HP Pavilion dv6-6051ea Upgrade to SSD

[picadillyjim]

Hello,

I have decided to try and eke out some performance from my dv6 purchased in 2011, as it still seems to be working fairly well.

The only annoying thing is the response speed issue, it takes a while to boot up etc, so I am thinking an SSD upgrade will do the trick.

I have read other questions here, which tell me that my approach is not wrong.

My question is - The laptop has a 640 GB hard disk installed, and I am gonna replace it with a 1TB hard disk - according to the service manual, that is compatible with this machine. 

I aim to use a cloning software provided by the SSD supplier to clone the hard disk contents into the new SSD, then when I replaced the original HDD with the SSD, it will just start working like before? Is that correct?

My current hdd has appears to have 3 partitions

C: - with about 581 GB, which is where everything is

D Recovery Disk with about 15 GB 

F: about 100 MB labelled HP tools

Will the cloning reproduce the partitions exactly as it is now?

Are there any other tips or tricks? All my data is backed up to onedrive, so not worried about that, but what about if I have to reinstall windows and all the programs that originally came with this laptop?

Sorry, I know this is too many questions, any help is appreciated.

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

@picadillyjim 

I have done almost exactly what you are planning to do with a similar model DV6 laptop -- except in my case, I swapped a 500GB SSD for the 500GB HDD.  But I used the Macrium Reflect (MR) product to clone the HDD to SDD, swapped the drives and it's been working great ever since!

You said the plan is to replace the 640GB HDD with a 1TB HDD -- you mean SSD, don't you?  Because swapping one HDD for another is not going to get you any performance boost.

I only use the MR cloning software -- so I can not comment on how any other cloning software will work -- but if it works properly, it will migrate ALL the partitions from the HDD to the SSD and you will be able to just swap the drives like I did.

If it is truly CLONING, then it makes an EXACT COPY, meaning that your SSD will look exactly like the HDD in terms of partition sizes and locations.

If you have to reinstall then you will need to use external Recovery Media -- and that is a lot of work to download or purchase from HP.  So, let's hope the cloning process works properly.

[picadillyjim]

Thank you.

Yes, sorry, I meant SSD. I edited the post several times to remove ambiguities, but missed that one.

I have already placed an order for the SSD, and it says some cloning software is included, I believe it is Acronis. I will try and do some research before I start the process, thank you very much

[picadillyjim]

Once again, Thank you for the right pointers.

I purchased by SSD from the Kingston Site - they allow you to search for compatible drives based on your laptop model, I thought it eliminated a bit of headache, if you are not a hardcore computer geek.

I spent a little bit of extra money on the cloning software provided by Kingston, which I could have saved. I do believe Acronis is very good, but I couldn't figure out how to use it to make sure I can reclaim the unassigned space in my larger SSD, while the absolutely free Macrium Reflect had some documentation on how exactly to do it. That is what I ended up using.

And this particular model of the HP dv6 - didn't realise what a doddle it was to swap the hard disc out. I only had to undo some screws in the hdd enclosure itself, I didn't have to take the whole computer apart, as I was fearing.

It is not exactly lightning fast to boot up now, but at 1 min 20 sec as compared to something like 11 minutes before it certainly feels like lightning fast. This will do me. And as a bonus, i now have a 1TB storage.

[WAWood]

@picadillyjim 

Good to hear you got it working with an SSD.  That made all the difference in the world in mine when I installed an SSD.  Made is seem almost like new again, only a lot faster.

Good Luck