Changing hard drive to solid state drive

[denwilliam]

Is it possible and feasible to change the hard drive to a solid state drive on a Toshiba Satellite Pro L300-1FK laptop.If the answer is affirmative then would appreciate as much information and guidance there is available.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I took a quick look at the specs and don't see why you couldn't. That laptop is maybe 3 or 4 years old?

What you would have to decide is if you want to attempt to transfer Windows from the current hard drive to the SSD or instead do a clean install on the SSD. Cloning/imaging can work and save time, but many would tell you to just do a clean install instead.

Good SSD brands: Intel, Crucial M4 series, Samsung 830 series.

I assume this Toshiba has only a single drive bay?

Do you have an external hard drive?

 

[cyclic]

Hi, well it has to be possible as it's screwed in for security. Cautionary notes, a comparable size SSD would be easier to mount (talking actual physical size not capacity) and make sure you can set AHCI in the Bios before proceeding. You need that for TRIM to work.

 

[denwilliam]

Had decided to abandon the project but in a moment of madness I purchased the Crucial M4 128 GB with data transfer kit.When I enquired from one of their reps if there was any changes to be made in Bios he replied in the negative,saying the system would recognise the drive and adjust accordingly,but you suggest AHCI would require adjustment,if so,how?.

 

[DeaconFrost]

As long as the laptop uses an SATA hard drive, you'd be fine to use an SSD. Some drives have their own garbage collection built-in, so TRIM wouldn't be a necessity...and neither is AHCI. It will work fine in IDE mode. Your speeds will be somewhat limited, if the laptop only has SATA2 ports, but it will still be much faster than an HDD, and will help with heat and battery life as well.

 

[denwilliam]

Just finished installing Crucial M4 128 GB SSD and must admit it is as easy as falling off a log with the data transfer kit that Crucial supply.The difference in speed of performance is astonishing and well worth the expenditure and time,25 minutes from start to finish to complete the installation.