Fresh install or clone?

[Max Eckhardt]

DISCLAIMER: I’m a total noob

 

Still here? Alrighty then. I’m about to replace my 120GB SSD with a new 2TB one from Samsung. (I also have a 2TB HDD)

should I clone the old 120 or do a fresh install? If I did a fresh install would I encounter problems with Windows 10 licensing?

If I choose to clone how hard is that, what would I need?

 

One other thing. For some reason ever since I first installed what was originally Windows 8 back then on the drive all my download files get placed in my documents folder instead of the downloads folder. I’ve never been able to work out why or fix it. I tried Microsoft tech support and I have checked google chrome and definitely have the box checked to say put them in downloads but they always do to documents.

Does anyone know what that is all about? 

 

 

[Radium_Angel]

11 minutes ago, Max Eckhardt said:

DISCLAIMER: I’m a total noob

 

Still here? Alrighty then. I’m about to replace my 120GB SSD with a new 2TB one from Samsung. (I also have a 2TB HDD)

should I clone the old 120 or do a fresh install? If I did a fresh install would I encounter problems with Windows 10 licensing?

If I choose to clone how hard is that, what would I need?

 

One other thing. For some reason ever since I first installed what was originally Windows 8 back then on the drive all my download files get placed in my documents folder instead of the downloads folder. I’ve never been able to work out why or fix it. I tried Microsoft tech support and I have checked google chrome and definitely have the box checked to say put them in downloads but they always do to documents.

Does anyone know what that is all about? 

 

 

Advantage to cloning: Quick, and easy. No re-install needed for anything

Disadvantage: All the cruft and problems come right along.

 

Question is simple: Which is more important to you?

[TheStyne]

I would recommend just cloning. Get to keep all your files and settings, and it just works. I use the Samsung software for that.

 

As for the downloaded files, in Chrome go to chrome://settings in the search bar, then type in "Ask where to save each file before downloading" in the search bar. Flip the switch to on. Then you get to choose where things get downloaded every time, and it allows you to really customize your download location.

[homeap5]

47 minutes ago, Max Eckhardt said:

DISCLAIMER: I’m a total noob

 

Still here? Alrighty then. I’m about to replace my 120GB SSD with a new 2TB one from Samsung. (I also have a 2TB HDD)

should I clone the old 120 or do a fresh install? If I did a fresh install would I encounter problems with Windows 10 licensing?

If I choose to clone how hard is that, what would I need?

 

One other thing. For some reason ever since I first installed what was originally Windows 8 back then on the drive all my download files get placed in my documents folder instead of the downloads folder. I’ve never been able to work out why or fix it. I tried Microsoft tech support and I have checked google chrome and definitely have the box checked to say put them in downloads but they always do to documents.

Does anyone know what that is all about? 

 

 

 

Cloning - that's for sure. Use Macrium Reflect USB Rescue (create from inside program after install), boot from that USB and clone then (when your system is not in use) - just to be sure everything will be fine.

 

But another question is (and that is question you must answer by yourself) - do you want to create backups of your system sometimes. If not - you may resize your current partition to whole drive (it's possible before cloning using Macrium Reflect) and be happy to use big partition. But if you want to made backups of whole system (image), then it will be better to use smaller (500 MB) partition and made another partition on the same SSD for data you don't want to image. It's much easier to backup smaller partition with less amount of data than bigger one. OR - if you want to be as much safe as possible - you may consider buying bigger HDD and make backup of whole, big 2TB SSD, from time to time.

[Max Eckhardt]

1 hour ago, Fixinit1 said:

I would recommend just cloning. Get to keep all your files and settings, and it just works. I use the Samsung software for that.

 

As for the downloaded files, in Chrome go to chrome://settings in the search bar, then type in "Ask where to save each file before downloading" in the search bar. Flip the switch to on. Then you get to choose where things get downloaded every time, and it allows you to really customize your download location.

Where is this software, do i need to buy a transfer cable and disc or something?

 

I've done that with chrome but the problem persists:( 

[TheStyne]

On 4/12/2019 at 9:58 AM, Max Eckhardt said:

Where is this software, do i need to buy a transfer cable and disc or something?

 

I've done that with chrome but the problem persists:( 

You will need two SATA cables to clone. Simply plug in your both your old and new SSDs to your motherboard and then download the data migration tool from here, and follow the steps on screen. Then you'll be good to go.

 

With this downloading issue, does it happen on every site or just some? A select few sites will automatically put your downloads in a folder of their choosing. Google Drive seems to do this, since I never get the prompt to pick where I want to install things.