SSD solid state discs

Question

My computer is configured with the system disc as disc D (factory image) and the data disc as disc C (but both on the same spindle).
There are several solid state drives available that have faster read/ write speeds than the current rotational discs and it would seem that a performance advantageous (their claims) could be gained to substitute a SSD for the disc D on a system rebuild.
They use SATA III interface spec and I’m not sure what my interface spec is, probably older and slower. If my interface spec is an older version would it by technically feasible to use a later version.
If its very old (IDE?) are there converters?
Would it work physically and does anybody have any experience of doing this?
Could there be performance improvements?
My machine is a Compaq Presario CQ5047UK Desktop PC bought June 09.
Thanks for any suggestions.

Answer 1

Hi:
I can answer some of your questions. I have not personally installed a SSD in a desktop PC.
The specs for your PC indicate a SATA II drive speed.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01706778&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&cc=us&dlc=en...=
A SATA III SSD should work just fine in your PC, but will run at the slower SATA II transfer speed.
I installed an Intel 330 SATA III 120 GB SSD in my HP Elitebook 6930p, which has a SATA II controller.
The drive works fine and the disk performance seems to have improved. While I have not benchmarked it, I did compare the old windows experience index (WEI) rating from the old SATA II mechanical drive to the new SSD.
The old mechanical drive was a 5.9 and the new one a 7.7.
What you need to make sure of is if you decide to buy a SSD you will need to get one that has a 3.5" drive bay adapter as SSD's (as far as I know) are then all 2.5" notebook size.
My intel 330 came with such an adapter which made it very versatile.
You will also either have to get a program to clone your current HDD configuration onto the new HDD, or reinstall the operating system from scratch.
I don't know anything about that, because I just reinstalled the operating system from scratch.
You most likely will not be able to use recovery disks as the drive needs to be the same size as the original one in order for the recovery disks to work.
So, if the cloning option is not amenable to you, you can do this...
If you're up to a slight but rewarding challenge you can make your own if you can read your 25 character Vista product key on the PC.
Just download the 3 files you need at the link below, and read all of the instructions to create a bootable DVD installation disk using imageburn.
Disregard the part of the text under the first screen shot about "extract the files to the Vista folder."
The files were already extracted to that folder when you ran the X14.exe file by reading the text on top of the first screen shot.
The other thing I noticed is on the 4th screen shot, where it shows Developer ID Microsoft Corporation. I had to type Microsoft Corporation in myself, and then the other codes automatically populated.
When I went to compile the ISO file, ImageBurn gave a message that about a WIM file and ISO, and if I wanted to burn it in a different format.
I selected No, make the ISO file.
It was not that hard to do. I burned both the 64 bit disk and the 32 bit disk in case I ever need them.
I tested both of them on my hp dc7100 CMT desktop PC, they worked perfectly.
When you enter the product key, it knows what version of Vista you have.
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/software-os/w/microsoft_os/3317.2-3-microsoft-windows-v....
After you successfully install Vista, you can then install the drivers from your PC's support and driver page.
Paul