Hello everyone,

In 2008 I bought a beautiful Toshiba laptop (Toshiba Satellite L355-S7812 – 17.1″ – Core 2 Duo T5550 – Vista Home Premium – 3 GB RAM – 200 GB HDD). This computer has served me well for almost six years and I have used it constantly (I’m actually using it right now as I write this post). Along the way I have increased the RAM to 4GB, and added a faster 500 GB SATA Hard Drive. I have also hooked it up to an external 23″ IPS monitor (Dell S2340M). Being a tech geek, I have kept the computer in tip top shape in every way. The machine has never failed me.

A couple of months ago I noticed that the computer seemed to boot up a little slower, and would hang a bit at certain times. Using Speccy, I also noticed that the CPU, Motherboard, and Hard Drive temperatures were somewhat on the high side even though I was using a laptop cooler (Targus Space Saving Lap Chill Mat). Since I loved this laptop, I wasn’t about to part with it. I decided to buy and install an SSD (I have written about SSD’s before: here, here, and here).

I did my research and decided on the 250GB Samsung 840 EVO. It’s a great SSD and the price was right ($130.00). Here is what I did to install the new drive:

1) I installed Apricorn EZ GIG II Cloning Software to the Toshiba laptop (I had cloned before using this software and it just works. I tried using the Samsung Data Migration software and also the EaseUS Todo Backup Free software but they would not do the job).

2) I connected the SSD to the Toshiba laptop (I used the CablesToGo USB 2.0 to IDE or SATA Drive Adapter Cable). I did not have to initialize or format the Samsung SSD.

3) I opened the EZ GIG II Cloning Software and followed the easy prompts (choose the source disk and target disk and begin the clone).

4) When the clone was complete (about an hour and a half in my case), the computer shut down. I then removed the original hard drive from the Toshiba laptop and replaced it with the new SSD.

5) I rebooted the computer and watched as my beloved computer became faster, cooler, quieter, and safer. Maybe I can keep it around for another six years!

In a future post I’ll tell you what I did to optimize the new SSD once I had it up and running.

Best wishes,

Randy The Tech Professor