Advice on Transfer to SSD from HD

**Lurch** · 10-15-21, 11:59 AM

Hi,

On my Dell SFF 7010 there doesn't look like there is space for an additional HD, the SanDisk 240 GB SSD I'm wanting to install in it.
So I'm thinking I'll need to remove the WD 2500AAKX and install the SSD in that space.
Can I back up my Windows 10 OS to my WD external drive, then replace the drives, and then install Win 10 onto my SSD once it's in the 7010?

Thanks so much for any guidance here.
I think the 7010 will run nicely with the SSD.

Lurch / Joe

**Lurch** · 10-15-21, 07:02 PM

Update :

I installed the SSD into the 7010. I removed the DVD player to make space for it. If I'm not mistaken, there is no way to run 2 HDs with a DVD player in there.
I also called SanDisk and got a copy of Acronis True Image to clone my HDD and install it to the SSD. I haven't got it cloned yet.
It told me to remove some files to make space for the clone. I don't get that because the source HDD only has 40 GB , and the SSD is 233 GB and has nothing on it.
It's slow as molasses but eventually I hope to make the SSD my OS drive and remove the HDD, and put the DVD player back in it. 233 GB is all the space I need for the SSD to be my main HD.

I don't know why but the 7010 started up fine today. Maybe I had a poor connection in it.
The guy tested it and told me I need a new PS.

The 7010 seems faster for web surfing for some reason.

Lurch

**Lurch** · 10-16-21, 06:10 AM

I got the HDD cloned onto my SSD last night before I went to bed.
Then I got up and changed the BIOS and it's running nicely.
Then I formatted the HDD and will remove it today and put the DVD ROM back in it.

I sure like those SSDs.

**Easto** · 10-16-21, 09:36 AM

Glad to hear you got it figured out. I think you did it the right way. When I read your first post it sounded like you were adding a couple of unnecessary step. I also looked up the specs for the 7010 and it is an Ultra SFF and will only handle 1SSD. Although I was wondering if you could remove the DVD and substitute an additional SSD in its place but I don't think that's possible.

**Norm** · 10-16-21, 05:45 PM

There are multiple specs for the Dell SFF 7010 depending on the model Lurch.

Not up on hardware these days, but check your motherboard, beside the cable your using for the SSD, (and where the DVD was connected. There may be another connector (unused) that you could plug your old drive back into. Is it a sata connector, or the old 40 pin type? Anyway, you know enough to know what I'm getting at. Check for alternative connectors or if needed get an adapter if you want to have both drives in there.

**Lurch** · 10-17-21, 01:42 PM

Hi,

When I briefly ran the SSD alongside the HDD, I had the SSD plugged into the same connector the DVD player was plugged into, or maybe it was an unused connector, but both drives worked so I must have done it right. There's still another AC connection for another drive but it doesn't seem like there's room in there any more with one of the hard drives. That's OK though, I use flash cards, OneCloud, and an external WD drive to store things, plus I have about 190GB of free space on the SSD.

**Lurch** · 10-17-21, 01:47 PM

I got that 7010 running good but the power supply is getting more finicky every day so I didn't mess with it today. I went back to the 960 until the PS gets here later this week.
It's a good feeling to have opened up the 7010 and operated on it a little.
I've wanted to run the SSD in that for a long while. I honestly didn't realize how easy it is to do such a thing.

At first I had trouble cloning the HDD to the SSD, because I had not yet initialized the SSD but as soon as I did, cloning was done right.
So from the Acronic True Image SW I selected "add a new drive" and selected the newly installed SSD, and it was then initialized which I think that made it ready to be partitioned, etc.

**Easto** · 10-17-21, 06:06 PM

Great to hear it worked out for you. It's always a good feeling doing something you haven't done before and have it work out for you.

**Norm** · 10-17-21, 08:41 PM

Originally Posted by Easto

Great to hear it worked out for you. It's always a good feeling doing something you haven't done before and have it work out for you.

I second this statement.

Once you get into i Lurch, you'll find it isn't as hard as people believe it is. Sometimes there is a bit of reading to do, other times it just becomes natural. I remember my first time opening a case and seeing all the parts in there, thinking, "all you gotta do is plug everything in to a connector that suits the plug of the part". It ended up not being quite THAT easy back then, but today it's basically all you need to do. Then you proceed to build your self a "Monster machine" lol Depending on your income.

And software these days makes it even easier to get things done. If a drive is not partitioned etc, the software usually tells you, and how to go about doing it, or even goes about doing it for you.

Good to see you around by the way. And you too Easto.
I remember you both from the days when a post didn't last long on a page before it was on page 2.
Good memories of you both.

**YeOldeStonecat** · 10-18-21, 09:32 AM

Most hard drive manufacturers have "FREE" cloning software you can get from their website. Often it's a customized version of Acronis True Image.....often has a requirement to have at least 1x drive connected that is that manufacturers product. Meaning, using it from Western Digital, may require 1x WD drive to be connected, or Crucial, etc.

Can run it through Windows. Or....faster, we run it from a bootable USB thumb drive, or optical (CD)...granted...most new computers don't have CD players anymore.
If you have a spare old computer tower around, you can use that to clone. Just plug your "source" drive into the first SATA port, plug your new SSD "destination" drive into the next SATA port. Boot from a CD or USB thumb drive formatted with the bootable Acronis you downloaded, run through the wizard (be sure to clone in the correct direction!). And, once it completes, power off, put your SSD into computer it's for...boot up, reboot to settle in, should be done.

Spindle (rotating) drives.....shouldn't be used for Windows 10/11, just too painfully slow. Esp when doing the monthly feature updates.

We do a lot of clones all the time, so most of the time we use a dedicated drive duplicator hardware appliance to clone drives.

**Lurch** · 10-18-21, 07:27 PM

Got the power supply today and installed it and am now on the 7010. That was a piece of cake.

I did make a bootable flash drive from Acronis True Image SW though I'm not sure why I'd ever need it.

But I love Dell PCs. I replaced the power supply, and added an SSD after cloning the HDD, all for $27.

If I'd taken it to a local computer shop they would have changed me at least $200.
I looked at some youtube videos which shows you just how simple it can be to do DIY PC fixing.

Now I've got 2 good running SSD Dell PCs.