Moving files from HDD to SSD

Razerzz · September 18, 2019

I have put my new SSD, reinstalled Windows into it, then I plugged my old HDD back. I can see that i have all my files saved, but i can't really access all of them. Do I have to install everything from the scratch? For example, I have Kaspersky Anti Virus on my HDD, but I can't run it. So i have to reinstall it, right? I thought that I could just open programs that I had on my old HDD, but it seems its not that easy. Sorry that i am such a noob lol.

Princess Luna · September 18, 2019

Yes, programs ideally should always be reinstalled... only files such as documents, photos, videos and so on can be moved from drive to drive without issue.

Razerzz · September 18, 2019

1 hour ago, Princess Luna said:

Yes, programs ideally should always be reinstalled... only files such as documents, photos, videos and so on can be moved from drive to drive without issue.

Do you think I should reformat my HDD, so then I can install all my programs from the scratch? If yes, then which files should i backup? I was thinking about backing up my Users folder.

dalekphalm · September 18, 2019

1 hour ago, Razerzz said:

Do you think I should reformat my HDD, so then I can install all my programs from the scratch? If yes, then which files should i backup? I was thinking about backing up my Users folder.

You should be installing the programs onto the SSD.

Basically, because of the way Windows works, a lot of programs create registry entries to keep track of settings, locations of files/configs, etc. When you install Windows onto a new SSD, and plug the old HDD in, the files are still there - but none of the registry entries exist on the new Windows installation. Some programs will work like this, but many won't, and those that do may well be buggy in odd and unexpected ways. Plus all of your shortcuts (including in the Start Menu) will all be missing.

So yes, reinstall every program you use onto the SSD.

After that, I would copy over or backup any files you want to keep from the old HDD (eg: documents, videos, music, whatever), and then format the HDD, and copy files back to it.

On the now blank HDD, just create some folder organization on the root of the drive (Eg: Assuming the new HDD is drive letter D - D:\Music; D:\Videos; D:\Games, etc).

There are additional steps you can do to customize the experience, such as mapping the HDD to your "Library" folders, but that is likely overkill.

TehPlayer14 · September 25, 2019

On 9/18/2019 at 7:23 PM, Princess Luna said:

Yes, programs ideally should always be reinstalled... only files such as documents, photos, videos and so on can be moved from drive to drive without issue.

Yes and manually fixing it is such a pain.... by that I mean regedit

dalekphalm · September 25, 2019

54 minutes ago, TehPlayer14 said:

Yes and manually fixing it is such a pain.... by that I mean regedit

And sometimes you just straight up can't repair them, due to the massive hive mess that is the Registry - easy to miss an entry when there are dozens or possibly hundreds of entries all in different locations.