Getting SSD. How to manage storage/booting?

[Ch3p]

Good Afternoon Linus Community,

 

I recently bought myself an SSD + extra Harddrive, i needed more storage space, they were on sale and thatswhy i got them.

 

HDD: 1000GB Seagate Desktop 3.5" SATA 6GB/s

         http://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/tab/reviews/1000GB-Seagate-Desktop-HDD-ST1000DM003-64MB-3-5Zoll--8-9cm--S_775365.html#reviews

 

SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 2.5" 250GB

         http://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/250GB-Samsung-840-Evo-Series-2-5Zoll--6-4cm--SATA-6Gb-s-TLC-Toggle--MZ-7T_917098.html

 

My System

CPU: FX 8320

GPU: Gtx 970

RAM: 8GB

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3

PSU: 500Watt

HDD: 500GB

 

My problem/question

My father is an electronic technician - IT guy (dont know real name for what he does) and he explained to me that just installing the ssd, installing windows on it won't work. The computer won't know where everything is saved (f.e. my games etc) and i were to basically reinstall them so that all the registry works. I myself have no clue about all that and may make my dad look dumb because i understood things wrong and retell them wrong but please consider him pretty informed in that aspect. He hasnt done anything like that before, which is why i ask you guys. My main thing i want the extra SSD speed for is Windows being faster, some games loading faster. While talking we concluded two possible options for me to choose. 

Option 1:

I delete everything from my current HDD (saving important data on a stick), install the SSD and install windows on it. Then download everything i need back again and have a fresh new windows with everything i need downloaded. That would be the obvious way.

Option 2:

This is more of a question than an option, you'll see. He said instead of doing all the above said things i could simply plug the ssd in, reinstall my desired games/programes on the ssd and try to only get the frequently used parts from windows on there (big question mark). He said that it may be possible to just put 

the temp files on the ssd so it loads faster (please don't hate if i make you experts cringe, i really have no idea. Furthermore english isnt my native language)

 

Basically to sum up my goal is to have my new SSD, new HDD, old HDD installed. I want windows to boot from the SSD and i want my current data on the old HDD to still be on the HDD and be accessable. What is the easiest way to do that? Do i really need to do Option 1 (delete everything, start form scratch) or is there something smarter that'll give me the same results.

 

 

I really hope i get my point across, if not please ask me and i'll try to further explain.

Also please don't think iam too lazy to google, iam just so uninformed that i have no clue what to google for.

Thank you in advance for trying to help me.

[Godlygamer23]

If you bought all of your games on Steam, direct Steam to the library(add it) and it should find all the games and make the necessary adjustments.

[Ch3p]

Not all, kind of important games for me to save would be:

Bioshock Infinite (steam) 

Hearthstone (Battle.net)

Far Cry 4 (Uplay)

Tomb Raider (steam)

CsGO (Steam)

LoL

 

as you can see those are everywhere

 

EDIT: But nothing is that important, that i would have a problem with redownloading it if keeping it would lead to complications

[JTB123]

For the boot drive option the easiest thing would be to clone your current boot drive to the SSD. I have done that twice and it works like a charm. You don't have to set anything up and everything is where it should be, seriously it's like magic   You can either do this with software or your local PC store will more than likely offer this service. 

 

One thing I'm a little confused on, am I write in understanding that your current rig has 1 hard drive and everything is on that? If so then it should be quite simple, you will need to back up your game files to another HD and then after you have cloned your boot drive and have it running you will need to update steam, uplay etc to the new location. Easiest way to do this would be to create a new folder in the new hard drive, move all the copied game data to that folder and set that as the designated folder for the games. It would be best to get the drive as empty as possible before cloning as the cloning process will be faster. 

 

I did something very similar last year when I upgraded my boot drive to an SSD. I did loose the save game data for a couple of my games so I would recommend looking up save migration for games if you can if the data is valuable. Steam is usually great for this though, the games for which I lost data were ones that were installed from a disc. 

 

Hope this helps 

[ItsFTP]

*I delete everything from my current HDD (saving important data on a stick), install the SSD and install windows on it. *

1# You don't need to format your harddrive that will have nothing to do with windows

2# You don't need to completely wipe it, if you have important data, delete files you dont need and make another partition.

5# I need to learn how to count

[Ch3p]

@JTB123 You're right, iam currently only running one HDD and everything is on that.

 

Have i correctly understood that you would suggest me to clone my current boot drive options to the SSD and then you would leave everything on the old HDD (or maybe only leave the games, delete unnecessary stuff) and just change the filepath to a new folder on my new HDD? 

I dont really seem to understand the difference between keeping the data on my old HDD and updating the path on steam etc. versus putting it on the new hdd first

 

I don't really have a clue what copying your boot drive options is or how to do it, but does it come close to what i refer to Option 2? Do i not have to install Windows on the ssd and just simply put those boot drive options there?