Gonna install an SSD on my laptop, few questions

[Hopachi]

As long as the HDD is connected in a SATA port and you can use AHCI in the BIOS, all should be fine (speed will be as fast as possible).
Nothing else to set in the BIOS, disk-related because Windows will install anyway.

 

[Kratos Aurion]

As long as the HDD is connected in a SATA port and you can use AHCI in the BIOS, all should be fine (speed will be as fast as possible).
Nothing else to set in the BIOS, disk-related because Windows will install anyway.

Great, then! But how do I check if I can use AHCI?

 

[Hopachi]

Almost all modern BIOS'es have the option, something like this:



Advanced Host Controller Interface - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If your chipset and SATA controllers are from Intel then you can update the Intel Chipset drivers too after the OS is installed:
http://www.eightforums.com/drivers-hardware/15192-latest-intel-chipset-driver-software-released.html

Some new SATA controllers (like raid-capable ones) aren't detected by Windows during the install (disk will not be seen on the media list for installation) and in this case you'll need to manually add the drivers from USB/removable media:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/9573-sata-driver-load-windows-8-setup.html

SATA driver pack has to be the one that matches your motherboard/chipset, to be downloaded from manufacturer site (the maker of the machine/motherboard but In case of Intel chipset go to Intel's download site as well, https://downloadcenter.intel.com/default.aspx).

 

[Kratos Aurion]

Yeah I have an Intel Chipset HM55 (SATA II), so my BIOS should have that. I'll check it out, either way, just to be sure. Thanks for the info

I'm afraid that Windows doesn't detect the new HDD, now that you mention that. Is it possible for the BIOS to detect an HDD while the OS doesn't? Or when I replace the HDD, and see that the BIOS detects it, am I safe?

I'll download the drivers from Intel's site, that's what I did last time I formatted the PC and installed a new OS, and everything seems fine.

 

[alphanumeric]

Yeah I have an Intel Chipset HM55 (SATA II), so my BIOS should have that. I'll check it out, either way, just to be sure. Thanks for the info

I'm afraid that Windows doesn't detect the new HDD, now that you mention that. Is it possible for the BIOS to detect an HDD while the OS doesn't? Or when I replace the HDD, and see that the BIOS detects it, am I safe?

I'll download the drivers from Intel's site, that's what I did last time I formatted the PC and installed a new OS, and everything seems fine.

If the drive is not partitioned and formatted it won't show up in explorer. If it doesn't have a drive letter the only place you'll see it in in disk management. So yes, your BIOS can see it while the OS doesn't.

 

[Kratos Aurion]

Yeah I have an Intel Chipset HM55 (SATA II), so my BIOS should have that. I'll check it out, either way, just to be sure. Thanks for the info

I'm afraid that Windows doesn't detect the new HDD, now that you mention that. Is it possible for the BIOS to detect an HDD while the OS doesn't? Or when I replace the HDD, and see that the BIOS detects it, am I safe?

I'll download the drivers from Intel's site, that's what I did last time I formatted the PC and installed a new OS, and everything seems fine.

If the drive is not partitioned and formatted it won't show up in explorer. If it doesn't have a drive letter the only place you'll see it in in disk management. So yes, your BIOS can see it while the OS doesn't.

Oh, I guess that makes sense. So I should format the HDD I bought through Windows, before replacing my current HDD?

 

[Hopachi]

I'm afraid that Windows doesn't detect the new HDD, now that you mention that.

I've also didn't had that with most of my machines but the latest laptop had the issue. Was fixed by using the previously mentioned tutorial.

Is it possible for the BIOS to detect an HDD while the OS doesn't?

Yes, BIOS will detect it all the time, otherwise the device it's wrongly connected, has no power or it's defect. The OS has specific drivers and so is bound to some software interaction in order to communicate with the hardware. You can say the BIOS gets more directly in touch with the hardware.

Or when I replace the HDD, and see that the BIOS detects it, am I safe?

Yes you're safe, check the options as well because sometimes you might need to change one or two things, save and exit, then you just need some drivers for it to be seen in the OS.

 

[Kratos Aurion]

...ok, got really confused with both of your posts :S Really sorry.

So I replace the HDD, first thing to do is load BIOS and see if it recognized the new HDD. If it does, then check to see if Windows Installer detects it? And only THEN if it doesn't detect it, I follow the SATA driver tutorial right? If the Windows Installer ends up detecting the drive, am I good to go and install it?

Really sorry for mixing everything up, I just want to do this right

 

[alphanumeric]

Yes, if Windows see's it during the install your good to go. You can partition and format it during the install. If a SATA driver is needed you'll know as Windows will ask for it when it can't find a drive to install too.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...e-firmware-interface-install-windows-8-a.html
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/9573-sata-driver-load-windows-8-setup.html

 

[Kratos Aurion]

Yes, if Windows see's it during the install your good to go. You can partition and format it during the install. If a SATA driver is needed you'll know as Windows will ask for it when it can't find a drive to install too.
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...e-firmware-interface-install-windows-8-a.html
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/9573-sata-driver-load-windows-8-setup.html

Ok, thank you for the info

Is there any tutorial on how to partition an HDD while installing Windows 8.1? I can't seem to find one here...

 

[Hopachi]

Let Windows partition it automatically (just clicking next). This will ensure all needed partitions are created automatically and there is less chance for the user to mess up. After the install, you can resize a partition (usually the biggest one being the system's, shrink down, extend and create new partitions) from:
Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management.

 

[Hopachi]

Following what I said earlier, here are some tutorials with useful info:

Something related to SSD's:
Install Windows on MSATA (SSD) Drive - Windows 7 Help Forums

No matter the disk, if you got UEFI system:
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...ware-interface-install-windows-8-a.html?ltr=U

The second one will show you how to create the partitions, step by step, those are being also created when you click next on an empty, unformatted disk.

With UEFI or not,
If you manually create the partitions needed for the system install, all the needed ones will be created with the ideal sizes (you'll get a message prompt saying that additional needed partition will also be created).

 

[Kratos Aurion]

Ok, just got back from the whole process.

Connected the drive fine, went to BIOS to check if it detected and it did. So I booted the Windows installation, and it detected the drive!
All I had to do is select it and press "New", which created a 350MB "emergency" partition and another one with the rest of the space. So I installed Windows, and everything seemed to go fine...no problems whatsoever.

...I actually ended up encountering a problem, that scared the hell out of me. After starting updates and all that stuff, more specifically after installing the chipset driver I got from ASUS's official driver site and rebooting, the PC crashed. So I had to manually turn it off, and turn it back on...after it loaded windows again, it crashed once again. I was afraid that something went wrong with the windows install, or the chipset driver install. Everytime I tried to turn on the PC again and again, it kept crashing passed a few minutes of tinkering around. Before deciding to reformat/reinstall windows all over again, I turned my laptop off and checked the HDD again to see if I actually inserted it well.

I opened my laptop, took the screws off, and took the HDD out. I looked around and noticed some dust I didn't notice before on top of the connector so I cleaned it. After that I gently blowed inside the connector of both the laptop and the HDD, so that it wouldn't get wet from inside. After doing that I reconnected the HDD to my laptop, put the screws back on, mounted the laptop back again and turned it on once more...and oh my god, it worked. Rebooted several times now, installed updates and a few drivers (still working on this) and so far it hasn't crashed again! I won't start throwing fireworks yet, because i'm still yet to understand how was this possible, so i'll be warry of any suspicious behaviour of the HDD...