How to Clone a Hard Drive to an SSD

by Irv Krick | Mar 30, 2024 | Windows 10

How to Clone a Hard Drive to an SSD

1. Preparation Before Cloning:

Before you start, make sure you have the following:

An SSD with sufficient capacity to accommodate your data.
A backup of essential data from the target disk (since the new data will overwrite it).
Properly initialize the SSD in Disk Management and set its partition style to match the HDD.

2. Choose a Cloning Tool:

There are several free tools available for cloning HDD to SSD. Here are a few options:

a. EaseUS Partition Master Free:

Reliable and free.
Supports all Windows OS versions.
Features include cloning entire disks or specific partitions, aligning SSDs, and handling bad sectors.
Download EaseUS Partition Master Free Edition.

b. MiniTool Partition Wizard:

Another free tool with a straightforward interface.
Supports cloning and aligning SSDs.
Download MiniTool Partition Wizard.

3. Steps to Clone HDD to SSD:

a. Install and Launch EaseUS Partition Master:

Select Disk Clone on the left side.
Choose Clone Partition to clone the target partition from HDD to SSD.

b. Select the Original Partition from HDD:

Click Next to proceed.

4. Start the Cloning Process:

The tool will begin cloning your HDD to the SSD.
Once completed, shut down your PC.

5. Swap the Drives:

Install the new SSD into your laptop or PC.
Boot up and enjoy the faster performance!

Remember to follow the specific instructions provided by the tool you choose. Cloning ensures a seamless transition to your new SSD without reinstalling the OS or applications. Happy upgrading! 🚀

!Cloning Process

For more detailed instructions, you can refer to this PCWorld article on cloning HDD to SSD for free. 😊

Lenovo Flex 5 Review – Worthy Purchase for Students?

by Irv Krick | Aug 4, 2021 | Laptop Reviews

Lenovo Flex 5 Review – Worthy Purchase for Students?

Lenovo Flex 5 Review

The latest Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5 has received remarkable upgrades that poses a question if it is a good choice for college students. Let’s find out everything about this notebook computer!

Quick Overview – Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5

Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5 brings a lot to the table at a mid-range Laptop. It has features like a fingerprint reader which has become essential to safeguard your data. While it comes with a basic graphic performance, you can invest in graphics cards. Many third party providers have provided upgraded versions at feasible pricing as well.

For the operating system, you get Windows 10 Home. It has quite a minimalist design with lack of bevels and more screen coverage. It utilized an SSD instead of a Hard drive disk, and came with Wi fi 6. As it is a 2 in 1 laptop, you can bend it or ‘flex’ it as you like. There is a backlit keyboard to further add to the user convenience. With USB C, you get extensive battery life with Ideapad Flex 5. According to Balwinder from SeaWallalife, Lenovo Flex 5 is considered a #1 choice for students within budget.

Display

Regardless of the model specifications, you get the standard 14 inch display size with Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080 with touch display capabilities. However, for the 1080p IPS Display, it has a lower color gamut that one would expect. Thus, it isn’t the best in class for display, still gets the job done. It enables touch in tablet mode without compromising the screen size. So you get a bigger tablet in general.

So, for college students, it meets the requirements of entertainment through the media. There’s no slack in performance here. Although there are some laptops with 15.6 inch display, Ideapad Flex 5 14 inch display is quite sufficient.

Graphics Performance

Once again, if it is an Intel version, you get Intel UHD integrated graphics and Integrated AMD Radeon Graphics for AMD processors. However, it does support Nvidia GEforce 940mx.. So, you can get an upgrade in the future if you want to invest in the future.

If you’re a gamer, you can invest in these to increase the graphic output to become a mid-level gaming console.

Processor

Flex 5 offers multiple processor choices . However, it will impact the overall performance and specifications as well. From the older Intel Core i3 processor, you have an upgrade to at least 10th gen i5 processor. On the other hand, you have AMD Ryzen 3 4300u or AMD Ryzen 5 4500u processors.

As you have plenty of processor support, you easily get computing memory at around 2.4 Ghz, making it more than sufficient for multi-tasking that a student might require.

SSD Analysis

Lenovo Flex 5 does take a blow in the SSD capabilities. Almost every model comes with a 128GB SSD, but you can upgrade it up to 512GB SSD. It also comes with an SD Card reader to meet other storage requirements.

As we live in a world of cloud storage, even the low 126GB might suffice, unless you’re looking for extensive gaming.

Connectivity Options

You have access to 2×2 Wi-Fi (802.11 ax) and BlueTooth 4.2 with 2 USB-A Ports (USB 3.0), 1 USB Type C Port and HDMI. There is a 4-in-1 card reader and an audio jack.

Is The Lenovo Flex 5 A Good Laptop?

You can get almost everything done with this. It has around eight to 11 hours of battery life that works well for an entire college day. You can use it for web browsing, assignments, and studies. It can boost to be a high gaming and entertainment unit, if you desire. For a college student who is building their life as they go, it is quite a decent choice.

Which Is Better Lenovo Flex Or Yoga?

Lenovo Yoga is an old generation laptop that does put up a good fight compared to the standard Lenovo Flex 5 model, but loses. Lenovo Flex uses DDR4 ram while Yoga has DDR3 RAM, which is enough to put it behind. Lenovo Flex also comes with 8th Gen Core i5 or 10th Gen Intel Core i7 7500u while Yoga is stuck with 8th Gen Core i5 and 6th Gen i7. Additionally, Flex has a bigger screen. However, if you’re under budget, then Yoga can pack some higher storage specifications and much more at similar pricing like 512GB ssd instead of 128GB SSD of Flex.

Is Lenovo Flex 5 Touch Screen?

Yes, Lenovo Flex 5 comes with a touch display which enables users to use it in more than one manner. However, it seems that the touch is not best-in-class. It is better to use this laptop like a standard laptop for performance.

Is Lenovo Flex 5 RAM Upgradable?

Yes, as evident by the current upgrades, it is quite possible to upgrade the ram. The standard Lenovo Flex 5 came with 4 GB RAM, but it received an 8GB RAM With the latest model. More importantly, you can upgrade it up to 16GB without any problem, making it quite efficient in that process.

Bottom Line

The Flex 5 2 in 1 is quite a compelling choice with its minimalist and light design and a wide assortment of features. Whether you are looking for something in budget, or plan to go full-throttle with a mid-level laptop, it will suffice for any college student and even a professional. Thus, making it an overall good choice and value for money.

Photopea review: A free Photoshop alternative that works in your browser

by Irv Krick | Jul 29, 2021 | Windows 10

You don’t need to spend money to get a quality photo editor. In fact, you don’t even need to download an app.

Some powerful photo editors require a monthly subscription fee or a high initial investment. Photopea bucks both of these trends, and instead gives you a free option that doesn’t even require you to download anything.

Photopea is a unique editing application — I’ve never used anything like it. It’s a Photoshop alternative that you just open in your web browser. Both the interface and its feature list will be familiar to anyone who has used Photoshop. While it doesn’t have every feature of Adobe’s flagship photo editor, Photopea isn’t a lightweight editor either. It has enough power and features to keep many users from having to purchase a photo editing software.

It’s free and open source, with some ads that help support its development, but the ads aren’t intrusive. You can upgrade to a premium account for $9 per 30 days to remove ads and support the developer.

Web-based editing

Photopea

A powerful photo editor that lives in your browser.

Photopea is a powerful photo editor that’s a progressive web app — it lives in your browser. You can use it to make edits to photos, enhance them, and use both vector and raster tools all without having to download a thing.

Free at Photopea

Power within a browser

Photopea looks and feels like Adobe Photoshop, and that’s a good thing because it feels very familiar to creators. If you’ve used any photo editing software that has a similar design, you’ll be able to dive right into Photopea. You can make global edits like adjusting an image’s HSL or brightness, and also make more specific edits like selecting an image from a background. It works with raster images and vectors and supports several file formats.

What’s impressive about this to me is that it’s all within your browser. Photopea doesn’t require a download. It’s a PWA that you can either use inside a normal browser interface or “install” as an app through browsers such as Google Chrome or the version of Microsoft Edge that’s powered by Chromium. But even when “installed”, you still don’t have to download anything. The app is in your browser, but the editing is done on your machine. All of your work is stored locally, so nothing is put into a server or a cloud.

Because of how Photopea works, you can open it instantly on just about any machine, including PCs running Windows 10 in S Mode or even Chromebooks. It works with PSD files well and also supports the vast majority of file formats that image editors will need. It’s a great photo editor for working across platforms and being able to jump into an edit on any device without having to download anything.

Editing anywhere

Photopea’s most significant selling point is that it’s so easy to use anywhere. It works very well with PSD files, with support for layer editing and saving a file as a PSD file. That means that you can take a file that you have on the cloud, a USB drive, or any device, and make some quick edits on any device without having to download anything.

For a professional user, Photopea isn’t going to replace Photoshop, though that’d be a big thing to ask from a free piece of software. Instead, Photopea is an excellent companion for photo editors who need to make edits on a machine that isn’t their normal setup.

If you’re a prosumer or casual editor, Photopea will meet many of your demands. It’s convenient, can handle a wide range of edits, and is easy to learn thanks to Photopea’s online tools.

An impressive and convenient editor

I’m a fan of Photopea. It’s unique, is a progressive web app, and can work on just about any platform. I love that it supports PSD files so well and plays nicely with other file formats. It’s a good companion for professional users who have to make an edit on a machine other than their usual setup and a good editor for prosumers and casual editors looking for something more than a basic editor.

4 out of 5

I ran into some performance issues when I tested it, which is unfortunate. Selecting a background to remove was a bit janky in my testing, but other edits ran smoothly. It’s hard to judge how much that will vary for each person as hardware setups can differ significantly. What I can say is that editing in Photopea was less smooth than using my photo editor of choice, Affinity Photo. That being said, Photopea still performed fairly well, and the fact that it’s free and can be tested by literally clicking on a link makes it worth a try for anyone on the hunt for a photo editor.

Pros

Free version isn’t restricted
Large feature set
Doesn’t require a download
Can work in several browsers

Cons

Performance can stutter during edits

Best Small Laptop 2021

by Irv Krick | Jul 7, 2021 | Laptop Reviews, Windows 10, Windows 11

Dell XPS 13 2020

The Dell XPS 13 is a perennial favorite for its size, weight and performance and just overall good looks. In 2020, Dell made the laptop even smaller, while making the laptop screen larger and increasing performance for both CPU and graphics-intensive tasks. It’s not a huge leap, but this Dell XPS is still the best in the category. And for those who want the latest and greatest Intel processors, the Dell XPS 13, as well as the company’s XPS 13 2-in-1 (also a great pick), are available with the chip-maker’s 11th-gen Core processors, with Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 options. This Dell also offers a selection of solid-state storage and memory options, starting with a 256GB SSD hard drive and 8GB of memory.

HP Spectre x360 Convertible Laptop

by Irv Krick | Jul 6, 2021 | Laptop Reviews, Windows 11

HP Spectre x360 Convertible Laptop

Display Size: 15.6″
Resolution: 3840 x 2160
Memory: 16GB RAM
Storage: 256 GB SSD
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7 processor
Graphics Processor: Intel® Iris® Xe
Operating System: Windows 10 Home 64
Touchscreen: Yes
Battery Life: 7 hours
Weight: 4.2 lbs

Intro

The HP Spectre x360 excels in entertainment thanks to a high definition, near-borderless display, impressive battery life, and an expertly tuned audio system.

FAQ:

These are some common questions that arise when consumers are shopping for computers.

Why is the HP 15″ Touchscreen Premium Laptop worth it?

For designers, photographers, and videographers, the HP Spectre x360 delivers a strong visual performance, double the RAM as previous models, and a graphics card that won’t slow you down. Its convertibility and lightweight build add to its portability and versatility, fitting the needs of on-the-go professionals who need a robust operating system.

What is the difference between the HP 15″ Touchscreen Premium Laptop and competitors?

Compared to laptops in its price range, the HP Spectre x360 boasts crisp visuals and uninterrupted performance. This model has also integrated built-in security features, a newer addition to typical HP laptops. The HP Spectre combines sleekness with functionality, giving users a performance-packed computer that looks stylish. This model ranks high among its competitors due to its long battery life and powerful Intel Core Processor, as well as its NVIDIA graphics card.

Is HP 15″ Touchscreen Premium Laptop the best of all computers?

Because of the integrated NVIDIA graphics card and increased RAM, the HP Spectre is equipped to handle major design projects without eating away at the computer’s performance. Along with this, the HP Spectre is also a top choice for entertainment lovers due to its features such as a near-borderless display, 360-degree hinge, and improved audio. This powerful combination of productivity and entertainment easily places the HP Spectre at the top of the rankings when it comes to home laptops.

Final Thoughts

The HP Spectre x360 pushes the boundaries of performance and removes the limitations that typical laptops can’t push past. If you’ve found yourself frustrated with limited processing power, slow performance, and low-quality visuals in other laptops, you might be surprised with just how well the Spectre x360 can keep up.

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