Adding an an SSD drive to a HP d7800 SFF

[CCor1]

Anyone added a SSD to a d7800 SFF pc. I have an IDE 500GB in the m/c already, I want to make the SSD drive bootable.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Plug the SSD SATA data connector to SATA port 0 and plug the mechanical hard drive SATA data connector in SATA port 1.

Then the PC will boot from the SSD and you can use the mechanical hard drive for storage.

[CCor1]

• Hi thanks I want to clone my windows 10 disk to my ssd and have it bootable. I haven’t purchased the ssd yet but it will be 1 TB. What would you suggest There seems to be a lot of cloning s/w out there you

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

I recommend the 30-day trial Macrium Reflect Home edition software to clone the HDD to the SSD when you get it.

Macrium Reflect | Free 30-Day Trial

Don't install the software until you're ready to do the job.

In the meantime, you can watch this video for how to use the software to clone from a smaller capacity drive to a larger one.

Cloning a disk using Macrium Reflect 8 (youtube.com)

[CCor1]

Thanks Paul would the “Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2 SSD only” be a suitable drive ? Or can you recommend one? Regards

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome. 

The Samsung drive has the fastest maximum read/write speeds of any SATA SSD on the market. 

A close second would be the Western Digital Blue SA510 2.5 series  

Another advantage of the Samsung drive is that you can use the free Samsung Magician software to clone the drive instead of the Macrium Reflect trial edition software. 

[CCor1]

Hi Paul thanks

the full description of the drive is a  Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1 TB PCIe NVMe M.2

Can I use the SATA cable on this?

Regards

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Sorry I confused the Samsung 970 M.2 NVMe with the 870 2.5" SATA SSD.

NVMe SSD's are not supported in your PC.

The Samsung drive would be this one:

Samsung SSD 870 EVO, 1 TB, Form Factor 2.5 and rdquo;, Intelligent Turbo Write, Magician 6 Software,...

Another alternative (has slightly slower write speeds) would be this one:

WD Blue SA510 1TB SSD, 2.5" SATA SSD, up to 560 MB/s, SSD 1TB, Includes Acronis True Image for Weste...

[CCor1]

Re the bios in the HP 7800 ssf, I now have the original WD 500gb ide drive connected to sata0 and the new Samsung SDD connected to sata1 (after disconnecting my CD drive )

What interfaces should I select in the bios. I’ve successfully copied the boot ide drive to the sdd using Samsung magician, but booting from it seems to be unsuccessful. Is there a way to tell in Windows 10 which drive has booted, I hope the question is clear,

[Paul_Tikkanen]

What you have to do now, is to swap the SATA ports.

Currently your PC is still booting from the 500 GB mechanical hard drive.

If your Samsung drive is connected to the SATA 1 port, that is for a storage drive.

SATA 0 is the boot drive port and since you want to boot from the SSD you need to put the SSD's SATA data cable in port 0 and the WD 500 GB mechanical hard drive's SATA data cable in SATA port 1.

My dc7800 CMT has 4 ports, and the DVD drive is plugged into SATA port 2.

I only have one drive which is plugged into SATA port 0.

Ports 1 and 3 are empty.