Member Posts: 12

Tinkerer

edited October 2021 in Predator Desktops

https://store.acer.com/en-gb/e-recovery-media It's the correct one for my pc. I wanted to install a larger ssd



Comments

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,101 Trailblazer
    That will get you back to where you started, requiring a bunch of updates and potentially app installs to get back to where you are now. Better is to clone the existing drive to the new drive, then swap them. That requires an external case that fits the old drive as well as the new one. What do you have in there now and what is your planned replacement?
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • JIMBOB62
    JIMBOB62 Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    As it stands now i have the 256gig SSD that came with it. That has my windows recovery on it too. I'm not bothered about the updates and such, i didn't want to lose my recovery options when installing a new SSD. I was just hoping to put the new SSD in and using that stick to install all the software and hidden partitions to it.  If it doesn't do that then I'd have to look at cloning the drive first. Sounds complicated.
  • GotBanned
    GotBanned Member Posts: 653 Seasoned Specialist WiFi Icon
    Cloning is pretty easy. But if you only want to have more storage space for your games and other stuff, the easiest would be to get 2,5" SSD hard drive. Since these use SATA connection they won't be as fast as your current M.2 SSD. But 2,5" drives are cheaper and you'll only lose only few seconds here and there in loading times. Personally I'd leave Windows and most programs on your current drive and install games and media files on 2,5" drive.

    Youtube has many speed comparison videos.
  • JIMBOB62
    JIMBOB62 Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    There's a drive bay underneath the DVD-ROM on the front of the pc or so it seems. Is this for such purposes. It's like a little removable bay with obvious screw holes in.
  • GotBanned
    GotBanned Member Posts: 653 Seasoned Specialist WiFi Icon
    I'm not familiar with your case, but I think you are right.

    If you go this route, you don't even have to screw it down if you don't want to. Many people use double-sided tape to secure these drives somewhere out of sight. Just make sure that the data and power cables are long enough.
  • JIMBOB62
    JIMBOB62 Member Posts: 12

    Tinkerer

    Thank you. I've just seen a post on a french advert and indeed there is an hard drive in there. Thanks for your help
  • Masquirrel
    Masquirrel Member Posts: 11

    Tinkerer

    GotBanned said:
    Cloning is pretty easy. But if you only want to have more storage space for your games and other stuff, the easiest would be to get 2,5" SSD hard drive. Since these use SATA connection they won't be as fast as your current M.2 SSD. But 2,5" drives are cheaper and you'll only lose only few seconds here and there in loading times. Personally I'd leave Windows and most programs on your current drive and install games and media files on 2,5" drive.

    Youtube has many speed comparison videos.
    Excellent advice! I wouldn't mess with the boot drive if there are other options to increase storage. Unfortunately there is only one slot for an M.2 so a regular 2.5 SATA SSD is your best bet. It works fast enough and is worlds better than an HDD. I got a Crucial one for about 94 bucks at Best Buy. Easy upgrade. 
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,101 Trailblazer
    The issue with adding a SATA SSD like that is the speed of the drive versus the speed of an NVMe x4 drive in the M.2 slot. SATA will be a quarter the speed of the NVMe x4. It's really pretty easy to replace the existing NVMe drive with a new one, you just use an external case that does NVMe and clone the old drive to the new one, then swap them. I've done that many times now without any glitches unless the cloning software tried to adjust all the partition sizes to fit the new larger drive. You really want the EFI and recovery partitions to stay the same and only adjust the system partition to match the new drive size.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • GotBanned
    GotBanned Member Posts: 653 Seasoned Specialist WiFi Icon
    I agree with you 100%. But adding a SATA SSD is the easiest and most cost efficient way to solve his storage problem.

    Cloning a M.2 drive is very easy if you have an external enclosure at hand. I have one and have cloned OS drives few times with any problems. And even though SATA III drives with max. speeds around 560 Mb/s will be slower than what he already has, the difference in game and level loading times is only few seconds.