How to install a SSD onto a system that has a HDD as the boot drive?

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ImSalvatic

ImSalvatic

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Aug 25, 2013
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I will be upgrading my brother's PC in a week or so and He's upgrading his PC with a SSD. He wants to have the SSD as the boot drive and the HDD as his secondary drive to have his other programs other than the OS, Windows 8. How do I install Windows 8 onto the SSD and make it the boot drive while making the HDD the secondary drive and still keeping all the programs on it?

Do I need a new copy of windows 8?
Do I have to uninstall all the programs on the HDD?

I'm completly lost on how to do this, thanks in advance.
 
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Skippy27

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Nov 23, 2009
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Personally it is a waste to make the SSD the boot device unless all he cares about is a fast boot. It will not help with the applications and such unless they are also installed on the SSD which by your post it sounds like they will not be. Regardless if you want to go that route then simply put it in there and chose it as your install drive when prompted. For data safety reasons it may be best to remove the old drive so you don't accidentally overwrite and/or format it.

You will not be able to switch drives and keep all the apps on the other. Chances are there are many registry entries (or even config files) that specify the device the applications are on and it will not be able to find them after the drive switch. Some apps, like many games, will work perfectly fine but Office and many other things simply will not work well if at all.

You should not need a new copy of Windows 8 if you have a current copy with a valid license.
 
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RCguitarist

RCguitarist

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Apr 2, 2013
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What Skippy said.

In your situation, games, pictures, music, movies, and programs like photoshop will work fine still. But alot of the programs like MS office, spotify, web browsers and all of his drivers will need to be reinstalled on his new SSD. Any games or programs that he wants benefiting from the speed of the SSD will need to be reinstalled onto his SSD. Just be sure to uninstall those programs properly on his HDD before putting in his SSD if those programs require a authentication key upon install.

The stuff you want to stay on the SSD can just be added to the desktop or start menu and will open fine.

With a 120GB SSD, i'd recommend putting on it:
- OS
- All drivers
- All smaller programs (MS office, etc)
- Programs such as photoshop, music editing software, video editing software
- 2 to 3 of his favorite games that he plays more than any others
 
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