Migrating Windows to SSD

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Danny P

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Nov 4, 2014
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Hi all, my first PC is on its way to me in just a few days from now and I have a question. I ordered a 1TB HDD without a SSD b/c of financial problem. My situation right now is I have a 250GB 2.5" laptop HDD lying around and I'm thinking of installing Windows 8.1 on that and put all my games + medias on the 1TB HDD. My question is when the time comes, can I reinstall Windows 8.1 on the new SSD and switch out the 250GB HDD with any issues? Thanks in advance :)
 
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Dylzan

Dylzan

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Aug 2, 2013
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It's unlikely to work as the computer will be looking for the files in places where they're actually not and a lot of programs will cease to function. It'd be easier to install a fresh Windows 8.1 onto the SSD then install the programs you need, transferring only documents and some files (photos, music) across.
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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Your plan will not work as is:
A new install of windows will build a new registry that installed apps depend on.
You would be faced with reinstalling your apps.
Better to plan on cloning the hard drive including the registry to the new ssd.
And... using two drives, windows will put a hidden recovery partition on the large drive, complicating removal of the drive in the future.

In the meantime, performance will suffer.
Laptop hard drives are optimized for power savings, not speed.
They are s.l.o.w.
Better to use only the 1tb drive for performance.
When it comes time to buy a ssd, look at Samsung or intel. The offer migration utilities that can copy the os and data from your 1tb drive to the new ssd.
 
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Danny P

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I'm really confused b/c I just wanna get an SSD exclusively for Windows only that means I would get a 128GB one. B/c windows usually takes around ~40gb of storage, I don't even know if it's possible to move only THAT 40gb out from the HDD to the new SSD and leave everything of the HDD the same. I could think of one solution is to fresh install Windows on the new SSD, back up all my medias to an external HDD, wipe the 1tb HDD, put it back in and reinstall all my apps + media but that seems like a lot of work :(
 
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Rogue Leader

Rogue Leader

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That IS a lot of work. If you do what you are planning and follow my instructions above you can copy your windows install over from that old HD to a new SSD, and it will all work exactly the same.

The only issue here is yes that laptop drive is probably pretty slow, but theres nothing preventing it from working.
 
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MeteorsRaining

MeteorsRaining

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Jul 27, 2014
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1. Be certain of what you aim to do.

=> You need the OS on SSD. But, you'd definitely install some programs besides the OS, except games. Problem is, you can wipe your laptop HDD (containing the OS along with those apps) and reinstalling windows to SSD, but then you'd loose all the apps you installed on laptop HDD. Say, MS Office, Adobe, etc.

2. Put your OS on HDD for now.

=> This may seem like a bad idea, but geofelt had a point in his post, laptop HDDs are usually 2.5" and really slow than conventional 3.5" desktop HDDs. Better put it on the HDD.

3. So what do you need to do then?

=> Situation: OS and games are on HDD. Solution: Make partitions! Put OS on one partition, when you get the SSD, erase that partition and clean install on SSD. Make sure the other partition(s) do not have any Windows dependent apps (programs) and only contain bulk files (docs, music, movies, games, etc). That way, you'll need to wipe a partition and clean install on SSD.
 
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Danny P

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That seems like the best idea. So I've never make partitions before, I just let windows do what it likes and that's it. Can you show me how to do it? (step-by-step is preferred but if you don't have time it's cool I can google-fu my way out)

 
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