Greetings, I currently own a Sony Vaio laptop containing a regular SATAII hard drive, but I am considering buying a SSD to speed things up a bit. My question goes: Is it possible to transfer the factory installed Windows 7 to a new hard drive, in this case a SSD, or should I go get a new copy? If it is possible, what is the 'correct' or easiest procedure to do so? Thanks in advance.
Yes, it can be done... HOWEVER!!!!!!!!, there is always a however... The simplest way is with a desktop computer. get a good cloning program, there are many free ones, but personally, I like acronis- a pay for product. It isn't fancy, doesn't do wild tricks, it just works...everytime... Anyways. a few BIG hints.... Label your current desktop harddrive as "desktop drive" Label your current laptop drive as "OldLapTop" Label your new ssd as "NewLaptop" In this way, when you do the "cloning" you are sure which is the drive to be imaged and which drive IS the image to be cloned. In this example, you will go from oldlaptop to new laptop. NOTE: You MUST format the new drive before you try cloning it. P.S. You need to google what the max speed of the controller of the laptop is... Expect a number mbps-something like 250 max or so....google it When you choose a ssd, remember to choose an sata 2 unit, it is slower than sata3, but with a sata 2 controlller, you would only get sata 2 speeds. The point is get an sata 2 drive whose spped is around the controllers max, and for the cost difference between thae sata2 and sata 3 drives, get a larger sata2 for your laptop. I know this is a long answer, but there is really much more going on than you first thought. I hope this helps guide you to the best bang for the buck for you.
