Help please - Best SSD to buy to go in Dell Precision 3600

[sjtgeray]

Hi...have decided to replace the spinning disk with an SSD but an not sure if the RAID controller that's standard (or at least in mine) will complicate matters. Currently i have 2 x spinning disks (C and D) that operate independently (no RAID)
Was hoping it was as simple as replacing C with an SSD (guess i need a cradle), and then using some software (any suggestions?) to clone/copy the current C drive (as i really dont want to spend hours installing Windows and everything else from scratch).

256GB will suffice as the current 256GB disk has 35% free space and its really a game machine so I dont install much new stuff on it (can always use the 2nd drive it needed i guess). Data is all stored on a central WDMyCloud drive.

Any recommendations would be super helpful....thanks

[sjtgeray]

Yeah that's the one. Xeon thing with 6 cores I think. Am running Windows 10

[sjtgeray]

Budget ? Really as little as I can get away with that does the job reliably. SWMBO doesn't see any need to spend more money on what is basically a PC for a car racing game.....so I don't want to spend a fortune.....and I need to upgrade my wheel/pedals yt some point this year, so will have to explain that cash away as well. Cheers for help

[sjtgeray]

thanks guys for the info....£100 odd is fine so that Kingston jobby might be the go. Am hoping RAID isnt configured at all (certainly the two disks are operating as separate drives currently). My plan was to A) Remove the 2nd drive B) move primary drive to become the 2nd, C) install the new drive as primary (guessing i may have to boot using something else....USB ?) D) clone the "2nd" drive (the original primary) to the SSD D) get the SSD fully running E) remove the old primary drive from its "2nd" drive role, F) re-install the original second drive so it becomes drive D again
Sounds simple....am sure it wont be though !!

[sjtgeray]

Thanks all. Amazing what a wealth of knowledge there is on here.

[sjtgeray]

Ha, nothing is ever simple is it. I finally got around to buying a Samsung SSD drive, proudly connected it to the cable that was plugged into my second spinning disk, and got set to use the Samsung Magician software to transfer my bootable C drive onto the new SSD
Except it didnt work !. The Samsung software cranks up, looks for disks and then comes up with


I saw something about issues with Nvidia cards (which i have) so upgraded to the latest but still the same issue. I class myself as technically literate but Windows is just too hard !....no wonder I recommend a Chromebook to everyone that says "what PC should i buy"...never (yet) have they ever called me with issues (whereas my dad was always calling about Windows problems!)

Any thoughts/ideas ?...note that the software didnt work even when the original two spinning disks were installed. I kinda hoped plugging the SSD in would "fix" that....but no !