I have a computer I built in 2012 that I haven't upgrade much. I recently received a 500GB SDD for free, which had me thinking that I use that to upgrade my original 500GB HDD and start from scratch on the 500GB HDD.

This is the SDD I got, which is compatible with the PSU sockets and SATA already on my current HDD:
https://www.abt.com/Seagate-BarraCuda-120-500GB-SSD-Drive-ZA500CM1A003/p/142479.html?store_code=&camptype=cpcUSGooglePLA&utm_source=google&utm_medium=sc&utm_campaign=SC%20Shopping%20-%20SSC%20-%20USA%20PLA%20-%20[Electronics]%20-%20Catch%20All&gclid=Cj0KCQiAz9ieBhCIARIsACB0oGI9v5BAZqi6AdDfXjw_iU03C0sfUQVYPxip73lc8zUERoLumwgJipkaAh5-EALw_wcB

Since I have 8GB RAM currently with this:
https://www.newegg.com/corsair-8gb-240-pin-ddr3-sdram/p/N82E16820233183

I was thinking of upgrading to either 16GB with either this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00453R90W?tag=track-ect-usa-845284-20&linkCode=osi&th=1&psc=1
or to 32GB for a few dollars more with this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IEKT0H2?tag=track-ect-usa-845284-20&linkCode=osi&th=1


I do not play PC enough these days or play higher end games to warrant getting all around better components... so its either I upgrade to the SDD and upgrade my RAM to speed the PC up, or just do nothing at all.

For reference these are the other components in my PC:
https://www.newegg.com/intel-core-i5-2nd-gen-core-i5-2500k/p/N82E16819115072
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813128512
https://www.newegg.com/corsair-enthusiast-series-tx650-650w/p/N82E16817139020

SSD is a huge upgrade, if you're capping out on your ram then just get another 8gb stick of what you currently have
i would only upgrade ram if you are capping out your memory it's probably not worth doing

I'll have to check my RAM utilization when I'm playing games to see. What % of my current 8GB being used would be considered over utilized?

So you think the SSD upgrade and reimaging the OS to the SSD will be enough to speed up the games and apps that seem to be going extra slow lately? Games like D2 Remastered, WC3 reforged and Path of Exile are what I would hope to be speeding up, plus some 3D CAD software.

it'll be like 100% usage basically 8gb isn't that much ram
it would definitely improve all 3 games mentioned, wouldn't help with 3d cad though (not sure how much though your cpu/gpu could be bottlenecked before the drive)

This post was edited by Candyzcanes on Jan 29 2023 02:19pm

Ok thanks. I will definitely do the SSD, I have the spare PSU sockets, just need another SATA cable. I'll have to check if I want to do the RAM or not, probably only go up to 16GB, 32GB might be overkill for my other components.

Last question, you think a HDD to SDD mounting adapter is needed, or I can just rest my SSD on the brackets in one of the expansion ports? something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/WDX-Internal-Mounting-Bracket-Included/dp/B07FXW2S7W/ref=sr_1_17_sspa?keywords=ssd%2Bmounting%2Bbracket&qid=1675023232&sr=8-17-spons&smid=A3VFPVGDJVQWM7&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyTDY3U0IwR1RDMFVCJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNzkwNTQzM1VTTDVWNkVJMlVLMCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUExMDE3MTU2S0xVRjBMR1BSUEhFJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYnRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ&th=1

you can mount it if you want but you can just rest it in bracket tbh as long as your pc isnt moving its fine

Yeah that PC isn't go anywhere except the occasional cleaning, so you've talked me into saving 5 dollars lol

So upon installing my new SSD, it doesn't seem to be recognized by the system yet on boot when I tried to load the Microsoft installation media via USB in BIOS.
I was planning on wiping all the HDD in BIOS, then select the SSD as the primary boot drive for the OS, but doesn't do anything yet except load the computer like normal

Old motherboard setup:
SATA0 - Main HDD (one used for boot/OS)
SATA1 - Disk drive
SATA2 - Front face USBs
SATA3 - secondary HDD I got after I built the PC
SATA4 - unused
SATA5 - unused

How I set up the motherboard after:
SATA0 - SSD (one used for boot/OS, and yes it is plugged into the PSU)
SATA1 - Disk drive
SATA2 - Front face USBs
SATA3 - Original HDD used for boot (but will no longer use for boot)
SATA4 - secondary HDD
SATA5 - unused


Am I missing a step for wiping the drives so I have a clean slate to install windows again on the SDD?

if it fails to initialize a boot on the first disk it will move to the second and then third etc. you probably need to initialize the disk, if it's booting to windows on your other drive search "partition", find drive in bottom, right click it and initialize. and when you're installing to the new disk i'd just unplug all the sata from other drives and only leave your SSD plugged in. once windows is installed on the new ssd you can wipe the other drives from windows

googling i found:
4. SSD not showing up in Windows 10 install process

If you connect the SSD drive and try to install Windows 10/11 on it, but you cannot find it. The simplest reason is that the BIOS is outdated. You should update it to the latest version. Besides, you can try the command prompt on the Windows Setup screen.

Step 1. Press "Shift + F10" to open the command prompt in the Windows Setup window.

CMD

Step 2. Type "diskpart" in the pop-up window and hit "Enter".

Step 3. Type the following commands in order, and press "Enter".

♦ list disk
♦ select disk m(m is the disk number of the SSD disk.)
♦ clean

Step 4. Try to install Windows 10 /11 again.

(i'd unplug my other drives if you are tech inclined to reduce risk of dumping the wrong drive though)

This post was edited by Candyzcanes on Feb 4 2023 11:07pm

I've never updated BIOS on any computer before, however I've been told in the past to avoid it if necessary because if it get's messed up in the upgrade, you pretty much brick your computer.
However, since both BIOS and Windows recognizes the make/model/etc.. of my SSD now, I would assume BIOS doesn't need to be upgraded?

I did find my version (F8), and it looks like there are a few newer versions on the Gigabyte site, but they stopped in 2013
https://imgur.com/GChxpV4
https://imgur.com/t9jWxto

The SSD did have to get initialized, in which case I chose MBR instead of GPT, since I have BIOS and UEFI (the internet pretty much said MBR if you're on BIOS, GPT if you're on UEFI)

As a side note, I did wipe my main HDD via the Windows Security option, and Windows reinstalled itself back on the HDD, so next thing I tried was what you suggested, unplugged the SATA from both HDD
I left the motherboard setup as:
SATA0 - SSD
SATA1 - Disk drive
SATA2 - Front face USBs
SATA3 - unused
SATA4 - unused
SATA5 - unused

My normal boot options in the BIOS configuration were:
First Boot Device: Hard Disk
Second Boot Device: CDROM
Third Boot Device: USB-FDD

I did attempt the install with First Boot Device as both "USB-FDD" and "USB-HDD" (and the USB with the installer exe on the front face USBs), but both loaded Windows like normal. As a note, I only attempted this boot order with the two HDDs installed, I have not done that yet with only the SSD, CDROM, and USB installed in the SATA slots, but not sure if that will make a difference.

What I did try with only the USB, CD, and SSD installed in the SATA was go to the boot menu (F12), and I did this with every option that was there:
1. +Hard Disk
2. CDROM
3. USB-FDD
4. USB-ZIP
5. USB-CDROM
6. USB-HDD
7. Legacy LAN

If I clicked hard disk, it gives two options in there, one is my USB plugged into the front of the PC, the other is the SSD

If I chose the SSD via Hard Disk, the computer physically shut down

If I chose USB via Hard Disk, or options 2-6, the system came back with the same message each time:

"Loading Operating System . . .

Remove disks or other media.
Press any key to restart"

I would have to press Ctrl + Alt + Del to get back to the BIOS menu to do each of those options.

Only reason I'm typing now is because I plugged back in my HDD and Windows is back to running normal off the HDD



So TL;DR, I've tried what I think is every option out there so far that I know of, besides maybe that BIOS update you mentioned, but that makes me nervous