Transfering OS from HDD (1TB) to Intel SSD (180GB)

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Joseph99

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Jan 30, 2014
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Hello guys, I want a quick,easy free way to transfer ONLY my OS from my HDD to an SSD. First off my HDD Is a WD 1TB and SSD is an Intel 530 series 180GB x2. (I have 2 of them) I have some questions. As i said i want to do this quickly so is there any way where I don't need to backup my files from my HDD? Can i also do it this way"to do a clean install of windows to the SSD without the HDD connected. Then reconnect the HDD and configure your BIOS to boot from the SSD and then reinstall all of your programs. Depending on the size of your SSD, you may want to install some of your less frequently used programs (or the ones that don't require the extra speed of the SSD) to a directory on the Hard drive. As long as you don't reformat or repartition tha HDD, all of your data will still be available on the HDD and it can be easily accessed and/or transferred to the SSD if necessary"?? I find this way much easier and quicker. As i also mentioned i have 2 of these SSD's so can i somehow combine them together, like into one SSD so it can equal 360GB, if not than its fine. All I care about is getting that SSD as my boot drive very very quickly. SO please share your methods for this and tell me if the method i Mentioned is safe/reliable becuase i prefer more of a method like that, thanks guys!
~Joseph
 
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USAFRet
Clean install is by far the best path forward. Far less chance of fail during the process.
Undoubtedly, you have some old installed programs on there you do not use. And some uninstalls that leave behind some remnant, etc, etc.
Why bring along all that old crap onto the new SSD?

Fresh install of the OS, then install all your applications and games.
Since you have a 18GB SSD, that can almost certainly hold ALL your applications, and probably a couple of games.
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Necr0v

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Apr 10, 2013
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Personally if I was doing what you are doing I would be just doing a clean install on the SSD and installing everything from scratch.

Then, just use your HDD for storage and delete the OS and all the unwanted programs off it (which will be corrupted anyway).

To combine your SSD's look into RAID arrays (Namely RAID 0, which will create on 360GB SSD, but must be done before install windows), I have used them before with no dramas, however note that it pretty much doubles the chances of corruption and failure as it will only take one of the drives to fail to lose everything (hence the need for backing up!)
 
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Necr0v

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Apr 10, 2013
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Actually thinking about that, if it were me I wouldn't worry about the RAID, just have one SSD for just the OS and the other for programs/games (and the HDD for storage). I wouldn't be worrying about joining them, 180GB per drive is still a lot.
 
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Necr0v

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Apr 10, 2013
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Agreed, the performance boost from RAID on SSD's is only really theoretical (IE: Not noticed), and I wouldn't be doing it unless I was reaaally dying for just one logical drive.
 
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i7Baby

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Jul 25, 2012
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Clean install per you: "to do a clean install of windows to the SSD without the HDD connected. Then reconnect the HDD and configure your BIOS to boot from the SSD and then reinstall all of your programs. Depending on the size of your SSD, you may want to install some of your less frequently used programs (or the ones that don't require the extra speed of the SSD) to a directory on the Hard drive. As long as you don't reformat or repartition tha HDD, all of your data will still be available on the HDD and it can be easily accessed and/or transferred to the SSD if necessary"
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Clean install is by far the best path forward. Far less chance of fail during the process.
Undoubtedly, you have some old installed programs on there you do not use. And some uninstalls that leave behind some remnant, etc, etc.
Why bring along all that old crap onto the new SSD?

Fresh install of the OS, then install all your applications and games.
Since you have a 18GB SSD, that can almost certainly hold ALL your applications, and probably a couple of games.
 
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Necr0v

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Apr 10, 2013
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Yep, clean install. Migration can have a lot of problems (even if it initially seems to work), so why go to all the bother when a clean install probably takes less time?

By unwanted programs I just meant ones that you don't use anyway, I know when I have a computer for a few years I have a heap of programs like audio rippers/converters/plugins/video editors etc which I used for ten minutes and never opened again. So starting from scratch allows you to only install the things that you really need!
 
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