How do I move Windows and ONLY windows to a solid state drive?

TrollingGuinea

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Jun 21, 2014
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I have a 1TB HDD that has like 700 or 800GB used, I would like to move Windows and ONLY Windows to my 120GB SSD. I can't quite figure out how. All my other files I just want left alone, I only want to move Windows from the HDD to SSD and get rid of it from the HDD.

 
Solution


Your way ahead:
Identify all the applications you use/need
Find all those disks, install files, serial numbers, etc, etc. Save elsewhere anything you don't have a physical disk for.
Locate your OS install disk and license key
Locate and save elsewhere all your personal files, including game save if required

Unplug all other drives except the DVD
Connect the SSD
Install the OS on the SSD
Activate
Let it do whatever updates it needs
Verify in the BIOS that...

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Ideally, with a new SSD, you just do a full reinstall. Far fewer potential problems.
A 120GB SSD can hold the OS and quite a lot of applications, apart from games.

However, this application can move the OS and only the OS to a new drive:
http://www.paragon-software.com/technologies/components/migrate-OS-to-SSD/

Not free, though. I've not seen any free application that can migrate only the OS.

 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


Agreed. Why gunk up a new SSD with all the old crap from the previous install?
Start fresh.

And from reading in here, the percentage of 'clone fail' is much higher than the percentage of 'fresh install fail'.
 

TrollingGuinea

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Jun 21, 2014
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So I would re install my OS to the SSD, but how would I remove it from the old drive?
 

USAFRet

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Moderator


Anything you need to keep from that drive...copy elsewhere.
Delete all the partitions and reformat
Reinstall whatever applications you want, on whatever drive you want. Some/most applications you want on the SSD.
Done.
 

6R1M01R3

Distinguished
Depending on the model of the SSD, you can just transfer the OS to the SSD without requiring a fresh install (Samsung 840 EVO series have the Data Migration software for that purpouse) Otherwise, just fresh installation of the OS, it will be ridiculously fast in the SSD compared to HDD drives.
 

TrollingGuinea

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Jun 21, 2014
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The data migration tool doesn't allow me to transfer only the OS, it only gives me the option to transfer everything, which I obviously can't do.

 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


Exactly. The one I linked above is the only application I've seen that purports to move 'only' the OS.
 

6R1M01R3

Distinguished


Thought you had created a slim partition for only the OS in the HDD. Well, if you didnt it sucks, because you will have to wipe the whole content of the HDD when installing the OS in the SSD (not wise to keep a OS in each disk + you can't just delete the old OS folders as it)
 

harry_r_s

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Mar 28, 2013
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I told you !

 

TrollingGuinea

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Jun 21, 2014
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I think what I learned from this thread is: Backup HDD, erase it, fresh install of windows on SSD, move all the old shit back to HDD. But the issue is, I can't create a copy of everything on to my external, because it starts saying things are being used in another program.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


Your way ahead:
Identify all the applications you use/need
Find all those disks, install files, serial numbers, etc, etc. Save elsewhere anything you don't have a physical disk for.
Locate your OS install disk and license key
Locate and save elsewhere all your personal files, including game save if required

Unplug all other drives except the DVD
Connect the SSD
Install the OS on the SSD
Activate
Let it do whatever updates it needs
Verify in the BIOS that the new SSD is the only drive in the boot sequence
Connect the old HDD
Blow away any and all partitions on it, and format as needed
Install applications as needed, most of them besides games on the SSD.
Copy back over your personal files where you want.
 
Solution

6R1M01R3

Distinguished


Media files, zip/rar, installation executables, office/adobe/etc files should be able to transfer without issues, but sometimes antivirus can be running scans or windows indexing and block their modification. Of course, now if you are talking about moving installed software to the backup drive, that is understandable. You won't be able to move those files unless you kill all the processes related to those files (in the task manager) But wise advice is to just reinstall all the software back to the clean disk after the installation of the OS in the SSD.