All the basics i need to know - SSD

[PatrickK]

So last year i bought a new PC but out of budget needs i ended up picking the 1070 over de 1060 and leaving the SSD out. Now almost 1 year later i would like to buy an SSD and use it as a boot drive. However i have a few questions. All of these can be found by googeling, i know. But some things stay unclear to me and i would like a handy overview so i know i dont miss anything.

 

1. If i put in my SSD, and follow some guide on how to use it as Windows boot drive, will i lose all my HDD files/programs/games? They will reference to wrong paths etc right?

2. What exactly do you install on your SSD. I understand you use it for windows, and frequently used programs, but how about apps that start with windows? Like steam,Discord etc. And as a game developer i wonder if programs like Unreal Engine benefit a lot from it too. 

3. In regards to my first question, Is there any easy option to install the SSD and keep al my HDD files intact? So i dont have to re-install my whole PC and all of my games?

 

Thanks very much in advance! Really apreciate it

[Lurick]

It depends on how you do the install. I usually unplug everything but the target boot drive during the windows install and then afterwards it would depend on how you cleaned up the HDD and whatnot. It would be a good idea to wipe it all for the "easiest" reinstall experience but obviously that's not always "easy" since you might have a lot of stuff on there. You could, after moving files around and saving the bulk of stuff such as pictures onto the SSD, delete the windows parts of the drive but you might still have the boot record on there which can be a pain to deal with.

With installers they will either exist on the HDD and you won't have Start Menu shortcuts or you can reinstall them using the exe, point to the existing folder, and have it do a repair install of sorts and hope that it updates the registry settings and whatnot without deleting saved data.

 

For installing programs, anything I use a lot that benefits a good bit from the SSD speeds I'll install if possible. I keep steam on it's own drive with all the games as well just for consistency sake and to make a reinstall easier since I just reinstall steam pointing to the drive and it detects all the games no problem. For programs that I can split up and install the main program on one drive and other parts on another I'll try to do that as well but just know that the slowest device (HDD) in the mix will generally limit the speed of the program if it's half installed on an SSD and half on a HDD (like steam).

 

If you can copy the steam games and whatnot to a separate folder you should be able to delete the windows parts and delete any small partitions on the drive which would hopefully delete the MBR so it doesn't try to boot from the HDD during boot and just goes for the SSD.

[PatrickK]

1 minute ago, Lurick said:

It depends on how you do the install. I usually unplug everything but the target boot drive during the windows install and then afterwards it would depend on how you cleaned up the HDD and whatnot. It would be a good idea to wipe it all for the "easiest" reinstall experience but obviously that's not always "easy" since you might have a lot of stuff on there. You could, after moving files around and saving the bulk of stuff such as pictures onto the SSD, delete the windows parts of the drive but you might still have the boot record on there which can be a pain to deal with.

With installers they will either exist on the HDD and you won't have Start Menu shortcuts or you can reinstall them using the exe, point to the existing folder, and have it do a repair install of sorts and hope that it updates the registry settings and whatnot without deleting saved data.

 

For installing programs, anything I use a lot that benefits a good bit from the SSD speeds I'll install if possible. I keep steam on it's own drive with all the games as well just for consistency sake and to make a reinstall easier since I just reinstall steam pointing to the drive and it detects all the games no problem. For programs that I can split up and install the main program on one drive and other parts on another I'll try to do that as well but just know that the slowest device (HDD) in the mix will generally limit the speed of the program if it's half installed on an SSD and half on a HDD (like steam).

 

If you can copy the steam games and whatnot to a separate folder you should be able to delete the windows parts and delete any small partitions on the drive which would hopefully delete the MBR so it doesn't try to boot from the HDD during boot and just goes for the SSD.

First of all thanks for the info!

So reading your message i get that the most easy and best way to do this is by installing the SSD with a fresh install of windows? Which means i need to format my HDD as well. It's not that big of a problem if i free some time on a friday night and take a good seat. This way i have a fresh install right? And if i'm correct steam folders should be copyable so i wont lose any saves etc if i copy them on to my external HDD. 

 

Do i need to know anything else important as a complete noob to hardware? My PC's always get builded by my friend who does it for a living and i would like to install the SSD myself. Anything else important, or is it just plugging it in?(hardware part)

[Lurick]

2 minutes ago, PatrickK said:

First of all thanks for the info!

So reading your message i get that the most easy and best way to do this is by installing the SSD with a fresh install of windows? Which means i need to format my HDD as well. It's not that big of a problem if i free some time on a friday night and take a good seat. This way i have a fresh install right? And if i'm correct steam folders should be copyable so i wont lose any saves etc if i copy them on to my external HDD. 

 

Do i need to know anything else important as a complete noob to hardware? My PC's always get builded by my friend who does it for a living and i would like to install the SSD myself. Anything else important, or is it just plugging it in?(hardware part)

Yah, ideally you would do a clean install of Windows on the SSD and then plug in the HDD and format that so it's empty. You can definitely copy steam games and whatnot off so you don't lose any saves. I would just copy the whole steam folder and then move it back when done and when you install steam, point it to the directory where you copied it back to and it will reinstall but not delete any games.

 

One thing is to make sure your Windows key is saved either to your Microsoft account (if you used that for Windows 10) or written down somewhere so you can enter it again during the install process. Just plug up the SSD (SATA data and power) and you should be good. It would be a good time to pull the power or data cable (either works) from the HDD so you install windows completely on the SSD as sometimes it will try to install a bit on another drive (never figured out why).

[sky_shark_101]

Depending on the drive you can often get cloning software that will clone your old drive onto your new drive. I have used the Samsung one recently and it is excellent. This ensures all your files and folders are copied over and you can then delete the old drive and have it as additional storage. Without the need of worrying about activating windows and writing down keys etc. I know that most manufacturers have similar software. Doing this method will take you much less time. I would highly recommend a Samsung SSD as they are reliable and fast but also there bundled software makes switching over to an SSD seamless.

[PatrickK]

20 hours ago, Lurick said:

Yah, ideally you would do a clean install of Windows on the SSD and then plug in the HDD and format that so it's empty. You can definitely copy steam games and whatnot off so you don't lose any saves. I would just copy the whole steam folder and then move it back when done and when you install steam, point it to the directory where you copied it back to and it will reinstall but not delete any games.

 

One thing is to make sure your Windows key is saved either to your Microsoft account (if you used that for Windows 10) or written down somewhere so you can enter it again during the install process. Just plug up the SSD (SATA data and power) and you should be good. It would be a good time to pull the power or data cable (either works) from the HDD so you install windows completely on the SSD as sometimes it will try to install a bit on another drive (never figured out why).

Thanks! Thats all i need to know. I need to make a bootable Windows right? From a USB or what not?

[PatrickK]

20 hours ago, sky_shark_101 said:

Depending on the drive you can often get cloning software that will clone your old drive onto your new drive. I have used the Samsung one recently and it is excellent. This ensures all your files and folders are copied over and you can then delete the old drive and have it as additional storage. Without the need of worrying about activating windows and writing down keys etc. I know that most manufacturers have similar software. Doing this method will take you much less time. I would highly recommend a Samsung SSD as they are reliable and fast but also there bundled software makes switching over to an SSD seamless.

This wouldn't really be an option as my SSD will be 240GB and i have 800GB of files atm. Sadly.

[sky_shark_101]

On 6/19/2018 at 10:13 AM, PatrickK said:

This wouldn't really be an option as my SSD will be 240GB and i have 800GB of files atm. Sadly.

You can choose which files can go over in the Samsung software for example just OS files. I don't know about other brands though.