G74SX Upgrade

Just got my ASUS G74SX-XT1 laptop and looking on how I can upgrade it. The laptop runs great but I find that the 500gb Hard Drive is lacking, I'm a novice when it comes to laptops and have no idea what I should get and how I should tweek this system to get the most out of it. Any advice would be great!


Current Specs
Memory Type: DDR3
Memory Speed: PC3-10600
Memory Speed MHz: 1333MHz
Total Memory Size: 12GB
Maximum Memory Supported: 16GB
Screen Size: 17.3"
Maximum Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Hard Drive Capacity: 500GB
Hard Drive Speed: 7200 RPM
Processor Type: Quad-Core
Processor Speed: 2.0GHz
Processor Number: i7-2630QM
GPU/VPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M
Video Memory: 3GB GDDR5
Operating Systems: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

 

The laptop is fine the way it is but your most important and worthwhile upgrade is going to be an SSD. Even if it is just a system SSD ie just 40GB the performance and loading times would be drastically different along with boot times halfing or more.

Shift the 500GB in the other port as a data drive and pick yourself up a SATA III SSD.

 

Yea thats what I figured, how do I get the OS to run on the SSD drive and switch the 500GB thats split into two drives OS/Data into just data drive? Remember I'm just a novice at this so any advice or links to guide me would help. Thanks

 

You will have to switch the drives in the system and install the OS to the SSD once you install it. Obviously, be sure to back everything up before making any changes. The G74s have two hard drive bays, so the switch shouldn't be too difficult. If you don't have a second hard drive already, you will need to get a set of brackets to hold the secondary drive in place. Once you've done that, you will want to reformat the 500 GB and eliminate the partition. Accessing the hard drive is easy as all it should require is removing the bottom panel from the machine. If you need a disassembly guide, you can find a pdf of it here.

 

He just needs a nickel to unscrew the thumb screw. Remember it's a g74 with an easy access bay.

 

Brett sorry to hijack the thread, but there is a disassembly guide for G53SW/JW as well? Arent both laptops the same when comes to make a teardown? Im looking for one because probably im going to upgrade the cpu, and repaste, the videos around are crap like the one from BTO on youtube. You cant make a disassembly guide with your cam sitting on a table without having a good viewing angle of the laptop, eh.

Thanks in advance.

 

Exactly what I thought. I was wondering how stupid one could get placing the camera on the side, not being able to see what's going on on the inside. When that is what you're supposed to be seeing.

 

You don't even need a screwdriver to open the G74 ... A coin is enough x)µ

One question , is there a way to install the OEM partition on a new SSD ? Do we have to use Acronis or something , or can we just go to " restore " mode to reinstall windows and choose the SSD as a destination ?

 

^ Same question as Catzoo.


and thanks for the helps so far.

 

There's not a way to put the OEM recovery partition on a new drive. You really dont need to though as that partition will have the OS and utilities/drivers on it. If you have a Windows disc to format your SSD that's all you'll need. A utilities/drivers disc should be included with the computer. Save some of that precious SSD space and just reformat when needed.

 

I do not have a windows 7 disc.

 

You can clone the partition to another drive. I don't know if you'll be able to restore from it though. I kept an image of the partition since i still have the original drive that was in my G73 and i can put it back on it if it doesn't work on other drives.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html There you go. For driver and apps: http://www.asusrog.com/forums/showthread.php?1150-G73-74-53-Series-Driver-and-Application-Reference. Huge thanks to Chastity, she deserves it .

 

You can also image the OS partition to an external HDD once it's all set up

http://techdows.com/2011/07/downloa...h-sp1-iso-official-direct-download-links.html < Win 7 w/ SP1 integrated