Upgrade your Windows PC with a SSD Drive
Image by Myo Min Kyaw from Pixabay
If you have an older desktop or laptop with a mechanical spinning Hard Disk Drive (HDD), then you will want to upgrade it to a Solid-State Drive (SSD). The connection or interface will probably be a SATA III. An SSD disk replacement is going to increase the read/write speeds to 3-4 times as much as a standard HDD disk.
Recommended Drives
The two top drives I recommend to my customers are Samsung 860 EVO & Crucial MX500 series. They each have capacity options of 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB.
Clean Installation
The simplest way to do this is to start over from scratch. You install a clean installation of Windows on your new SSD disk. The disadvantage of this is that your old files are only on your old HDD disk. If you want to have access to your old files, you are going to want to create a back of your files before installing the new drive. You can also purchase an external enclosure that will allow you to access your old drive using a USB connection.
- External Enclosure 2.5″ (for smaller laptop sized disks)
- External Enclosure 3.5″ (for larger sized disks in desktops)
Clone Drive
Another option is to clone (or copy) your old HDD disk to your new SSD disk. By doing this you will have an exact copy of the original disk. There are a few free options to clone your disk.
Conclusion
Get a few more years out of your laptop for not too much more money. Upgrading your disk will bring new life to your computer, extending the total value you get from it.
