Adding SSD in 2nd laptop bay for Win 7

[miztrniceguy]

Okay so I have a couple of questions.

I bought a Samsung 850 EVO 256GB SSD for my wife's Asus A73 laptop. It has 2 drive bays and an existing HDD partitioned as C: (235 GB) and D: (415GB).

I planned to use the Samsung Migration software to clone C: from HDD to SSD leaving D: alone. However the instruction included don't seem to consider adding the drive, only replacing HDD with SDD, as it instructs using USB to SATA cable to connect SSD via USB to clone drive, then replacing HDD, which is not what I want to do.

1) Can I install it in the second bay (once I find a caddy, one not included and having difficulty finding one) and then clone it? What issues might I encounter and what should I avoid? I have cloned entire drives for replacement with larger/newer drives before. But this is different.

2) Without me wiping/repartitioning the C: partition on HDD I presume that it will be renamed D: or E; by system . What about the Win7 installation that is on it? Can I leave it there in case something happens to SSD in the future and be able to boot to that install if SSD is removed? I presume the clone process doesn't do anything to the original drive, but I might be wrong. Of course I will make an image of C: before I start.

3) any idea where to get a suitable 2.5" caddy for the SSD? I am only finding 3.5 to 2.5 brackets for desktops.

Thank you in advance for the help!

 

[Ranger4]

You could install Macrium Reflect & you can download a free version of that & use it to clone your HDD to the new one after you have installed the new SSD in the laptop. So you don't need to buy a caddy etc..

Leaving the existing HHD as a back up copy is sensible but unless you keep updating it it will soon be out of date with any changes that are made in the meantime.

You can use the Macrium software to copy images of the new SSD to the old HDD from time to time so you have an up to date copy. Of course having a back up of your data is almost essential these days.

When you use Macrium to clone the HDD to the SSD it will usually rename the cloned SSD as Drive C, but if it doesn't you just need to change them by going in to Computer & changing them. You will also need to get into the BIOS so that the Samsung SSD is the first boot option, so the laptop will start from the SSD.

After you get it all set up you would be able to reformat the old HDD & use it as a back up drive as I mentioned above.

 

[miztrniceguy]

well the HDD is 650 GB in 2 partitions, C: and D: so I can't replace it with the SSD as it is only 250 GB. A SSD large enough to do that was out of my price range.

 

[AddRAM]

You only need to clone the C partition, D can stay where it is.

The Samsung 850 EVO is only 232 GB. (advertised 250)