Windows 10 upgrade

[MrRemnant]

I installed windows 10 on my ssd, after it being on my HDD. My HDD and the files on it are detected when I boot from my ssd. However, when I boot from the HDD, everything is how I had it before the install. The ssd however is “wrong” recognising my account and the data on it but it’s not set up how I want it. Sorry for the hard to understand info, but I will attach pics to show my issues. 

The pic with the OW background is from my HDD and how I want my pc to be after booting from my ssd. 

The second pic is my pc after booting from ssd. (I did have the soviet background till about a week ago)

[homeap5]

So next time made image of your existing system and restore it on SSD, instead of making new install every hard drive change. If you're fan of installing everything every hardware change, you must spent some hours (days?) to install/copy everything again and set up everything. It's always your choice.

 

Windows may detect and restore something from cloud, but it's not copy of your system, just few settings.

[Electronics Wizardy]

When you do a reinstall its a blank install and you need to put all your files back in place. It won't setup everything automatically for you. So just install programs and setup settings  like you want them.

[homeap5]

It's my method, if you want everything back and your system partition have less used space than your new SSD, and if you have third drive:

 

1. Download Macrium Reflect Free and install it on your new, fresh system (that SSD with soviet flag).

2. Run Macrium reflect and make image of your HDD system on some 3rd harddrive (you may skip data partition if you have separate one).

3. Boot into your old HDD system, install Macrium Reflect on it and restore previously made image into SSD.

4. Unplug HDD, boot from SSD.

5. Turn off computer (or not) and plug HDD again.

6. Set boot from SSD in BIOS.

 

Some limitations:

 

1. Your system partition must have less data than capacity of your SSD. If you have only one big partition on HDD with everything on it - it's impossible to made backup and restore it to smaller SSD.

2. Do not make backup of working system (so made everything like I described - that's why I'm taling about installing it again on HDD).

3. You must have third harddrive (may be even USB drive if you trust it).

 

[MrRemnant]

7 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

When you do a reinstall its a blank install and you need to put all your files back in place. It won't setup everything automatically for you. So just install programs and setup settings  like you want them.

So the files are still there, on my drives, taking up space. Is there a way to make them accessible on my ssd? For example, when I boot steam on the SSD, it shows all my games as uninstalled. When I go into my library, I see files of the games, in the steam library. What can I do?

[homeap5]

1 hour ago, HK - 47 said:

So the files are still there, on my drives, taking up space. Is there a way to make them accessible on my ssd? For example, when I boot steam on the SSD, it shows all my games as uninstalled. When I go into my library, I see files of the games, in the steam library. What can I do?

That is completely different question. Your files are still there, because you don't delete them. They're just on second drive now, not your main drive.

Do not install Steam again, just run it from D: (or any letter that your old drive is assigned now). Search for internet how to setup Steam with moving library (there are lot of tutorials).

 

And forgot about my tutorial - you're probably user who has one big partition and everything installed in default paths on the same partition like your system. So moving system into new drive with all settings is impossible without lot of work, extra hard drive for backup data etc. Just spend some time to setup everything on your new system. It will be easier and you don't lost anything. And as a bonus - you'll still have your old system installed, just in case. Perfect for making backup of existing one or fix something if you broke your main system on SSD.

[MrRemnant]

10 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

That is completely different question. Your files are still there, because you don't delete them. They're just on second drive now, not your main drive.

Do not install Steam again, just run it from D: (or any letter that your old drive is assigned now). Search for internet how to setup Steam with moving library (there are lot of tutorials).

 

And forgot about my tutorial - you're probably user who has one big partition and everything installed in default paths on the same partition like your system. So moving system into new drive with all settings is impossible without lot of work, extra hard drive for backup data etc. Just spend some time to setup everything on your new system. It will be easier and you don't lost anything. And as a bonus - you'll still have your old system installed, just in case. Perfect for making backup of existing one or fix something if you broke your main system on SSD.

so, if i wanted to use my ssd for windows, chrome and a few games/ apps, should I install those onto the SSD? And if i wanted to be able to use everything on the SSD that i had on my old drive (such as other steam games) should i wipe my old drive and reinstall everything onto it?

[homeap5]

No. It's not like that.

If you have lot of games on your HDD and everything else, you cannot copy everything on your SSD anyway - unless you bough really big SSD (bigger or exact size of your existing HDD). So first of all - check how many space is used on your old drive and tell me how big is your new SSD.

 

Usually on SSD you should keep Windows, all temporary files and all your programs. On second drive you should keep your games, movies, music, photos etc. And every private stuff.

 

You don't must wipe anything - you already has two working operating systems. If you finally setup everything on SSD, you may delete some folders from your HDD (just in case - try to boot Windows from SSD only with HDD disconnected before you do that). And do not clean anything right now - wait month, two or even forever if you still have lot of space on your HDD. Files (even unnecessary) don't makes your HDD heavier.

 

[MrRemnant]

2 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

No. It's not like that.

If you have lot of games on your HDD and everything else, you cannot copy everything on your SSD anyway - unless you bough really big SSD (bigger or exact size of your existing HDD).

 

Usually on SSD you should keep Windows, all temporary files and all your programs. On second drive you should keep your games, movies, music, photos etc. And every private stuff.

 

You don't must wipe anything - you already has two working operating systems. If you finally setup everything on SSD, you may delete some folders from your HDD (just in case - try to boot Windows from SSD only with HDD disconnected before you do that). And do not clean anything right now - wait month, two or even forever if you still have lot of space on your HDD. Files (even unnecessary) don't makes your HDD heavier.

 

But, I dont want to have to boot from my HDD to play the games on my HDD. Right now i cant play the games on my HDD if i boot from my SSD. I just used the OS on my ssd and installed Gmod, and now i can play it, yet have 2 copies of it on 2 steam libraries. So is there any way to access library 1 on my SSD rather than reinstalling everything? (both steam libraries are on the HDD but only one is usable while booting from the SSD)

[GoodBytes]

When you clean install Windows 10, which seems you have done with your new SSD, you start fresh as you see. Now if you use a Microsoft linked account, you probably noticed that some stuff like your background and Windows settings where setup for you. That is because those are stored on Microsoft cloud server (OneDrive). Same for your folder "OneDrive". If you had files in there, you'll see them inside there as well, as all these files are on Microsoft servers.

 

So now (if you have not done so already):

• You'll need to install your drivers for your system, if anything is missing
• You'll need to re-install your programs and games
• You'll, maybe, want to transfer your personal files depending on the end setup you want. A simple copy and paste operation can be done. Your HDD should be your D:\ drive (or some other letter beside C:\), So you can go in your HDD drive, copy what you want, and paste them where you want in your C:\.

 

Before we continue, let's talk about your end setup.

You need to decide what you want:

1. A system with ONLY your SSD
    
2. A system with your SSD as the main drive, and the HDD as secondary storage for personal data and maybe even games, all depending on how many games you have installed, and want to keep installed, and the space available on your SSD. Examples: If you have a 32GB SSD, you won't get far, as Windows probably already takes ~20GB. If you have 1TB SSD, than maybe you can ditch the HDD if space is not a problem and your HDD was lower or the same amount of space (or greater, but not using anywhere close to the SSD capacity).

 

Based on that, we can better help you with the other steps, such as transferring your games and personal data.

[MrRemnant]

5 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

When you clean install Windows 10, which seems you have done with your new SSD, you start fresh as you see. Now if you use a Microsoft linked account, you probably noticed that some stuff like your background and Windows settings where setup for you. That is because those are stored on Microsoft cloud server (OneDrive). Same for your folder "OneDrive". If you had files in there, you'll see them inside there as well, as all these files are on Microsoft servers.

 

So now (if you have not done so already):

• You'll need to install your drivers for your system, if anything is missing
• You'll need to re-install your programs and games
• You'll, maybe, want to transfer your personal files depending on the end setup you want. A simple copy and paste operation can be done. Your HDD should be your D:\ drive (or some other letter beside C:\), So you can go in your HDD drive, copy what you want, and paste them where you want in your C:\.

 

Before we continue, let's talk about your end setup.

You need to decide what you want:

1. A system with ONLY your SSD
    
2. A system with your SSD as the main drive, and the HDD as secondary storage for personal data and maybe even games, all depending on how many games you have installed, and want to keep installed, and the space available on your SSD. Examples: If you have a 32GB SSD, you won't get far, as Windows probably already takes ~20GB. If you have 1TB SSD, than maybe you can ditch the HDD if space is not a problem and your HDD was lower or the same amount of space (or greater, but not using anywhere close to the SSD capacity).

 

Based on that, we can better help you with the other steps, such as transferring your games and personal data.

Ok, thanks. I want to put 3/4 games on my SSD, chrome and a couple of apps. The rest I want on my HDD. 

 

5 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

When you clean install Windows 10, which seems you have done with your new SSD, you start fresh as you see. Now if you use a Microsoft linked account, you probably noticed that some stuff like your background and Windows settings where setup for you. That is because those are stored on Microsoft cloud server (OneDrive). Same for your folder "OneDrive". If you had files in there, you'll see them inside there as well, as all these files are on Microsoft servers.

 

So now (if you have not done so already):

• You'll need to install your drivers for your system, if anything is missing
• You'll need to re-install your programs and games
• You'll, maybe, want to transfer your personal files depending on the end setup you want. A simple copy and paste operation can be done. Your HDD should be your D:\ drive (or some other letter beside C:\), So you can go in your HDD drive, copy what you want, and paste them where you want in your C:\.

 

Before we continue, let's talk about your end setup.

You need to decide what you want:

1. A system with ONLY your SSD
    
2. A system with your SSD as the main drive, and the HDD as secondary storage for personal data and maybe even games, all depending on how many games you have installed, and want to keep installed, and the space available on your SSD. Examples: If you have a 32GB SSD, you won't get far, as Windows probably already takes ~20GB. If you have 1TB SSD, than maybe you can ditch the HDD if space is not a problem and your HDD was lower or the same amount of space (or greater, but not using anywhere close to the SSD capacity).

 

Based on that, we can better help you with the other steps, such as transferring your games and personal data.

If i just install my steam library onto the HDD again, am i ok to delete the steamgames on there RN?

[GoodBytes]

1 hour ago, HK - 47 said:

Ok, thanks. I want to put 3/4 games on my SSD, chrome and a couple of apps. The rest I want on my HDD. 

 

1 hour ago, HK - 47 said:

If i just install my steam library onto the HDD again, am i ok to delete the steamgames on there RN?

 

Ok, if you want to work with a clean slate for your HDD (not old Windows, no recovery partitions, etc.), you'll need to format the HDD, so that means you'll need to do a shuffle of data transfer from the HDD to the SSD, and maybe external sources if you don't have enough space. Keep in mind that all you need to backup, are:

• Save games that are not Steam games, or Steam games that don't use Steam Cloud feature. Those are USUALLY located under (Assuming your HDD is your D:\ drive, and C:\ is you are your SSD, and you are booted from Windows in your SSD, else replace with the appropriate drive letters):
  Please note that it is best to double check online where saved games are saved. If you can't find anything, it is probably using Steam cloud saved service.
  Keep track of which games saved location are, they need to restored to the same location on your SSD, or better yet, just copy and paste them on the same location on your SSD instead of your HDD instead. Unless the game allows to define a location for saved games (nearly all don't), then you have no choice to have the saved games on your SSD. Some games encrypt with a generated key the saved games files, so those will be lost. Why? I don't know... Luckaly the only games that did this that I encountered was GTA-4 if you didn't use Rockstar system (and no they didn't say a single word on this.. I got the surprise too. I don't know about GTA-5 I don't have the game)
  • D:\Users\<account name>\AppData (hidden folder)\Local\<game name/game publisher/game studio>
  • D:\Users\<account name>\AppData (hidden folder)\Roaming\<game name/game publisher/game studio>
  • D:\Users\<account name>\Documents\<game name/game publisher/game studio>
  • D:\Program Data (hidden folder)\<game name/game publisher/game studio>
     
• Personal files. So (assuming you were organized): Document, Pictures, Videos, files on the Desktop that are not yet sorted (not program shortcuts, those are invalid), Contacts, Music, etc. All found under: D:\Users\<account name>\
   
• Steam folder (default location: D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam)
   
• Web browser bookmarks, if you don't have an account with the web browser to have those sync between your devices, or you forgot the password. Edge uses your Microsoft Linked account with the system, if you have that setup.

Once your data is backup, and you are 8000% sure you have got everything, you can wipe clean the HDD (open Disk Management, select each partition of the HDD (not to be confused by the SSD), and delete everything, and format the whole thing. You should have 1 big partition in your HDD of the entire size of the drive.

 

Once done, you make arrange the data on it as  you want. So for example, you can create a folder "Games", and one "Videos", "Images", and another "Backup". Then move the data that you want on the HDD back to it in their respective folders of your liking, including the games in the Steam folder under "Games" (say).

 

Once done, install all your program on your SSD, install Steam on your SSD as well, and in Steam go to View > Settings > Downloads, and press the "Steam Library folder" button. A panel will show, you can add your games or your "Games" folder found in your HDD. Once you start the game for the first time, Steam will go online to validate the game files, check for update, and install any system files missing that the game needs, but it won't re-downlaod the entire game, despite what it might look like.

 

If I didn't forget anything, you should be good. Please note that if you decide to format the HDD, data from it won't be recoverable.

 

[homeap5]

@GoodBytes: a little risky in this case, since it may be not so experienced user, but I agree that makes one empty partition and start from zero is good thing to do if you want to do everything nicely arranged (and bonus - fragmentation free, at least at start). I'm worry about that "I want to put 3/4 games on my SSD, chrome and a couple of apps. The rest I want on my HDD". It seems to be similar mix as before, only bigger. Anyway, all that wiping recovery partition and set one big partition can be made without losing data. In both cases some program (like Minitool Partition Wizard) will be needed for remove partitions and made one big or for remove unnecessary partitions and extend existing one. People sometimes delete stuff so fast and then must start from zero. For now Steam can be just moved out from old Program Files and put in some D:\steam\ directory. After format it will takes loong time (depends on internet connection speed and number of installed games).

[MrRemnant]

43 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

 

 

Ok, if you want to work with a clean slate for your HDD (not old Windows, no recovery partitions, etc.), you'll need to format the HDD, so that means you'll need to do a shuffle of data transfer from the HDD to the SSD, and maybe external sources if you don't have enough space. Keep in mind that all you need to backup, are:

• Save games that are not Steam games, or Steam games that don't use Steam Cloud feature. Those are USUALLY located under (Assuming your HDD is your D:\ drive, and C:\ is you are your SSD, and you are booted from Windows in your SSD, else replace with the appropriate drive letters):
  Please note that it is best to double check online where saved games are saved. If you can't find anything, it is probably using Steam cloud saved service.
  Keep track of which games saved location are, they need to restored to the same location on your SSD, or better yet, just copy and paste them on the same location on your SSD instead of your HDD instead. Unless the game allows to define a location for saved games (nearly all don't), then you have no choice to have the saved games on your SSD. Some games encrypt with a generated key the saved games files, so those will be lost. Why? I don't know... Luckaly the only games that did this that I encountered was GTA-4 if you didn't use Rockstar system (and no they didn't say a single word on this.. I got the surprise too. I don't know about GTA-5 I don't have the game)
  • D:\Users\<account name>\AppData (hidden folder)\Local\<game name/game publisher/game studio>
  • D:\Users\<account name>\AppData (hidden folder)\Roaming\<game name/game publisher/game studio>
  • D:\Users\<account name>\Documents\<game name/game publisher/game studio>
  • D:\Program Data (hidden folder)\<game name/game publisher/game studio>
     
• Personal files. So (assuming you were organized): Document, Pictures, Videos, files on the Desktop that are not yet sorted (not program shortcuts, those are invalid), Contacts, Music, etc. All found under: D:\Users\<account name>\
   
• Steam folder (default location: D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam)
   
• Web browser bookmarks, if you don't have an account with the web browser to have those sync between your devices, or you forgot the password. Edge uses your Microsoft Linked account with the system, if you have that setup.

Once your data is backup, and you are 8000% sure you have got everything, you can wipe clean the HDD (open Disk Management, select each partition of the HDD (not to be confused by the SSD), and delete everything, and format the whole thing. You should have 1 big partition in your HDD of the entire size of the drive.

 

Once done, you make arrange the data on it as  you want. So for example, you can create a folder "Games", and one "Videos", "Images", and another "Backup". Then move the data that you want on the HDD back to it in their respective folders of your liking, including the games in the Steam folder under "Games" (say).

 

Once done, install all your program on your SSD, install Steam on your SSD as well, and in Steam go to View > Settings > Downloads, and press the "Steam Library folder" button. A panel will show, you can add your games or your "Games" folder found in your HDD. Once you start the game for the first time, Steam will go online to validate the game files, check for update, and install any system files missing that the game needs, but it won't re-downlaod the entire game, despite what it might look like.

 

If I didn't forget anything, you should be good. Please note that if you decide to format the HDD, data from it won't be recoverable.

 

I dont wanna just wipe everything if i can help it, just the steam data on there. Im happy for everything else to stay. Would i be able to back up the data i want then just delete the steam folder? 

[homeap5]

1 hour ago, HK - 47 said:

I dont wanna just wipe everything if i can help it, just the steam data on there. Im happy for everything else to stay. Would i be able to back up the data i want then just delete the steam folder? 

Can you give that info about how big is your SSD and how big is your HDD?

And how (percentage) is your HDD full?

This will be very helpful.

[MrRemnant]

5 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

Can you give that info about how big is your SSD and how big is your HDD?

And how (percentage) is your HDD full?

This will be very helpful.

got 50gb of space on my SSD, 88.8gb on one HDD and 1.07TB on my 2nd HDD. I've put what i want on the SSD but have all my steam games on both the HardDrives, and only want them on one.

[homeap5]

1 hour ago, HK - 47 said:

got 50gb of space on my SSD, 88.8gb on one HDD and 1.07TB on my 2nd HDD. I've put what i want on the SSD but have all my steam games on both the HardDrives, and only want them on one.

So, you have 3 hard drives?

Give me full capacity of them and information which one has windows installation on it.

For example - 1 SSD 256GB, 1 HDD 320GB with Windows, 1 HDD 2TB with data without system - something like that.

[MrRemnant]

2 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

So, you have 3 hard drives?

Give me full capacity of them and information which one has windows installation on it.

For example - 1 SSD 256GB, 1 HDD 320GB with Windows, 1 HDD 2TB with data without system - something like that.

1 ssd 256GB with windows 1HDD 1Tb with windows (need to get rid of) 1HDD 2TB

[homeap5]

1 hour ago, HK - 47 said:

1 ssd 256GB with windows 1HDD 1Tb with windows (need to get rid of) 1HDD 2TB

And that 50GB, 88.8GB is free space or amount of data?

I mean - your 1TB HDD has only 88 GB files on it? Or it has 88 GB free space and is almost full?

[MrRemnant]

2 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

And that 50GB, 88.8GB is free space or amount of data?

I mean - your 1TB HDD has only 88 GB files on it? Or it has 88 GB free space and is almost full?

My 1TB HDD has 88GB of space and is almost full, my 2TB HDD has 1TB of space and my SSD has 50 gb of space but i dont wanna put anything else on the SSD.

[homeap5]

1 hour ago, HK - 47 said:

My 1TB HDD has 88GB of space and is almost full, my 2TB HDD has 1TB of space and my SSD has 50 gb of space but i dont wanna put anything else on the SSD.

Ok, so your Steam is on 1TB HDD somewhere, probably in Program Files (x86) folder (or different if you customized your installation). And can you just enter that folder and run steam.exe from there and enter settings for configure library pathes? This may help: link

 

[MrRemnant]

3 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

Ok, so your Steam is on 1TB HDD somewhere, probably in Program Files (x86) folder (or different if you customized your installation). And can you just enter that folder and run steam.exe from there and enter settings for configure library pathes? This may help: link

 

found the steam folder, cant find steam.exe

[homeap5]

6 minutes ago, HK - 47 said:

found the steam folder, cant find steam.exe

Find "steam" with nice steam icon. You have hidden extensions of known file types.

[MrRemnant]

10 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

Find "steam" with nice steam icon. You have hidden extensions of known file types.

I did that, but dont have a Move Install Folder option

[homeap5]

I don't know how Steam works, so I gave you link I found.