OS Transfer Advice (HDD to SSD Without Replacement)

[BananaInc]

Hi everyone. Currently, I have an ASUS ROG G751-JT laptop that came with a 1TB HDD SATA III bay and a second hard drive bay (Which I've learned is SATA II for who knows why) that came as a use for upgrading later. I recently ordered a Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD SATA III and would like to use it as my startup drive and to put some games and programs on there which could heavily benefit from the SSD, My question is, how should I go about transferring over my operating system (Windows 10) to the SSD if I am not replacing the hard drive with the SSD? My goals are to have both the HDD a SSD (SSD as startup and important programs, HDD as storage for games and other programs).

 

• The HDD is in the SATA III bay while the empty bay is SATA II. With my SSD being SATA III, I plan to swap the hard drive with the SSD so the hard drive sits in the empty SATA II bay.
• My hard drive is currently partitioned into a C: and D:. While I have more data than my SSD can hold if I have to clone the whole drive, the partition that Windows is on is only 300GB which fits in my SSD. However, my D: drive is mostly full and I would have to delete some programs if I "have" to clone the whole drive.

 

My main questions with this process are:

• Do I need to clone the whole HDD to my SSD or can I clone just the C: partition which has Windows on it?
• Do I need a SATA to USB connector if I am not replacing my drives and rather just installing an SSD into an empty slot and moving Windows?
• How would I go about swapping my SSD and HDD with each other (If the difference between SATA II and SATA III is even worth it)? Would I clone Windows onto the SSD with the Samsung software, shut down, and swap around the HDD and SSD?

Apologies if I have worded my situation weird. This is my first SSD and first time doing cloning/transferring of any kind so I'm still researching how the process works.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Id use macrum reflect to copy the os and partition. Then you can delete the boot files on the hdd.

 

You need to copy all the boot partition, as the C drive isn't the boot drive in new windows version

 

You need a system that can have both the ssd and the hdd attached, or a network or external drive to hold the image. It seem like you can just use your laptop

 

Id install macrum refect, then clone it, then reboot into the ssd, then delete the boot on teh hdd.

[BULLETBEEF | JA]

use software like acronis true image, or this, http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm you are gonna want to put that ssd in the sata 3 port tho mechanical hard drives hardly saturate sata 2 speeds