Moving only windows to an ssd

[lavablade02]

I’m finally investing in an ssd, but because of my horrible internet and large amount of data on my hdd can’t reinstall things, nor move everything. Can I move just windows 10 onto an ssd without breaking things? Is it even possible to do without reinstalling my other programs.

 

[dizmo]

I'd just do a fresh install. I'd say it's worth the hit having to redownload everything.

[Snipergod87]

even if you could reinstalls would be necessary as certain reg keys and programs need to be installed.

 

Remove 2TB drive, install SSD and isntall Windows on that.

Plug back in 2TB drive (you can delete the Windows directory at this point), if the games are steam games you can just point them to your 2TB drive.

[lavablade02]

3 minutes ago, dizmo said:

I'd just do a fresh install. I'd say it's worth the hit having to redownload everything.

I get 3 megs down and need to reinstall almost 2tb with 600g a month

[Mooshi]

4 minutes ago, lavablade02 said:

I get 3 megs down and need to reinstall almost 2tb with 600g a month

Drivers aren't 2TB, mate.

[Spotty]

5 minutes ago, lavablade02 said:

I get 3 megs down and need to reinstall almost 2tb with 600g a month

Install a fresh copy of Windows on to the SSD. Do not touch the HDD, leave it as is. You should be able to activate windows with the same windows live account you used on your previous windows install without doing anything with the HDD. The HDD will show up in your computer as D drive and you can access any files on it directly from there.

[lavablade02]

1 minute ago, Spotty said:

Install a fresh copy of Windows on to the SSD. Do not touch the HDD, leave it as is. You should be able to activate windows with the same windows live account you used on your previous windows install without doing anything with the HDD. The HDD will show up in your computer as D drive and you can access any files on it directly from there.

Would I need to delete windows off the hdd

[Spotty]

1 minute ago, lavablade02 said:

Would I need to delete windows off the hdd

Nope. Just make sure in the BIOS you set the SSD as the first boot device in the boot priority list, that way the system will go straight in to the SSD version of Windows when you turn your computer on. If you don't set it as the first boot drive, the BIOS will just look for any drive that has an operating system on it and boot in to that, so you may end up still booting in to the slow HDD.

[homeap5]

That is why partitioning big HDD for system is good idea - you can clone system without all games etc. But not when you have single partition. Unless of course amount of data is smaller that your SSD - then cloning is possible.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

7 hours ago, Snipergod87 said:

even if you could reinstalls would be necessary as certain reg keys and programs need to be installed...

No, they wouldn't. I've cloned HDDs to SSDs many times without any problems. As long as the System on the HDD working just fine, cloning is much, much faster and easier than complete reinstalls. The only caveat is the content of the HDD would have to fit on the SSD.

 

12 minutes ago, homeap5 said:

That is why partitioning big HDD for system is good idea - you can clone system without all games etc. But not when you have single partition. Unless of course amount of data is smaller that your SSD - then cloning is possible.

You can even clone the games wih the OS and other pertitions if the SSD is large enough to accommodate them. I'm a huge proponent of putting the OS and programs on their own drive (preferably an SSD) and data on a separate drive (SSD or HDD). The only time I condone partitioning is to separate the System (OS and programs) from DATA is when one has a computer that cannot accomodate two drives, such as my little one drive wonder notebooks (those have four partitions on them: System Reserved, C:/ for the OS and programs only, E:/ for the data only, and the factory recovery partition).

 

@lavablade02 In your case, the easiest route would be to get a 2TB SSD and simply clone the entire 2TB HDD onto the SSD. I recommend Macrium Reflect Free for that. I've had excellent luck using it.

 

However, a 2TB SSD may be out of your budget so let's move along to Plan B. If your System and data are already segregated by partitions, then just clone the System to the SSD. When determining the size SSD needed, keep in mind that a drive will format to an apparent smaller size: 90% smaller is a good figure to work with (it will vary from size to size). Keep in mind you will need to leave at least 20-25% of the drive unused for best operation and longest life. Also factor in however much room for expansion you may need in the future. I recommend getting at least 250-256GB. 

 

If you your data isn't already segregated by partitions and you aren't already making backups onto a backup drive (two would be better), then this probably should be Plan A. Get a 2TB external HDD (or an internal type 2TB HDD and use it in a USB dock) and copy and paste your data (not the System files) to the new backup drive. Then delete the data on your old drive, leaving the System files intact.

 

Install the new SSD in the computer and clone whats left on the HDD to the SSD. Again, I recommend Macrium Reflect Free because it uses a type of cloning (fortunately, the default) that allows cloning to a smaller drive. Reset the boot order in the BIOS to boot from the SSD. Then you can delete the System files from the HDD (or just do a simple reformat) and copy the data back to the HDD in the comnputer.

 

The new external HDD can now serve as your backup drive for the data HDD. I recommend updating the backup using a folder/file syncing program like FreeFileSync. I also recommend using Macrium Reflect Free to backup your new SSD by making images (be sure to make recovery media using Macrium Reflect Free). You should save the images onto another external drive (you could save them to a folder on your new backup drive but you would need to set an exclusion in FreeFileSync that could get a bit complicated). I do it a little differently but I'm using a paid version of Macrium Reflect now.

[lavablade02]

1 hour ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

No, they wouldn't. I've cloned HDDs to SSDs many times without any problems. As long as the System on the HDD working just fine, cloning is much, much faster and easier than complete reinstalls. The only caveat is the content of the HDD would have to fit on the SSD.

 

You can even clone the games wih the OS and other pertitions if the SSD is large enough to accommodate them. I'm a huge proponent of putting the OS and programs on their own drive (preferably an SSD) and data on a separate drive (SSD or HDD). The only time I condone partitioning is to separate the System (OS and programs) from DATA is when one has a computer that cannot accomodate two drives, such as my little one drive wonder notebooks (those have four partitions on them: System Reserved, C:/ for the OS and programs only, E:/ for the data only, and the factory recovery partition).

 

@lavablade02 In your case, the easiest route would be to get a 2TB SSD and simply clone the entire 2TB HDD onto the SSD. I recommend Macrium Reflect Free for that. I've had excellent luck using it.

 

However, a 2TB SSD may be out of your budget so let's move along to Plan B. If your System and data are already segregated by partitions, then just clone the System to the SSD. When determining the size SSD needed, keep in mind that a drive will format to an apparent smaller size: 90% smaller is a good figure to work with (it will vary from size to size). Keep in mind you will need to leave at least 20-25% of the drive unused for best operation and longest life. Also factor in however much room for expansion you may need in the future. I recommend getting at least 250-256GB. 

 

If you your data isn't already segregated by partitions and you aren't already making backups onto a backup drive (two would be better), then this probably should be Plan A. Get a 2TB external HDD (or an internal type 2TB HDD and use it in a USB dock) and copy and paste your data (not the System files) to the new backup drive. Then delete the data on your old drive, leaving the System files intact.

 

Install the new SSD in the computer and clone whats left on the HDD to the SSD. Again, I recommend Macrium Reflect Free because it uses a type of cloning (fortunately, the default) that allows cloning to a smaller drive. Reset the boot order in the BIOS to boot from the SSD. Then you can delete the System files from the HDD (or just do a simple reformat) and copy the data back to the HDD in the comnputer.

 

The new external HDD can now serve as your backup drive for the data HDD. I recommend updating the backup using a folder/file syncing program like FreeFileSync. I also recommend using Macrium Reflect Free to backup your new SSD by making images (be sure to make recovery media using Macrium Reflect Free). You should save the images onto another external drive (you could save them to a folder on your new backup drive but you would need to set an exclusion in FreeFileSync that could get a bit complicated). I do it a little differently but I'm using a paid version of Macrium Reflect now.

Why not just throw in the ssd?

[Lady Fitzgerald]

5 hours ago, lavablade02 said:

Why not just throw in the ssd?

It's not that simple unless you are going to continue to boot from the HDD and use the SSD for additional storage only, which would be a waste of its capabilities (you would be better off getting another HDD in that case).