Need Advice on best way to add SSDs to ASUS ROG G751 Laptop

[Caveman]

I just bought the subject Laptop and need some advice on adding some SDDs:

It comes with Win 10 installed on TB HDD. I'd like to add 2 SSDs and make the machine dual boot as follows:

Primary boot for wife will be 256 SSD (probably Crucial) with a Win 10 OS (1TB HDD will be tasked for data storage only).

Secondary Boot for kids will be 256 SSD (probably Samsung EVO) with Win 10 or Win 7 OS.

Questions:

How would you go about this to preserve backup capability on the OEM 1TB disk, etc...

What do I need to watch out for?

In general, I assumed I needed to boot new laptop and make sure it's running ok, then shut down, add single SDD for wife, format SSD with Win 10 and evaluate for a few days to make sure all works after driver install.

Then, reformat 1TB drive to a data drive.

Then add 2nd SSD for kids - loading OS and drivers.

Then use some program like Easy BCD to make/manage the dual boot connections.

Any recommendations for SSDs or other related guidance would be appreciated.

 

[Raduque]

I used Macrium Reflect free to clone the 1tb spinner to my 480gb SSD. I haven't tested the Asus restore partition, if I ever need to reset the machine I'll try Windows 10's built-in reset functionality, and if that fails I will clean install Windows 10 and download the Asus drivers and software.

The laptop has two drive bays, two SATA connectors and one PCIE SATA connector - you can use all 3 if you buy a PCIE SATA SSD and a short regular SSD for the first bay (decased), then a third drive in the second bay. IIRC, only the first bay is a SATA6 connector the second bay is a SATA3.

You shouldn't need any special software to manage anything. In fact, you could probably simply clone the spinner drive to BOTH SSDs, then use the UEFI boot menu to choose which one to boot from.

Also, now that I think about it, it would probably a heck of a lot less work to just use user accounts - as long as neither account is an Administrator, neither one will be able to access the others' files. Instead of having to actually reboot the machine, you just log off then log back on the other user.

 

[Caveman]

I used Macrium Reflect free to clone the 1tb spinner to my 480gb SSD. I haven't tested the Asus restore partition, if I ever need to reset the machine I'll try Windows 10's built-in reset functionality, and if that fails I will clean install Windows 10 and download the Asus drivers and software.

The laptop has two drive bays, two SATA connectors and one PCIE SATA connector - you can use all 3 if you buy a PCIE SATA SSD and a short regular SSD for the first bay (decased), then a third drive in the second bay. IIRC, only the first bay is a SATA6 connector the second bay is a SATA3.

You shouldn't need any special software to manage anything. In fact, you could probably simply clone the spinner drive to BOTH SSDs, then use the UEFI boot menu to choose which one to boot from.

Also, now that I think about it, it would probably a heck of a lot less work to just use user accounts - as long as neither account is an Administrator, neither one will be able to access the others' files. Instead of having to actually reboot the machine, you just log off then log back on the other user.

Thanks for the feedback... Your ideas make sense...

Is sounds like you have the same laptop? If I understand you correctly, there are 3 expansion slots that I could add SDDs to... Do I understand that drive bay 1 has a PCIE SATA and SATA 6 connections? PCIE is faster, right? Isn't a PCIE drive really a circuit card?

After nearly losing another machine to what I thought was my kids deleting/moving some files they shouldn't have, I probably overreacted with making separate physical drives and OS for them to goof around in without jeopardizing my install... I suppose I can lock things down as an admin though... I hadn't considered that.

Good idea on the cloning... I'll have to got some cloning software - would assume a backup partition would also clone. Not sure what the UEFI boot menu is... bios?

Thanks.

 

[Raduque]

Thanks for the feedback... Your ideas make sense...

Is sounds like you have the same laptop? If I understand you correctly, there are 3 expansion slots that I could add SDDs to... Do I understand that drive bay 1 has a PCIE SATA and SATA 6 connections? PCIE is faster, right? Isn't a PCIE drive really a circuit card?

Correct on all counts.

After nearly losing another machine to what I thought was my kids deleting/moving some files they shouldn't have, I probably overreacted with making separate physical drives and OS for them to goof around in without jeopardizing my install... I suppose I can lock things down as an admin though... I hadn't considered that.

With any Windows higher than XP created user accounts are automatically limited. It may have been reverted in 7, i'm not sure, but I know in 8/.1 and 10, accounts created after the initial setup are non-admins - restricted access to system directories and files and other users' directories and files. Even an "Admin" account needs to have permission granted to do some things.

If you get a copy of the Pro version of the OS, you can lock it down even further. From whitelisting apps and programs so only those specified will run to being unable to change the desktop wallpaper or even allowing a right click menu for that matter.

Good idea on the cloning... I'll have to got some cloning software - would assume a backup partition would also clone. Not sure what the UEFI boot menu is... bios?

Thanks.

As I mentioned, I haven't messed with Asus' restore partition. It did get cloned, but I moved it around and I have no idea if it still works. Were I to do this over again, I would not have cloned the drive, I would have installed Windows 10 clean to my SSD and installed the Asus driver packages from the spinner.

UEFI is what the BIOS is called now. So, yes: "bios".

I really like Macrium Reflect Free. It's full featured, can do images and image-based backups, clone the boot drive from inside Windows, etc. There's better software sure, but you can't go wrong with Reflect for free.

 

[Caveman]

I really like Macrium Reflect Free. It's full featured, can do images and image-based backups, clone the boot drive from inside Windows, etc. There's better software sure, but you can't go wrong with Reflect for free.

Not to derail the real intent of my OP, but... What would be considered "good" cloning payware? Acronis?

I like the idea of "free" via Macrium, but I'm willing to spend ~$30...

 

[Raduque]

Not to derail the real intent of my OP, but... What would be considered "good" cloning payware? Acronis?

I like the idea of "free" via Macrium, but I'm willing to spend ~$30...

That's not an area I can help with.