Replacing Hard Drive AO725: NU.SGPEF.005

Eichall
Eichall Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
in Legacy Laptops and Netbooks
I've an old (2013) Acer Aspire AO725 that I've slowly upgraded with extra memory and has always given me good service when I travel, but the hard drive has died.
Having recently used a friend's notebook that is fitted with an SSD, I'm impressed by its speed and reliability, so I'm thinking that seeing as the hard drive is very accessible in my Aspire, to replace it with a Solid-State Drive.   
I imagine that a new disk would come empty and I don't have a back-up disk for it. So is it possible to buy a pre-loaded SSD for the machine?
If not, I imagine that I would have to acquire a Windows operating system for it.
And would it boot from an external CD-drive coupled to an empty hard drive?
And if it would, would it contain all of the set-up information for the notebook, or would I have to obtain all of this from Acer first?
Any tips/help/advice gratefully received.  


Best Answers

  • Eichall
    Eichall Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    Answer ✓
    Just to let you know - I installed the disk "bare" and plugged in the USB memory stick with the downloaded Microsoft's media creation tool that you suggested. It needed to be already installed in the USB port when the laptop is turned on - it wouldn't work by simply turning the machine on and then inserting the USB memory stick (note for anyone following on).
    And it worked perfectly and is up and running fine, apart from another problem that isn't related to the hard drive, I reckon.
    I'm grateful for everyone's help in sorting me out. Thanks again
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,894 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    Congrats on your success. Thanks for reporting back. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,894 Trailblazer
    You have 2 choices. If you're in the US or Canada, you can order the original bootable ACER-flavored installation recovery USB pendrive (or DVD if that's the way you want to do it) for about $50 from either the  ACER US or CN online store. https://store.acer.com/index.html Or you can use Microsoft's usb media creation tool to install the generic Windows version https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/home . Jack E/NJ  


    Jack E/NJ

  • Eichall
    Eichall Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    Thanks for that. I'm in Europe so the North American idea won't work. But for the Rest of the World idea, I need the serial number of the Windows edition that I have - which is on the hard drive which is inaccessible.
    And would installing Windows also install all of the drivers that I need for this laptop, or would I have to ask Acer to provide them for me?
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,894 Trailblazer
    You don't need the Windows serial number. The original Windows license is embedded in your mainboard,  not the HDD anymore. If you load the generic Windows version, you may need to install download and install some drivers from the ACER site for your model if you find that certain devices aren't working properly.  https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/4253?b=1  Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • Eichall
    Eichall Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    Ahhh right. I misunderstood what "installing for the first time" meant.
    Thanks for that.
  • Eichall
    Eichall Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    Hello again people. Returning to this particular issue again, I hope that someone will have patience with me while I sort myself out.
    1) I've now acquired a SSD for this machine
    2) I have a SATA external caddy
    3) I've been to
    https://www.acer.com/ac/en/GB/content/support-product/4253?b=1
    and downloaded 15 *.zip files and one *.pdf file
    4) I've been to
    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows8ISO
    and downloaded an operating system.
    So I imagine that my next step is to put the SSD in the caddy, couple it up to the machine on which everything was downloaded, and then unzip all of the downloads onto the SSD.
    So a couple more questions -
    1) Whatever default directories Winzip suggests for the unzipping, I assume that I simply accept them without changing a thing?
    2) That will be the same for Windows?
    3) Is it 32-bit or 64-bit Windows?
    4) I then put the SSD into the AO725, switch it on, and it will run through everything that it needs to do, just as if I'm initialising a new store-bought PC?
    5) Is there anything else that I need to know or do when I'm doing this?
    Many thanks, people, for your patience.


  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,894 Trailblazer
    You may be making things harder than they need to be. Simply replace the old 2.5" HDD inside the with the 2.5" SSD. Forget the caddy. It's not needed unless you want to get stuff off the old HDD. Then install Windows 10 on the SSD using the USB installation stick you made using Microsoft's media creation tool. You may not even need any ACER drivers after the installation. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • Eichall
    Eichall Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    OK Thanks for that. I'll give that a try over the next day or two
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,246 Trailblazer
    Actually, I'd put the new drive in the external case then clone the old drive to the new drive, then swap the two drives and boot from the SSD. No need to reinstall Windows, no need to reinstall all your programs, no need to moves you old data, etc... There are plenty of free cloning software packages.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • Eichall
    Eichall Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    billsey said:
    Actually, I'd put the new drive in the external case then clone the old drive to the new drive, then swap the two drives and boot from the SSD. No need to reinstall Windows, no need to reinstall all your programs, no need to moves you old data, etc... There are plenty of free cloning software packages.
    Thanks for that info but the old drive has failed and is inaccessible. But the info could be of use to anyone else planning on changing the drive.
  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,246 Trailblazer
    Ah, of course, I missed that in the initial post.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • Eichall
    Eichall Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    Not a problem. The advice will be useful for anyone else who follows this thread.
  • Eichall
    Eichall Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    Answer ✓
    Just to let you know - I installed the disk "bare" and plugged in the USB memory stick with the downloaded Microsoft's media creation tool that you suggested. It needed to be already installed in the USB port when the laptop is turned on - it wouldn't work by simply turning the machine on and then inserting the USB memory stick (note for anyone following on).
    And it worked perfectly and is up and running fine, apart from another problem that isn't related to the hard drive, I reckon.
    I'm grateful for everyone's help in sorting me out. Thanks again
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,894 Trailblazer
    Answer ✓
    Congrats on your success. Thanks for reporting back. Jack E/NJ

    Jack E/NJ

  • Eichall
    Eichall Member Posts: 31 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    JackE said:
    Congrats on your success. Thanks for reporting back. Jack E/NJ
    It's important to let people know that something actually worked so that anyone following on can be encouraged.

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