My wife has an older Acer that was cheap when we bought it, and it still runs pretty well, but I want to breathe a little bit of life back into it. Many years ago (in the age of XP) I used to assemble my own desktop machines so I have a basic understanding of what complements are there, though the specifics have long since passed me by.

My thought is to simply replace the hard drive with a SSD drive and add more RAM, if feasible. I’ve already purchased a new SSD drive but I’m not sure how I can what type of RAM it’ll take and what the max useable amount is. I seem to remember that Crucial used to have a function on their website that would analyze your computer and give you some upgrade options, so I guess I’ll check there. Any other alternatives?

The bigger issue is how to actually replace the drive and end up with a working machine again. The laptop did not come with an OS disk. I’ve made a “system image” copy to my USB hard drive but I’m guessing I need to effect the installation of the OS onto the new drive before I can load that system image.

What’s my best option here?

If the laptop is old, running a 32-bit Win OS, you won’t see any real benefit beyond 4GB RAM.

An SSD is the best way to do it.

What OS are you running? If it’s not at least windows 7, I would waste the time or money on it. In a few short years, even 7 won’t be supported any longer and will need an upgrade. There are plenty of cheap laptops with 7 on them that can be upgraded to 10.

As for RAM, you should be able to easily figure out the machines capacity by researching the model number.

A new cheap laptop can be had for like $200-300 now, especially since Cyber Monday is tomorrow. You really ought to consider upgrading to a new machine. You'll get a new 64 bit OS, better specs, and a fresh battery.

If, however, you are proceeding with the upgrade, I would back up my personal files on to an external drive (you have an external drive for backups, don't you?), make sure I had a legible CD key sticker, and do a clean install of the OS. You can't download the XP image legally online, as it wasn't ever distributed online. I'm sure on of the Sigforum guys will come along and offer you a copy of their XP install disk. If not, you can find an install disk for like $5 on eBay.

Be wary of XP install discs and files from unreputable sources-- I image it wouldn't be too hard to slip in some malware into an install package.

Lastly, if you want to keep the OS with everything on it, you could just get an external drive enclosure for $20 on Amazon, and use some free drive cloning software like CloneZilla (not endorsing it, haven't used it) or whatever comes with your new drive (the last drive I bought came with some utlilities) to make an exact duplicate of your drive. Once duplicated, you should be able to swap the drives.

It’s a Windows 7 machine, I think Home Premiun 64 bit.

Is there a legit source online to download the installation files and make an install disc? I have the product code still, just no disc to install from.

You should be in good shape- Windows 7 Premium is a solid OS.

I think you can easily make a disc image as per Microsoft

https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...re-download/windows7

I believe you can simply clone your HD directly to the new SSD via Acronis- that way you have a complete backup drive in the highly unlikely event your new SSD dies. More knowledgeable and savvy types chime in here for particulars...

Never tried it but I guess you can get an USB case for you HD, boot from a Hiren or similar boot disk and clone your current OS to the SsD then swap them

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Oh, windows 7 64 bit should be easy peasy.

You can download the OS installation media directly from Microsoft into a USB stick and make the fresh install from there.

The Microsoft download tool is here. https://support.microsoft.com/...e-installation-media

Make sure you download drivers for your laptop and backup your files before you start.

If you are keeping the laptop, I would recommend doing a fresh install of Windows on the SSD as opposed to cloning it. The reason I say that is over time Windows gets "cluttered" if you will especially if you install and uninstall lots of programs. I usually do a clean install once a year and that alone tends to speed things up considerably.

Now it is more time consuming to do a clean install and reinstall everything but you can make it a little easier. I keep all of my user folders on a separate drive. This allows me to more easily re-install windows without messing with my data.

quote:

Originally posted by cruiser68:
If you are keeping the laptop, I would recommend doing a fresh install of Windows on the SSD as opposed to cloning it. The reason I say that is over time Windows gets "cluttered" if you will especially if you install and uninstall lots of programs. I usually do a clean install once a year and that alone tends to speed things up considerably.

Now it is more time consuming to do a clean install and reinstall everything but you can make it a little easier. I keep all of my user folders on a separate drive. This allows me to more easily re-install windows without messing with my data.

I was kind of leaning this way as opposed to restoring from the system image in my external HD. I used the built-in Windows tool to create a Back-Up in addition to the System Image, I just don’t know that I trust that to have gotten all my personal files (or rather, my wife’s).

I’ll probably just take the time to manually copy everything to my external drive and then move it back after the SSD is installed.

Thank you for the link, that’ll help a lot. I’ve never installed an OS from a USB but I imagine it isn’t any different than installing from disk, assuming BIOS has the USB ports on the boot order somewhere?

quote:

Originally posted by striker1:
An SSD is the best way to do it.

Yep. Best bang for your buck. If you want more pop than that, you'll likely need to replace the laptop itself.

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:

quote:

Originally posted by cruiser68:
If you are keeping the laptop, I would recommend doing a fresh install of Windows on the SSD as opposed to cloning it. The reason I say that is over time Windows gets "cluttered" if you will especially if you install and uninstall lots of programs. I usually do a clean install once a year and that alone tends to speed things up considerably.

Now it is more time consuming to do a clean install and reinstall everything but you can make it a little easier. I keep all of my user folders on a separate drive. This allows me to more easily re-install windows without messing with my data.

I was kind of leaning this way as opposed to restoring from the system image in my external HD. I used the built-in Windows tool to create a Back-Up in addition to the System Image, I just don’t know that I trust that to have gotten all my personal files (or rather, my wife’s).

I’ll probably just take the time to manually copy everything to my external drive and then move it back after the SSD is installed.

Thank you for the link, that’ll help a lot. I’ve never installed an OS from a USB but I imagine it isn’t any different than installing from disk, assuming BIOS has the USB ports on the boot order somewhere?

Your BIOS will typically have a “boot pop-up” option. When the laptop is first powered, hit a key like F12, F10, etc. You can then select the desired boot device.

I load everything now from USB; USB 1/2 is at least 3 times faster than the fastest CD drive, and USB 3 is 10x + faster than that.

SSD installed, Windows installed. I was able to download the proper ISO after some google searching and created a bootable USB thumb drive using the Windows tool.

Confirmed what type and how much RAM my motherboard can support (DDR2-800 4GB max) and have that ordered, so the total will be doubled and its a slightly faster type, I think.

Grand total $55 for the SSD and the RAM. Not too shabby.

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:
SSD installed, Windows installed. I was able to download the proper ISO after some google searching and created a bootable USB thumb drive using the Windows tool.

Confirmed what type and how much RAM my motherboard can support (DDR2-800 4GB max) and have that ordered, so the total will be doubled and its a slightly faster type, I think.

Grand total $55 for the SSD and the RAM. Not too shabby.

Excellent- should run like a new machine compared to previously.

I just did an SSD upgrade in an old laptop yesterday. I made a recovery media USB thumb drive with the old install, put the SSD in, and "recovered" my OS (Win 10) with the recovery media. The process was super easy.

Hint: Make a recovery USB stick and keep it someplace.