I would like to buy a laptop this summer and basically I want to get rid of the stock HDD and put in a SSD, since I'd probably be buying the laptop from a retail store like Best Buy, how would I get a copy of Windows 7 on the laptop? As an example, say I purchase this laptop:Samsung - Laptop / Intel® Core™ i5 Processor / 14" Display / 4GB Memory / 640GB Hard Drive - Aluminum - QX410-J01 and this SSD: Newegg.com - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) Could I use a USB/SATA cable then find a program that can transfer the contents of one HDD onto another?
I think if you follow the instructions here, it will work. Upgrading to an SSD with Windows Image Backup - Windows 7 Forums You might want to do this as well, http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18629-user-folders-change-default-location.html (from http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/18496-63-transfering-windows-data-drive)
Yep just make an image backup and install it on the new drive. Depending on what you plan to use it for, though, you may want to consider a larger ssd since they wear out (10,000 writes per sector and poof). Its not too big of a deal unless you dont plan on upgrading in a few years.
Seeing as technology progresses so fast I'll probably just use the SSD and once it dies stick the stock HDD back in there and sell it. Are sectors like partitions?
Sorry, im wrong about that. Theyre called segments. Most flash memory devices can handle about 10000 erases (according to wikipedia). Basically, the larger the better.