Hey there Jonathanyu96, Welcome to the forum 🙂
I just came across your thread and basically to put it short, its pretty late where i am now but all your questions can be answered lol. I would answer it now but will take me quiet a while to type and its very late, so will do tomorro unless someone gets there before me :P.
The whole process is quite simple actually and since you plan to do a clean install, should be even more simple. I did the same by the way, Put in a 250GB OCZ Vertex 4 SSD as my primary boot+gaming drive and have the 1TB as my secondary drive. Best upgrade i ever did to my laptop.. Anyways it seems you have done your reading so it should be pretty straightforward when given the steps.
For now, have a look at an old thread of mine, when i was getting ready to install my SSD pretty much when i first got my G-series.
http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?19520-Advice-for-new-SSD-installation
I just came across your thread and basically to put it short, its pretty late where i am now but all your questions can be answered lol. I would answer it now but will take me quiet a while to type and its very late, so will do tomorro unless someone gets there before me :P.
The whole process is quite simple actually and since you plan to do a clean install, should be even more simple. I did the same by the way, Put in a 250GB OCZ Vertex 4 SSD as my primary boot+gaming drive and have the 1TB as my secondary drive. Best upgrade i ever did to my laptop.. Anyways it seems you have done your reading so it should be pretty straightforward when given the steps.
For now, have a look at an old thread of mine, when i was getting ready to install my SSD pretty much when i first got my G-series.
http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?19520-Advice-for-new-SSD-installation
doing a fresh install of windows 7 on an SSD should be fairly easy. however, there are some unknown configurations (for instance in the bios that comes with your model) to us (as we own the win7 version). from this thread, the win8 version of g75vw has a different bios (2.18, which couldn't be found at ASUS website). he could not get the win7 install disk to load, until he flashed the bios to 2.21, and enabled an option called "Launch CSM" (which i think it means "Custom Source Media" hehe) in the boot option in the bios.
first, you can try to load the windows 7 install disk/usb with your current bios and see if your system allowed you to run it. if it's not, you need to flash your bios first to proceed.
secondly, you will need to buy a new windows 7 key for your downgrade, because from what Apexing pointed out, only windows 8 pro is eligible for downgrading without paying extras.
when you have both the above solved, then the rest should be easy, i think.
edit: to give you a clearer picture on what you're going to do, here is what the stages are:
1. create and back up your windows 8 system image
- you can create a system image for your stock windows by using its built-in backup feature.
- you might also wanna grab your windows 8 key by following these steps (look for "Where can I find information on my Windows 8 product key?"). from what i've read, the windows will be automatically activated with your stock bios. however, to be safe, do this as a backup.
2. grab the latest bios and drivers from ASUS Website
- if you don't have the windows 7 installation disk, grab the relevant ISO also.
- as for your current bios, you should be able to find a copy in your C:\ (it might be hidden, so you need to turn on "show hidden files" in your windows explorer).
- save all these files into an external storage. create a windows 7 install dvd/usb.
3. set up your bios
- other than the bios setup above, you will also need to make sure that AHCI is selected in your Bios > Advanced Boot > SATA Configurations; you might also need to disable UEFI Boot if there is such an option.
4. prepare your SSD
- you put the new SSD in the secondary bay, and boot your machine; so that you can upgrade its firmware, if any. to do this, you need to get the latest SSD management software from your SSD manufacturer website.
5. fresh windows installation
- here is when you replace your stock HDD with the new SSD (i.e. put it in thevbay where your stock HDD is placed), and then load the windows installation.
- don't put in the stock HDD in the secondary bay yet (take it out of the bay physically). normally we will keep the stock HDD for a while, until the new system is stable.
- if your windows failed to boot, check and make your SSD the first boot option in bios. make sure you take out your installation media upon first reboot. normally it will boot straight away, because it's the only bootable in your system.
6. driver installation
- install the drivers. multiple reboots are required in this stage.
7. run Windows Performance Index
- from what i've read, this triggers SSD optimized settings in windows 7 (e.g. TRIM, prefetch, superfetch, etc.).
by now you should have a working windows 7 running.
edit 2: you might need to disable "Secure Boot Control" in the security tab, too, according to this FAQ page:
How do I boot to DOS with USB Flash drive or USB CD-ROM?
1. Enter the BIOS setup menu by pressing and holding F2 key when powering on.
2. Switch to "Boot" and set “Launch CSM” to Enabled.
3. Switch to "Security" and set "Secure Boot Control" to Disabled.
4. Press F10 to save and exit.
5. Press and hold ESC key to lunch boot menu when the notebook restarts.
first, you can try to load the windows 7 install disk/usb with your current bios and see if your system allowed you to run it. if it's not, you need to flash your bios first to proceed.
secondly, you will need to buy a new windows 7 key for your downgrade, because from what Apexing pointed out, only windows 8 pro is eligible for downgrading without paying extras.
when you have both the above solved, then the rest should be easy, i think.
edit: to give you a clearer picture on what you're going to do, here is what the stages are:
1. create and back up your windows 8 system image
- you can create a system image for your stock windows by using its built-in backup feature.
- you might also wanna grab your windows 8 key by following these steps (look for "Where can I find information on my Windows 8 product key?"). from what i've read, the windows will be automatically activated with your stock bios. however, to be safe, do this as a backup.
2. grab the latest bios and drivers from ASUS Website
- if you don't have the windows 7 installation disk, grab the relevant ISO also.
- as for your current bios, you should be able to find a copy in your C:\ (it might be hidden, so you need to turn on "show hidden files" in your windows explorer).
- save all these files into an external storage. create a windows 7 install dvd/usb.
3. set up your bios
- other than the bios setup above, you will also need to make sure that AHCI is selected in your Bios > Advanced Boot > SATA Configurations; you might also need to disable UEFI Boot if there is such an option.
4. prepare your SSD
- you put the new SSD in the secondary bay, and boot your machine; so that you can upgrade its firmware, if any. to do this, you need to get the latest SSD management software from your SSD manufacturer website.
5. fresh windows installation
- here is when you replace your stock HDD with the new SSD (i.e. put it in thevbay where your stock HDD is placed), and then load the windows installation.
- don't put in the stock HDD in the secondary bay yet (take it out of the bay physically). normally we will keep the stock HDD for a while, until the new system is stable.
- if your windows failed to boot, check and make your SSD the first boot option in bios. make sure you take out your installation media upon first reboot. normally it will boot straight away, because it's the only bootable in your system.
6. driver installation
- install the drivers. multiple reboots are required in this stage.
7. run Windows Performance Index
- from what i've read, this triggers SSD optimized settings in windows 7 (e.g. TRIM, prefetch, superfetch, etc.).
by now you should have a working windows 7 running.
edit 2: you might need to disable "Secure Boot Control" in the security tab, too, according to this FAQ page:
How do I boot to DOS with USB Flash drive or USB CD-ROM?
1. Enter the BIOS setup menu by pressing and holding F2 key when powering on.
2. Switch to "Boot" and set “Launch CSM” to Enabled.
3. Switch to "Security" and set "Secure Boot Control" to Disabled.
4. Press F10 to save and exit.
5. Press and hold ESC key to lunch boot menu when the notebook restarts.
Yea that guide pretty much sums it up 🙂 I also recommend you get the windows 7 G75, it makes things much easier..
well, actually it's easy to do all these. it's just that when i put them in words, it sounds lengthy and complicated. once you have all the tools ready and the laptop set up properly, it's just as simple as:
1. prepare the SSD;
2. swap it with the current disk;
3. install windows and drivers, then activate windows;
4. install necessary software;
5. create system image.
after that, whenever the OS is acting weird, just restore the windows from the system image (skipping all the steps above).
previously, to me the tricky part is to get things work similarly under windows-8-aware laptops (i.e. things like bios-related CSM, Secure Boot and Control options that lock down the laptop to a single OS only); but now it's clear that these restrictions can be disabled under non-w8 circumstances.
1. prepare the SSD;
2. swap it with the current disk;
3. install windows and drivers, then activate windows;
4. install necessary software;
5. create system image.
after that, whenever the OS is acting weird, just restore the windows from the system image (skipping all the steps above).
previously, to me the tricky part is to get things work similarly under windows-8-aware laptops (i.e. things like bios-related CSM, Secure Boot and Control options that lock down the laptop to a single OS only); but now it's clear that these restrictions can be disabled under non-w8 circumstances.
