Portable SSDs such as the Crucial X8 and X6 are designed using the same technology as a 2.5-inch, mSATA, or M.2 with an added enclosure and cable interface. Portable drives can increase storage capacity for nearly any computer, tablet, phone, or console. I disslike using usb hubs with external power, since they somehow have damaged some drives in my life. If you dont connect so much stuff, you can handle with just a normal usb hub without external power. I have a hard time to see why you would want a usb-connected SSD tho. A external HDD is decent priced and performs well. I am looking for a while an external solution for this special SSD, so that I can use it as a startup drive on a desktop computer. The only available one today is the one from OWC: Air SSD enclosure. Thats a great enclosure cause as you can see on the pictures, it includes a special adapter for SATA. You can use that external hard drive as a different boot device for your computer. And an eSATA connection can also decrease the boot times as well. The first thing that you will need to do is to connect a hard disk drive (HDD) or solid state drive (SSD) to your eSATA cable. Your laptop should also be powered down if you want to connect the.
Summary :
Do you know how to setup SSD and HDD Windows 10 to make your computer gain the best performance? If you don't know, don't worry. This article will show you the ways and some useful tips for SSD and HDD setup Windows 10.
Quick Navigation :
Nowadays, many users want to upgrade their HDD to SSD or install SSD and HDD together on their machine for better user experience and computer performance. However, many users don't know how to install SSD and HDD together or how to setup SSD and HDD combo Windows 10.
For users who are not computer savvy, they may feel that it is complicated and it's the job for the professional.
Actually, it is not so difficult to complete SSD and HDD setup by yourself. If you are a fresh hand and don't know how to setup SSD and HDD Windows 10 or how to use SSD and HDD together, you can follow the detailed steps and screenshots in this article. You will find that SSD and HDD setup is very simple.
How to Setup SSD and HDD Windows 10
How to setup SSD and HDD combo Windows 10? As we all know, SSD uses flash memory to store data. Since it has no moving mechanical components, it is less likely to get damaged and enjoys great reliability.
More importantly, it offers better performance than HDD. A PC using SSD as boot drive will boot faster, run computer programs faster, and transfer files faster. Considering the above reasons, it is recommended to setup SSD as boot drive.
As for HDD, it offers larger capacity than an SSD. And its price is inexpensive. So you can choose the HDD as the storage option. So, if you want to enjoy both of the high performance provided by SSD and the large capacity of HDD, you can set SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage drive. And it is also the SSD and HDD setup for gaming.
Well, how to setup SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage drive? If you have used the HDD as the boot drive and the SSD is new, you can do the OS migration to setup SSD as boot drive. If you do not want to use the old operating system, you can perform a clean install on your SSD.
If you don't know the detailed steps to finish OS migration and system reinstallation, you can follow the steps as below.
Setup SSD as Boot Drive and HDD as Storage
To setup SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage, you need to install your operating system and frequently used software on SSD, and save all your personal files including pictures, videos, music, and documents to the HDD. It is also the perfect SSD and HDD setup for gaming.
Here are two ways that can help you setup SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage drive. If you don't know how to install SSD with existing HDD, you can read the following content.
Migrate Your OS to SSD with MiniTool Partition Wizard
MiniTool Partition Wizard is an all-in-one partition manager. It can help you manage SSD and HDD on your computer in an effortless way with its features like extend partition, resize partition, convert MBR to GPT, align partition, surface test, wipe disk and so on.
In addition, its Migrate OS to SSD/HD feature is perfect for you to setup SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage. You can try this feature to finish SSD and HDD setup in Windows 10.
Using MiniTool Partition Wizard to migrate OS to SSD, you can use your old operating system directly and all the programs installed on your computer will be copied to your SSD drive (if you install programs on the C drive).
Kindly Remind: To migrate OS from MBR disk to GPT disk is not allowed in MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition. You need to upgrade to MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro and its above versions. And to boot from GPT disk successfully, your motherboard should support UEFI. SEE: UEFI vs. BIOS – What's the Differences and Which One Is Better
Before you try the following methods, you can install the SSD into your desktop computer firstly. You can check if your SSD can be detected in Disk Management after the SSD installation.
Here I use MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro Ultimate Edition to migrate OS to SSD for demonstration.
Step 1. Launch the program.
- Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard.
- Click Migrate OS to SSD/HD on the main interface.
Step 2. Migrate your OS only.
1. Choose a method to migrate OS and then click Next.
Nowadays, many users want to upgrade their HDD to SSD or install SSD and HDD together on their machine for better user experience and computer performance. However, many users don't know how to install SSD and HDD together or how to setup SSD and HDD combo Windows 10.
For users who are not computer savvy, they may feel that it is complicated and it's the job for the professional.
Actually, it is not so difficult to complete SSD and HDD setup by yourself. If you are a fresh hand and don't know how to setup SSD and HDD Windows 10 or how to use SSD and HDD together, you can follow the detailed steps and screenshots in this article. You will find that SSD and HDD setup is very simple.
How to Setup SSD and HDD Windows 10
How to setup SSD and HDD combo Windows 10? As we all know, SSD uses flash memory to store data. Since it has no moving mechanical components, it is less likely to get damaged and enjoys great reliability.
More importantly, it offers better performance than HDD. A PC using SSD as boot drive will boot faster, run computer programs faster, and transfer files faster. Considering the above reasons, it is recommended to setup SSD as boot drive.
As for HDD, it offers larger capacity than an SSD. And its price is inexpensive. So you can choose the HDD as the storage option. So, if you want to enjoy both of the high performance provided by SSD and the large capacity of HDD, you can set SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage drive. And it is also the SSD and HDD setup for gaming.
Well, how to setup SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage drive? If you have used the HDD as the boot drive and the SSD is new, you can do the OS migration to setup SSD as boot drive. If you do not want to use the old operating system, you can perform a clean install on your SSD.
If you don't know the detailed steps to finish OS migration and system reinstallation, you can follow the steps as below.
Setup SSD as Boot Drive and HDD as Storage
To setup SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage, you need to install your operating system and frequently used software on SSD, and save all your personal files including pictures, videos, music, and documents to the HDD. It is also the perfect SSD and HDD setup for gaming.
Here are two ways that can help you setup SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage drive. If you don't know how to install SSD with existing HDD, you can read the following content.
Migrate Your OS to SSD with MiniTool Partition Wizard
MiniTool Partition Wizard is an all-in-one partition manager. It can help you manage SSD and HDD on your computer in an effortless way with its features like extend partition, resize partition, convert MBR to GPT, align partition, surface test, wipe disk and so on.
In addition, its Migrate OS to SSD/HD feature is perfect for you to setup SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage. You can try this feature to finish SSD and HDD setup in Windows 10.
Using MiniTool Partition Wizard to migrate OS to SSD, you can use your old operating system directly and all the programs installed on your computer will be copied to your SSD drive (if you install programs on the C drive).
Kindly Remind: To migrate OS from MBR disk to GPT disk is not allowed in MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition. You need to upgrade to MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro and its above versions. And to boot from GPT disk successfully, your motherboard should support UEFI. SEE: UEFI vs. BIOS – What's the Differences and Which One Is Better
Before you try the following methods, you can install the SSD into your desktop computer firstly. You can check if your SSD can be detected in Disk Management after the SSD installation.
Here I use MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro Ultimate Edition to migrate OS to SSD for demonstration.
Step 1. Launch the program.
- Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard.
- Click Migrate OS to SSD/HD on the main interface.
Step 2. Migrate your OS only.
1. Choose a method to migrate OS and then click Next.
- If you would like to replace the system disk with SSD completely, choose the first mode.
- If you would like to migrate Windows OS to SSD only, choose the second to copy the system required partitions to the SSD.
Here since you want to setup SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage drive, you can just migrate system related partitions to SSD only.
2. Choose a destination disk and click Next. Then click Yes on the pop-up window to go on.
3. Review the changes you are going to make. Then click Next.
Note:- Align partitions to 1MB could help to improve performance for SSD and advanced format disks.
- Use GUID Partition Table for the target disk option allows users to use all space of hard disk larger than 2TB, and UEFI boot should be enabled in BIOS. However, this is a paid feature.
4. This page tells you how to boot from the new disk. Read the note and click Finish.
Step 3. Apply the operation.
Click Apply on the upper left corner to allow the pending operations.
Then you can change BIOS boot order to boot from the SSD drive.
You see, you can migrate OS to SSD/HDD in just a few clicks with MiniTool Partition Wizard. Don't know how to how to setup SSD and HDD Windows 10? Get MiniTool Partition Wizard to complete SSD and HDD setup now!
If you want to resize SSD partition after system migration, you can perform the operation with the freeware MiniTool Partition Wizard. If you find that your SSD freezes sometimes after the SSD and HDD setup, you can perform SSD alignment to align SSD partition.
Install Windows 10 on the NewSSD
Of course, system migration is not the only method to setup SSD as boot drive and HDD as storage. If you don't want to continue with the old operating system, you can perform a clean install of Windows 10 with Windows Media Creation Tool, though it might be a little complicated and time-consuming.
You can follow the steps as below to install Windows 10 on a new hard drive (with pictures).
Step 1. Create Windows 10 installation media bootable drive.
You can utilize Windows Media Creation Tool to create a Windows 10 installation USB drive/DVD disc to perform a clean install or to repair an unbootable PC in an effortless way.
Prepare a USB drive and connect it to your computer. (Make sure there is no important file on the USB drive.)
1. Download Windows 10 Media Creation Tool from Microsoft's official website.
2. Run the tool and on the What do you want to do page, select Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PCand click Next.
3. Choose the Language, Windows Edition, and Architecture on this page. Then click Next to continue.
4. Choose USB flash drive and click Next.
5. Follow the step-by-step guide to create the bootable drive. When it says 'Your USB flash drive is ready', click Finish to exit.
Step 2. Boot from the USB drive.
- Restart your computer and enter BIOS setting.
- Set the USB drive as the first boot option in BIOS.
- Restart and boot from the USB drive.
Step 3. Install Windows 10 on SSD.
1. Select your language preferences, and click on Next button to continue.
2. On the next page, click on Install now.
3. Enter the license key and click Next.
4. Accept the license terms and click Next.
5. Choose [Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)] to perform a clean install.
6. Choose the SSD to install Windows 10.Once the installation is done, Windows 10 will reboot. You can go to BIOS to change boot order and boot from the new SSD.
If you are able to boot from the new SSD successfully, you can delete unnecessary partitions on the old HDD with MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition.
Conclusion
This post has shown you two ways to complete SSD and HDD setup. If you don't know how to setup SSD and HDD combo Windows 10, you can refer methods in this post to set SSD as boot drive and SSD as storage drive.
If you have any question about how to setup SSD and HDD Windows 10, you can leave a message in the following comment zone and we will reply as soon as possible. If you have better solutions toward SSD and HDD setup, please don't hesitate to share it with us. If you need any help when using MiniTool software, you can contact us via [email protected].
Introduction: Connect External Hard Drive to Android Smartphone
Nowadays a lot of Smartphones with Android OS supports 'OTG ' and it is possible to connect a lot of different hardware, but not all as easy, as it looks at the first glance.
Sometimes, even USB Thumb Drive won't work with smartphone, reasons for that is lack of power, which can provide smartphone and inappropriate file system. In this Instructable I show you, step by step, how to solve all of this issues.
Let's go begin.
Using An Ssd And Hdd
Step 1: Necessary Components
First of all we should have all necessary components:
- Power Bank or Wall Charger
Power bank or Wall charger should provide at least 1 Amp at 5V
- Two USB cables
Majority of the USB power cables and hubs have Micro B port one cable should be with micro B male connector. Second cable is USB A Male to whatever your Storage Device port (USB Micro B, Type C etc.).
- USB OTG Hub
Here we have few options: USB OTG Hub with a bunch of USB A inputs and one micro B Input or special USB OTG Cable with additional power input.
Step 2: Backup Data
If you have important data on storage device (usb flash drive or HDD/SSD) it is necessary to make backup of those storage devices because next step requires complete erase of them.
For Backup we can use simply copy and paste commands or use additional software.
Step 3: Format Storage Device
Android based devices, like other portable devices, which can record and read large files uses exFat file system. Most 'small' storage devices uses FAT32 as default and NTFS for HDD's.
In this step I show how to appropriately format storage device using most popular Operating Systems.
External Ssd Drives Can Be Connected Using A Specific
Windows: Because exFat developed by Microsoft it is quite easy to do under Windows OS.
Simply open file manager find your Storage Device, Right on them, choose Formatting, and follow steps on the image above.
For Mac and Ubuntu process more complicated and requires a little bit of instructions, with do not fit in this topic, and I decided provide links on them:
Mac OS: Follow this: Mac OS
Ubuntu: Follow this: Ubuntu
After formatting is done, recover your data back, from the backup in Step 2.
Step 4: Connect All Parts Together
Now connect HDD or USB Flash Storage Device to the OTG Hub, after to the Power Bank (HDD or USB Flash Device should start working) and last one Smartphone.
Step 5: Check Connected Devices
In drop down menu you should see your Storage device, if it's not appearing repeat Step 4.
Step 6: Access Files
- Open File Manager, you can can use built in or instal third party from PlayMarket.
- Choose your External Storage Device.
- Access your files.
Step 7: Conclusion
If you want share data between different devices and OS's it is good idea to use exFat file format system as default across all external storage devices: SSD's, HDD's, USB Flash Drives etc.
Not all Android based devices (Smartphones, Tablets etc.) have support for OTG protocol.
You can still run NTFS, but this is not natively, not free and not safe.
Have any question? Leave them in the comment section down below.
Be the First to Share
Recommendations
Battery Powered Contest
Plastic Contest
Block Code Contest
