Jump to content

How to move my OS from old hdd to ssd

Legoxi
By Legoxi
in Operating Systems
 Share
Go to solution Solved by Biohazard777,
11 hours ago, Legoxi said:

Thanks for the answer. If i were to use an external enclosure for the new SSD or a laptop drive caddy and clone the (let's say) C Drive to the new SSD. will a problem happen? like maybe the OS detect 2 windows serial number or something. Pardon me for stupid question, I'm really in the dark when regarding widnows/OS

You are welcome 🙂.
When you are doing the cloning Windows on your HDD which is active and running in system memory it will not care about other Windows installations on other drives, done it myself several times never had an issue.
Windows might invalidate your license is when you swap components and then boot it up, but Windows doesn't tie the license to HDD SN, it takes in multiple HW IDs, when the change is "significant" then the license will become invalid:
 

Spoiler

When installing Windows 10, the digital license associates itself with your device's hardware. If you make significant hardware changes on your device, such as replacing your motherboard, Windows will no longer find a license that matches your device, and you’ll need to reactivate Windows to get it up and running.  

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/reactivating-windows-10-after-a-hardware-change-2c0e962a-f04c-145b-6ead-fb3fc72b6665

Additional sources: 
https://www.howtogeek.com/444351/how-to-reactivate-windows-10-after-a-hardware-change/
https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/75754/windows-10-activation-questions-answered

TL;DR Drives play no role in Windows license, motherboard replacement on the other hand is guaranteed to invalidate our license.
 

Also don't try booting two different machines with cloned drives (having the same license), that might also invalidate the license. So when you are done cloning, you boot it up from the new SSD and you check that everything is working normally and all files are there, then you should format your old drive.

I've personally recently cloned a 128GB SSD onto a 1TB SSD for a laptop, expanded the partition to use full space and Win 10 Home license that came with the laptop was intact.
The laptop had two 2.5" drive bays so I didn't have to get an external enclosure as you might have to, but the process is pretty much the same.

Posted

Hello gents, I have an old laptop with 500 gb hdd. I am planing to replace it to the new ssd. do i need to buy new windows 10? or i just need to move the OS from the hdd to the ssd? how to do that?

Thanks in advance.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
19 minutes ago, Legoxi said:

do i need to buy new windows 10?

No.

 

19 minutes ago, Legoxi said:

or i just need to move the OS from the hdd to the ssd? how to do that?

If you don't want to go through Windows install again then you will need to clone all of the partitions from your HDD to your SSD. Many ways to do it, lots of software out there but IMHO the most newb friendly way is to use Marcium Reflect https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree. I am in no way affiliated with that company, I just find that piece of software handy and user friendly, has a free tier (which is enough for average users).They have step by step guides and video tutorials on their blog.
 

 

19 minutes ago, Legoxi said:

I have an old laptop

Since you are upgrading a laptop, easiest way would be to take out the HDD and then put that and the new SSD in a desktop to do the cloning. If you don't have a desktop then you will need to buy an external enclosure for your new SSD so that you can connect it to the laptop via USB, when you are done you can use that enclosure for the old HDD and use it as an external drive.

VGhlIHF1aWV0ZXIgeW91IGJlY29tZSwgdGhlIG1vcmUgeW91IGFyZSBhYmxlIHRvIGhlYXIu

^ not a crypto wallet

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author
51 minutes ago, Biohazard777 said:


 

 

Since you are upgrading a laptop, easiest way would be to take out the HDD and then put that and the new SSD in a desktop to do the cloning. If you don't have a desktop then you will need to buy an external enclosure for your new SSD so that you can connect it to the laptop via USB, when you are done you can use that enclosure for the old HDD and use it as an external drive.

Thanks for the answer. If i were to use an external enclosure for the new SSD or a laptop drive caddy and clone the (let's say) C Drive to the new SSD. will a problem happen? like maybe the OS detect 2 windows serial number or something. Pardon me for stupid question, I'm really in the dark when regarding widnows/OS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Solution
11 hours ago, Legoxi said:

Thanks for the answer. If i were to use an external enclosure for the new SSD or a laptop drive caddy and clone the (let's say) C Drive to the new SSD. will a problem happen? like maybe the OS detect 2 windows serial number or something. Pardon me for stupid question, I'm really in the dark when regarding widnows/OS

You are welcome 🙂.
When you are doing the cloning Windows on your HDD which is active and running in system memory it will not care about other Windows installations on other drives, done it myself several times never had an issue.
Windows might invalidate your license is when you swap components and then boot it up, but Windows doesn't tie the license to HDD SN, it takes in multiple HW IDs, when the change is "significant" then the license will become invalid:
 

Spoiler

When installing Windows 10, the digital license associates itself with your device's hardware. If you make significant hardware changes on your device, such as replacing your motherboard, Windows will no longer find a license that matches your device, and you’ll need to reactivate Windows to get it up and running.  

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/reactivating-windows-10-after-a-hardware-change-2c0e962a-f04c-145b-6ead-fb3fc72b6665

Additional sources: 
https://www.howtogeek.com/444351/how-to-reactivate-windows-10-after-a-hardware-change/
https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/75754/windows-10-activation-questions-answered

TL;DR Drives play no role in Windows license, motherboard replacement on the other hand is guaranteed to invalidate our license.
 

Also don't try booting two different machines with cloned drives (having the same license), that might also invalidate the license. So when you are done cloning, you boot it up from the new SSD and you check that everything is working normally and all files are there, then you should format your old drive.

I've personally recently cloned a 128GB SSD onto a 1TB SSD for a laptop, expanded the partition to use full space and Win 10 Home license that came with the laptop was intact.
The laptop had two 2.5" drive bays so I didn't have to get an external enclosure as you might have to, but the process is pretty much the same.

VGhlIHF1aWV0ZXIgeW91IGJlY29tZSwgdGhlIG1vcmUgeW91IGFyZSBhYmxlIHRvIGhlYXIu

^ not a crypto wallet

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
  • Author

once again, thank you kind sir. 

 

8 hours ago, Biohazard777 said:

 

TL;DR Drives play no role in Windows license, motherboard replacement on the other hand is guaranteed to invalidate our license.
 

okkayyy.... this is a totally different case tho but...... looks like if i upgrade my desktop, by changing the motherboard and CPU, it has more risk than changing the drive...... I got to careful about that......

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing Operating Systems

×