Copy only Windows partition

[_Sebaz]

I'm putting a ssd into a laptop but the laptop has two drive bays, this means that I can just add the ssd. Is it possible to only copy the Windows partition so only Windows is on the ssd and the documents and stuff on the existing hard drive?

[Enderman]

It's called doing a clean install:

https://www.howtogeek.com/224342/how-to-clean-install-windows-10/

[NTDaws]

18 minutes ago, Enderman said:

It's called doing a clean install:

https://www.howtogeek.com/224342/how-to-clean-install-windows-10/

I don't think thats what he meant.

[Mira Yurizaki]

28 minutes ago, _Sebaz said:

I'm putting a ssd into a laptop but the laptop has two drive bays, this means that I can just add the ssd. Is it possible to only copy the Windows partition so only Windows is on the ssd and the documents and stuff on the existing hard drive?

You can clone the drive to to your SSD or you can install Windows on your SSD. The cloning route would make it easier because once you've verified everything is more or less alright, you can wipe the other drive with a reformat and transfer things back over. Otherwise you're going to have to do a bit of shuffling of data before wiping the other drive.

[Enderman]

1 hour ago, Being Delirious said:

I don't think thats what he meant.

There is no way to "move" windows to another drive.

The closest thing there is is cloning/migrating which moves everything and is a horrible idea because it causes many issues.

So no, a clean install is what he should do.

[M0diiFy]

use clonezilla its free

[Enderman]

1 hour ago, JayKay3000 said:

 

Well that certainly looks like a waste of time.

Much faster and effective to do a clean install and avoid all the issues that cloning and migrating causes.

[Enderman]

14 minutes ago, JayKay3000 said:

True, but if you don't have the retail disks it's the only way. I've used the free version of macrium reflect a bunch of times and it's fine. I rather do that than spend ages re-installing all the applications and changing settings.

 

Each to their own, we all have our ways that work best for us.

No it is not the only way.

The only thing you need is a 4GB or larger USB drive, which literally everyone has in 2017.

[Enderman]

16 minutes ago, JayKay3000 said:

I didn't mean you needed disks. I've not really played with the installation of windows 10 much. With windows 7 you used to have to clone or make an image when moving.

 

Since the license is tied to the machine you can do a clean install. I've not tried enough with oem windows to know if just downloading windows 10 from the microsoft website automatically finds the key. I guess it should. The article below suggests you need to use the media creation tool.

 

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/9230-download-windows-10-iso-file.html?filter[2]=Installation+and+Setup

 

But I'm no windows 10 expert, I've just found the way I do it super quick so I keep doing it that way.

All you need to do to clean install windows 10 is to run the media creation tool, which will put windows on a USB drive for you, and then you use the USB drive to install.

It activates itself automatically.

 

With windows 7 you also didn't need to clone or make an image, all you needed to do is use the key on the box (if you still had it) or extract it from your OS using a tool.

Then after clean installing you needed to activate using that key.

 

With windows 10 that is no longer necessary, it is far easier.