W530 windows reinstall on ssd

Hello everyone,

I purchased a W530 last month, and yesterday I got a SSD Crucial M4 256GB; I intended to do the upgrade myself, it should be a no brainer:

- take optical dvd unit out
- take out stock 500GB from primary slot and put it in dvd bay
- install ssd as primary

For this operation i also purchased an ultrabay for mounting the stock hdd instead of the optical unit.

Questions:
- the guy at the store told me i cannot reinstall windows Professional 7 on the ssd, because it somehow can only be installed on the stock hdd.
Is this true? I had no idea that the OS can depend on the drive, i should even be able to install win 7 on a usb if i feel to.

He also said the best thing i should do, is to go to him with the laptop and he will clone my stock hdd boot partition with acronis and put it on the ssd. Again, is this a wise thing to do? Since its an ssd, so its not like cloning from a regular hdd to another one. Usually when I replace components with completely new ones, i reinstall Windows.

This is a bit urgent, as if this guy is true and my only option is to clone with Acronis, the shop is open today for about 4 hrs more.

Thank you!
Regards,
Andrei

 

OEM copies of Windows check the motherboard, not the storage media. You can install on the SSD just fine. I'd also recommend doing a fresh install on the SSD instead of a clone because that way Windows will automatically optimize some SSD-specific settings during installation. Otherwise, you'd have to adjust the settings yourself.

 

Thank you very much for your help.
Can you also please tell me, I seem to not be able to browse the recovery partition, where the Windows 7 kit is supposed to be : can I somehow access that partition after boot, to be able to install on SSD?

I assume that Windows installer kit is on this 13GB recovery partition since I did not receive a Windows dvd when i purchased the notebook.

Thank you,
Regards,

 

That is correct. It's in a Windows image file, which you can either copy to USB or burn to disc. You can also extract the contents of the file using 7-zip if you choose.

 

If you want the factory image, you can install it two ways. You can create the rescue and recovery DVD set yourself using the Lenovo application. That can be used to install to the SSD.

You can also have the guy clone your disk, but it is essentially the same end result as the DVD set you can make.

I'm assuming the guy at the shop is charging you. Considering you can do this yourself for free, you can probably guess what I would advise.

You can also install Windows from scratch using the key under the battery in the battery compartment. That is actually my recommendation. If you want clean install guidance, please ask in the W530 owners thread.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html

Basically the same advice as Thors.Hammer said, but with a clean Win7Pro install instead of using the Lenovo Recovery media.