You can install an SSD in a laptop in several ways, depending on the purpose of using solid state storage. The device can be used as the main and extra bed to store information. Many users use a solid state storage device as a system drive, which can significantly speed up Windows.
Installing an SSD in a laptop
New models of solid-state storage devices have a large amount of memory for storage multimedia files and resource intensive programs.
Choosing an SSD drive for a laptop
The standard SSD has a 2.5″ form factor, which is compatible with laptop HDD dimensions. When choosing a model, it is worth paying attention to this criterion. The drive must be connected to the SATA interface. Modern technologies provide the ability to use multiple file storage in a laptop, which expands the choice.
To install the operating system, models with a memory capacity of up to 120 GB are purchased. Such a solution has affordable price and 5-6 times faster system boot and work-related operations system files. Larger solid state storage is designed to store high-quality multimedia files and work with resource-intensive programs.
Replacing HDD with SSD
To replace the hard drive with a modern analogue, it is necessary to disassemble the laptop. For this you will need a Phillips screwdriver. In most laptop models, the HDD is located immediately under the back cover - unscrew the mounting bolts and carefully detach the cover.
Slowly remove the HDD by pulling it in the direction indicated by the directional arrow. An SSD, like a standard HDD, connects to a SATA interface. Install the drive into the 2.5″ hard drive slot and secure the laptop cover with screws.
This solution allows you to install a modern storage device as the main file storage. Install the operating system on the new device, and further setup of the storage device will be described below.
Installing an SSD instead of a drive
Modern technology, the presence of the necessary adapters, allows you to install an SSD in the optical drive slot. This solution allows you to expand the space on your laptop and save data from old HDD drive. You can use several file storages at the same time.
To install a solid state drive instead of a drive, you will need to purchase an additional adapter - SATA 2nd HDD Caddy for Laptop. When ordering an adapter, check compatibility with your laptop model. To install the adapter, you need to remove the back cover of the laptop.
Some models restrict access to the drive, which forces a deep disassembly of the laptop. Follow the instructions to maintain the integrity of the hull and successfully disassemble.
Remove the drive and connect the adapter. The adapter supports 2.5″ form factor drives.
Reassemble the laptop case.
Setting up an SSD drive
After replacement HDD on SSD or install additional drive you need to make further settings in the operating system. If the solid state drive is used as a disk for the operating system, you need to configure the disk boot.
Enter bios in BOOT section and move the desired disk to the first position. The operating system will automatically boot Windows from the required drive.
Configuring and disabling services in Windows
The Windows family of operating systems is aimed at working mainly with HDD drives, which have some differences in principle. SSD work. To improve the performance and life of your device, you need to make a number of changes to your Windows settings.
Disable hard drive defragmentation
Defragmenting a hard drive speeds up the performance of the hard drive by optimizing its logical structure for fast reading data. For SSD, this function is not needed, on the contrary, it can harm the solid state drive. You can disable defragmentation by executing the command in the "Start menu - run - dfrgui «
In early Windows versions 10 and subsequent updates, this section was called "Disk Optimization", where defragmentation was redesigned under modern systems. In Windows 10, you do not need to disable this process.
Disabling the paging file
If there is enough random access memory it is recommended to disable the paging file, which has a positive effect on speed work hard disk.
To perform this operation, you need to open the performance settings. Select "No paging file".
Enabling the TRIM function
The Windows family, starting with version 7, began to actively support working with solid state drives. The developers have added a TRIM function that interacts with the SSD drive. The system sends information about unused blocks to be removed. This speeds up system performance and extends the life of the device.
You can check the activity of the service in the following way:
- Open Command Prompt
- Copy the command fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify
- The received response must contain the value DisableDeleteNotify = 0 or DisableDeleteNotify = 1. If the received value is 0 − TRIM function active, if the value is 1 - TRIM is not functioning.
This feature is enabled in Windows 7 and newer versions by default.
Disabling hibernation - sleep mode
The system startup speed on an SSD drive is 5-6 times faster than on an HDD. The sleep mode feature is no longer relevant when using a solid state drive. Hibernation mode creates a system writable file. Disabling this feature simplifies system operation and optimizes device performance.
Disabling file indexing
File indexing happens all the time and creates a writable file that could theoretically shorten the lifespan SSD drive.
Disabling indexing will not affect the speed of searching for files, since the SSD has high speed work with files. You can turn off indexing in the following way:
- Open the "My Computer" shortcut;
- Open the properties of the required disk;
- Uncheck the "Allow the contents of files to be indexed..." tab.
Installing a modern storage device not only speeds up the system, but also requires maintenance and detailed tuning.
The bottleneck in laptop speed is usually a 2.5-inch hard drive with a speed of 5600 rpm. Therefore, there is no better upgrade for a laptop than replacing it. mechanical drive(HDD) to a solid state drive (SSD). The task is not trivial, but for ordinary user raises many questions. If the thought of reinstalling Windows and all your programs, and then them fine tuning, confuses you, don't worry. After reading this article, and after an hour of work on replacing the disk, you will be able to enjoy positive results upgrade.
Checking a laptop before upgrading to an SSD
The process of upgrading a laptop to replace the hard drive with an SSD is quite simple. You just need to remove the installed HDD from the laptop and replace it with an SSD. If your laptop has a removable bottom panel then you are the luckiest. If you have an Ultrabook or your laptop does not have a removable bottom panel (for example, it can be sealed), then the process of removing the hard drive is somewhat more complicated. In the manual of your laptop, as a rule, you can always find The right way hard drive replacement. Sometimes removing a hard drive can be very difficult, but I'm sure that these laptops already have an SSD drive installed. Laptops where you can't just remove the back panel are hardly low or mid-range laptops. Most likely this is a premium level, which in most cases does not need such an upgrade.
Removed laptop back cover
For all other cases, the process of removing the back panel and extracting from the bowels laptop hard disk should not cause problems. I will touch on a little theory that you may need to remove the disk.
What do we need
SSD. Well, first of all, you need yourself SSD drive with the right form factor for your laptop. The SSD must be large enough in case you want to clone your current HDD. I advise you to choose a disk with a capacity of 250 GB or more, and preferably 500 GB, if the price tag of 10,000 rubles does not scare you. For most people, 250 GB on a laptop should be enough for all tasks. You should not assume that this volume will be enough for you to store your personal video archive or music collection. The laptop is not for this purpose.
HDD/SSD adapter to a laptop. If you want to clone your hard drive, then you can't do without an external adapter. Suitable for this:
- Adapter for SSD/HDD 2.5" to CD/DVD drive;
- External adapter adapter controller for connecting HDD/SSD hard drives and optical drives CD/DVD. USB 2.0;
- Adapter for connecting HDD/SSD SATA III to USB ports 3.1.
Such an adapter will be useful not only for SSD connections and organization of the cloning process, but will also turn your current hard drive into external storage, for example, to save a personal video archive or for backup.
Small Phillips screwdriver to take off back cover laptop and release the hard drive, and then fix the SSD.
Separate external hard disk(optional). You may need a hard drive of the same size or larger to provide storage for folders that will not fit on the SSD. It can also keep a full system backup just in case something goes wrong.
Preparing your HDD for cloning
We will make a small preparatory work on the current disk, as long as it is not removed yet.
1. Make a full system backup. Creation backup The system image in Windows 10 is done as follows. In the control panel, open the section system and safety, then open the section Backup and recovery. Click the link on the left Creating a system image. Decide where you will store the image and go through all the steps of the wizard.
Creating a system image
2. Moving large folders. Most likely, your hard drive is larger than a brand new SSD. Therefore, large folders that contain photos, videos, games and personal documents are moved to external drive or another place to try to leave as much disk space as possible for cloning to SSD. I usually copy to the hard drives of a computer on which volumes hard drives much more than on a laptop. If you do not have a computer or adapter with external drive, then I advise you to copy to network drives to the Internet, such as Google Drive or .
3. Delete unnecessary files. Extra space to be taken up installed programs, we don't care. If you can easily reinstall them on the SSD in the future, feel free to delete them from the HDD. Large files, which you no longer need, but they lie simply because there is a place, it is also better to remove them. The cloning operation will be entertainingly faster. Additionally, I recommend cleaning the system of unnecessary system junk and temporary files free program CCleaner.
We connect SSD
We are now ready to connect the SSD to the laptop for the first time to carry out the cloning process.
1. Connect the SSD to the adapter. Depending on the type of adapter, install the SSD in a CD/DVD adapter case or connect it to a USB-SATA adapter, and then connect it to a laptop.
Connect SSD to USB adapter
2. SSD initialization. If Windows does not display the new drive letter in Explorer after installing the driver, open the Control Panel and run the snap-in Disk Management. in a snap Disk Management You should see the SSD as a new drive under your current drive. If it is not initialized, click right click mouse on the disk and select Initialize disk.
SSD initialization
3. Resize the current disk partition. We need to reduce the size of the current disk if it is larger than the SSD. Let's bring it to equal or smaller size. in a snap Disk Management check the primary partition of your current drive (usually drive C:, or another with installed system Windows) so that its size is no larger than SSD size. If it is not, then you need to compress it. Right-click on the operating system partition and select Shrink Volume. The compress current disk window will open. Click Compress.
Compress C:
This operation will allow you to resize the main partition so that the freed area on the disk is left as unallocated space. But don't worry about the unused area, during the cloning process we will resize the partition and include this unallocated space in the SSD volume.
After all operations, you must restart the laptop.
Clone HDD - 3 ways
Finally, the time has come for the most important operation, for which we have already gone through so much.
Selecting a disk cloning program.
Here we have several ways.
1 way
To do this, I use the EaseUS Todo Backup Free utility, which is free for personal use, has user-friendly interface and also optimizes migration to SSD. Download the utility and run. Selecting a button clone, specify the source and target disk, then follow the instructions of the wizard and get a copy of the hard disk on the SSD.
EaseUS Todo Backup Free
Please note that you must check the option Optimize for SSD when choosing target disk. This ensures that the sectors are aligned on your SSD and improves your chances of booting from the SSD after the clone process.
On the next window, you will be able to compare the original drive with the SSD. As you can see below, EaseUs automatically adjusts the unallocated space on the current drive for different drive sizes.
Starting the clone process
Click the button Proceed, and then turn off the laptop when the operation is complete.
2 way
Since the release of the operating room Windows systems 7, a built-in utility appeared, using which you can clone the system to a new disk. We have already made a system image, in the chapter I described the process of creating a system image. After you need to select a link Create System Recovery Disc.
Create System Recovery Disc
We need this disk to load the System Restore Wizard. After the recovery disk is ready, we change the HDD to an SSD (in next section Let's look at this process) and boot from the recovery disk. Select the image that was created earlier and indicate that we will restore current disk. After this operation, you will have copied the HDD to your SSD.
3 way
I want to offer a utility that is a whole combine for copying disks and partitions - Macrium Reflect. The features of the free version are enough for us, so we go to the official website and download the utility. If you want to get acquainted with all the features of the utility, then right on the site there is comparison table versions and their capabilities.
We launch the downloaded agent and start downloading the WinPE components.
Agent Macrium Reflect
After installation, launch the program window and create a system image or clone a disk, depending on whether you have an adapter for connecting external hard drives and extra hard the disk needs the volume that was discussed. If there is, then we clone the current disk to a new SSD. If not, then create a disk image and restore it to the SSD.
Macrium Reflect
To perform all these operations, we need to create a recovery disk in the Macrium Reflect application itself. It is very easy to do this. In the application menu, select Other Task - Create Rescue Media. It will open the disk creation wizard, in which you need to complete all the steps step by step and create a disk with WinPE on board. This disk will allow you to boot and restore the system from the image.
Rescue Media Wizard
Replacing HDD with SSD
1. Turn off your laptop and remove back panel. Turn off your laptop and then unplug the power cable and any other connected cables, including the SSD. Then unscrew the back panel of the laptop and remove it to access the hard drive.
2. Unscrew the screws that secure the drive. You need to remove 2 or 4 screws before the drive can be removed.
3. Raise the hard drive to 45 degrees and pull it out to myself.
4. In its place, install an SSD and assemble the laptop in reverse order.
SSD Boot Test
Moment of Truth: Turn on your laptop. It should load an order of magnitude faster and at the same time you will see all the contents of the desktop as before it was before the upgrade. Moreover, all heavy applications should also now load almost instantly.
If you receive a death screen or a screen Maintenance, choose Diagnostics – Extra options – Download options. If after that the system does not boot, then the disk was cloned unsuccessfully, try repeating all the operations again.
Now mount your storage with the archive folders created in step , and copy everything back. At the same time, you will be pleasantly surprised by the speed of copying.
Often in our Everyday life we are faced with a situation where you need to quickly and efficiently send email while on the road.
Or hold a presentation on the road. And with only five minutes at our disposal, we need to have time to complete all the planned work. And here, as luck would have it, the laptop starts up for a very long time, as the batteries work. Not everything works as fast as we would like.
And as you know, time is money.
Or in a hurry, they also accidentally dropped or hit it on the side where the HDD is installed, then generally with important information you can say goodbye.
The long start of the laptop, in particular the operating system, is associated with the use of a conventional hard drive. HDD, which, in view of its nature, does not shine with performance anyway, it also consumes a lot of energy.
Unlike desktop HDDs, which run at 7200 rpm, a standard laptop hard drive runs at lower speeds, only 5400 rpm. What does not add to it speed and advantages in any way.
So manufacturers of laptops and operating systems come up with all sorts of auxiliary features to speed up the launch of a laptop and save energy. Like all sorts of hibernations, sleep modes, special utilities for managing power plans, etc.
In addition, unlike a desktop computer, a laptop is a mobile device, and most often we carry it with us. And the HDD during such operation, frequent shakes, accidental shocks, is prone to mechanical damage especially if it happens during work.
And then you can already lose all the important data on your laptops.
In general, I think the problem is clear.
The way out of this situation is very simple: Replace laptop HDD with SSD.
What is an SSD can be found in the article:
What will give us replacing the HDD with an SSD in a laptop?
1. launch speed and Windows work
, as well as all installed applications and programs.
With Windows 7 installed on the SSD, the laptop is ready to use in 15-20 seconds after pressing the Power key.
2. More extended laptop battery life.
SSDs consume much less power than conventional HDDs, not only in stationary systems, but also in mobile ones.
3. shock resistance.
An SSD, due to the absence of mechanical parts, is able to withstand greater mechanical overloads than an HDD.
4. Well, weight SSD smaller than HDD, though not by much, but less.
Everything modern SSD made in 2.5" form factor, like all standard laptop HDDs.
That will allow us to safely replace the HDD with an SSD in a laptop.
So. Let's start with the replacement.
We will serve as a test subject a simple, budget laptop ASUS X54C and SSD Crucial M4 128Gb SATA III 6Gb/s.
First thing turn off the laptop from charger And take out the battery to turn it off completely.
Having decided, unscrew the screws and remove the cover that covers the HDD
We see that the HDD is installed in a special basket and fastened with three more screws.
Unscrew the screws and remove the HDD cage
The HDD itself is attached to the basket with two screws, unscrew them and remove the HDD
Then we put the basket with the SSD back into place in the laptop and fasten it with three screws
Note: carefully remember which screws and how much you unscrew, in order to avoid confusion.
Then we put the cover back in place and tighten the screws
Connecting the battery and charger
Everything, the SSD is installed in the laptop.
Now you need to install the operating system. In our case, we will install Windows 7 SP1 x64, since the laptop has 4gb of RAM installed, and x32 "sees" only 3gb out of 4.
Important! On many Internet resources, when installing an SSD, it is advised to clone, copy, transfer, restore from an image (and similar perversions) the C: \ HDD drive, with installed Windows.
But this should never be done!!!
Before installing an SSD, prepare to completely install Windows from scratch. Since when Windows is installed on the HDD, then, accordingly, all its services are launched for HDD work. But if you transfer such a system to an SSD, then many services will not only not help you work faster, but in addition will contribute to the rapid wear of a brand new SSD (for example, defragmentation). In order for the SSD to work correctly and for a long time under Windows, it must be installed from scratch on a clean SSD. And then .
After all, this article is not about how to install an SSD in a laptop, but how to CORRECTLY install an SSD in a laptop :)
We turn on the laptop, and immediately go into the BIOS (by repeatedly pressing the button) to make the necessary settings for the SSD.
Let's go to the section Avanced/SATA Configuration
And .
If not exhibit AHCI, then the SSD will not receive the important TRIM command.
Save settings by clicking the button .
We reboot the laptop and proceed to install Windows 7.
Specify regional and language options and installation type (full).
When choosing a disk for installation, we see our SSD unallocated.
To partition (create C :) drive, press Disk setup
Then press Create
Since we have established SSD volume 128Gb, then we divide it into two parts 60Gb for drive C: (or less) and the rest for drive D:.
Set the disk size in megabytes (60x1024=61440Mb) and click Apply
.
The system will ask for 100Mb for its needs - we agree.
After installing Windows, we install all the necessary drivers from the official website of the laptop manufacturer or from the disk that comes with the laptop.
Mandatory for correct operation SSD are Intel drivers® Rapid Storage Technology Driver (IRST_Intel_Win7) and management engine Interface Driver (MEI_Intel_Win7)
After the driver installation is complete, restart the laptop.
You can already see how many seconds Windows loads.
So we created only the system drive C:, for installing Windows, now we need to create a drive D: for data storage.
Right click on the icon A computer
and choose Control
In the window that opens, click Disk Management and we see what we have on the SSD in addition to drive C: there is still unallocated space
But at us the order of disks is broken. It should be like this: drive C: - system, drive D: - for data storage, drive E: - CD / DVD drive.
If we just create a volume in the unallocated area, then it will be like this: C: - system, E: - for storing data, and the drive will be the D: drive.
You may not bother, but we will do it right.
Right mouse button click on CD-ROM 0
and choose Change drive letter...
Then in the window that appears, click Change , in the drop-down menu, select the letter E and click OK
Now right key mouse click on an unallocated space and select Create a simple volume .
The Volume Creation Wizard will appear. Specify the size of the created volume, for everything free place and click Further
Then we assign the letter D: created disk and format the disk
And after all the operations close the window Setting and Windows optimization 7 for correct operation SSD.
If your new computer with Windows 10 booting long time, then most likely it's because it runs on a regular hard drive. This also applies to most older computers. Do you know that replacing the hard drive with a solid state drive (SSD) will make the machine run much faster? It's true, a five year old computer with an SSD is much faster than even a brand new one running on a regular hard drive. Good news is that swapping out drives is pretty easy to do and not too expensive, thanks to the fact that SSD drives are now much more affordable than they were just a few years ago.
(A standard SSD looks like a traditional 2.5-inch laptop hard drive, but it's much faster.)
In this article, I'll show you how to replace your Windows computer's internal hard drive with an SSD while keeping your software, data, and settings intact The computer must be running Windows 7, 8, or 10. previous versions Windows doesn't support SSDs well enough. The steps in this article were done on Windows 10, which you can install, by the way, as a free upgrade until July 29, 2016, Macbook owners can check out.
General direction. The replacement process basically involves cloning the contents of an existing hard drive to an SSD, and then directly replacing the hard drive from the computer with an SSD. It's a similar process for desktop and laptop computers, although it's much easier to work with a desktop computer due to its larger size.
Depending on how much data you have on your computer's main hard drive, this project will take anywhere from 20 minutes to several hours. You won't need to be actively involved most of this time.
A. Preparation.
There are a few things to consider for this job.First, you obviously need an SSD. While not all SSDs are created equal, all SSDs are much faster than any conventional hard drive, so the differences between them are irrelevant to someone replacing a conventional hard drive. However, with a drive try to buy the most capacious drive for the least money.
One important thing to keep in mind is make sure you buy an SSD with a higher capacity than the total amount of data you currently have on the hard drive you are replacing. This means, for example, that if your computer's main hard drive has a capacity of 1TB, but you've used about 200GB of them, then you just need an SSD with a capacity of about 240GB. You can buy a larger SSD or the same as your existing hard drive if you can afford it.
The second thing you need is cloning software. There are quite a few of these out there, and most of them work well (some SSDs come bundled with this kind of software), but my favorite is free version Macrium Reflect. This software allows you to clone an existing drive to a new one, even without restarting your computer. It also supports all types of hard drive formats.
The third thing you need is a USB-to-SATA adapter. These adapters can be found online for about $15 or so. If you have an external hard drive (whether portable or desktop), you can use its adapter part to work. Please note that for a desktop computer, as an option, you can not look for such an adapter and install an SSD as a secondary internal disk for the cloning process, which is much faster than a USB connection.
And finally, you will need a small screwdriver. Choose the one that fits the screws on your computer. As a rule, a standard small cross will do.
Additional preparation.
This step is only necessary if you want to use an old, used SSD (the one that was formatted before) to replace the existing hard drive on your computer. If you bought a new SSD, you can skip this step and go directly to the cloning process.There are two types of disc formats. This is the Master Boot Record (MBR) used by Windows 7 and above. early versions, as well as the GUID Partition Table (GPT), which was adopted on Windows 8 and above later versions. (Note that Windows 8 and Windows 10 work with MBR too.) If you want to use a used SSD for your computer, you'll first need to convert it to the same disk format as your existing hard drive in order to process cloning. If not, the system may not boot in the end.
It's pretty easy to figure out what is using the computer's existing GPT or MBR hard drive. Here's how to do it.
1. Launch a command prompt. (Right click on the "Start" button and select "Command Prompt" or search in the menu "All Programs > Windows Tools").
diskpart then press Enter. (Answer yes to the control question accounts, if prompted.)
3. In the team diskpart line enter list disk, then press Enter.
You will see a list of disks installed in the system. If a drive is listed with an asterisk (*) in the GPT column, then it uses GPT. Otherwise, it is an MBR drive.
And here's how to make sure the SSD is of the same format type:
1. Launch a command prompt.
2. In the window command line enter diskmgmt then press Enter. This will open the Disk Management window.
3. In the disk management window, find the SSD, which will be shown as disk 1 (or disk 2, etc. depending on the number of disks you have on the machine). Right click on the SSD then select "Convert to GPT" (if the current drive uses MBR), or "Convert to MBR" (if the current one uses GPT.) Just make sure it's the same type of drive format as the existing hard drive .
B. Disk cloning.
Now that you have everything you need, let's begin this process. Insert the SSD into the computer's USB port using a USB-to-SATA cable.(Note that the steps below are done on Macrium Reflect. With other versions or other cloning software, the steps will be slightly different, so follow the instructions of the software, but it should be easy enough to understand. The idea is that you are cloning existing HDD to SSD, keeping all settings.)
1. Download and install Macrium Refelct Free (link is above).
2. After installation is complete, double-click the Reflect icon on your desktop.
3. Under the icon of an existing computer, click on "Clone this disk..." (Clone this disk...) This will open the clone window.
4. In the clone window, click "Select a disk to clone to..." then select the SSD that is connected to the computer via the USB port.
Additional note: Here you can check to make sure both disks are of the same disk format type (GPT or MBR). Also, if your existing hard drive has many small partitions and you are using an SSD of the same or smaller capacity, you may encounter an error saying that not all partitions can fit on the SSD. In this case, you can disable sections on the right side of the main section, which always has (C:) in its title. This is the partition that contains the operating system.
B. Replacing the hard drive with an SSD.
This last step involves removing an existing hard drive. On most laptops, this is conceived simply by placing the hard drive in a bay at the edge of the computer. You can pull it out after unscrewing a couple of screws on the bottom of the laptop. Sometimes hard drives are placed under the battery. With desktop computers, everything is easier, where hard drives (3.5-inch versions) are easy to detect as soon as the case cover is opened. You should refer to the user's manual or search the Internet for information on how to remove the hard drive from your particular computer. Please note that for desktop computers, some SSDs come with a 3.5" bay adapter to make them suitable for desktop use. However, if your SSD does not have such an adapter, you can leave the SSD hanging inside the computer case. Because SSDs don't have moving parts and a desktop computer is usually stationary, there's little to no harm in leaving an SSD hanging freely inside the case (just make sure it doesn't interfere with anything).After the old hard drive is removed and the SSD is installed, make sure you tighten all the screws when installing the SSD. In my experience, if you have a screw or two left, you've done something wrong.
Now that the SSD has been installed, keep the old hard drive in a safe place as a permanent backup. Or you can also use it with USB-to-SATA adapter as the drive for the current backup. IN desktop computer, you can actually still use an old hard drive as a secondary one if there is room for it inside the computer case.
Reboot your computer a few times so that the operating system gets used to the new SSD. Don't worry, your computer will now boot noticeably faster.
Both on YouTube and I was asked if it is possible to replace conventional HDD drive with a modern, significantly more productive SSD drive? Of course you can, but why? Not in the sense that for some reason I am against new technologies, but, it seems to me, a stereotype of thinking has already formed: throw away the hard drive, install a solid-state drive in its place, and grace will come. So it is, but everything is a little more interesting. Installing an SSD in a laptop can be produced in several ways. Let's figure it out. Consider laptop hard drive interfaces, their options and capabilities.
HDD vs SSD
It makes no sense to describe the advantages of solid state drives over conventional hard drives. The merits and demerits of each are well known to anyone who distinguishes the "note of C from the note of F", or, in computer terms, processor socket from the drive interface. I want to talk about something else. In order not to be unfounded, let's take for example a couple of modern SSDs related to different classes, from budget to top productive device. Well, for the company - normal hard drive, just for comparison.
I’ll make a reservation right away that I will choose SSD drives with a capacity of 256 GB, because I think that on this moment this is the optimal volume both in terms of money and the sufficiency of space for installing the operating system, desired programs. I'll take the Winchester with a capacity of 1 TB. For our conversation, the capacity of the disk is not important. I will immediately give some characteristics of each model, in particular, the peak read / write speed. The remaining parameters are of no interest to us at the moment.
| Type | HDD | SSD | ||
| Model | HGST Travelstar 7K1000 | SanDisk Plus | Samsung 850 EVO | PNY EP7011 |
| Capacity, GB | 1000 | 240 | 250 | 240 |
| 120 | 530 | 540 | 525 | |
| 120 | 440 | 520 | 490 | |
| Estimated cost. | 4600 | 3940 | 6700 | 14500 |
Have you noticed a pattern in all solid-state drives? Max speed read / write is almost the same for everyone. While the prices differ several times. Of course, other disk parameters, such as: controllers used, type of flash memory installed, random read / write speed on blocks different sizes etc. will vary. Why is that?
The answer lies in the interface used to connect the drive, be it a hard drive or SSD for a laptop or desktop computer. Interfaces will be discussed further.
SATA, mSATA, M.2
Modern laptops, like desktop computers, at least have one, but more often, several SATA connectors for connection. You can also find mSATA connector, or M.2. How do they differ, what can they offer in terms of speed indicators and usability? A bit of theory.
I will warn you right away, I will operate with approximate figures that give a correct idea of the capabilities of the interface, but do not complicate the calculations. For simplicity, we will consider 1000 bytes in kilobytes.
SATA
This interface has replaced the PATA, which has already gone down in history. Now there is a third version of this interface. Briefly mention the characteristics of each version:
- SATA 1. The specification was introduced in 2003. The bus frequency on which the controller worked was 1.5 GHz. This made it possible to achieve a bandwidth of 1.5 Gb / s, or about 150 MB / s.
- SATA 2. The bus frequency has been doubled to 3 GHz, doubling and throughput up to 3 Gb/s, or 300 MB/s.
- SATA 3. The controller bus frequency increased again and reached 6 GHz. Bandwidth - 6 Gb / s, approximately 550-600 MB / s.
The question may arise, if there are 8 bits in a byte, then the bandwidth should be higher than indicated, because if you divide 6 Gb by 8, you get 750 MB / s. The fact is that when transmitting data, the coding system "8b / 10b" is used, in which each byte of data is accompanied by two bits of service information.
Given that SATA 3 is actively replacing older versions, it is he who is most interesting. If you take a closer look at the given throughput characteristics, you will notice one interesting thing: it is approximately equal to the read speed of SSD drives. Rather, it should be said the other way around - modern SSD drives have reached the ceiling of the SATA 3 interface capabilities during sequential read operations.
Concerning conventional hard disks, then there are actually a lot of SATA 2 versions for them. No hard drive is able to reach its data transfer limit. What can we say about SATA 3. The expediency of using it is only when reading / writing to the hard drive buffer. Mechanics still does not allow to achieve such transmission speeds.
mSATA
This is a kind of modification of conventional SATA for use in laptops and other similar devices. It allows you to connect a compact SSD drive. Fundamentally no different from the same SATA 3, using the same controller with the same characteristics. Its presence in a laptop allows you to connect an additional solid state drive in a pair with a conventional hard drive or a 2.5-inch solid state drive that replaces it. Installing an SSD in a laptop of this form factor will still give a noticeable speed gain, and can be a very useful procedure for not the most modern computers.
M.2
Let's take a closer look at this drive connection interface. It replaced mSATA, has a different connector, and serves the same purpose - connecting compact SSD drives. By the way, not only them, this interface is suitable for installing expansion cards, for example, WiFi modules, Bluetooth adapters etc. Now we are interested in connecting disks.
And I'm interested because even though drives are connected to it, it differs significantly from SATA. And not just the connector. The beauty is that in addition to the SATA controller, a more powerful one in terms of speed characteristics is also used. PCI-Express bus. This bus has also reached the third version, which allows the M.2 interface to use 4 lanes of the PCI-Express bus.
If we translate this into numbers, then:
- PCI Express 2.0 dual lane (PCI-E 2.0 x2) provides 8 Gb/s bandwidth, or approximately 800 MB/s.
- PCI Express 3.0 with four lanes (PCI-E 3.0 x4) gives 32 Gb/s, which corresponds to approximately 3.2 GB/s.
As you can see, a significant difference compared to SATA. True, it should be noted. The connected disk can be used as SATA interface, and one of the PCI-Express options. In addition, it is important that the motherboard manufacturer ensures that the specifications for this interface are met.
| Model | Plextor PX-256M7VG | Kingston HyperX Predator |
| Capacity, GB | 256 | 240 |
| Interface | SATA 3 | PCI-E x4 |
| Max. sequential read speed, MB/s | 560 | 1290 |
| Max. speed sequential recording, MB/s | 530 | 600 |
| Estimated cost. | 6100 | 11100 |
Let's explain the table. The Plextor drive uses the SATA interface, which imposes its own limitations on the speed of the drive's exchange with the controller. Opportunities are fully utilized. Kingston, on the other hand, works on a different bus, PCI-E, which significantly affects performance. Unfortunately, the price too, but that's another topic.
Continuing the conversation about the M.2 interface, one cannot but mention the differences in the connectors of this interface, which consist in the options for the location of the keys, i.e. cutouts. The connector format is as follows:
| Key type | B key (M.2 socket2) | M key (M.2 socket3) |
| Scheme |  |  |
| Key location | Contacts 12-19 | Contacts 59-66 |
| Supported interfaces | PCIe ×2, SATA, USB 3.0, Audio, PCM, IUM, SSIC and I2C | PCIe ×4 and SATA |
Accordingly, SSD drives also have several types of connectors:
| Key type | b key | M key | M&B key |
| Scheme |  |  |  |
| Key location | Contacts 12-19 | Contacts 59-66 | Contacts 12-19 and 59-66 |
| Supported interfaces | PCIe x2, SATA | PCIe ×4, SATA | PCIe x2, PCIe x4, SATA |
As you can see, SSD drives are produced not only with B or M, but also with a universal M&B key, which allows you to install such a drive in any slot with a B or M key.
It immediately becomes clear than the M.2 connector better than SATA to which we are all accustomed. The name of the latter speaks for itself - there is only one interface for connecting disks, SATA, and there can be no options. At the same time, M.2, having all the characteristics of this interface, is also able to work on another bus, i.e. PCI-Express, and this, as they say, is completely different money. Rather, completely different speeds.
It should be said that the M.2 connector is very versatile, and is used to connect a wide variety of devices. The device type is determined by the location of the key, which prevents an unsupported device from being installed in this slot. For example, M.2 with key E (pins 24-31), as well as key A (pins 8-15) is used for WiFi connections and Bluetooth adapters, a number of other devices, but is not designed to connect SSD drives.
Moreover, the specification reserves keys that are not currently used, but may be in demand in the future. Key F is planned for use with future memory interfaces, keys C, D, G, etc. are also provided.
Finishing the marking, let's mention the following: the specifications of the connector on the motherboard often contain numbers, for example, "supports devices 2242, 2260, 2280". There is nothing wrong with this marking. Everything is simple. These are the dimensions of the disk for which there are fasteners, i.e. a platform into which a screw is screwed to fix the drive. It turns out that if support for 2280 drives is declared, this means that their dimensions should be 22 mm wide and 80 mm long.
Choosing and installing an SSD in a laptop
What to look for when choosing solid state drive M.2 format?
Firstly, on the type of key, although most models are offered with a universal M&B.
Secondly, the interface used by the disk. If this is SATA 3, then the exchange rate of approximately 550 MB / s is the ceiling. If PCI Express is used, then it is already more interesting, but also more expensive.
Questions about which controller is better, what memory is used, the availability of support for TRIM commands and other characteristics of specific drives are a topic for a separate discussion.
Conclusion
Let's summarize. Laptops, due to their compactness, do not provide a large choice in upgrading the disk system. Could always be replaced mounted drive to a more capacious, productive one, or even replace it with a solid state one, losing in capacity, but significantly gaining in speed.
The presence of an M.2 connector in the laptop - nice bonus giving interesting opportunity change the configuration and, most importantly, significantly increase the speed of exchange with drives. Several options are possible.
Option 1
HDD, especially if it has a capacity of 1 TB or even higher, do not touch it, but install an M.2 (or mSATA) form factor SSD as a system drive. What do we get? After transferring the system to this disk, we have a fast bootable media with a full set of programs that are critical to the performance of disk operations. These can be graphics packages, video editing programs, and even "heavy" games. The hard drive remains as a file cleaner and for installing programs that do not need high speed storage exchange. Thus, at the same time we save SSD resource disk.
What are the disadvantages of this option? Oddly enough, increased power consumption. This is true for those who often work offline, without a network connection. It would seem that the SSD consumes a lot? A little, but it's different. The hard drive does not go anywhere, and still "eats" the battery. Replacing it with a solid state one slightly increases battery life. But it reduces the useful capacity of the disks.
In my opinion, the most optimal solution. Installing an SSD in a laptop is performed as an addition to the hard drive and also an SSD. That is exactly what I did.
Option 2
Use the smallest SSD for caching disk operations. A budget solution, a kind of half measure, but the computer will work faster.
Has the right to exist.
Option 3
Install an M.2 SSD, but do not make it a system one, but use it to run programs that need high performance disks.
M.2 may also be somewhat of a transitional phase in anticipation of the next generation of storage connectivity. In the meantime... For now, you should take advantage of what is available, use the M.2 connector to install an SSD drive, which is quite capable of overtaking the coolest 2.5-inch drive that can be put in place of a traditional hard drive. The interface allows it!
