Swapping Boots Drives

[CalzerDan]

Hey. just wanted to ask a quick question: what's the best way to change the boot drive you are using?

 

In this case I am going from a Western Digital Blue 250GB SATA M.2 to a Corsair MP600 1TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 drive, and obviously I want to boot from the faster drive. I should also state that I am going to be upgrading from a Ryzen 2600X to a (probably) Ryzen 5600 and from a Asus Prime B350-Plus to a Asus TUF X570.

[KangUsapEmenq]

Clone it using any cloning software (personally using Macrium Reflect twice here) from the WD to the Corsair for the most efficient and no-struggle way of reinstalling everything. Then after you successfully boot from the Corsair, delete ALL of the OS partition on the WD.

[CalzerDan]

1 minute ago, dhannemon13 said:

Clone it using any cloning software (personally using Macrium Reflect twice here) from the WD to the Corsair for the most efficient and no-struggle way of reinstalling everything. Then after you successfully boot from the Corsair, delete ALL of the OS partition on the WD.

Thanks a lot, where do I delete the partitions from? Sorry, first time doing this.

[KangUsapEmenq]

2 minutes ago, CalzerDan said:

Thanks a lot, where do I delete the partitions from? Sorry, first time doing this.

You can use the Windows's Disk Management, or might try the 3rd party (I prefer this tho) one like the same one you'd use for cloning. It's the same.

 

Just be focus when deleting partitions. Won't be funny if you selecting the wrong partition.

[CalzerDan]

Just now, dhannemon13 said:

You can use the Windows's Disk Management, or might try the 3rd party (I prefer this tho) one like the same one you'd use for cloning. It's the same.

 

Just be focus when deleting partitions. Won't be funny if you selecting the wrong partition.

Thanks

[KangUsapEmenq]

1 minute ago, CalzerDan said:

Thanks

You're welcome, don't forget to extend your existing partition on the WD after you delete the OS partitions tho.

[svmlegacy]

Reinstalling is also a (preferrable) option.

[CalzerDan]

2 minutes ago, svmlegacy said:

Reinstalling is also a (preferrable) option.

I'd rather not have to spend more money on a new Windows license.

[svmlegacy]

Just now, CalzerDan said:

I'd rather not have to spend more money on a new Windows license.

You won't have to. You can reuse the old one (if you bought the license originally), or if it was originally installed under UEFI, it will pick it up once finished installation.

[CalzerDan]

1 minute ago, svmlegacy said:

You won't have to. You can reuse the old one (if you bought the license originally), or if it was originally installed under UEFI, it will pick it up once finished installation.

Okay

[CalzerDan]

7 minutes ago, svmlegacy said:

You won't have to. You can reuse the old one (if you bought the license originally), or if it was originally installed under UEFI, it will pick it up once finished installation.

Should I format my old drive as well?