Computer Geek help...

[andrewb70]

So I have an ancient Gateway lap top. I use it only for tuning my Holley EFI. A long time ago I blew the whole HD away and did a clean install of Windows XP Professional. The computer runs great and is super stable for the things that I need it to do. Doing a little digging around it looks like it uses EIDE connection for the HD.

I also have newer Samsung 256g SSD which is ATA. After digging around, I ordered this guy:

http://www.amazon.com/44-Pin-IDE-SATA-Adapter/dp/B004IA9IUQ

I also have an adapter that connects the Samsung SSD to any computer via USB.

I want to install the SSD into the Gateway.

1. Will that adapter work to connect the Samsung SSD to the Gateway?

2. What is the best Win XP HD cloning software?

Thanks!

Andrew

[Jerems]

This should work fine but how old of a laptop are we talking about? As long as the computer boots up and you can see the SSD in the BIOS you're good to go. Also, will the adapter and SSD fit in the slot in your laptop together physically? The adapter will make the SSD a little longer.

Did the samsung SSD come with bundled software? When I bought my Crucial drive it came with the USB adapter and software to do the clone...if not:

http://lifehacker.com/5837543/how-to-migrate-to-a-solid-state-drive-without-reinstalling-windows

Here is a link for doing the swap, if you connect your SSD via USB and follow those instructions you should be good to go. Ignore the parts about having to copy files before cloning as I'm assuming you bought a SSD that is the same size or larger than what you have on your current HDD?

Anymore questions let me know.

[andrewb70]

I hooked up the SSD via USB to the old lap top and it came up as a drive in "My Computer." This only happened after I formatted the SSD drive as MSD FAT. I am downloading the software now and will attempt to clone the old laptop drive to the SSD. The SSD is larger in capacity than the old laptop drive.

I also eyeballed the old laptop drive bay and I think I have enough space to swap the drive physically.

Andrew

[Jerems]

MSD FAT?? I never heard of that one, maybe you mean MS-DOS FAT?...There is usually FAT 32 FAT 16 exFAT and NTFS as choices when you format. You might want to format the drive in NTFS, for speed and file size compatibility. If you are only using the drive for tuning you may not notice the difference but it's just the newer file system that's a lot better than the old FAT systems.

Good Luck, let us know how it goes.

[andrewb70]

MSD FAT?? I never heard of that one, maybe you mean MS-DOS FAT?...There is usually FAT 32 FAT 16 exFAT and NTFS as choices when you format. You might want to format the drive in NTFS, for speed and file size compatibility. If you are only using the drive for tuning you may not notice the difference but it's just the newer file system that's a lot better than the old FAT systems.

Good Luck, let us know how it goes.

Sorry....I had it as FAT32. I was able to see the SSD in My Computer. I also looked at my current HD and it was formatted as NTFS, so I went ahead and formatted the SSD as NTFS. Working on the rest now and will update.

Thanks for the help!

Andrew

[andrewb70]

I was able to successfully clone the drive. All I am waiting for now is the adapter. I wonder if Best Buy might have something like that in stock....

One problem that I see now is that for some reason the SSD is now only 128gig instead of 256gig. The older drive was 128gig, so maybe that't the problem? Any advice?

Andrew

[TheJDMan]

All the drive cloning software I have seen only creates a primary partition the size of the source drive. Since your SSD is twice the size of the original HD the result is that on your new SSD you will have a primary partition of 128gb and approximately 128gb of unallocated free space. In that remaining free space you can do a couple of things. You can create a second partition using Windows Disk Manager. The primary partition will be designated C: and a partition in remaining free space will likely be D: or E: depending on whether you have a CD Rom drive installed in the computer. A second option for using the SSD free space is that there are Partition Manager programs on the market that may allow you to extend the primary partition into the free space depending on where the primary partition was physically created on the SSD.

[andrewb70]

All the drive cloning software I have seen only creates a primary partition the size of the source drive. Since your SSD is twice the size of the original HD the result is that on your new SSD you will have a primary partition of 128gb and approximately 128gb of unallocated free space. In that remaining free space you can do a couple of things. You can create a second partition using Windows Disk Manager. The primary partition will be designated C: and a partition in remaining free space will likely be D: or E: depending on whether you have a CD Rom drive installed in the computer. A second option for using the SSD free space is that there are Partition Manager programs on the market that may allow you to extend the primary partition into the free space depending on where the primary partition was physically created on the SSD.

Thanks Steve! I will try using Windows Disk Manager and create another partition in the free space.

Andrew

[andrewb70]

Thanks Steve! I will try using Windows Disk Manager and create another partition in the free space.

Andrew

Ok...I was able to create another partition from the available space.

Now, when I install the SSD drive in place of the old HD, don't I need the SSD partition that contains the cloned image be labeled C:? Right now the cloned partition is E: and the other partition that I created on the SSD is F:

Advice?

Andrew

[TheJDMan]

The cloned partition on the SSD will become C: by default once the old HD is removed from the computer and the SSD becomes the boot disk. The secondary partition will likely become E: because I assume you have a CD that is currently D:.

[Jerems]

The JD Man is correct, you are looking at your drive as a third party on the existing computer so windows automatically assigned a Letter for the drive, D in your case. Once it's installed in place of your HDD, windows will use that as C:

With cloning the partition I'm surprised it didn't give you the option to clone the smaller drive to the larger partition. Either way the way you did it is just fine, you can store your tunes, pics, video etc on the D: and just keep windows and programs on the C drive. Like JD man said as well programs like Partition magic work well for extended the existing partition to use the full space if you didn't want to use two separate partitions.

[andrewb70]

Hi Guys,

I just wanted to close the loop on this and thank everyone for helping me with this.

This morning I received the little adapter. With the adapter the drive was just a little too long to stick into the HD compartment, but since the SSD is thin, it doesn't stick out past the bottom. Don't hate me for doing this:

https://www.pro-touring.com/~andrewb/sale/SSD.jpg

It isn't pretty, but it works like a charm. I installed the drive and it booted into Windows as fast as it took to go through the bios screen. The application open super fast and it's like a much never computer (the CDs that came with it say 2005!).

Please let me know if I should do anything else, other than enjoy some new found performance when I use it to tune my Holley EFI.

Andrew

[TheJDMan]

Glad to hear it is working for you. Just make sure no vents are covered with tape. Just like our cars, heat is your enemy.

[Jerems]

Good job, glad it worked out for you.

Nice attachment job haha, as long as it works and like thejdman said the doesn't block vent holes (which are usually up closer to the screen portion anyways) you're good to go.

Now get tuning!

[andrewb70]

The only went that is covered is that 1/8" that was shown in the picture, which I don't think really matters.

This computer has been a work horse and it's really great now!

Thanks for all the help!

Andrew