How to upgrade your notebook to a SATA 2.5" SSD

[erico]

Often the problem with a recovery using usb recovery media or a recovery disk set is resolved by changing the system date to 01/01/2014 or 01/01/2013.

Enter the BIOS , change the system date on the main tab, save the change and then run the recovery again.  You should be able to run the recovery manager and execute a recovery to an SSD that has a capacity of at least 160GB. The SSD you specified is 128GB, so cloning from the original hard disk to the SSD with one of the methods I mentioned in my first post is a more suitable option.

There have been times when I have had to run the recovery three times before finally getting a successful recovery.

Take a look at the partitioning of the SSD when the recovery is complete to make sure that there is no excess of unpartitioned (RAW) space. The recovery partition (usually it is the 😧 partition)  should be less than 26GB. 

[computaquark]

Yes I will shrink the C: partition of the original drive using G Parted as,Clonezilla will not mirror a bigger hard drive to a smaller one.  After the clone I will make a Windows image of the SSD.  Anyway I cleared secure boot and the cryptography databases then enabled legacy support to install Windows 7 64 bit.  So now I know the SSD upgrade was successful from a hardware perspective.

Strangely the BIOS settings are not showing AHCI, so my ssd may be in SATA mode.  Any advice on AHCI, I know trim is working.

Thankyou again

[computaquark]

I tried the BIOS date change to no avail.  When I returned to the BIOS, after changing to 01/01/2013 or 2014 the date had always defaulted back to 02/22/2014.

[erico]

When changing the system date you have to press F10 to save the change and exit. Otherwise the change will not take place.

I believe you mean SATA IDE emulation instead of SATA. You can setup AHCI with registry edits if you feel comfortable with doing that.

[computaquark]

I believe I used F10 save changes and exit but I will check again.  Yes I am comfortable using reg edit if you know the registry key it would be helpful.  Alternatively I could research the problem.

[computaquark]

Hi,

I have tried a couple of registry tweaks,

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\pciide

The advice I found was to set both the above registry keys to start = 0

This did not sound correct to me as 0 usually means false and 1 true.  Any way msahci was already 0 and pciide 3.

Firstly I made pciide 0 and rebooted but crystal disc info reported ssd was in serial ata mode.  Still no surprise.

Next I set msahci to 1 and got BSOD.  Had to comletely reinstall win7. 

Without a BIOS option for AHCI I am lost for a solution.  Do you know a registry tweak?

Thank you

[erico]

Try the Microsoft fixit utility on the folowing web document

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

[computaquark]

 No the Fixit utility did not work.

Without a BIOS update for ACHI then the registry tweaks will not work.

New plan;

Place original HP hard drive in external enclosure and boot to it.

Make a Windows based refresh  that should allow me to copy the Recovery partion.

Recover the SSD.

If the above fails clone Win 8 to SSD.

If everything fails run Win7 or buy recovery disk for €50.  But will the minimum 160GB hard drive limitation still apply?

Thankyou 

[erico]

I had zero problems cloning to an SSD with the method I described in the first post in this thread.

I ran into no issues with the Acorn cloning software or Paragon’s Migrate OS to SSD using the SATA to USB cable\connector.

Both software products shrink the contents of the original disk to fit on the target SSD.

You can do it the hard way if that is your preference. The cost of recovery software from HP is right in the neighborhood of $30.00 USD. The minimum capacity of an SSD for the HP recovery manager to work is indeed 160 GB. 

Disclaimer: Paragon software does provide me with reviewer copies of their software to use. The results I have had are my own experiences.

[computaquark]

I checked the HP site for recovery disks and they redirected me to a web portal offering DVD recovery for €49.00.  You say $30.00 so I assume from a US outlet, unfortunately for me prices in Ireland seem to always higher.

Anyway I will try the Win 8 method of creating a bootable usb drive that includes the contents of a recovery partition.  I expect the drive size might still be a problem but maybe, as the boot manager is different, luck could be on my side.  I have never tried the former method before so it will at least be useful experience for future reference.

Using Clonezilla and Gparted, both free open source utilities, is not to difficult  and nearly always a success.  I have not priced Acorn or Paragon software and cable but they could be my last resort.  I will not risk spending money on HP recovery media considering my experience of it so far.

Thank you