Windows to ssd

[Aart]

Hi, I have a 240gb kingston a400 on which I want my windows install so my boot times are faster. When looking online, I saw some videos where the entire HDD was cloned to the SSD. I don't want this, since the ssd (240gb) is way smaller than the HDD (1tb). Is there any free way where I can get windows on my ssd without cloning the entire HDD and not lose all programs?

[Robchil]

4 hours ago, Aart said:

Hi, I have a 240gb kingston a400 on which I want my windows install so my boot times are faster. When looking online, I saw some videos where the entire HDD was cloned to the SSD. I don't want this, since the ssd (240gb) is way smaller than the HDD (1tb). Is there any free way where I can get windows on my ssd without cloning the entire HDD and not lose all programs?

download the media created tool, have an 8GB usb stick to put it on, install. .. altho not sure if you get that tool anymore for win10, but license is valid for win 11 too. 

microsoft has already linked your hardware SID to your license, so you can just reinstall.

[Tan3l6]

If there is not more than 240GB on your HDD then you can clone it to SSD without problems. The cloning software would shrink the data partition if needed.

[_Luke_]

You can download Windows onto your SSD for free without cloning, the cost isn't in downloading Win but the actual licence key. 

 

If I remember correctly I think you need to make sure your licence is connected to your account

 

You should be able to download the media creation tool and select that your downloading for another PC and then create the media on a USB drive (it guides you through it). Then connect your new SSD and install windows on it and select that you are redownloading it, you should then be able to just use it. Also make sure you selected the same version (e.g. Home, pro) than the old one was. 

 

also make sure you are downloading it to the SSD and not erasing content from your old drive if you want to keep what's on it... I'd probably unplug the old one to be safe. And then when your finished make sure the SSD is the drive you boot from. 

 

I swapped the HDD in my PC for an SSD this way, although this was for Win 10, not sure if it's the same for 11 if you use that

[BatRastard]

7 hours ago, Aart said:

Hi, I have a 240gb kingston a400 on which I want my windows install so my boot times are faster. When looking online, I saw some videos where the entire HDD was cloned to the SSD. I don't want this, since the ssd (240gb) is way smaller than the HDD (1tb). Is there any free way where I can get windows on my ssd without cloning the entire HDD and not lose all programs?

 

Don't clone. Use imaging instead. If you image a 1 TB spinner with Windows on it, it'll only image the used data. Free space on the drive is discarded. So, as long as your "Used Space" is less than the 240GB, you can image the 1TB and deploy it onto the 240GB SSD without issue. With that said, it's simply not worth the trouble. Your read speed on the 1TB spinner drive will be between 75MB to 150MBs at SATA 6Gps and you still need a destination drive for the image itself. The source drive and destination drive can't be the same. You're better off installing Windows to the SSD clean from a USB Flash drive. Once your new install of Windows is installed with all your drivers and updates, you can then create an image of your SSD and store that image onto 1 TB spinner. The image will probably weigh between 17GB and 35GB and restoring that image to your SSD at a later date will only take about 6 minutes. 

[Aart]

Hi, how can I keep my programs when I freshly install Windows on my ssd? I installed it on my ssd and now all my programs are gonna, so I reversed it by using my hdd as boot drive?