How to migrate a Windows 10 installation from HDD to SSD

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TheDarkOne198

TheDarkOne198

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I will soon be buying an SSD,likely an 850 Evo for the purpose of putting my Win10 installation on it (unless someone can recommend something just as good for a lower price and I am sure 64GB will be fine for an OS installation too). I have heard you can use the reset windows feature to change the installation path and put it on another drive. The question is,will I then have two installations,one on the SSD and one on the HDD? Or should I use the installation media I created,on a USB stick? That sounds like it will be two installations with that method too. Is the reset feature and/or installer smart enough to realize you have it on a HDD in the same system and basically label all the old OS info as free space or something?

I have read this:

Can I reinstall Windows 10 on my computer after upgrading?

Yes. Once you’ve upgraded to Windows 10 using the free upgrade offer, you will be able to reinstall, including a clean install, on the same device. You won’t need a product key for re-activations on the same hardware. If you make a meaningful change to your hardware, you may need to contact customer support to help with activation. You’ll also be able to create your own installation media like a USB drive or DVD, and use that to upgrade your device or reinstall after you’ve upgraded.

Does adding a SSD into the environment and installing the OS constitute a "meaningful change"? I have heard of the EaseUS migration software,that has a trial that I can make use of for this,too. I just wonder if it will also break activation if I use that method. I really dont want to buy an activation key,just to move to an SSD. Is there a method of doing this easily and without any headaches?
 
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JohnnyLucky
I am afraid I have some bad news for you.

1. Samsung and some of the other manufacturers do not manufacture a 64GB ssd. There are some other brands that are still available in 64GB capacities.

2. A 64Gb is more than sufficient for Microsoft Windows 10; however, you will be wasting an ssd's performance potential by not installing applications, utilities, and a few favorite games on the ssd. A typical consumer will have a 120GB or 256GB ssd with the OS, software applications, utilities, and favorite games installed on the ssd while data files, photos, videos, documents, and music are installed on a hard disk drive. Prices have been dropping to the point where 128GB ssd are available on sale for as little as $49.99 USD and 256GB ssd's...
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TheDarkOne198

TheDarkOne198

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that is what I thought,but wasn't sure. So just how do I do it though? Migration software? The reset option? Oh,and how do I "remove" the old OS installation? Just go into the drive and just delete the windows folder? Or is there a proper tool for it?

Edit,it chose not to show the second response until now,after I asked. Yaay,haha. I will check out the EaseUS one,as I have used their backup software before too. It wont break the activation at all though?
 
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USAFRet

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Ideally, you wipe the whole drive. There's more stuff than just the Windows folder.

The migration thing usually works. Usually. I've both success and fail doing that.
 
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TheDarkOne198

TheDarkOne198

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well wiping the whole drive isnt an option,as I dont have a spare HDD to back things up to and dont want to lose all my data,such as games,music,etc. If there is failure in migration,what is the result,potentially? Could it render my HDD installation corrupt or something?
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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OK, let's back up a bit.
Migration = migrating the whole C partition to the new drive.
What size SSD, and how large is the C partition?

There are only a couple of migration tools that allow leaving behind what is in the Library folders...Doc/Music/etc. Other than that, everything goes. You can't choose 'just the OS', or this 'program and not that program' Everything goes.

So if your SSD is too small, migration from old to new is not for you.
 
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TheDarkOne198

TheDarkOne198

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oh,so that wont be happening. the OS is currently on a 1TB HDD and I will at most get a 120GB SSD. So I will need to do a new install on there,likely with the reset tool,as I have read or heard you can select a different drive while doing it and I am pretty sure it came from Patrick Norton. That would still seemingly leave me with dual installations,I think and will it activate on the new SSD install? Since its the same PC,I would think it wouldn't matter,as I am sure it will know the hardware config and UEFI BIOS and serial numbers or something.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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You can't upgrade and change the drive at the same time.
So..Upgrade to 10 on your current drive
Then create a DVD or USB Win 10 installation with the MediaCreation tool
Install the SSD
Clean install on the SSD with your Win 10 install media.
 
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TheDarkOne198

TheDarkOne198

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that part is easy,I already have the USB drive with the Win 10 installer,which is what I used to upgrade as I didnt want to wait for the reservation to do it. That will just leave me with dual installations still. is there an uninstaller for windows out there?
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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No, there is no 'uninstaller', except for the Delete button.
 
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TheDarkOne198

TheDarkOne198

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well,I guess I will just have to install to the SSD,hope it activates and begin the arduous process of customization and driver installation over again...and then delete windows folders and maybe use a formatting tool to remove the "system reserved" partition on my HDD and use EaseUS to back up only the user data,prog files folders,prog data,music and games and maybe some other things,hoping to have space on my smaller external HDD and then reformat and restore things. Sounds almost like more trouble than its worth...
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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If you install clean on the SSD, programs will have to be reinstalled.
You can't 'back up' those and attempt to use them. The new Registry knows nothing about them.

Your regular data...music, docs, etc, no problem.
Programs will need to be reinstalled.

But the move from HDD to SSD is worth it.
 
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JohnnyLucky

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I am afraid I have some bad news for you.

1. Samsung and some of the other manufacturers do not manufacture a 64GB ssd. There are some other brands that are still available in 64GB capacities.

2. A 64Gb is more than sufficient for Microsoft Windows 10; however, you will be wasting an ssd's performance potential by not installing applications, utilities, and a few favorite games on the ssd. A typical consumer will have a 120GB or 256GB ssd with the OS, software applications, utilities, and favorite games installed on the ssd while data files, photos, videos, documents, and music are installed on a hard disk drive. Prices have been dropping to the point where 128GB ssd are available on sale for as little as $49.99 USD and 256GB ssd's are available for as little as $74.99 USD. Early last week newegg.com had the Samsung 850 EVO SATA 3 6Gb/s 256GB ssd for $74.99 USD after mail-in rebate. The special promotion was for one day only.

3. You didn't mention which ssd interface you were interested in. Here are the current choices:

PCI-e 3.0 x 4
M.2 3.0 x 4
PCI-e 2.0 x 8
PCI-e 2.0 x 4
M.2 2.0 x 4
PCI-e 2.0 x 2
M.2 2.0 x2
SATA 3
mSATA

The choice of interfaces will depend on your motherboard's configuration.

4. A fresh clean install of the operating systems is the preferred method of installation. Cloning applications work reasonably well but sometimes there are glitches. This forum has had far too many posts about unsuccessful cloning. A fresh clean install also means a fresh clean install of applications, utilities, and games.

I maintain an ssd database listed in a sticky at the very top of this forum section. Here is the link:

http://www.johnnylucky.org/data-storage/ssd-database.html

The ssd's are categorized by their interface. Scroll down to the interface you are interested in. All of the 64GB ssd's that are still available are in the SATA 3 and mSATA categories. For any brand and model you are interested in you can follow the links to the technical reviews. The technical reviews are for larger capacity ssd's. Typically they are 256GB or larger ssd's. The manufacturers normally submit their larger capacity ssd's for review because the larger capacity drives perform better than the smaller capacity ssd's.
 
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TheDarkOne198

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I will likely choose SATA 3,as the PCIe ones are too expensive (I want within 100 dollars) and I have not many intentions of using it other than an OS and maybe a small page file,browsers and light software only,so thats why I mentioned maybe a 64GB SSD. I will use HDD for games,as I dont mind the loading times on a 7200 RPM HDD. I have seen some A-Data and Kingston SSDs at that size,for good prices,but I dont know enough about those brands to know if they are quality and have a good record of not crapping out after a month or two of use.
 
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TheDarkOne198

TheDarkOne198

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thats what I had in mind anyway,as I said at first. The 850 EVO is sweet anyway,its well known haha. The 120 GB is only like 80 dollars and is more than enough for an OS installation and some other,odd ball things that are not games. Thanks to the both of you,I guess it will be a long and arduous thing to do,but worth it in the end.
 
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TheDarkOne198

TheDarkOne198

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if I can scrounge up the extra 20 or so bucks,I will probably get that,but my budget it tight. More important things to use my cash on,and all that. I will likely get the 120GB 850 EVO. Thanks again all.
 
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spendlove57

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How do you make sure that you get an activated copy of windows with a clean install? I have windows 10 activated on my HDD but when I create a boot USB and clean install on SSD it says my product key is blocked.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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You upgraded from a qualifying activated OS?
It should end up activated, even after a clean install. Mine did.

What did you start with, how did you do the Upgrade, and how did you do the clean install?
 
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spendlove57

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Yes I am on activated windows 10 booted from HDD right now. I started with windows 8.1 and upgraded through windows updates all on the HDD. I then got the media creation tool and made a windows 10 home bootable usb which I used to install onto my SSD. Then when I go through I leave to Key blank and continue. Then when I look at the activation page it says my key is blocked. I've successfully clean installed on the HDD but can't get the activation to transfer to SSD.
Do I need to format the HDD so the SSD is the only one with the OS? When making the USB there are options for windows 10 home, home N, and home (single language). Do I need a specific one of those?


 
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