New SSD

[Ryan.L]

I was just wondering can i just copy the whole windows file from my old HDD to my SSD?

Thanks

[Whaler_99]

And then have it boot Windows? No... the drive would not have been properly formatted. You would need to use some imaging software - that would take an image of the mechanical drive and then drop it on the SSD, assuming enough room. Dont worry about same size drives, just SSD big enough to hold all the data - most imaging software will resize your disk partitions for you. Then you could boot from the SSD - you have to unplug the mechanical drive though. For backup purposes, sure, copy away :)

[dchen12]

It's always better to do a fresh install of an OS on a new drive, however, an imaging software will work too.

[th0rshamm3r]

2 correct and solid responses.

[Ethan]

It's always better to do a fresh install of an OS on a new drive' date=' however, an imaging software will work too.[/quote']

This. Windows does a few things differently in terms of settings and data allocation for SSDs during installation that makes them perform better and live longer (although most new SSDs are very hardy, so that's not a major concern), so it's best to do a fresh install. It's also a good chance to tidy up and only install what you need. Personally, I install to the SSD and copy things over or install them as required.

If you DO need to copy the exact installation over, then you want to use imaging software as others have noted. My personal favourite is Acronis True Image Home. It's not free, but it may still be if you have a WD HDD. Besides, it's still cheap. There are other options, such as Paragon Backup and Recovery 2012 Free Edition, which I've successfully used before. The operation you're looking for is called "Cloning". This does a straight transfer from one drive to another. You can, however "Backup as an Image" and Restore that image to the new drive, if you have somewhere (usually an external HDD) to put it.

Best of luck and welcome to the world of SSDs!