Reinstalling Windows on SSD.

[Mallowpuffs]

I have an HDD in my computer right now. 1TB WD Blue, with 31GB remaining space. My computer is crashing every couple hours so I was told to reinstall Windows.

 

I decided it's time for an SSD, and why not do it now. While I was just asking for recommendations, a fellow LTTer actually bought me a 500GB MX500. I thank him 1000x times over.

 

So now I have a virtually full 1TB HDD that I don't want to lose, and an SSD that I want as a boot.

 

How do I remove Windows from the HDD, reinstall on the SSD and not lose any data? I don't think I have any extra drives.

 

Thanks!

[Br3tt96]

Windows 10? I just installed my OS to an ssd. I just downloaded the installer and put it on a usb. 

 

The cool thing about 10 is it syncs your motherboard to microsoft, so once the installer finishes, it should be good to go. 

[Guest]

Just do a fresh install on the SSD and leave all the files that you need on your mechanical drive. 

[Mallowpuffs]

2 minutes ago, Br3tt96 said:

Windows 10? I just installed my OS to an ssd. I just downloaded the installer and put it on a usb. 

 

The cool thing about 10 is it syncs your motherboard to microsoft, so once the installer finishes, it should be good to go. 

 

2 minutes ago, Konrad_K said:

Just do a fresh install on the SSD and leave all the files that you need on your mechanical drive. 

I was told you must do something with Windows on the HDD or it will mess everything up.

[Mira Yurizaki]

Install Windows with just the SSD installed. Windows shouldn't touch the drive you didn't select, but this is more as a precaution to make sure you cannot select the hard drive by mistake. Once installed, make sure to boot from the SSD, since the computer may still boot from the hard drive. You can either change the boot priority in UEFI/BIOS or use your boot menu to select it.

 

Once you're done setting up Windows on your SSD, I would recommend copying files from the Users\[username] folder on the hard drive to your SSD's Users\[username] folder. Particularly files from AppData and Documents since that's where most application settings are stored. If you want to remove the hard drive's ability to boot, then you'll have to delete the boot loader partition from it. If you open up Disk Manager and look at the hard drive's partitions, it's the one that's usually a few hundred megabytes. Then from there you can delete everything you don't need from the hard drive. You may run into permissions issues though since Windows may not like you deleting Windows files even if it's on another drive.

 

The best way I think to go about this though is if the data you have can fit on the SSD, move it all there temporarily, then completely format the hard drive and move the data back.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Mallowpuffs said:

 

I was told you must do something with Windows on the HDD or it will mess everything up.

You can just delete the files as soon as you do fresh install on the SSD. Also wipe the recovery partition. 

[Mallowpuffs]

2 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Install Windows with just the SSD installed. Windows shouldn't touch the drive you didn't select, but this is more as a precaution to make sure you cannot select the hard drive by mistake. Once installed, make sure to boot from the SSD, since the computer may still boot from the hard drive. You can either change the boot priority in UEFI/BIOS or use your boot menu to select it.

 

Once you're done setting up Windows on your SSD, I would recommend copying files from the Users\[username] folder on the hard drive to your SSD's Users\[username] folder. Particularly files from AppData and Documents since that's where most application settings are stored. If you want to remove the hard drive's ability to boot, then you'll have to delete the boot loader partition from it. If you open up Disk Manager and look at the hard drive's partitions, it's the one that's usually a few hundred megabytes. Then from there you can delete everything you don't need from the hard drive. You may run into permissions issues though since Windows may not like you deleting Windows files even if it's on another drive.

 

The best way I think to go about this though is if the data you have can fit on the SSD, move it all there temporarily, then completely format the hard drive and move the data back.

Thanks for the detailed help! I will start this process as soon as I can find a thumbdrive. I assume I won't need a Windows key? Or can I find mine somewhere?

 

I wish I had less than 500GB on the HDD, but alas.

1 minute ago, Konrad_K said:

You can just delete the files as soon as you do fresh install on the SSD. Also wipe the recovery partition. 

Will do!

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 minute ago, Mallowpuffs said:

Thanks for the detailed help! I will start this process as soon as I can find a thumbdrive. I assume I won't need a Windows key? Or can I find mine somewhere?

 

I wish I had less than 500GB on the HDD, but alas.

Let's err on the side of caution and say you should keep the Windows key handy. If you need to find it: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/10749/windows-10-find-product-key

 

And if you need help with cleaning the drive further, let us know.

[Mallowpuffs]

On 8/13/2018 at 3:30 PM, M.Yurizaki said:

Let's err on the side of caution and say you should keep the Windows key handy. If you need to find it: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/10749/windows-10-find-product-key

 

And if you need help with cleaning the drive further, let us know.

Hopefully you're on tonight haha.

 

I installed windows like you said. It worked, plugged my HDD back in and powered on.

 

I went to copy my users/username file to my SSD, and I found I seem to be locked out of pretty much everything on my HDD. I cannot open the user file.

 

I am currently copying the entire file(will be awhile) but I still need to have access to the rest of my files. No idea what to do.

[Mira Yurizaki]

6 minutes ago, Mallowpuffs said:

Hopefully you're on tonight haha.

 

I installed windows like you said. It worked, plugged my HDD back in and powered on.

 

I went to copy my users/username file to my SSD, and I found I seem to be locked out of pretty much everything on my HDD. I cannot open the user file.

 

I am currently copying the entire file(will be awhile) but I still need to have access to the rest of my files. No idea what to do.

It's probably a permissions thing. If you right click on the folder, go to Properties, then the Security tab, click on the "Advanced" button and under "Owner" see if you can change it to you.

 

I run on a local account, so I don't know if it's different if you're using a Microsoft one.

 

Assuming you didn't kill the bootloader on the HDD, try booting into it, then copy the files and stuff to the Users\Public directory instead.

[Mallowpuffs]

2 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

It's probably a permissions thing. If you right click on the folder, go to Properties, then the Security tab, click on the "Advanced" button and under "Owner" see if you can change it to you.

 

I run on a local account, so I don't know if it's different if you're using a Microsoft one.

 

Assuming you didn't kill the bootloader on the HDD, try booting into it, then copy the files and stuff to the Users\Public directory instead.

It seems like every file on the HDD is denying permission.

 

Like I said, I am copying the whole user file, it says remaining time like 4-5 hours. 3% done after 25 minutes. No idea if that's right.

[Mallowpuffs]

1 hour ago, M.Yurizaki said:

It's probably a permissions thing. If you right click on the folder, go to Properties, then the Security tab, click on the "Advanced" button and under "Owner" see if you can change it to you.

 

I run on a local account, so I don't know if it's different if you're using a Microsoft one.

 

Assuming you didn't kill the bootloader on the HDD, try booting into it, then copy the files and stuff to the Users\Public directory instead.

So, the file copied. The desktop filled up, but everything is lifeless shortcuts. I'm not sure what to do.

 

I was assuming that everything would stay the same like my Firefox would have everything still, and my files would stay. Everything is still there obviously, I'm not freaking out, just not sure where to go from here.

 

Thanks for your help so far.

[Mira Yurizaki]

10 minutes ago, Mallowpuffs said:

So, the file copied. The desktop filled up, but everything is lifeless shortcuts. I'm not sure what to do.

 

I was assuming that everything would stay the same like my Firefox would have everything still, and my files would stay. Everything is still there obviously, I'm not freaking out, just not sure where to go from here.

 

Thanks for your help so far.

Aside from the shortcuts, are the files accessible at least? Or is Windows not letting you touch them?

[Mallowpuffs]

11 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Aside from the shortcuts, are the files accessible at least? Or is Windows not letting you touch them?

Permissions seem to be fixed after a restart after moving user files.

 

But shortcuts are still not working, and stuff like my Firefox have none of my Bookmarks or anything.

 

Not sure.

[Mira Yurizaki]

4 minutes ago, Mallowpuffs said:

Permissions seem to be fixed after a restart after moving user files.

 

But shortcuts are still not working, and stuff like my Firefox have none of my Bookmarks or anything.

 

Not sure.

Shortcuts you can redo. For Firefox, it's because your new install is using a different profile than the previous one. If you go to %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles and remove the folder that wasn't in your HDD, Firefox should load that profile which has your settings from before.

 

Firefox may freak out about that though, I usually do this before I launch Firefox for the first time so it realizes there's a profile there already and uses it.

[Mallowpuffs]

Just now, M.Yurizaki said:

Shortcuts you can redo. For Firefox, it's because your new install is using a different profile than the previous one. If you go to %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles and remove the folder that wasn't in your HDD, Firefox should load that profile which has your settings from before.

 

Firefox may freak out about that though, I usually do this before I launch Firefox for the first time so it realizes there's a profile there already and uses it.

I've been building PCs for a while. Somehow I've never gotten into software. By redoing shortcuts, you just mean remove all the current ones and make new ones from the files?

 

Probably should have asked about Firefox before opening. I will do what you said when I get back home and hope it goes well.

 

You're a life saver.

[Mira Yurizaki]

2 minutes ago, Mallowpuffs said:

I've been building PCs for a while. Somehow I've never gotten into software. By redoing shortcuts, you just mean remove all the current ones and make new ones from the files?

Yes. The shortcuts are pointing to paths that don't exist (yet, anyway). Like if you have a Steam Game that you didn't install yet. Say it was in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steamapps\SteamLib\common or whatever on the hard drive, and you haven't installed it, it doesn't exist in your SSD.

 

I think it's more of a pain in the butt to correct the shortcuts rather than just make them again.

[Mallowpuffs]

4 hours ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Yes. The shortcuts are pointing to paths that don't exist (yet, anyway). Like if you have a Steam Game that you didn't install yet. Say it was in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steamapps\SteamLib\common or whatever on the hard drive, and you haven't installed it, it doesn't exist in your SSD.

 

I think it's more of a pain in the butt to correct the shortcuts rather than just make them again.

Alright, I followed your instructions on FireFox. It didn't work, so I went into the profile config and changed the "launch profile xxxxx"(or close to that) and replaced the old profile with my original profile. I am now typing this with my PC. Has everything, including history and login info.

 

I am now working on making everything normal on my desktop lol.

 

Thanks again!

[Mallowpuffs]

On 8/15/2018 at 11:03 AM, M.Yurizaki said:

Yes. The shortcuts are pointing to paths that don't exist (yet, anyway). Like if you have a Steam Game that you didn't install yet. Say it was in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steamapps\SteamLib\common or whatever on the hard drive, and you haven't installed it, it doesn't exist in your SSD.

 

I think it's more of a pain in the butt to correct the shortcuts rather than just make them again.

Should I delete the user file(150gb or whatever size) from my HDD now that it is on my SSD?

[Mira Yurizaki]

23 hours ago, Mallowpuffs said:

Should I delete the user file(150gb or whatever size) from my HDD now that it is on my SSD?

Yeah, once you have whatever you want off from there and you don't need to move any apps from there (like Steam games), you can reformat the entire drive at this point

[Mallowpuffs]

43 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Yeah, once you have whatever you want off from there and you don't need to move any apps from there (like Steam games), you can reformat the entire drive at this point

Don't worry, my computer is back to crashing so all of this was for nothing anyways.

 

Sorry, just upset about it. Now I have 4 days to fix this before college starts. Making a thread now.

 

Thanks again for all the help with this. The SSD is running fantastic. Boot time is less than 1/4 of what it was.