IT HW Wallahs to the forum pls – SSD expertise needed

Thanks everyone. I’m gonna have to have a look under the bonnet to see what’s needed caddy wise. Hopefully I can just stick the new SSD in alongside the existing one but I somehow doubt that. It’s a lappie and space is usually at a premium…

Might be worth having a squizz on Youtube too, look for a tear down video or ‘replace HDD on XXX’ laptop.

Often ‘ranges’ of laptops are all based on the same ‘guts’ so you might have an unused M.2 socket, or an empty (but connected) drive bay space for a 2.5″ SATA SSD, etc.

Gives you a good idea of how to dismantle it too, some laptops are easy, some are a pain in the neck to work on.

I worked on one recently and some of the tiny screws were what I call tri-force (dunno what the correct term is)

ahh, tri-wing like this.. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Screwdriver-Precision-Disassembly-Ultimate-Solution/dp/B0CLJFC4ZR/ref=sr_1_10?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.oCZA8Z2DQDTAZzFeaIW3hnnhIsFqbH5SShH0TddGiqXLA7UC8UAAFD5ppC99kd2HAWDjVuvKOlKSXzcLddwKUZ7KR_IDgtJKoiuXDvFE9TnAy76IVZnq5Dbiaxr6BD8o5vtSr5PB5NviNuOjohKCBvn3RM__fVHBDT1NNPPwbYRW0hr7l_-LDY2XWcJRCx1xuHEd5JM1oRFclUauu3KPz_sTlVilPF0guDHdszRi5QO0GNITIi95AYn91CS42ZWwpmsYt1kiBdCP5IUUgtNxUCwaF26T84lNC17QNPxVMSY.oHgrSXhtVR1qeedr_chOztxn5xhORnwXDM3YzLFZwbw&dib_tag=se&keywords=triwing+screwdriver+set&qid=1713370312&sr=8-10

That’s not a reccomendation, it’s just an example.

Use good quaility screwdrivers! with cheap ones you can easily mash up the head of the screw, and then you are, well… screwed!

Coming back to, ahem, square the circle and run the unicorn up the flagpole…

I bought a 2TB Samsung Pro 990 something or other SSD and a nice little house thing for it to temporarily live in. I used Samsung’s Magician Software to clone my existing drive – once I’d discovered I had to remove Bitlocker and reboot to really really remove Bitlocker…

Apart from that, I’m £170 poorer and 2TB richer with almost no aggro. Getting the back of the case off was the most aggravating bit now they don’t do screw on access panels anymore.

Thanks for the advice, pointers etc. Really helpful.

Glad to hear it all worked!
I upgraded mine last year – also got a 2TB Samsung 990 in a sale; and the Samsung software really is pretty straightforward for cloning everything.

Funny you mention Bitlocker; my only regret about the whole process was that I didn’t know if you want to turn on Bitlocker you have to do it at the time of install. I’m not going back and turning it on now!

Nice one, I’d have bought a cheaper 2tb drive personaly, like a WD blue or something, but whatever, glad it went smoothly.