How to install Win7 on a laptop SSD (2nd drive)

[Involute]

I'm thinking of buying a Lenovo X230 laptop. Their SSDs max out at 256GB and I need more total storage than that, so I was thinking of buying a unit with a 500GB HDD and installing a 256GB mSATA SSD in the WWAN slot myself, using that as my primary (s/w) drive. Since the system will come from the factory with Win7 already installed on the HDD, I was wondering what the procedure would be for reinstalling it on the SSD and making the system boot from there. It was a tossup between posting here or the Lenovo forum, but I've had great responses here in the past and haven't used the latter, so I thought I'd start here. Thanks for your help.

 

[gregrocker]

These procedures have worked very well for many: SSD - Install and transfer the Operating System

Follow the Best Practices in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 to achieve and maintain a perfect reinstall if you choose to go that route.

 

[Involute]

Thanks, Greg. Just what I was looking for. Even though I'm probably going to do this before I install any apps, I'll probably use the "easy" approach from the first tutorial. Not only does it look easier than a clean install, but it should preserve the ThinkVantage button functionality which I might lose with a clean install. That happened when I upgraded my previous Lenovo from XP to 7 and I never got it to work quite right again.

 

[bigmck]

Thanks, Greg. Just what I was looking for. Even though I'm probably going to do this before I install any apps, I'll probably use the "easy" approach from the first tutorial. Not only does it look easier than a clean install, but it should preserve the ThinkVantage button functionality which I might lose with a clean install. That happened when I upgraded my previous Lenovo from XP to 7 and I never got it to work quite right again.

Since it is a new PC you might consider a Clean Install. If you transfer from the HDD, you are going to get all of the bloatware that is put on new PC's. If you do a Clean Install, you get rid of that and you don't have to worry about saving your personal files because there are none on there. You can download the Win 7 ISO from Official Windows 7 SP1 ISO from Digital River « My Digital Life burn it to disk and install. You then can use the Windows Key that came with the PC to activate the Windows. A clean install usually does not take more than an hour.

 

[gregrocker]

Before creating and restoring any image to SSD I'd work through these steps to Clean Up Factory Bloatware to get the leanest possible install and mitigate the effects of bloatware as best as can be done without the Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

 

[Involute]

As I said, big, a clean install will most likely disable the ThinkVantage button built into ThinkPads, which I'd prefer not to do.