One of the most effective ways to improve the performance of a computer that is several years old is to change the hard disk drive to SSD. This post will tell you how to make such a move without having to reinstall the system and applications.

Before configuration
First, a warning. If you do it yourself and do not have much computer experience, first make a full backup of your computer. He's not sleeping well and it's better to be safe than sorry.

Once you start configuring the hardware, it's easiest if you install the operating system on the SSD completely again. Overwriting it for a smaller disk can be a tedious and annoying process.

Installing SSD
As to types of hard drives, SSD and HDD are two common types. An HDD is a traditional hard drive that can offer large storage capacity but relatively slow boot time and low PC performance. An SSD, solid-state drive, is popular with many users due to its fast speed, no noise, good performance, etc.

The easiest part of all the fun is removing the existing HDD and installing the SSD.

On most laptops, the hard drive bay is very easy to use, so just open it, disconnect the SATA cable from the existing hard drive, slide it out and put the SSD in its place.

After doing this, start and install the operating system to make sure everything works before you even reach the optical bay.

Two Tips Before You Do
When you want to install an SSD, you need to prepare an SSD in advance. Then, you may ask which SSD should you use in your PC? Choosing a good solid-state drive is important.

After connecting your SSD to your computer, you need to go to Disk Management by right-clicking This PC or My Computer to choose Manage and initialize the disk to MBR (if your computer is old).

Transfer Data and System to Your New SSD
How to install SSD in PC without reinstall Windows?

If you want to install an SSD as a primary drive, the first step you can do is to transfer the operating system to the SSD via disk cloning. To only keep the SSD in your computer, you can also transfer data to it.

To move the Windows system and files to your solid-state drive, you need to use a piece of PC cloning software to clone HDD to SSD. Here, we strongly recommend using MiniTool ShadowMaker.

At first sight, you find this software is a piece of backup software. Besides, it is also a program that can be used to perform disk cloning with its Clone Disk feature. Everything including Windows operating system, settings, apps, registry keys, files, etc. is cloned to your SSD.

Now let’s see how to install SSD in PC without reinstalling Windows: first operation - disk cloning.

Step 1: Connect your SSD to your computer and ensure it can be recognized by the machine.

Step 2: Double-click the icon of MiniTool ShadowMaker to launch it, then click Keep Trial and choose the first Connect button to start the cloning operation locally.

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Step 3: Go to the Tools tab, locate and click the Clone Disk feature to continue.

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Step 4: In the pop-up window, click the corresponding modules to choose your original disk and target disk. Here, the HDD should be the source drive and your SSD should be the target drive. And then, click OK.

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Step 5: Now the disk cloning operation is performing. Wait some minutes patiently.

With only a few steps, you can easily clone your HDD to SSD without reinstalling Windows operating system.

To Install SSD in PC
For a SATA SSD:

Step 1: Disconnect the power cable, use a screwdriver to take out the screws on the back of your laptop and remove the computer bottom cover.

Step 2: Remove the battery of the machine.

Step 3: Locate the storage bay and remove the original hard drive.

Step 4: Fasten your SSD to the bracket. If anything is attached to the old disk, remove it and put it on the SSD in the same way.

Step 5: Fasten the bracket, put the new SSD to the laptop via SATA connection and put the battery back in.

Step 6: Remount the laptop’s bottom panel and screw the fasteners.

For an M.2 SSD

Step 1: Also, open the bottom panel of the laptop.

Step 2: Inside the M.2 SSD to the M.2 slot on the motherboard. Note that the side with product information and labels should be up.

Step 3: Use the screwdriver to screw in place with the SSD.

Step 4: Make sure everything is in place and screw the laptop’s cover back in.

After following these steps, it is simple to install an SSD in your laptop. If you are using a desktop, now let’s see how to install SSD in desktop.

How to Install SSD in Desktop
Install a SATA SSD

Step 1: Disconnect the power, remove all cables, and put it to a cool and dry place.

Step 2: Take the case cover off and you can see the installed hard drive.

Step 3: Connect your SSD to the motherboard via the SATA cable and use the SATA power cable to connect the SSD to the PSU.

Step 4: Put the SSD to the mounting tray and slide the tray into the case.

Step 5: Remount the desktop case.

Boot Your PC from the New SSD
After finishing the SSD installation, there is another thing you should do and that is you need to tell the computer to boot from it. If you are interested in learning about more methods about install SSD to your PC, kindly check out the post.

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