help: Upgrading Windows & using different drive

[bert22]

hey,

 

Situation: I have Windows 10 and want to upgrade to Windows 11.
All data is currently stored on an old Samsung 2.5 inch SSD. I bought a new Samsung 980 Pro SSD which I would like to have Windows on.

 

How would you guys go about it?

 

My thoughts:

- plug in new M.2 and do a fresh install on it -> maybe requires new product key?

- cloning before upgrading?

- cloning after upgrading?

[C2dan88]

If dont want to reinstall windows, clone then upgrade

 

If you want to install windows 11 fresh you can reuse your existing win10 key.

[bert22]

Ok, how should I proceed if I freshly install Windows 11 on the M.2? I assume that you first disconnect the 2.5 inch, then install windows, install the drivers and then connect the 2.5 inch with all the garbage on it?

[Alan G]

Here's what I did just over 2 moths ago.  I had pretty much the same thing you have.  I used the Samsung Data Migration software (it's free and only works with Samsung drives) to clone my OS from the SSD to the new NVME drive.  I changed the boot order in BIOS so that the NVME was the primary boot drive.  I then just upgraded to Windows 11 using the update feature in Windows.  I took some number of minutes to do the update but it went just fine and the Windows 11 booted right up.  The advantage of this approach is you don't lose any of your installed programs and 'most' everything works (I had to reinstall my small HP printer) AND you still have your Windows 10 backup in case anything goes wrong!!!

 

While clean installs are always preferred, I have lots of programs on my PC that have modifications in the OS drive and it would have taken me about a day to reinstall and reconfigure stuff.  I kept the SSD and once I was happy with Windows 11, I just cloned the OS to it as a back up in case something goes wrong at some future point.

[TangledEarphones]

9 hours ago, bert22 said:

Ok, how should I proceed if I freshly install Windows 11 on the M.2? I assume that you first disconnect the 2.5 inch, then install windows, install the drivers and then connect the 2.5 inch with all the garbage on it?

Yes, exactly. Please do this. Don't be like me and just keep the 2.5 installed while you install windows, or else windows will just reuse the boot partition and the system recovery partitions on the 2.5 which will make wiping and selling the 2.5 impossible without yet another reinstall.