Is there a way to put windows 10 on my ssd without losing the data on my hdd?

[snoop doggie dogg]

I looked around and heard some people say you just gotta remove the hdd and install windows normally on the ssd and others say you download a program that specifically clones windows onto it.

 

I'm thinking about doing the whole remove the hdd and plug it in when I'm done installing windows, which one of these is the best way to do it?

 

The ssd is 500gb while the hdd is 1tb and nearly full 

[Pikatchu]

There are software tools to clone your HDD content onto your SSD. Look into those.

[Wyzzy Moon]

If your HDD is 1TB and alsmost full you can't clone it to a 500GB SSD. Your files wont magically get smaller.
I'd recommend installing windows on your SSD and than connect the HDD and move over what you need. Or keep using the HDD as a second driver for files, since you have more than 500GB of data

[snoop doggie dogg]

8 minutes ago, Wyzzy Moon said:

If your HDD is 1TB and alsmost full you can't clone it to a 500GB SSD. Your files wont magically get smaller.
I'd recommend installing windows on your SSD and than connect the HDD and move over what you need. Or keep using the HDD as a second driver for files, since you have more than 500GB of data

yeah thats what I was planning to do, put windows and a few games on the ssd for the faster speed and use the hdd to store files and programs I dont need to load fast. I just wasn't sure if removing my hdd and putting it back after installing windows on the ssd was better than using a program that just clones the os onto the ssd 

[Wyzzy Moon]

1 minute ago, snoop doggie dogg said:

yeah thats what I was planning to do, put windows and a few games on the ssd for the faster speed and use the hdd to store files and programs I dont need to load fast. I just wasn't sure if removing my hdd and putting it back after installing windows on the ssd was better than using a program that just clones the os onto the ssd 

In my experience those programs almost never work on windows. And it's a good reason to get a fresh start. Nothing more smooth than a fresh windows install every now and than.

[snoop doggie dogg]

4 minutes ago, Wyzzy Moon said:

In my experience those programs almost never work on windows. And it's a good reason to get a fresh start. Nothing more smooth than a fresh windows install every now and than.

yeah thats why I was leaning towards the first option, so after I install windows on my ssd and plug my hdd back in do I need to remove anything windows 10 related on the hdd or does it sort it self out on its own?

[Wyzzy Moon]

3 minutes ago, snoop doggie dogg said:

yeah thats why I was leaning towards the first option, so after I install windows on my ssd and plug my hdd back in do I need to remove anything windows 10 related on the hdd or does it sort it self out on its own?

You don't NEED to remove anything, but it will still have a full windows install on it which you don't need and use anymore. So after your new OS is fully working you can delete all the windows related folders of your old drive to save space.
Just keep the document folders. You might want to keep some installed programs as well but most will have to be reinstalled anyway.

Oh and you can just remap the "my documents" folder etc to the location on your old drive so that you dont have two document folders (one on the new and one on the old drive)

[snoop doggie dogg]

9 minutes ago, Wyzzy Moon said:

You don't NEED to remove anything, but it will still have a full windows install on it which you don't need and use anymore. So after your new OS is fully working you can delete all the windows related folders of your old drive to save space.
Just keep the document folders. You might want to keep some installed programs as well but most will have to be reinstalled anyway.

Oh and you can just remap the "my documents" folder etc to the location on your old drive so that you dont have two document folders (one on the new and one on the old drive)

Alright thanks