Please Need Advice on HDD Upgrade for Samsung NP-R580 [Want/Need To Ghost Drive?]

[Berty]

Hi All

Many thanks for your advice when I was building my system before Christmas, it runs like a dream.

I might need to Ghost my drive but would rather not have to...

I need some help with my Laptop. I wanted to upgrade my internal 2.5" hdd to a SSD but my laptop model is SATA 2 (I presume 2 as in any info/desription I have found for it just says SATA but I bought it in 2010 so I guess it is SATA 2) and the cost to performance increase really isn't worth it. It seems that my best option is to buy a SATA 2 7200rpm drive like a 750GB Western Digital WD7500BPKT Scorpio Black, 2.5", 9.5 mm, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, 4ms (copied info from scan). The price is just over £80 so it is an amazing increase for my system for the price. There may be a better drive (reliability pips speed, but only just, as this is for my portable music recording studio setup).

I am hoping that as my model of laptop is not too old to accept this drive (or one better although it does seem like the best choice) without a problem. The next issue is WINDOWS GRRRRRRRR!! As Windows was pre-loaded when I bought my laptop (Win 7 Home Premium 64bit) I don't have an install disk. I do have the license key as it is on the sticker on the back of the laptop. Could I simply use my desktop copy of Windows, it is the exact same version and I purchased it legally, and just use the key that is on my Laptop? It seems so obvious to me that this is what any sane person would do. Or do I need to ghost the image of my current hdd on to the new one when it arrives? I would rather do a clean install on the new drive and not need to Ghost though so that it is nice and fresh. Everything I need to keep is already backed up and I am ready to go.

Any pointers greatly appreciated and please flame my hide if I clearly know that yes, just do what my gut is telling me here. Also can anyone forsee a problem with me installing this model of drive or are there others that are better (meaning more reliable-would still need to be 7200rpm and I can't afford a 1tb so 750 gb is the max).

I live in the UK so can't use newegg or any other supurb US store, will likely end up using Amazon as Scan seem to take ages getting stock. If someone knows a better store for my needs here that would be great also.

Again thanks for your help last time I needed you guys and I hope you can help me here. Oh and wey-hey to all you guys who waited for the new tech that's hitting soon......oh sooooo envious haha!!



Berty. [I also put this post in the Storage section as wasn't sure which would be best suited for the help that I need, sorry Mods]

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Hi berty, glad your new pc is working fine!

About your hard drive, I find the WD Scorpio Black a good buy but there is really little difference that differentiates a 2.5" drive from the others once they all hit 7200RPM unless you go the SSD route then of course theres no competition.

a 7200RPM hard drive makes a good upgrade from a slower 5400RPM drive and you WILL notice the difference. boot times will be faster and everything will be generally more responsive.

I hope this helps.

::EDIT::

As for Ghosting the hard drive - I find Acronis to be a better product even though it may not be as user friendly but its really straightforward to use once you know your way around it. If you put your new hard drive in a hard drive dock or external case temporarily and use Acronis to clone one drive to another. I Have never had a problem doing it this way and i have successfully cloned and transfered the same windows installation over 3 or 4 hard drives already and never had a problem

 

[Berty]

Hi, thanks for reply. So I must ghost it? I was hoping I could use my windows desktop install disk (they both run the exact same version) but enter the laptop key (on it's sticker on the back) and have a whole fresh new start with the new drive - no clutter and all. Otherwise it seems I will have to buy another copy of windows which I can't really afford - and seeing as I already paid for it when I bought the laptop.

If I ghost it is there a way I can uninstall everything except the OS - maybe some program that will wipe all but the OS so it is just as though I had freshly installed windows?

 

[JrRacinFan]

@Freedom

Duplicate thread
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=160771

 

[FreedomEclipse]

what brand is your laptop??

Its rare for OEMs to supply full versions of Windows, most of the time they just give you 'restore' disks which are just bits of plastic that tell your laptop to look for a hidden partition on the harddrive where a cloned image is already ready to be installed. without that hidden partition a restore disk is useless.

@Freedom

Duplicate thread
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=160771

already requested a thread merge or locking


:EDIT::

Ah my bad - didnt see it was already mentioned it was a samsung. never the less my post still applies. Samsung most likely gave you a recovery disk and put a hidden partition on the hard drive with all the backup data

 

[JrRacinFan]

Here's our relevant posts from the other thread Freedom if you wish to expand off them:

I would just ghost your current drive on your desktop with this utility:
http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm

Upon having using it regularly it is a simple click-n-run, backing up your current disk and then restoring it. After restore You can either resize to full capacity on your desktop with your current windows 7 or partition/format the rest of the space as a seperate volume.

Also you will be absolutely fine with the scorpio black. Enjoy the upgrade!

Yea, I bought the exact same version for my desktop that my laptop came with so that I wouldn't have any problems moving my music files between versions. Both are Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit and have their unique codes, just that I don't have an install disk for my laptop as the shops never let you have them - just the install key on the sticker on the back.

Hi, many thanks for a quick reply. If I ghost it I will still want to format it so I can do a complete fresh install of everything....which is where why my puzzle is with the fresh windows install. Can I install from my full legal legit disk I used for my desktop but use the key on the back of my laptop. It may say that Microsoft has noticed that my hardware has changed but I have read that as it will only be the hdd it shouldn't be a problem, like with me having to phone them and all that. I can't afford to buy an extra copy of windows when I already paid for one when I bought the laptop - I'm sure the company I bought it from would want to charge me a second time.

Ah great, I thought that it should be ok but just wanted to make sure, I clearly got ripped in a shop by the guy once then as he told me I couldn't do it this way. Many thanks for your help

 

[Berty]

So if your hard drive died on you you'd be pickled, nice of them! Yea they gave, well charged me, for some restore disks but I didn't dare trying a wipe and then see what happened, thank god haha

 

[JrRacinFan]

a recovery disk and put a hidden partition on the hard drive with all the backup data

This is why i am trying to lean him towards a ghost versus reinstallation. Alot of times it's a pain to get all the drivers reinstalled also would save some time in the long run.

But then again.....

the difference is my DM1 starts up alot faster with all HPs bloatware on it.

... maybe not saving some time in a reinstallation wouldn't be so bad.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

So if your hard drive died on you you'd be pickled, nice of them! Yea they gave, wel charged me, for some restore disks but I didn't dare trying a wipe and then see what happened, thank god haha

thats how they work really, But Sony and HP allow you (the user) to make at least one complete back up of the whole system at the start providing its the Operating system that came with the laptop/PC and nothing else...

However there is no such restrictions if you were to install your own copy of Windows 7 on there. My HP DM1 came with a 32bit copy of Windows Home Premium - I wiped it and installed Windows 7 64bit on it as soon as i had it out of the box.
Went to HPs website and just downloaded whatever drivers or HP apps i needed rather then what they thought I needed. the difference is my DM1 starts up alot faster with all HPs bloatware on it. I recommend anyone else to do the same if they can (I also put 8Gb ram in my DM1 but thats a different story )

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Alot of times it's a pain to get all the drivers reinstalled also would save some time in the long run.

It can be but its something that needs to be done, and once its done you dont need to do it again for a year or two unless your hard drive decides to crap up or a virus totally infects your windows, depends what needs to be installed but i know it can sometimes take a good 2-3hrs as you need to reinstall all your apps and get the updates for them and windows etc etc etc. thats why I always have a cloned clean windows installation of my drive on a seperate hard drive on standby

 

[Berty]

I honestly don't mind the extra time that it would take, i've had many days consumed with re-installs, it's just that as I will be using my laptop for my mobile music studio I want to get rid of absolutely everything and anything that will slow or cause a problem or a crash. I'm hoping that I can start a small business and if my laptop crashes during sessions due to old rubbish on there from...ahem...places that shouldn't have been accidentally stumbled upon I would lose money, clients and any reputation so fast that I'd fail before I really got going.

 

[JrRacinFan]

Oh when/if you do reinstall, check out this website. www.ninite.com

I can have a full installation done in a matter of an hour including reinstallation of drivers.

 

[jsfitz54]

FREE: to anyone that has a Western Digital drive installed in their system or has an external with a Western Digital in it. System must detect a WD drive.

Acronis True Image: http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119&wdc_lang=en

It has a clone option.

 

[JrRacinFan]

FREE: to anyone that has a Western Digital drive installed in their system or has an external with a Western Digital in it. System must detect a WD drive.

Acronis True Image: http://support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp?swid=119&wdc_lang=en

+1

Yup! Forgot to mention that as well! Just remember though, ToDo Backup has all the same functions if the OP doesn't go with a WD drive.

 

[Berty]

Ah that will be great, when I have all of my music software installed and everything is ready to rock with luck I can scrimp together enough for a second drive to copy it all to incase of an emergency, great idea!!

 

[Berty]

Hi guys.

New HD for laptop is here and all is going well except for the wireless/network card intallation. Windows can't find any files for it and I can't find a way to identify the brand of it so that I can get the files from the web for it. I have searched Samsung website etc. but to no avail.

I have put the old drive in my desktop so that I can search through it for the drivers and then copy them to my laptop but I don't know where to look on the drive for the files. Where would my laptop have stored the files for the network/ethernet card? I don't know where the system restore disks are that came with the laptop or whether they would even have had drivers for the card on there.

I'm really stumped here please help.

Berty.

 

[JrRacinFan]

Try loading the first link. If it fails try the second.
http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/c...1219095906475/WLAN_Atheros_Win7_9.2.0.462.ZIP

http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/c...8151737568/WLAN_Broadcom_Win7_5.100.82.95.ZIP

Although this should be the only page you should need.
http://www.samsung.com/us/support/owners/product/NP-R580-JSB1US
Under manual & downloads you will be able to obtain all pertinent drivers.

Will need to extract them on let's say a flash drive and install through USB on the laptop.

 

[Berty]

Ah.... I had already done what you said with the 3rd link but I had gone in to the zip itself and extracted a folder from in there thinking that I was still in the regular browser and thought that it was the complete file.....bla bla.......my bad (being dumb is fun).

Yet again you have saved me!

Bless you, many thanks!!!!

 

[JrRacinFan]

Welcome dude!