Switching out factory 1tb gen4 for a 4tb gen5 on Vector A18 with Ryzen9

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tigardtras15b402df

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Hey all,

I just dropped the coin to upgrade the tiny 1tb gen4 Samsung that MSI uses to a Western Digital 4tb Gen5. Not my first rodeo and I have already populated the second M2 slot with a 2tb Gen4 Samsung so I'm good with the internals but are there any gotchas I should know beforehand? Like do I absolutely NEED to copy the factory recovery image or can I just soldier on with a win11 Pro installer and maybe the WiFi/LAN drivers on a USB stick and pick up what I need/want after the fact? I absolutely LOATHE the stuff foisted on one with a factory setup, I don't want anything NOT necessary to gaming as that is this beast's sole purpose in life. No Office, No AI, No Norton or MacAfee, no endlessly upselling, data mining hoops to jump through- just the basic minimums for functionality. I like the keyboard to illuminate, I don't need it to "breathe".

I will most likely keep the factory drive unmolested for a bit but my plans are to repurpose it for an actively cooled thunderbolt enclosure I have coming with the new drive. Any advice is gratefully appreciated, thank you.
 
tigardtras15b402df said:
Hey all,

I just dropped the coin to upgrade the tiny 1tb gen4 Samsung that MSI uses to a Western Digital 4tb Gen5. Not my first rodeo and I have already populated the second M2 slot with a 2tb Gen4 Samsung so I'm good with the internals but are there any gotchas I should know beforehand? Like do I absolutely NEED to copy the factory recovery image or can I just soldier on with a win11 Pro installer and maybe the WiFi/LAN drivers on a USB stick and pick up what I need/want after the fact? I absolutely LOATHE the stuff foisted on one with a factory setup, I don't want anything NOT necessary to gaming as that is this beast's sole purpose in life. No Office, No AI, No Norton or MacAfee, no endlessly upselling, data mining hoops to jump through- just the basic minimums for functionality. I like the keyboard to illuminate, I don't need it to "breathe".

I will most likely keep the factory drive unmolested for a bit but my plans are to repurpose it for an actively cooled thunderbolt enclosure I have coming with the new drive. Any advice is gratefully appreciated, thank you.
Click to expand...

Simpler way would be to leave the Original Drive in and put the 2nd Drive in as it has a Gen 4.0 slot and a Gen 5.0 slot and just move all the Data that is not your Basic Programs and OS to the New Drive (EG game Files in Steam and Pictures ect). that way you have the 1TB for the OS and Programs Still and the full 2TB for everything Else.
 
Second drive (Gen4) is already populated with a 2tb Samsung nice and full of Steam. I know I can swap the boot drive into that slot and image from it but my main query was HOW to avoid all the crapware that will install with that factory image.
 
tigardtras15b402df said:
Second drive (Gen4) is already populated with a 2tb Samsung nice and full of Steam. I know I can swap the boot drive into that slot and image from it but my main query was HOW to avoid all the crapware that will install with that factory image.
Click to expand...

Do a Clean Install is your best bet Just remember to grab all Drivers before you start and you should be good.
 
You can get a free version of Acronis with WD drives, just clone the 1 to the 4 and then you have all your stuff.
 
Thanks all-

Successfully swapped it just fine, used Rufus and Win 11 iso to eliminate co-pilot and office slop, confirmed got the right bus with CrystalMark- showed 14900+! It's all good and all my Steam stuff on the D drive lived right through it. Installed only AMD drivers for chipset from AMD, the WiFi drivers from MSI and Nvidia Drivers/App from Nvidia. I did end up back with MSI Center for granular fan control/keyboard control but everything else I jettisoned and just kept the factory drive as a restore if I sell it.
 
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