Moving Disks from One System to Another

[Katarn]

I'll be getting a new system soon. The parts are custom, but it will be assembled by the retailer (who is actually wholesale, but nvm).

It comes with an SSD (Samsung 970 250GB) and an HDD (Western Digital Blue 1TB).

 

The computer I am currently using has two HDDs: Western Digital Blue 1TB (OS and programs), and Western Digital Red 2TB (Storage).

 

Now...

1. I want to add my current storage unit (WD Red 2TB) to the new system once it arrives. Will that be ok? Will I be running a risk of losing files? Will the disk need to be formatted?

 

2. Since the 1TB HDDs are identical, and since the new computer will have the OS installed on an SSD, will it be possible to add my current 1TB disk to the new computer, as it is, and use it for games and extra storage? What will happen to the OS already installed? Will it need to be formatted?

 

I am asking because I need to start making decisions concerning the migration and the safety of my files.

Also it would be nice if I could keep using my current 1TB HDD without formatting it. It would save me a lot of hassle.

 

Thanks.

[homeap5]

You can move all your drives to new computer without problem. No format required, no actions required (except settings in BIOS to choose right bootable drive).

 

Your current NEW OS will work the same, your old OS will remain unused (you can boot it if you want though; is nice sometimes to have second OS in case something is wrong with your main OS).

 

Plug old drive to your computer is basically the same as plug pendrive to any computer - all data remains the same, nothing changed until you change it by your actions.

 

You can have ALL your drives connected and don't worry about anything including power consumption - HDD or SSD needs only few watts each. I have 4 HDDs and 2 SSDs and sometimes I connect another drive and everything works perfect.

 

Remember that your drive letters will be different in new system - your current "C" may be "E" or "F" etc.

[Windows7ge]

For Storage drives that aren't hosting the OS it's easy plug'n'play. The Storage drive will show up under D:/ or E:/ as it did before.

 

The drive with your old OS is a bit more complicated. You can clone it to the SSD if time is an issue but I'm an advocate for doing a fresh install. You can still access the files on this disk if you connect it like the storage drive but if you install programs on your new SSD you'd have to tell them to find their resources on this non-boot disk and that can take a lot of time and doesn't always work.

[homeap5]

1 hour ago, Windows7ge said:

For Storage drives that aren't hosting the OS it's easy plug'n'play. The Storage drive will show up under D:/ or E:/ as it did before.

 

The drive with your old OS is a bit more complicated. You can clone it to the SSD if time is an issue but I'm an advocate for doing a fresh install. You can still access the files on this disk if you connect it like the storage drive but if you install programs on your new SSD you'd have to tell them to find their resources on this non-boot disk and that can take a lot of time and doesn't always work.

Not so true. You don't must think about your old installed programs or point to them. OP asks for using drives as storage drives, he didn't ask for using old programs. He can delete them like any other files since they're not in use anymore. Or leave them for some reason - his choice. And cloning is not as bad as you think, unless you doing it wrong.

[Katarn]

1 hour ago, homeap5 said:

Your current NEW OS will work the same, your old OS will remain unused (you can boot it if you want though; is nice sometimes to have second OS in case something is wrong with your main OS).

What about the change of motherboards?

I am migrating from an Intel machine to an AMD system.

Won't that affect the old disk(s), especially the one with OS?

 

58 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

You can clone it to the SSD if time is an issue

Time is an issue, but not a big one. However, I can't see myself cloning a 2/3 full 1TB disk to a 250GB one... unless I misunderstand the meaning of cloning one disk onto another.

 

59 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

You can still access the files on this disk if you connect it like the storage drive but if you install programs on your new SSD you'd have to tell them to find their resources on this non-boot disk and that can take a lot of time and doesn't always work.

I plan to have the OS, programs (Blender 3D, Unreal Engine 4, misc.) on the SSD. I will also probably install a game or two on it (probably games with otherwise long loading times). Speaking of - is it a good idea to max out the space on an SSD? (say, leave only 50GB free or smt)

My old HDD should be only for hosting files on which I am actively working (like baked textures, models in the making, non-archived clips) and games. This spawns a few questions:

- will the change of disks, provided I do not perform a fresh install, keep the pathways of its files? It would be nice if it did. I'd hate to reassign everything to every unfinished Blender project from scratch.

- what happens to software like Microsoft Office, which is already installed on my old system, and will probably come with the new? Will I have two instances of the same programs?

- if I decide not to format my old disk, should I at least uninstall its programs? How about the OS taking extra space afterwards?

 

I am asking this because I want to give my current system to my father once my new configuration arrives.

Since I will be opening both computers to get the storage drive anyway, I thought if it might be a good idea to swap the 1TB drives (give my father the new 1TB and take the old 1TB for myself) so I can keep all of my pathways. He'll have a brand new HDD, and I will get to change systems without doing a lot of file-management in the process.

[Katarn]

8 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

OP asks for using drives as storage drives, he didn't ask for using old programs

Yes and no.

I did mention games. I do intend to install games on the 1TB disk.

I also mentioned pathways of programs (for instance, unfinished Blender file pathways to .png images which make up their PBR textures). So while I will have Blender installed on the SSD, I would like to know if the files themselves will know to look for the linked textures in their native drive, as their locations will be unchanged.

 

I am also interested to know if the old OS will be taking up space on the 1TB disk. That would cripple its storage potential by some 50GB.

[Windows7ge]

13 minutes ago, Katarn said:

Time is an issue, but not a big one. However, I can't see myself cloning a 2/3 full 1TB disk to a 250GB one... unless I misunderstand the meaning of cloning one disk onto another.

There's tricks to this but I don't clone drives myself so I can't help you there.

 

18 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

Not so true. You don't must think about your old installed programs or point to them. OP asks for using drives as storage drives, he didn't ask for using old programs. He can delete them like any other files since they're not in use anymore. Or leave them for some reason - his choice. And cloning is not as bad as you think, unless you doing it wrong.

I must have mis-read then. I thought he was looking to reuse software existing on the old OS install.

 

13 minutes ago, Katarn said:

Speaking of - is it a good idea to max out the space on an SSD? (say, leave only 50GB free or smt)

With SSD's you should be able to fill them up to or past 90% before seeing serious performance degradation. If it can be helped though always leave some free space.

 

I can return to your other questions later.

[homeap5]

First - your old programs do not show up in your new system. They will be saved as files on your old drive, but system will not detect them. You must install your software again on new system. Some programs may works, but others needs to be installed again (or at least you must copy some registry entries from old system to new one if you know how).

 

Games (separate installs) should works fine without reinstallation.

 

Games in Origin / Steam / etc. will work too with small preparation (easy to find on internet).

 

About booting your old system after motherboard change - yes, you can. System will find new drivers and runs fine without problems. Even if you change from Intel to AMD.

 

You can do whatever you want and on this forum you can find answers to all your questions, because people asks all the time about motherboard changes, cloning system etc. Of course some people answer it's not a good idea (clone) or impossible (to change motherboard without fresh install), but I say it's perfectly good. I cloned (imaged and restored in fact) lot of drives and changes lot of motherboards using the same system(s). Even since win7. And win10 is much better in that. BUT, as I see, you have not so big experience in that matter, so I don't recommend it for you - just saying that it's good option and possible.

 

Before you start asking more questions - just try it by yourself. Is nothing wrong with trying all possibilities. Unless you start with format and fresh install - then you'll have no chance to check other options.

 

At start I recommend to have two separate systems on two drives - old and new. Old one will be for your work if you need your old programs and have no time (yet) to configure everything on new system. After 1 or 2 weeks, step by step, you should made your new system operational.

[Windows7ge]

3 hours ago, Katarn said:

will the change of disks, provided I do not perform a fresh install, keep the pathways of its files? It would be nice if it did. I'd hate to reassign everything to every unfinished Blender project from scratch.

If the program & it's files exist on the same drive then yes. If you try to have the program on one drive but it's files on the other drive you'll have to manually readdress where the program can find them.

 

3 hours ago, Katarn said:

what happens to software like Microsoft Office, which is already installed on my old system, and will probably come with the new? Will I have two instances of the same programs?

If the new system comes with a Microsoft Office key then you would have your pre-existing install and the new one. If you do a fresh install using the key that comes with the new system then you would have two separate installs of the program. One on the old drive one on the new.

 

3 hours ago, Katarn said:

if I decide not to format my old disk, should I at least uninstall its programs? How about the OS taking extra space afterwards?

If you don't format the disk then uninstalling the programs won't do anything for you. Windows will take up it's own space (a fair number of GB) what you do with it is up to you.