Copying Data From HDD To M.2 SSD | Reinstalling Windows

[McDiamund]

I ordered a 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2  SSD 250GB SSD to boot instead of my HDD, and its coming in tomorrow. I am really excited to increase startup speeds, faster editing, and game load times but I have a question. Before I copy my HDD data to my SSD I want to make sure Windows 10 is running fine. My Windows 10 right now is a little funky (don't ask) and I'm wondering if I should reinstall windows before I transfer the data over or reinstall windows after?  Does it matter? Just want some different opinions I guess.

[Senzelian]

Installing Windows 10 after you copied all the data over to the new drive isn't an option.

The drive will be wiped during the install, so you'll have to install Windows 10 first and then copy all your data over to the new drive.

[cm992]

before you do a fresh install on the SSD make sure you write down your windows licence key and to make things easier make sure its synced to your microsoft account

[McDiamund]

Oh ok, thanks. Seeing the responses I think I'll install windows 10 first then copy the data over to the new SSD. I don't have the windows key anymore because of a lot of different drives being exchanged from old pcs so I think it should be fine to reinstall windows first then copy over. Thanks.

[ndesign.ie]

EaseUS Partition Master, shrink current drive to suit new SSD (free Home use)(pay for the one-click migrate option)

 

Macrium reflect clone to m.2 (untick blank partition on source disk) (Free Home Use, pay for One-Click Option)

 

Advantage: you have a copy of original drive, anything goes wrong you have a backup and no need to do any licence stuff or worry about 'funky stuff' as it's an exact copy. Keep an copy of the image on external for extra piece of mind.