Should I Upgrade to SSD and Which for My Laptop Asus G550jk?

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  scrimshaw on 27/07/2019 - 15:38

  +1

  SSD's are pretty much the only way cost-effective way to speed up an aging laptop. Ram upgrades also help but do not make a difference when you already have enough and/or usage habits dont necessitate it. Heatsink should also be cleaned once in a while so that has sufficient airflow.

  Mainstream SSD's:

  Samsung 860 Evo Good IO performance. or Crucial MX500. Decent performer.

  Low budget SSDs, for if you want to have save a few bucks but don't mind slightly lower performance.

  Samsung QVO series, uses QLC memory, 4 bits per cell. middling performance. Has a DRAM cache.
  Crucial BX500. budget drive, no DRAM, known to be very cheap but otherwise it's a drive with unremarkable performance.
  Kingston A400, same as above.

  Another thing to note is that some models of drives come in M.2 form factors. Some of them share the same brand names (e.g a WD Blue SSD can come in both M.2 and 2.5 inch drives. I don't think your laptop will support M.2 drives as it doesn't seem to be listed in spec page.

  • 

    HunterxHunter9000 on 27/07/2019 - 16:15

    Thank you very much, Don,t mind paying up to 200 to get a powerful SSD. I,'ll try to open the laptop and have a check on the heatsink as well.

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  altomic on 27/07/2019 - 15:53

  +1

  does your model have the optical drive?

  if so then replace that with a SSD in a caddy. like [this one for $9 delivered Aus stock](https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/9-5mm-SATA-2nd-HDD-SSD-Hard-Drive-Caddy-for-CD-DVD-ROM-Optical-Bay-Universal-AU/263900993684?]

  install OS and change bios settings to make that the primary drive.

  HDD becomes bonus storage.

  done

  • 

    HunterxHunter9000 on 27/07/2019 - 16:12

    Oh damn, didn't even know this existed. YES I have an optical drive, is it easy to remove and install this? Also is there hardware to connect the sdd or do I need to add new wires? Would you be able to explain or show me an article or video to help? Thank you

    • 

      altomic on 27/07/2019 - 16:31

      I've done this a dozen times to resurrect older laptops.

      ordinarily an optical drive is held in by 1 screw.

      but with this one you have to take off the back/bottom of the laptop.

      here is a youtube clip on how to do it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2MRiHuGF_E

      the SSD fits in to the caddy. the caddy has "the connectors" inbuilt. no wires required. nothing fiddly. it is extremely straightforward.

      then you just format the SSD, install OS, change BIOS settings to make SSD primary.

      or you could just Clone the existing HDD to the SSD.

      though, a fresh install is always best.

      plus, by doing this then you don't really need a 1tb SSD as the HDD will be storage.

      so it could cost less to upgrade. The SSD is your primary drive for OS and programs. so you can get away with 256 or 512gb ssd. (though these days they are getting pretty cheap, eg the samsung SSD spackbase suggests above) )

      the 2012 macbook I'm typing this on had the optical drive removed and replaced with a SSD as primary.

      • 

        HunterxHunter9000 on 27/07/2019 - 17:19

        Thank you so much, seems fairly easy paced on your description and the video. I bought the caddy you mentioned and well look for an SSD now. Just one thing can you please describe the process of formatting, installing the os and changing the bios to make it primary?

        • 

          altomic on 27/07/2019 - 17:59

          @HunterxHunter9000: formatting : after installing the new SSD then boot up the laptop. here is a quick guide for formating

          Here is a link to the microsoft website which describes how to install windows on a second drive

          I'd go for option 3. - clean install.

          bios -
          how to enter the bios - Press and hold the F2 button , then click the power button. DO NOT RELEASE the F2 button until the BIOS screen display.

          then find the "boot" option. it will list the hdd & ssd. hdd should be in first place, so move the ssd to 1st place. hit f10 to save & exit and the laptop should reboot to the SSD.

          here is a youtube vid explaining the bios setting

          • 

            HunterxHunter9000 on 27/07/2019 - 18:54

            +1

            @altomic: Very very grateful for all information you provided, hopefully well have it done by next week and well update you on how it went :)

          • 

            HunterxHunter9000 on 02/08/2019 - 22:46

            +1

            @altomic: Update: I DID IT! Thank you, i have it all set up now, was a great experience and easy to do once its done once, but in caddy its sata 2 so i am thinking of swapping the HDD to the caddy and the SSD to the main slot on the PC, that way i get the sata 6gb/s speed. Thinking maybe even still replacing the HDD later with an SSD when on a deal.

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  gandalf4you on 14/08/2021 - 14:29

  A noob here. This has been a reallly helpful post. I have few questions.
  I want to add SSD to my Lenovo 512-15IKB. Any SATA 2.5 inch will be compatible or do I need to look at other parameters to see if it is compatible with my laptop or not?
  Is it better to add it to caddy or should I replace my original HDD in terms of performance? And after upgrade, do we see any performance when trying to access files from HDD?

  • 

    HunterxHunter9000 on 15/08/2021 - 07:26

    +1

    Great to find that its helping others, I was a noob as well when I posted the question so its understandable.

    Not sure about your laptop but most laptops are the same but you can either watch a video on youtube if there's any on your laptop disamply or you open yours to have a look.

    All 2.5 inch SSD should be compatible as long as your buying the one that goes inside the laptop like this one for example
    https://www.amazon.com.au/Crucial-2-5-inch-Adapter-Internal-…

    Look at the entrance for it and you'll see its different to SSD's sold in shops that's plug n play.
    Now speed it depends on laptop but many have higher speeds on original hdd area of the laptop compared to the caddy where cd drive is located. If you can, having ssd in place of the hdd and having had in the caddy well make you laptop faster but having an ssd even in the caddy well deliver at least 5 times or more speed.

    Having an ssd, if you put the system on it then you'll have amazing boot up of 10 seconds or less and fast windows operations. Accessing files from hdd does become faster if the windows is installed on the ssd but when reading or writing to hdd the speed well be the same.

    • 

      gandalf4you on 15/08/2021 - 22:11

      thank you for all the information

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  HunterxHunter9000 on 15/08/2021 - 07:26

  Deleted comment and meant for reply to above so its duplicate comment.