Upgrading to first SSD

[Californ1a]

Currently my boot drive is really slow, so I'm upgrading to an SSD. If I don't want to purchase another copy of Windows, is there a good way to get my Windows instillation onto the SSD while keeping software and data on my HDD? I do have a larger external HDD as well, which I could use to temporarily hold excess storage for an OS migration, though I've head that doing that could slow down the SSD? Another process I've looked into would be creating a bootable USB and copying down my product key from a product key finder (it is OEM, if that matters), though I'm worried with this process that none of my previous software will run on a new instillation without the registry being copied over somehow.

After that is sorted, would there be any way to remove the Windows instillation from the HDD, to free up the extra storage space (ideally without formatting the whole drive), or do I have to just live with it being there because I want to keep my other software?

[Equilibrium_FOOL]

Use your windows license, and create a bootable USB drive.  Wipe the HDD, and your golden.

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

there really is no nice way of doing that. migrating only OS and leaving programs would be hard as the links would be broken for tons of programs.

your best bet is to do as he said, backup all of your stuff, make sure you have recorded your windows product key, wipe both drives, reinstall windows and then install your software on the secondary drive.

many of your programs are going to be looking for other parts of the same program based on the file address, so if you move them to a different drive they can break.

 

 

personal recommendation is to move as much stuff as possible off of the current hard drive, uninstall any games that you could easily reinstall, and clone to the SSD.

then wipe the HDD and put the games and files on there. your main programs will probably fit on your SSD without a problem. I was even able to fit battlefield 3 with my programs and windows on a 90GB SSD before I upgraded all of my daily systems to 240gb

[Californ1a]

personal recommendation is to move as much stuff as possible off of the current hard drive, uninstall any games that you could easily reinstall, and clone to the SSD.

Recommendation for cloning software? I've heard that some of them don't properly copy some things and cause the SSD to slow.

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

If you are copying to a Samsung SSD, Samsung data migration software is really robust.

Beyond that I use Seagate disk wizard (I think it's acronis and runs on any system with at least one Seagate drive connected)

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

When I need to use it, I just connect an enclosure with one of my seagates, even if it has nothing to do with the clone.

[Californ1a]

I would be cloning from a Seagate, so I guess I'll give that a go. Thanks