quote:

1) I want to replace the hdd with a 500gig SSD drive. I assume I'll have to also get the external sataIII cable to usb to put the old drive on? Or external 2.5 case, to use the 1 tb as backup drive after transfer. Is that it? put the new drive in , run their migrate program, done?


Pretty much but if your system supports USB3 that would work better. You could mount them in desktop and run a migration from a boot disk but that might be too much work, it is what I would do but I am in the business and have plenty of hardware available. YMMV

2) How do I find out how much memory I can install, and if I have to have matched sets. I would like at least 16 gig memory, 24 or 32 gig would be nice.

Doubtful it will support more than 8gb, possible 16gb but know the SSD will make the most impact on your system. Just Google your computers model number's specifications and you should get the answer. 8 to 16 gb would have some but minimal impact.