Upgrade hard drive to SSD

[paul2d]

I want to upgrade the original WD hard drive to a SSD. I tried a Samsung 850EVO and a Crucial MX300. The system would not recognize either of these. However, they were recognized by another later model HP laptop. Would any of the HP brand SSD's be upgrade options or would they not be recognized either? Thanks

[mdklassen]

Your computer: https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c01632302

was originally shipped with Windows Vista.

So, because Windows 7 was released in January 2010, your computer is probably older than that.

When you write "system would not recognize", what do you mean?

When you boot-up into BIOS SETUP mode, is the SSD listed (adjacent to the CD/DVD drive) as being detected?

It may be necessary for Windows to "initialize" the SSD, before it is "recognized".  Is this a possibility?

[paul2d]

The computer was originally shipped with Vista. I upgraded it to Windows 7.

After attaching either the Samsung or Crucial SSDs to the Pavilion DV5 with a StarTech USB 3.0-Inch to 2.5-Inch SATA III Hard Drive Adapter Cable the DV5 does not show up in the Devices and Drives section of Windows explorer. However, they did show up in the same section on another laptop: a later model HP Envy.

When I actually physically installed the Samsung EVO into the DV5 after having initialized and formatted it in the HP Envy the DV5 did not recognize it at all and advised that it could not find an operating system and to install one. So, I uninstalled the Samsung EVO, reinstalled the original WD hard drive.

All this suggests to me that there is no problem with the USB to SATA cable because the HP Envy had no problem recognizing the Samsung EVO. Also, this suggests that there is no problem with the cable from the motherboard to the Samsung EVO in the DV5 because it easily works with the original WD hard drive before and after installation of the Samsung EVO.

All of which leads me to believe that there is some other issue that I cant identify with the two SSDs that I tried, namely the Crucial MX300 and the Samsung850 EVO.

Both the DV5 and the HP Envy had been upgraded to Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.

Hope this answers your questions. Regards

[mdklassen]

> The computer was originally shipped with Vista. I upgraded it to Windows 7.

Good to know. 

The originally-installed operating system implies a range of ages for the computer, namely "post-Windows-XP" and "pre-Windows-7", and may imply some "capability" of the BIOS and the motherboard to recognize "modern" disk-drives.

> After attaching either the Samsung or Crucial SSDs to the Pavilion DV5 with a StarTech USB 3.0-Inch to 2.5-Inch SATA III Hard Drive Adapter Cable

> the DV5 does not show up in the Devices and Drives section of Windows explorer.

I presume that you mean that neither of the SSDs show up, when connected via the USB adapter.

It is possible that an "uninitialized" disk-drive will show up only in Device Manager, or in "Disk Management", not in File Explorer.

> When I actually physically installed the Samsung EVO into the DV5 after having initialized and formatted it in the HP Envy

If you just "initialized" and "formatted" it, you created "empty" partitions -- each partition is 100% "empty", i.e., there is no operating system installed by a "formatting" process.

> the DV5 did not recognize it at all ...

Please explain "did not recognize".

When you enter BIOS SETUP on the DV5, is the device listed?

> advised that it could not find an operating system and to install one. 

Correct, if there are ZERO files in an "empty" partition.

> I uninstalled the Samsung EVO, reinstalled the original WD hard drive.

Connect the EVO to the USB-to-SATA adapter, and the adapter to the computer.

On WD's web-site, there is free "disk-cloning" software.

 Download, install, and run the software.

Choose the WD disk-drive as the "source", and the EVO as the "target" disk-drive, and run the "cloning" process.

Shutdown.

Remove the WD drive.

Connect the EVO as the internal disk-drive.

Try to boot from the SSD.

Tell us how it goes.

[paul2d]

Thanks for the response.

Before I go through with your suggested course of action let me advise you that the USB ports on the DV5 recognise various USB objects such as a USB mouse and two of my printers.

However, none of the USB ports would recognise either of the SSD's that I attached to the DV5. This was going to be my first step to try and clone the WD hard drive with cloning software, namely the Acronis software that came with the Crucial SSD or the Samsung Data Migration software that came with the EVO500.

Also, the SSDs did not show up in the Windows 10 Device Manager or Disk Management tool.

I notice that WD is offering Acronis True Image WD edition software. If the USB is not picking up the SSDs, then how likely is it that the WD version of Acronis can be used?

Further, the BIOS version is F.21, 2009-08-20. It doesn't list specific drives by make, model.

[mdklassen]

>  None of the USB ports would recognise either of the SSD's that I attached to the DV5.

This may be a "wattage" problem, namely that while the motherboard supplies enough wattage to power a mouse or to communicate with a printer (which has its own power-supply), it may not be supplying enough wattage to the SSD.

Try a different adapter. Example:

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=10057801&CatId=5507

A universal power adapter is included for use when connecting to your 3.5 in. drives or for any 2.5 in. drives that may require additional power.

to supply more power to the SSD.

> I notice that WD is offering Acronis True Image WD edition software.

This free version of the commercial Acronis software is a "crippled" version -- it requires one of the connected disk-drives to be a WD drive.  I've used it when I had a WD disk-drive connected, while neither the "source" nor "target" disk-drive were made by WD. 

> If the USB is not picking up the SSDs, then how likely is it that the WD version of Acronis can be used?

As likely as the 45th USA President believing in global warming. 

[mdklassen]

> Further, the BIOS version is F.21, 2009-08-20. It doesn't list specific drives by make, model.

Enter BIOS SETUP, to enable that version of the BIOS to show the connected SATA devices, such as the internal SATA disk-drive and the SATA CD/DVD device.  While it may not display the "details", it will report the "detected" devices.

[paul2d · Accepted solution]

The powered USB-SATA drive converter did the trick.

Sorry to be so long in responding but I had to interrupt my efforts due to a previously planned trip abroad.

Thanks for all you assistance. Regards.

[mdklassen]

> thanks

Welcome to this forum.

Please click the purple/white "Thumbs Up" icon for every response that is helpful.

Also, please click "Accept As Solution" for the best response.

[mdklassen]

> Thanks for all you [sic] assistance. Regards.

Oh.  You marked your own reply as the "solution".  Really?

You may "unmark" it, and then "mark" a contribution.