If you want to make your gaming PC faster, one of the best ways is by replacing your current hard drive with an SSD (solid-state drive). By doing so, it can reduce the time it takes for your PC to boot your Windows, load programs, and play games — any activities that involve disk access.
Using an SSD gives you better battery life and a quieter quiet operation than when using a hard drive. To help you replace your hard drive with an SSD, below is an article to provide you with a complete guide.
Replacing Hard Drive with SSD in Your Gaming PC
- Choose the best SSD for your gaming PC setup.
- Buy a SATA-to-USB data transfer cable.
- Copy the data from your hard drive to your SSD.
- Install your SSD.
- Install your drive management software.
1 – Choose the best SSD for your gaming PC setup.
Before anything, you need to know what to look for when buying an SSD. You need to choose an SSD with a storage space larger than your current hard drive. It is recommended that you buy an SSD with at least 1TB of storage space as this can provide ample storage for all your programs.
There are thousands of SSD models coming from hundreds of brands on the market. And when choosing a brand, it is best to choose from a known manufacturer. Remember that your new SSD will hold all of your unit’s important information and critical data to run.
2 – Buy a SATA to USB data transfer cable.
After buying an SSD, you also need a data transfer cable so you can clone the data from your existing hard drive onto your new SSD. You can either buy a SATA to USB data transfer cable. These cables are pretty much the same, but you can buy one from Amazon for under $10.
3 – Copy the data from your hard drive to your SSD.
Most people are afraid to upgrade from a hard drive to an SSD because they think they need to reinstall your programs and transfer all the files. But there isn’t anything you need to be afraid of because you can always clone your hard drive to your SSD. You can use a cloning program or cloning software. These programs will clone all the data from your hard drive to your SSD.
To clone your hard drive onto your SSD, follow the steps below:
- Step 1 – Install the cloning software on your gaming PC.
- Step 2 – Plug your SATA to USB data transfer cable into your laptop. It is ideal for plugging them into a USB 3.0 port for transfer speeds.
- Step 3 – Plug the other end to your brand new SSD into the SATA cable.
- Step 4 – Follow the instructions in your drive cloning application to copy all the programs and files from your existing hard disk to your new SSD.
Remember that the cloning process will take longer to transfer all your data to your new SSD. Make sure to don’t use your computer while it is cloning because any changes you make to your settings or files will not be cloned to your SSD.
4 – Install your SSD drive.
Once the cloning is complete, you can install your new SSD on your gaming PC. To do so, follow the steps below:
- Step 1 – Unplug the SATA to USB cable and SSD from your gaming PC.
- Step 2 – Unplug your gaming PC, and wait for it to cool down.
- Step 3 – Open your gaming PC’s case. Make sure to carefully remove any hardware component that gets in the way of installing your new SSD.
- Step 4 – Remove the hard drive and all of its cables to your motherboard. Be careful in doing so, and make sure that you remove the right cables. Install your new SSD into your motherboard.
- Step 5 – Put everything back in place. If you are unsure how you can always refer to your gaming PC manual or go to Youtube to search for a video guide.
- Step 6 – Replace the case back to your gaming PC, plug your unit and reboot your system.
5 – Install your drive management software.
Most SSD manufacturers have a drive management program. This will keep your drive firmware up to date. The program will also allow you to customize any performance and settings. It is recommended to install any firmware updates to your SSD but leave all the other settings alone.
Once done, you now enjoy your newly installed SSD as well. Indeed, you will notice a considerable performance boost from your new SSD. Just a quick tip, you might want to keep and store your old hard drive. Although your new SSD is more reliable than your old hard drive, you can always use the hard drive to clone a backup of your SSD.