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    Inspiron 1545 SSD Installation

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by ktriebol, Jul 21, 2012.

  1. ktriebol

    ktriebol Notebook Geek

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    I just finished installing an SSD in my 3 year old Inspiron 1545 and thought I would give a short report on this experience.

    I Installed a 120GB ADATA S510 SSD which I bought at Newegg:
    Newegg.com - ADATA S510 Series AS510S3-120GM-O 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - Internal SSD

    This is an SATA III SSD. My laptop is SATA II, but this SSD worked fine in my laptop, but presumably is limited to SATA II speeds due to the SATA II controller in the laptop.

    I did not clone my old 250 GB hard drive. I simply loaded Windows 7 onto the SSD after installing it in my laptop. After installing Win 7, I then had to install my applications. All went smoothly.

    My impression of the SSD is that Windows starts up and shuts down noticeably faster. Programs also start quicker. The disk data transfer rate value shown in Windows Experience Index went from 5.8 to 7.5. Naturally, I like the quick, silent, and cool operation of this SSD.

    Notes from installation:
    1. Update your BIOS before installing the SSD. I went from version A10 to version A14.
    2. Record your Windows Product Key for use during re-installation of windows.
    3. Record your display resolution and web browser zoom before removing your hard drive so you can easily go back to those same values after installing the SSD.
    4. Go into the BIOS and set the SATA to AHCI.
    5. After installing the SSD, disable automatic defraging. Defraging is not needed on an SSD and is actually detrimental. The SSD controller automatically distributes data evenly throughout the NAND chips to even out the life of those chips. Defraging will work in oppostion to that.
    6. I installed Windows 7 from a Win 7 disk that I had from building my homemade desktop computer, but used the Windows Product Key from the Win 7 installation on my laptop. This gave me a clean installation of Win 7 on the laptop. It does not waste 15gb for a recovery partition.

    -Ken
     
    ktriebol, Jul 21, 2012
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  2. PhilBeattie

    PhilBeattie Newbie

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    I just installed a Crucial SSD into an Inspiron 1545. The OEM harddrive was known to be slow and the new SSD has breathed new life into the computer, it is much more responsive and quicker to boot up. The Windows experience Index has increased to 7.9 (almost the maximum) for the hard drive. I've written up some instructions on how to replace the HD. https://fixitfriends.com/fixits/dell-inspiron-1545-hard-drive-upgrade-or-replacement
    Phil.
     
    PhilBeattie, Mar 30, 2015
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