Clean Install to a Second Drive

Easiest way is with a W8 Installation disk, but with an OEM install, impossible as you can't download it. (I have been known to post out 'Backup ' copies, PM me if you wish).
Meanwhile it is possible to transfer your OS via System Image, I've done it successfully on an older laptop with old style BIOS but some have had difficulty with modern UEFIs
Anyway, this is my method, worth a try? In your case instead of exchanging SSD for HDD I would simply install the mSATA drive and disconnect the HDD whilst installing the Sys Image to avoid possible boot confusion.

Migrate Windows 8 from Laptop HDD to SSD without using an Installation Disk


The method involves creating a System Image and a Repair Disk/Drive which everyone should do anyway in case Windows is corrupted or you suffer a drive failure.

Ideally you will require two drives, a small USB Flash Drive/Blank CD for the Repair Drive, and a means of storing a System Image of your C drive, either a large capacity USB External Drive, large capacity Flash Drive, or large capacity SD Card. System Image can also be stored on DVDs. Also with a few tweaks you can reduce your System Image to less than 16Gb, ideal for utilising an SD card or USB Flash to achieve the shift. In fact I often use a 32 Gb SD card, a Kingston can be obtained for around £13/$20

First create a Repair/Recovery Drive/Disk
1. Drive
Insert your USB drive/SD Card
At your 'Start Screen', type Recovery. From Settings choose 'Create a Recovery Drive'
Here you can choose your preferred Media. You'll be creating your own 'Recovery' so not much point in copying the Recovery Partition...

2. Disk
At 'Start Screen' type Recovery. From Settings choose 'Windows 7 File Recovery' and select 'Create a Windows Repair Disk'

Reducing 'C' Drive to less than the capacity of your SSD.

Where System Images are concerned, small is good. The more you can reduce C the better, you can easily run Windows 8 on a 60Gb SSD, and the following will show how you can reduce C without expensive external drives etc. and is good practice anyway if problems occur in the future. If you can afford a massive SSD you can skip some of these moves!

To manipulate the HDD I tend to prefer EaseUs Partition Manager as its easy to use and reliable, you can use Windows Disk Management if you prefer.
http://download.cnet.com/EaseUS-Partition-Master-Home-Edition/3000-2248_4-10863346.html

First create an additional Partition to store Data (If you don't already have one)

To accomplish this C must be reduced to make room.

Run Partition Manager

At the Main Screen simply click on your C drive to highlight it and move the slider from Right to Left to reduce C and create enough Unallocated Space to store your Data files



Create your new Partition to use all the Unallocated Space.

Click Apply to make the changes, these will take place when Windows restarts and before it boots.

Now to move your User Folders to the new Partition.

Personally I re-locate each folder manually. I create 5 'New Folders' on the target drive, (New Partition) navigate to each folder in turn in 'Users' (My Name). e.g. 'Desktop', Rt Click, 'Properties' and open 'Location' tab. Choose 'Move' and navigate to New Folder on the target drive and choose that folder. Click OK and continue until contents are moved. Repeat the process with next Folder e.g. 'Downloads' and move to 'New Folder(1) and so on until you have moved all folders.

At this point it would be wise to employ some of the space saving tips in SSD Review to further reduce C as contained in this article
http://thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/optimization-guides/the-ssd-optimization-guide-ultimate-windows-8-edition/

By now C will have been reduced to manageable proportions, time to re-employ Partition Manager to further reduce it by as much as possible in order to create the System Image. Use Partition Manager to reduce C to a little over the 'Used Space'

Check size of C is now less than the size of your SSD (Should be less than 35Gb by now!) You may have to uninstall software...

Create System Image
Again, at your Start Screen, type Recovery. From Settings choose 'Windows 7 File Recovery' and select 'Create a System Image' Choose your Media from the drop-down lists, select C and Next.

Migrate OS to SSD


Exchange your HDD for the SSD, enable boot from USB device/Optical Drive and with USB Recovery Drive/CD installed hit the Pwr Sw.
Choose your Keyboard, then 'Troubleshoot your PC'
'Advanced Options'
'System Image recovery'
Plug in System Image drive when prompted. (When it can't be found!)
Should work! Remember to remove all USB drives before attempting to boot from your SSD.

Depends. If by 'contains drivers' means that's where you downloaded them to, (as Setup files) then leave them on D and run them as necessary if you have to do a clean install in future. If you've relocated your System Driver folders, then I guess you'll have to create an E partition for personal folders and include D in your System Image.(All partitions are included in the list for creating the image, just tick the boxes for C and D, as long as the combined space doesn't exceed the capacity of your SSD)

This is seriously frustrating! I get no errors once I get that far...
I assume you get this?

If you can note details of the exact error, it might be worth googling it in the hope someone else has met the problem.