8GB wouldn't be enough for the OS and program files.
Request for assistance
- Thread starter RTexasF
- Start date
SSHDs had an 8GB cache, and their heyday was about 10 years ago so the timeframe fits. That's most likely what he has, which just makes replacing it with an SSD that much simpler.
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I think I got that confused with Intel ReadyBoost, which I would have been wrong still. I think I found the laptop though.
OP, is this your laptop? If so....5400rpm HDD is yikes.
And since you'll probably need it...
What version and what edition of Windows is it running now? Is the product license key sticker still on it?
What version and what edition of Windows is it running now? Is the product license key sticker still on it?
If it's a single hybrid drive just swapping it out for an SSD is the easy solution. If it's a separate 8GB SSD just remove that and swap out the mechanical hard drive for the new SSD. If the 8GB SSD is actually separate it gives you more options, you can use that slot for the SSD (it's either NVMe or M2 SATA, or both, you'll have to check what's compatible) or you can just the 2.5" SATA space for the new SSD.
I would personally check for hardware or driver errors and unwanted software running in the background.
A fresh windows install would probably set everything as new.
A fresh windows install would probably set everything as new.
I respect your opinion and you're right...I don't agree.
10-15 minutes.
Lenovo Y70-70
Something else is very, very wrong. Even an i386 with 16mb of RAM and 5400 mechanical drive doesn't take that long.
YouTube video I posted above covers your model. It's a piece of cake to swap the HDD for an SSD.
Get your Windows license # and when you reinstall Windows, you should be able to use it for activation. Just tell it you made a hardware change and it should activate it.
II don't know, I'll need to go fire it up and look.
That is possible. I have cleaned the system, removed older programs, and done all I know how to do in order to minimize boot time. No noticeable difference. Anti-virus programs run, cleaned registry of garbage, etc., etc. The HDD has almost nothing on it compared to its capacity.
In my experience, when a computers gets "bad" like you describe, you'll never clean it using other software. I used to fix people's computers and got to the point of telling them the only solution is to reformat the drive and fresh install of Windows. I'd pull the HDD and put it in an external USB enclosure, copy "My Documents" folder (and any obvious folders based on their name that might contain their stuff - but I did NOT hunt for their personal stuff), and give them the flash drive or dump their files into the new Documents folder.
You may need to tweak something very small on the Win10 USB install drive that the above link creates, especially if you have a license for the Professional version of Windows. If it's Home then don't worry about it.
In any case, it'll be important to know if you're running Home vs Professional and 32bit vs 64bit ahead of time. It'll say so clearly under system properties.
If it's not using Windows 10 yet and there is no license key sticker on the laptop case or under the battery, then what may help a headache in the long term (after your data has been backed up and you're ready to kiss the old Windows install and the old drive goodbye) is to upgrade the current installation on the current drive to Windows 10 first. That will create a digital license on Microsoft's activation servers for your current hardware for that edition of Windows 10. Then you can swap the drive, install Windows 10 with the above USB key, choose the correct edition you have a license for, and it'll install and activate without asking for a key. It's pretty slick.
Conversely, if you have the Microsoft key sticker with the edition info on it, you can swap the SSD in, install Windows 10 from the USB key, click on 'I do not have a licence key' when asked, the once it's in Windows and has Internet connectivity, go to the activation link, plug in the key there and it should activate.
I've heard that some folks have used Windows 7/8/8.1 keys during Windows 10 install successfully but that's not been my experience. Waiting until you're in Windows 10 and activating it then works every time, assuming you have done everything else right.
/brain dump
Other possible gotchas:
- Make sure you know what keyboard key brings up the laptop's boot menu at POST. More than likely the BIOS is set to boot to a USB drive first if it's plugged in but sometimes not. Being able to bring up the boot menu manually will help. The micro Lenovo desktops I have use F12 (as do almost all Dells) so that's a start but it's not a universal thing.
- Some systems only like certain USB ports to boot to. So if you can't make your laptop boot to the Windows 10 USB installer, try another USB port.
/brain dump, part deux
- Make sure you know what keyboard key brings up the laptop's boot menu at POST. More than likely the BIOS is set to boot to a USB drive first if it's plugged in but sometimes not. Being able to bring up the boot menu manually will help. The micro Lenovo desktops I have use F12 (as do almost all Dells) so that's a start but it's not a universal thing.
- Some systems only like certain USB ports to boot to. So if you can't make your laptop boot to the Windows 10 USB installer, try another USB port.
/brain dump, part deux
Windows Home 64 bit. It came with Windows 8 originally. I don't have a USB thumbdrive with the capacity for Windows 10. Can I use an SD card plugged into a USB reader/adapter? Should work in theory...
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