Well, Christopher, let's just say I am blown away with your thorough and simple instructions which have resulted in my 2014 HP 810-160 computer booting not in minutes but in seconds just now with zero glitches in the process! I am a 73 year old woman and my life has been consumed by computers since 1978, so I am tech savvy, but having said that, I have always been completely intimidated by the hardware end of this business. Your videos have really clarified so much for me, and in a fun way. I will be upgrading more of my old PCs using your videos and immense expertise. Thank you so much! You are absolutely the best resource for understanding and executing these upgrades. I don't feel intimidated anymore :)

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

This is great to hear. There is nothing like an HDD to SSD upgrade! :)

I love this guys 90’s style and his outfit . Don’t ever change that! It’s nice to see someone have a unique and original style from others ! This gives nostalgia!

You're by far the best bloke on the internet for actually explaining on how to do things with computers both new and old thanks so much Chips.

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Chips. :)

Always explaining things slowly, carefully, like a friend who really cares about you understanding I appreciate these so much

@booksbythefire5549

3 жыл бұрын

Too bad most people in tech explain things like you're an idiot, just because you're interested and _gasp_ asked a question.

@YR2050

2 жыл бұрын

I like it explained dumbly. I hate that other Techy-Fancy-type of video that assumes you know everything about PC and briefly explained everything in under 3 minutes. If I could understand what they are doing in 3 minutes I wouldn't need them.

@Nerotique

Жыл бұрын

It's one thing to explain it carefully, and at a slow pace. It's just plain meanness when the RTFM crowd treats you like a moron, just because you asked a question.

Building vintage computers is like making your own bread. Perhaps not the most efficient, but definitely satisfying!

@ExplainingComputers

3 жыл бұрын

:)

@Muck006

3 жыл бұрын

I "feel" this is going to be a NECESSARY step to teach to kids so they understand how the current generation of PC architecture came to be and most certainly enable them better to fix it. The software companies are trying their hardest to "make people NOT THINK/NOT KNOW" where their data is on a hard drive with all the pre-planned folders that arent "visibly" connected to a drive ... which has the purpose of making it look more complicated than it is when things go wrong. Without "us who lived through it" teaching this to kids it will be lost knowledge in a short while.

one of the best instructor's i've ever seen on youtube on anything! so thorough, non confusing, very simplistick, clean voice and speech, ...... he should be paid good money to do ANY instructional video's!! it just doesnt get any better than this guy! so well done!!!

@ExplainingComputers

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your kind feedback. :)

This video was most helpful for an upgrade to a 2009 PC. Although this was a highly specified PCSpecialist model, it had become very sluggish. I replaced the WD 300GB VelociRaptor hard drive with a Crucial MX500 500GB SSD, £50.19 from Amazon. The improvement in performance is remarkable and the PC is now usable and responsive. Thank you, Chris, for your helpful and instructive videos.

@ExplainingComputers

3 жыл бұрын

Sounds like a great result! Thanks for sharing here.

BRILLIANT! The whole process is so well explained with spoken instructions and graphic representation. There are many who could learn from this presentation!

Your videos style feels so old-fashioned and I'm not complaining

@ExplainingComputers

3 жыл бұрын

:)

@Kevin-mx1vi

3 жыл бұрын

I like the "old style" presentation. It's clear, concise, and to the point. I do *not* like KZread presenters who ramble for 10 minutes before getting to the point of the video and who don't appear to have given much thought to what they're trying to say. It gives the impression they're not actually clear on what they're trying to achieve, or indeed, know what they're talking about.

@John900C

3 жыл бұрын

That calm and methodical style is very reassuring to the less experienced (and older) tinkerer such as myself. A bit like armed forces basic training, teach the essential knowledge required for the task and give a path for more development for those with the interest / capacity to learn.

@saifmohammed1709

3 жыл бұрын

I like the style and the intro everything is professional and the video is very useful

@AnilArya51

3 жыл бұрын

@@ExplainingComputers we love that, don't change your style.

I just wanted to say thanks for this video as it helped clear up a misconception I had about SATA compatibility, and allowed me to finally upgrade my own PC's storage. The clear step-by-step was what I needed, and now my rig boots in literally half the time. So nice.

Just finished installing my SSD. Thanks to your explanation, easy! I've been following you for a few years, now. Always clear. Always useful. Thank you.

Crikey, that was GREAT! Someone recommended I do this to my current, quite aged PC, but my lack of confidence in all things technical has prevented me from even thinking of it. Not any more!! This is exactly the kind of clear, comprehensible instructions I've been looking for -- thank you so much!

This is a rather nice channel. No nonsense, just what was promised. It gets straight to the point, and the point is explained well. Thank you.

@titus3264

3 жыл бұрын

uskptrpuffr

You are a great teacher and I love the way you use old computers and get good performance without throwing out usable machine and making e-waste.

This is an excellent tutorial. I had gone thru all the steps and was annoyed with my old hard drive showing multiple letters due to partitions and this is the only tutorial that showed the "diskpart" step that cleaned it up. Very happy with how everything turned out for my PC upgrade thanks to you!

I'm in the middle of doing this upgrade and your video has simplified it so much. Thanks Chris....

Love seeing these incremental upgrades, reminds of when I was a student, having used laptops for ages I once again wanted a desktop, but with very little funds I put together a low end system using a mix of 2nd hand parts from ebay, new ones and a donated gpu from a friend. Over the next year or two I upgraded that system part by part until it was a decent mid-range system, it was fun seeing how much performance I'd gained from each new part in the system.

@offspringfan89

3 жыл бұрын

That's the beauty of a desktop, the modularity.

@fmar.8311

2 жыл бұрын

@@offspringfan89 That's why people also loved the older thinkpads, they were so upgradable. The new ones now have very little that is upgradable.

"Cable management", says the guy who blu tacks a drive to the case. Just messing with you Chris, we love you really.

@ExplainingComputers

3 жыл бұрын

I said that you *could* Blu Tack the drive to the case . . . :)

@DenisKz

3 жыл бұрын

My cable management is a black cover so you can't see the mess inside, I leave my ssd's flapping in the breeze.

@darnell8897

3 жыл бұрын

KZread comment section cable management goals: short, straight runs. No kinks or twist. Minimal visual exposure. No cables intersecting or tangles. My cable management goals: I hope I can manage to stuff all these cables into this case without leaving any of the panels off.

@ElmerFuddGun

3 жыл бұрын

@@DenisKz - * SSDs.

@jeffreyjoshuarollin9554

3 жыл бұрын

If you use blue tack, you've no need for cables and therefore there's no cable management. Just saying.

Well I only saw this (2 years later) but I am blown away by your work - love your sense of humour. Keep it up!

This video of yours was the one I followed to do my hard drive upgrade. After watching several instructional videos by others I chose to use your method with your clear and concise instruction. I didn't even know a CD-ROM drive has the same connectors as a hard drive! Very much appreciated.

A wonderfully comprehensive guide on replacing the SSD. Quite nifty learning about the free software. Thanks!

The Macrium tutorial addressed questions I've had.. practically all my life about replacing a hard drive : )

Excellent video Chris. I've used your videos on cloning drives and on SSDs to help me in the past. This is a great addition to the series.

One of the best, if not the best tutorial of this type on YT. Excellent work sir

I just upgraded to an SSD Drive on my old Linux machine and it boots much more quickly. I got an old SSD from a work computer they were recycling and I'm glad I did!

@sethrd999

3 жыл бұрын

I updated my Lenovo T430 to SSD quite some time back, but more recently I upgraded the CPU and Memory along with a better heatsink/fan combo ( yeah this is Linux also ). I did have a question also with the clone and that is could you not use a bootable / live linux image and just do a raw dd from sdx to sdx from the win32 drive to the SSD then when booted use the windows partition tools to resize if required?.

@Mathias-bz2kr

3 жыл бұрын

@@sethrd999 i think that would be hard because the windows bootloader is looking for the drive before. On laptop i removed the windows partition but saved the files, regretted it, made a new windows partition with the same data, wouldn't boot. Maybe some recovery mode with install media ?

Chris, just terrific, in depth, thorough and easy to follow. Very nice job as usual. I have done this same thing on *many* notebooks and desktop PC's, and ALWAYS got a good result, well worth the time and effort. But I have never used Macrium Reflect. A new find for me !!! Thanks so much for this. Well Done !!!

Thank you, Sir! Among all the videos I've watched on this subject, yours is the most comprehensive. I didn't have to search other videos to find how to do this or that as it answers all my concerns. Padayon! From the Philippines!

My old pc for upgrading is very similar age & specs to this one & I have followed all the steps so far. All working great. Can’t wait to get myself a new SSD drive now. Keep going Christopher. Excited to see just how far this upgrade project can go. Thanks 🙏

Excellent. Thank you for providing a simple, concise video that does not contain excessive "computer geek speak" verbiage. I'm looking forward to upgrading my old PC.

This video could not have come at a better time for me. THANK YOU.

Very good thanks. Your close-ups of connectors etc is excellent.

I just have to say this is the best instructional video I’ve saw on KZread. On my way to browse through your channel after watching this video. Thank you for being very thorough and not skipping the small details!!!

@ExplainingComputers

3 жыл бұрын

Wow, thanks!

Mr. Christopher Barnatt , you are a true legend Sir ! - I was about to upgrade my old laptop with a SSD - it has a free slot for an extra drive and also the HDD is partitioned as shown in your video. With the lockdown here in Greece where i live, it is difficult to find a repair shop to do the job for me. So i decided i should do it myself - and learn something in the process - Thank You Very Much and best wishes from Greece !👍

This tutorial is basically straight forward and very easy to understand by the people like me with the basic knowledge about computer..Thank you so much, it really helps a lot.

I have some old hardware that I've been thinking on turning into a personal server for a while, this series really plays into that, thank you for sharing your knowledge.

All points made sense to me and I think while you are inside the PC case it's always a good idea to take best measures and fit things correctly as demonstrated as this can save unseen problems in the long run and are best avoided. The 'diskpart' facility was also a good measure and good to be aware of. Another very good video. Thanks for uploading - Liked.

Ah, great! Part two in this series. Love these "upgrade your old PC"-videos.

Just a note: avoid using twist ties in a pc. They can wear out in time and expose the metal part on the inside. If they fall off they could possibly short something

@ExplainingComputers

3 жыл бұрын

I cannot imagine how one will wear out in situ, but certainly a worn twist tie may present a potential hazzard.

@bneon

3 жыл бұрын

Agreed been using wire ties for years never seen one cause any damage , but if your that scared use cable zip ties or pvc tape it doesn't really matter it's not that important

@alyeakitty

3 жыл бұрын

In IT I don't think I ever used plastic/paper coated metal center twist ties (different from nylon only flexible twist cable ties...the ones with the little balls at the ends) where bundling a lot of heavy wires together was better using UV protected nylon zip strips but even for small wire bundles. In some applications, potential issues of rust and loosening/degrading of covering material from heat/light, etc can leave exposed metal that could cause major problems. However, as long as you are not applying too much stress to the cables being held, the tie is not too tight, and the PC is going to be in a relatively stable environment plastic (never EVER paper imo) coated metal twist ties should last, and be okay, for the typical lifetime of a home PC, though care should be taken and checked each time the PC is cleaned. IF wires held together are not in a stable environment, have the potential to be exposed to UV (like some lighting kits of old or subjected to sunlight), need to be tight, and are heavy or considerable size then alternatives would be better suited.

@BorgSwarm

3 жыл бұрын

I have to agree. I have been working in IT and doing PC repair for 30 some odd years. I actually have on one or two occasions seen the ties with a metal conductor in them cause shorts. Zip ties can be used, as seen in the video, if not done carefully can cause issues as well. And the thing that bothers me most about zip ties is that I always seem to have to remove them when I don't have any wire snips readily available. So I'll use zip ties in a pinch but like Chris, I prefer to use velcro straps. The nylon twists are handy as well but I never have them around when I need them.

@SomeNot

3 жыл бұрын

I only use velcro cable ties. They are reusable and have no risk of shorts.

Explaining computers and, as the the name suggests, Mr. Christopher Barnatt is the absolute expert for this job.

Very helpful. Explaining all needs of key points. No nonsense at all. Thank you for help.

Confidence is everything for a non-techie like me - Thank you Christopher for a splendid video. Job done!

Did this today and it worked great! Doubled the ram too! My wife is happy with the upgrade! Thank you!

@ExplainingComputers

2 жыл бұрын

Great to hear -- congratulations on your successful upgrade! :)

Just great explanation of everything, no nonsense approach and really easy to follow.

SSD and more RAM are the best upgrades for an old PC. A couple of strips of velcro is my preferred SSD mounting method.🙂

I literally paused the video, downloaded macrium reflect and ordered a SSD which will be here tomorrow. Fabulous

@ExplainingComputers

3 жыл бұрын

Wow! That is decisive action! :) Good luck with your SSD.

That case brought back memories of my primary schools PCs. Thanks for bringing back some memories! :)

This is really good. Thank you for all the useful well presented information. Also I love your straightforward style.

Instructions cover a lot of ground and your explanations are excellent. You also anticipate scenarios and provide answers. Will subscribe and check out the rest of the series. All the best!

@ExplainingComputers

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the sub -- welcome aboard!

Doing a binge watch of this episode and the next.. Been a tough week but, chilling with some Explaining Computers - a Sunday evening entertainment staple!

A very big THANK to you, dear, sir, for this very good and excellent tutorial on how to upgrade to a new faster SSD cloned disk! Wishing you both safety and health during these perilous times we are in globally! Best Regards from Sweden!

Christopher! I love your video! You are not only smart a lot but an honest and kind person! My respect man!

Very well explained!! I wish I had found this video 1 week earlier... After cloning my PC did not boot from SSD, MBR was missing... Windows could not repair so I ended up installing a fresh windows on the SSD... Thanks for this!

Sunday’s EC video ok. Now it is time to Get Up. Thank you Chris for such a good stuff.

4:40 when it comes to mounting an ssd to this kind of a bay I just screw it to one side and it sort of floats there but I had no issues so far. Taping is a good idea too.

@DWink-bp8vw

3 жыл бұрын

Absolutely! Four screws to secure the drive in the bay will only be advantageous in the case of nearby explosions, earthquake or tornado. Of course, this is also an excellent way to dispose of extra screws, or a nifty way to store screws for use elsewhere in the future. Brilliant!

@dnoodspodu1159

3 жыл бұрын

I had now a bunch of SSDs laying aroung with twisted cables - as I do not have a case No issues

Very clear instructions with some wit and humor. Like being in a PC workshop class. Thank you for your valued help.

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

Great Video, Clear and straight forward. Excellent voice for imparting instructions

Good to see Mr. Scissors making a guest appearance. Another great video thanks

Another Sunday, another Computer Explained, lovely stuff

Thank you for this simple and clear video. I have now updated two desktops and one laptop and all three are running like new again. I was about to junk all three before I thought I would give KZread a chance to convince me otherwise. I had zero experience before this so your video has been awesome. Saved lots of money and now a happy household too!

@ExplainingComputers

2 жыл бұрын

This sounds like an exccelent result -- or three! :) KZread is working.

This video is absolutely going to my Favourites and playlists right now!!! Great video, really helpful with the cloning part 🙏🏻❤️

@ExplainingComputers

3 жыл бұрын

Awesome, thank you!

Even though I've built hundreds of PC's at work & for myself I'm still loving this series it's great to know older machines are still getting used 👍

@ShaggyCZ

2 жыл бұрын

You mean my pc?

@lahirumadushanka5756

2 жыл бұрын

@@ShaggyCZ No, Os 🤣🤣

A new drive is always a prime opportunity to do a fresh install. Nothing like the minty fresh feeling you get with a clean Windows install.

Your videos and your style of explaining are enormously satisfactory to watch. Thank you very much!

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for watching!

Just a little note if I may: always patch Macrium if you get the notification on initial start-up of the program. This updates bug fixes and other stuff they’ve improved on the program for optimal performance. Thanks for the very straightforward and informative videos!

Just discovered your channel. Very informative and effective for someone who wants to update a 10 yr old PC.

Thank you so much for this quiet, crystal clear procedure. you made it a breeze to give a new life to my old desktop - Thanks again

After having watched your video I finally worked up the courage to try and fit a 240 Gb ssd to my old HP 3010 which is probably about 10 or 12 years old. I followed your instructions to the letter , constantly thinking that something would go wrong at any moment. Nothing did !. Your instructions were clear and concise and my old pc has a new lease of life. I may even try and build a pc from scratch, following your instructions of course. Many thanks !!.

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

This is great to hear. Your PC has a new lease of life, and you have done something new that will change how you look at a computer. :)

First of all I wanna give you many many thanks, this video is very important to me. God bless you & your family with your all surrounding people.

Great video, easy to watch,understand and implement,ty Chris !

Wonderful, Did the SSD upgrade for my very old spare (still useful) Acer Aspire 32 bit Laptop now just upgraded it to Zorin 15 lite, all done watching and following your easy to follow step by step fantastic tutorials, It now has a new lease of life, Next will be upgrading my older all-in-one desktop when the new RAM arrives. Thank you, Chris.

Thank you so much for sharing your expertise and time! I had no idea what I was doing but with your help everything was simple and a success.

What a brilliant video. So clearly explained. So knowledgeable. This guy is very good. Thank you.

Sounds right up my alley! Love upgrading old PCs and Macs with an SSD, and seeing it boot up like a new system.

Very clear and easy to follow, well explained. Great voice to impart instructions. Excellent video.

I like that you used an ESD wrist cable so many people think it is not necessary , thank you for that really helps .

The pacing and accent of Chris' speech during the intro and outro is hypnotic.

@John900C

3 жыл бұрын

Part of an old (only in career terms!) lecturer's tool kit to keep the class focused.

More Ben-Hur length videos! I have experience in simple upgrades like this, but I always appreciate your videos due to your software recommendations that I may not have been previously aware of. Thank you!

I just finished upgrading my 6 year old PC by swapping the old HDD for a new SSD, and couldnt have done it without this video. Thank you!

@ExplainingComputers

Жыл бұрын

Great to hear! :) It is always a good upgrade.

As usual, good value Chris. Thanks for another great video.

@ExplainingComputers

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Steve.

This was a very well-presented video. I did something like this to my vintage 2014 HP Core i3 desktop PC. It came with a 1 TB Western Digital Blue HDD. I used a Crucial 1 TB SDD. It came with a limited version of Acronis True Image, for the cloning step. I used a USB to SATA interface cable, and ran the cloning step via USB, with the SSD drive outside the cabinet, and then shut down and installed the SSD in place of the HDD. I kept the HDD as a disaster recovery item. If the SSD fails, I can reinstall the HDD and have very little down time. One thing I would recommend to anyone doing this - use a high-capacity SSD. I wish I had gone with a 2 TB drive. With the improved performance (SSD + a previous RAM upgrade), now the desktop is very capable of running VM's. I have both VMware Workstation 15 Player and Oracle VM VirtualBox. This lets me play around with various Linux distros, and things like Windows Servers (which expire because they are not licensed, but can be re-created).

Thanks for the video and demonstrating Macrium Reflect Free Edition. Best wishes.

Very well explained. This is the exact project I'm about to undertake with my older PC. This video helps me immensely. 😊

I was wanting to upgrade my small 120gb hard drive to a bigger SSD drive but having no extra cables to clone to the new drive I was stumped until I stumbled across your site showing the simple method of borrowing the DVD cabled brilliant BIG THANKS WORKED SUPER

i recently got an old pc and i was trying to upgrade it to its max perfomance.thank you sir for this video helped me a lot

@ExplainingComputers

3 жыл бұрын

No problem 👍

I'm an advanced user and even use diskpart from time to time but learned today about the "clean" option. That is a time saver! Thanks for sharing! Also one of the big benefits besides the transfer speeds with SSD over HHD is the seek time. That will also make the system feel much snappier than the much slower HDD.

This video helped me turn my old relic of a pc into a racing machine. Your channel has helped me build my channel. Thanks, great video for a rookie tech guy!

Thanks Mr. Christopher Bernatt. Regards from India. Your innocent help is great to me as I worried about upgrading my Dell PC.

I like your old school style, to teach modern computer science.

I love upgrading to SSDs in older PCs or Laptops for friends and relatives who are not as tech savy because its like magic for them :D

Excellent point about disconnecting the old hard drive. Something I've always done because I've heard of some PCs getting confused, causing all sorts of mayhem.

You Sir, are a Master ! You always have the easy-to-use, easy-to-follow video's. Thanks so much

After watching this even the inexperienced like me feels confident cloning drives in the future :D Thank you

And again a fun and educational video, thanks for this. Greetings from Holland.

Fantastic, just upgraded my old Dell 560 with a new SSD 1Tb, followed your instructions to the letter and BINGO! It worked just like your video. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

@ExplainingComputers

3 жыл бұрын

Great to hear! :) This is what KZread is all about.

You have just saved me so much stress. All other tech channels really over complicate it, perhaps to seem smarter. But your tutorial helped me instal a new SSD I've been struggling to figure out how to do for ages. Thanks a bunch!

@ExplainingComputers

2 жыл бұрын

Great to hear!

After watching part one and two i agree with you. The upgrade to maxx ram and a ssd and better grafics card made the pc (same motherboard as in your case) very capable for home use. Fast enough to surf the internet, do office work and watch youtube. Saved me a lot of money. The upgrade was cheaper than buying a new machine.

A cup of tea, cat on the lap and ExplainingComputers. Sundays are great.

Thanks so much -- using your video as a guide, I switched out my old hard drive for a Samsung SSD, and the difference --- wow! My PC no longer has to "warm up" but comes on instantly and reacts right away. it's like having a whole new PC. I'd have never had the confidence if I hadn't followed your instructions! (Although i have to say, the inside of my machine was a lot, lot more crowded than the one you use!) Thanks again.

@ExplainingComputers

2 жыл бұрын

Great to hear! Sounds like an excellent result.

This is my second video of yours that i am watching and i must say they are really great. They are crisp and to the point, with a nice bit of humour added on.

@ExplainingComputers

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks and welcome.

Thanks for the clone utility, been looking for one. When I upgraded my PC to SSD, I created a Temp directory on the reformatted old hard disk and pointed TMP and TEMP environment variables to it. That reduces the writes to the SSD to a minimum. It also puts all the temp file in one place and makes cleaning out easy to find.

@ticket88

2 жыл бұрын

Great idea! That would be a great topic for a video!