Aspire 5600u: Has anyone installed an ssd on this AIO?

cincyjs
cincyjs Member Posts: 17

Tinkerer

edited March 1 in 2018 Archives

Hi, I am contemplating buying a one TB Solid State Drive (SSD) to replace the poky 5400 original HD. I am looking at the Crucial MX 300 and the Samsung 850EVO, but do I need SATA II or SATA III or does it matter?? The Samsung comes with cloning software, but the Crucial does not. I think the actual replacement/installation process is no problem, but cloning the OS, programs and data is another issue. Also, I have heard that the BIOS needs to be tweaked too.  Any suggestions on a better SSD and/or the best cloning products? I hear the free Macrium Reflect is good.

Best Answers

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    Bios doesn't need to be tweaked when installing a SSD, only windows OS (from 7 and up) add some tweaks automatically (disabling defrag is the first thing to do to not kill your SSD).

     

    your AIO supports SATA 6 Gbps (SATA III) and there's any issue about 1TB storage.

     

    about cloning, there are plenty of free software around but to be honest i would always prefer a clean install when switching to SSD from HDD but i understand the hassle to re-install everything.

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • cincyjs
    cincyjs Member Posts: 17

    Tinkerer

    Answer ✓
    Thanks, Vivtour! I am going to install the Samsung 850 also, so I will try your method.

Answers

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓

    Bios doesn't need to be tweaked when installing a SSD, only windows OS (from 7 and up) add some tweaks automatically (disabling defrag is the first thing to do to not kill your SSD).

     

    your AIO supports SATA 6 Gbps (SATA III) and there's any issue about 1TB storage.

     

    about cloning, there are plenty of free software around but to be honest i would always prefer a clean install when switching to SSD from HDD but i understand the hassle to re-install everything.

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • cincyjs
    cincyjs Member Posts: 17

    Tinkerer

    Thanks for the speedy reply. I think I have to do a clone because I started with the original Win 8.0; upgraded to Win 8.1 and now Win 10 plus the Anniversary Update. This path is not reproducable now, so a fresh install would mean purchasing Win 10 then reloading everything. Too expensive and too time consuming.  However, I agree the absolute best route would be a fresh install.

     

    Thanks again!

     

    John

  • IronFly
    IronFly ACE Posts: 18,413 Trailblazer

    no no...once you installed and had windows 10 authenticated, you can do a windows 10 clean install, the first time you will connect to the web, it will connect to microsoft servers and authenticate.

     

    you just need, during installation, to skip product number steps, they are not needed.

     

    you can also download a vanilla version of windows 10 with anniversare update from Microsoft servers:

    http://community.acer.com/t5/Knowledge-Base/Windows-10-Installation-Recovery-Media-Creation-and-Use/ta-p/394236

    I'm not an Acer employee.
  • cincyjs
    cincyjs Member Posts: 17

    Tinkerer

    I did not know about this. Guess I just learned something very valuable!!

  • Victour
    Victour Member Posts: 8 New User

    I added a Samsung 850 by plugging the SSD into my Sata 3 port then in Computer shortcut drag the C drive to the SSD and it will download all file to the ssd. remove HD and install ssd in it's place. should work like before but much faster!

  • cincyjs
    cincyjs Member Posts: 17

    Tinkerer

    Answer ✓
    Thanks, Vivtour! I am going to install the Samsung 850 also, so I will try your method.
  • cincyjs
    cincyjs Member Posts: 17

    Tinkerer

    Today I finally upgraded to an SSD (Crucial MX500 1TB). I bought an external Sabrent external USB 3 Docking Station; put the SSD in it and started it up.I did have  problems with the cloning software from Acronis and Macrium. Both could not do it. I then tried AOMEI and it did the job. It took 3 hours but it worked. Swabbing out the old HD was very easy too.  My Aspire 5600U with Windows 10 is now a fast mean machine!