Question about installing SSD after purchase (6165 or any Sager for that matter)

I'm looking to order the Sager 6165, but the Intel SSD that they offer is marked up something like $35. If I just bought the laptop with 1x 750GB @ 7200 RPM, then bought an SSD separately to install at a later time, would it be difficult to re-configure/partition my drives to have the OS on the SSD, etc.? This would be the first time I've ever setup a drive with an SSD AND a HDD. I know there is an issue with laptop manufacturers not wanting to give out a copy of the OS so that customers can't just wipe their drive/bloatware (at least this was the case with my HP) as soon as they get their new laptop.

Thanks!
Kate

 

when you order a clevo/sager with a operating system already loaded then you would/should get a OEM operating system backup disc and a drivers cd included.

 

No its not difficult. Many ssd drives come with the tools you need to migrate your os data to the ssd.

Though a fresh install is still recommended.

Sager resellers provide drivers and os discs in the box.
And even if they don't, you can download the OS from Microsoft (without having to purchase) the key for the OS is on a sticker under your laptop

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

Installing Windows is pretty strait forward, its just like installing any other program but takes longer. You only will get the disc and key if you include Windows in the build, otherwise it wont come with it. Once Windows is installed then you install the drivers you're set.
You will probably have to go into disk management and change the drive letter of the HDD before it shows.

 

Correct me, if I am wrong. I think Sager will provide you a DVD disc for Windows 7.

 

If you have ordered an OS with your laptop, you should get a Windows 7 32/64-bit disk with your machine along with the driver and utilities disk.

It will be very easy to install the OS and drivers on the SSD.

I do have a few suggestions for you to keep in mind when doing the OS install on the SSD.

1) Make sure your system works fine before installing the SSD. Boot it up and play with it for a bit, try installing a few programs and running some games to be sure it doesn't BSOD on you or anything of that nature.

2) When you do install the SSD and reload the OS, be sure that your 750GB drive is wiped. This is done during the Windows installation process, when you select the Custom(advanced) installation option it should bring up a list of drives. Select the Options button at the lower right and a few more options such as Delete, Format, and New should come up. Use the touchpad to select the drives and then click Delete. Do this until you are left with Disk 0: Unallocated Partition and Disk 1: Unallocated Partition. Select your SSD, and click Next and it should begin the installation.

3) Once the OS has been installed on the SSD, you will need to click the start orb in Windows and type "Disk Management" in the search box and press Enter. You should see a box with a black stripe that reads "unallocated space". Right-Click this and select the Create new/simple volume. Accept the default settings and once complete your 750GB should come up on the drive list.

Post back here if you have any more questions, the community is always glad to help.

 

I just upgraded my SSD today from a Crucial M4 128GB to the 256GB version. Here are the steps you need to take:

If you have one of those HDD docks with a USB or eSATA port or a USB to SATA cable, skip steps 2 to 4. Instead, place the new SSD inside that dock or connect it to the USB to SATA cable.

1) Download and install Macrium Reflect Free. ( Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - Information and download)
2) Turn off your laptop and remove your battery (optional, but better safe than sorry)
3) Connect your new SSD in the optical bay temporarily (if you have the 15" and don't have a secondary bay) or remove the optical drive and connect it to the secondary disk drive bay hidden under it (if you have the 17")
4) Replace your battery and turn your computer back on and boot up to Windows
5) Open Windows Explorer, right click on Computer, and select Manage
6) Since your new drive probably won't come formatted, you will need to go into Disk Management and set up your new SSD so that it will be a primary partition with a drive letter (doesn't matter which letter you assign to it)
7) Once it's done formatting, open Macrium Reflect
8) Select your OS drive as the source and click on "clone this drive"
9) When asked to choose the target drive, choose the new SSD with the corresponding drive letter you just gave it
10) Begin the cloning process
11) Once done, turn off your computer and remove the battery again
12) Take out the old primary drive and replace it with the SSD. If you want to reuse that HDD as a storage/secondary drive, swap the two so that the SSD is in the HDD's bay and vice versa
13) Boot up into Windows. If it asks you to reboot, do it
14) If you want to reuse the HDD you replaced with the SSD, format it now or if you want to keep it as a backup of your SSD, put it away somewhere and label it
15) You're done

I did all this this morning and it took me a total of 20 minutes at the very most, 15 of which was from cloning. Macrium Reflect does cloning sector by sector so well that the computer won't even realize there has been a hard drive swap. The 20 minutes it took me to do this is a whole lot better than reinstalling Windows, drivers and all my software and games. That would have taken an entire day at the very least which means no playing for me until tomorrow. On top of that, if you're not very good at this, you can mess up the order you install your drivers and face many other issues. I'll be creating an image of my new SSD using Macrium Reflect so that if I ever mess up my 7970M drivers, I won't have to reformat again.

Good luck! I hope my post helped.

EDIT: I forgot to mention something. If you're going from a larger capacity to a smaller capacity, everything should just go smoothly. If you're going from a smaller drive to a larger one like I did, you have to expand the volume once everything is done. You do this by going into Disk Management once again, select the new drive. You will see that it is partitioned into 3. You will see system reserved, the boot drive, and a grayed out area. Right click and choose expand volume. That will expand your boot drive so that you can use the remainder space (grayed out area). That's it.

 

I apologize for hijacking this thread, but I spent a LOT of time on the MS website about a month ago looking for a Windows Vista OS download for my aging Asus laptop. The machine is really starting to chug along, and I can't reinstall using my desktop's old Vista DVD because the optical drive on my laptop is toast. I was hoping I would be able to download Vista directly from MS and reinstall using a USB drive.

Again, I apologize for the hijack, but if this really is possible, I'd love to know where I can download this (legally).

 

Could try this:
Dell Community
Don't know if it will work. Personally I would just get WIN7, or buy or borrow an external drive.
You do realise this the Clevo, not Asus forum?

 

If you have a desktop with working optical drive you can copy the .iso from the disc to the desktop then to a flash drive.

 

That never even occurred to me, I'll look into that.

I know this isn't an Asus forum, but I've been eyeballing Clevo machines for a while, the 6165 in particular. I just thought that it was an opportune time to ask this since it was mentioned in a reply.