Questions Concerning Upgrading RAM and Hard Drive

Seraphyn · 14 Sep 2012

Well, there were no SSDs at Best Buy and I'm too impatient to wait. I went and bought a Seagate Barracuda 500 GB SATA. Here's the problem, after the BIOS(?) screen where it gives you the options of Setup or Boot Options, I get a screen that reads

No Boot Device Available, wait for Enter key to retry.
SATA 1: Installed
SATA 2: Installed
SATA 3: None
SATA 4: None

I ran a diagnostic and it does read a drive and there are no problems that were detected. Since this is a brand spanking new HDD, there is no OS and probably needs formating? I'm sorry, I'm all thumbs and dumbs so please forgive me for testing your patience.

ignatzatsonic · 14 Sep 2012

If I installed a new and non-faulty drive, I don't think I'd expect to see that message on a screen.

What happens if you just do this:

Connect the drive. This requires 2 cables. Disconnect any other hard drive you may have.

Boot from the Windows installation disc. I assume you have one?

If you do that, does the PC boot and enter the Windows installation process, asking you to choose a language?

If you do not enter the installation process, I'd then look in the BIOS to see if the drive is recognized.

Formatting is normally done automatically as part of that installation process and does not have to be done separately.

I wouldn't use any software discs that may have come with that drive.

bobafetthotmail · 15 Sep 2012

Seraphyn said:

I do have fears about how even though SSDs have no moving parts to wear and fail, they can only be erased and written a limited number of times before it fails.

This is true. It is also true that unless you are in an enterprise environment (where the SSD is constantly writinge/erasing stuff) SSDs are likely to last decades. this article for example says that if you write 7 GB per day without some of the weird tricks some SSD pull out the drive will last 5 years.

Really, who is writing 7 gigs per day on a home computer?

But they also say that a drive with smart tricks can do the same for 75 years.

I ran a diagnostic and it does read a drive and there are no problems that were detected. Since this is a brand spanking new HDD, there is no OS and probably needs formating?

Well, if the HDD is brand new, it is empty, so it's normal that the BIOS tells you "ehm, what I'm supposed to boot from?". You need to install Windows 7 on it.

this tutorial tells you how to install Win 7 and gives you handy links to download win 7 isos you can use to make an installation CD or USB drive in case you don't have one.
The only thing you need is the sticker with the activation key to activate it after the installation which should be under the laptop.