How to install an ssd on your pc 【step by step】

For a few years now, the subsequent installation of an SSD hard drive has breathed new life into your computer, regardless of what processor you have. This occurs due to the read and write speeds that SSDs offer compared to mechanical ones. Our whole system goes much faster, but how to install an SSD? We explain it much more below.

Index of contents

How to install an SSD

As we know that many of you want to upgrade or upgrade your laptops with the installation of an SSD, we will explain the installation for both PC and laptop. That said, for laptops, we may not be able to use any SSD, since size matters here.

In the case of the desktop PC, we will have no problem, having to look at 3 things:

SATA ports. Power supply. Bay or cell where to install the SSD.

Install SSD on a PC

This tutorial is very simple and I encourage everyone who wants to install one to do so. Before going on to tell the steps, I would like to tell you that we will have to install the operating system on this hard drive to notice the benefits of an SSD.

Quiet because the data stored on the mechanical hard disk will be preserved and we will be able to access it without any problem. Our goal is to expand, not reduce. Therefore, we buy an SSD, but we do not get rid of the other hard drive.

Let's get started!

Windows installation on Pendrive

The first step of all is to download Windows 10 to make our USB bootable or turn it into a boot disk. This can also be done on external hard drives. This step must be done equally for laptops.

IMPORTANT: we need an internet connection and a 8 GB flash drive, as a minimum.

Follow these steps:

We go to the Microsoft page and download the tool. We run the Media Creation Tool. We accept and click on next until we can choose " Create installation media ". This option allows us to download and burn Windows 10 as a boot disk to a DVD, a Pendrive or an external hard drive. You select your pendrive and, surely, it will ask us to format it. Windows will start to download and install. After the process, you accept and verify that Windows 10 has indeed been installed on our USB stick.

Power supply

It is time to turn off the computer and open the box to check the connections of our power supply. Many will not have a modular source, so you have to find a SATA power connection that will go to our SSD.

Normally, conventional sources bring a cable with several SATA connections in a row to connect the various hard drives that we have with the same cable. There is no problem connecting our SSD in this way, but it may not work. If this happens, find another cable with SATA connections at the source and connect it to the hard drive.

If your source is old, it may not bring many connections of this type, predominantly MOLEX connections. Those connections do not help us, but we can buy a Molex to SATA adapter to take advantage of them.

Motherboard

Once we have connected our SSD to the power supply, it remains to connect it to the motherboard. To do this, we will have to look at the SATA connections on our motherboard. Putting us in the worst case, our board must have 2 SATA connections, at least.

When we buy a hard drive, a SATA cable usually comes to connect it to the board. If we are not that lucky, we can buy it in a computer store or in any large area.

As a tip, if you can choose, connect the SSD to a SATA III port.

Box or chassis

Finally, it would be nice to check if our box has a bay to be able to install the SSD and leave it fixed. Unfortunately, many older boxes do not support the small size (2.5 inches) of these storage units, compared to life-long mechanical hard drives.

The first problem we find is that you have to leave it hanging around in bad ways. Some SSDs come with adapters for these types of bays.

In my case, I usually make a “splash” when I find myself faced with this dilemma. If the SSD doesn't come with a bay adapter, I put double-sided tape on it and attach it to any metal surface on the chassis. The objective of this botch is to be able to do a good management of the wiring and that it is well fixed.

Install Windows on SSD

We turn on the computer and we have to look at the first image that appears on the screen, which is the logo of the manufacturer of the motherboard. Depending on the model we have, we will have to press the "Delete", "F8", "F9", etc. We are interested in accessing the BIOS or, directly, accessing the boot selection

Why? Because we have to order the motherboard to boot the system from the Pendrive to be able to install Windows on the new hard drive. Once we put the pendrive, hard disk or DVD in which we have recorded Windows 10 as a priority boot, we will install Windows.

Finally, when you access the Windows installation, be careful to install the OS on the wrong hard drive. Look at the storage space.

When the installation is complete, go back to the BIOS boot menu to place the SSD as a priority boot. We will be done.

Install SSD on laptop

Here the story changes a bit because we have to open the laptop, or not; Everything will depend on the model of laptop we have. The first thing you should do is install Windows on a USB in the same way that we have done on the PC.

However, the process is different because there are several things to consider.

Replace or expand?

We have two possibilities: replace the hard drive that equips the laptop or expand the space, conserving the hard drive that the laptop already had.

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Obviously, the first option is somewhat more complex and the second is as fast as possible. Unfortunately, we cannot expand the space on all laptops, leaving our options reduced to a mere replacement of the hard drive.

For those who want to expand, they will need to have a DVD-ROM drive in the laptop to make it possible. We will remove that DVD-ROM drive and install the old hard drive there. On the other hand, if you do not want to do without your DVD-ROM drive, you cannot expand.

If you have decided to expand: you have to buy an SSD and a CD-ROM adapter of the same size that you have, which will go in its place and you can connect the old hard drive. Here we leave you an example of Caddy SATA.

Install SSD

As I said before, we can find two scenarios:

Preinstallation for SSD. We will not have to open the laptop, we just open the pre-installation cover and replace the hard drive.

Open laptop to replace or expand.

The first case is the simplest, but in the second we will have to get our hands dirty. Be careful with the following:

Before you install anything, unplug the battery from the laptop to shut it down. Screws. Not all screws are created equal, so remember where each screw goes. Some notebooks have a screw hidden underneath one of the non-slip rubbers, check it. You will need a kind of card or separator to release the gaskets from the laptop's case. You have to pass it through the seal that is on the back of the laptop and that surrounds it. Do not make more force than necessary. Be careful with the “films” that we find in the connections.

Regarding the adapter for DVD-ROM, it is simply to put a couple of screws, so it has no more difficulty. When you install it, you have to install the old hard drive inside the adapter.

How to install Windows

You can do this with the laptop closed or open. I do not recommend closing the laptop because we may have done something wrong, it does not recognize a hard drive and we cannot install Windows. So, reopening everything again is a pain.

That said, we will have to access the BIOS by pressing a specific key, be it F8, F9, F12 or Delete. Get information about the board of your laptop to know how to proceed. Our goal is to access the BIOS to change the boot priority. In this way, we can install the OS from the Pendrive.

Finally, make sure you choose the correct installation HDD (SSD). Once the installation is complete, go back to the BIOS to change the boot to the same SSD.

So far our guide on how to install an SSD on any PC. We hope it has served you and, if you have any questions, leave it below. We will reply to you as soon as possible.

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How many have you installed an SSD? What are your experiences? How has your PC changed?