Installing and SSD and Unbuntu on an old laptop

dano

I'm sure I've seen this covered in a previous thread but can't find it for the life of me...

I have an old HP laptop (from about 2009) that I don't use.  Im thinking of installing unbuntu . 

The existing hard drive has some problems from whatvi remember so inplan to swop it for a SSD.

My question is once I put in a new SSD how easy / hard is it to install a new the new OS ? 

Anyone experience of doing this?

monquixote

Should be fairly easy provided your laptop doesn't have any weird hardware.

Just boot from a DVD or USB stick

Hertz32

Make a bootable image of Ubuntu on a USB/DVD.

Swap HDD for SSD

Boot laptop with image inserted 

Boot from image

Install OS


It *should* be that simple. But I haven't done it since 12.04... 

hotpot

I put Ubuntu 16.04 on a couple of oldish desktops & they run better than they ever did/

Axe_meister

Couple of things to check first. Is the hard disk SATA or IDE?
if IDE you may have difficulty sourcing a drive.
2009 vintage will only be SATA 2 do not the best performance

dano

Thanks for the advice. I'll open it up this weekend and check the exact HDD format.