I first started building my own computers about five years ago.
Since then I have had no need to buy a new system or start from scratch. Instead I keep building on the foundation I created almost half a decade ago. My current build has been through countless upgrades and was even transplanted to a completely new case last year.
I knew my computer was due for a new SSD (Solid State Drive) soon, since my operating system was still utilizing one of the first hard drives I had installed. Since I was already updating my computer, I decided it was time to upgrade my RAM (Random Access Memory) as well. I decided to go with 4 sticks of 8GB DDR3, for a total of 32GB. IN my opinion, RAM is one of the easiest parts to replace. Typically, you just disconnect the old ram from the mother board and pop in your shiny new ones. Sometimes the clips that hold the RAM to the motherboard can be a little stubborn, but just be sure to have a gentle, yet forceful hand. After it is installed be sure to check to see if your computer recognizes the new RAM. If it doesn’t then you’ll have to access your BIOS on start up and make sure everything is allocated correctly.
Upgrading the hard drive that your Operating System is currently using can be a little more complicated.
Ultimately, I knew I had two options:
- Do a fresh install of Windows 10 on the new hard drive
- Clone my current hard drive, OS and everything, onto the new SSD.
I decided to go with the second options because I had a lot of design files, programs and other assets that I didn’t want to have to backup or replace. I used a program called Macrium Reflect to create the actual clone of my old hard drive and set it up on the newly connected SSD. I then had to fiddle with some options in the BIOS option to ensure that the new SSD was set as the new boot drive.
