Migrating OS to SSD but keeping HDD (need help)

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jordawgg

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Nov 4, 2015
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Hello,

So I have recently bought a Samsung 850 Evo SSD and a Seagate 1TB Hard Drive.

I have both of the hooked up to my computer (connected and everything) but I would like to move the operating system, and maybe Battlefield 4, to the SSD.

I am not completely sure of how to go about this, as many websites give conflicting information.

To be clear: I want to migrate all non-operating system files to the new HDD, and just the operating system and a game or two to the SSD. I cannot simply put everything on the SSD as it is only 120Gb, and I have 680ish GB of data on my old hard drive.

What is the easiest way to copy only the basic operating system to run from the SSD and keep everything else on the new HDD?

Thank you!

EDIT: I do not know where my disk copy of Windows is to install from. If possible, I would just like to copy the OS alone to the SSD, but if I have to do a download and install, would that be possible? From websites such as : http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325/

EDIT 2: So, here is the current plan.

Migrating all data from old HDD to New HDD. Then, on old HDD, will wipe everything to factory new. Then, migrate old (now clean) HDD to SSD. Would that work?
 
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jordawgg

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Nov 4, 2015
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Please, I need help haha.

The current situation is:
I have all my data backed up on the new HDD. I want to reinstall windows fresh on the SSD and keep the two HDDs as extra storage. However, I have an OEM copy of windows 7 and no idea where the install disk is.

What do I do!?
 
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rollingbarrels

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Oct 6, 2015
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If it were me in this situation, I would move all the non operating system files over to the new hard drive including games so that there is just the OS left on the old hard drive, then clone the old hard drive on to the SSD. This is the quickest way that I can think of to achieve what you want.
 
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jordawgg

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What is the best way to delete all non essential files without deleting the OS?
I tried deleting everything I could but even at a point where it was basically empty of all files and programs I could delete, it still managed to have nearly 120gb of data on it. That is with defrag and CCleaner and such.

I know the OS should be around 20-35gb but certainly not 120.

Is there any good way to really empty your hard drive of everything but windows? WITHOUT reinstalling?
I already tried reinstalling from an .iso and Windows wouldn't accept my OEM key as valid activation.
 
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jordawgg

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So if I clean it completely and start deleting certain folders it won't destroy my hard drive? Are there any restrictions on what folders can and can't be deleted?

Thanks for the help btw.
 
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rollingbarrels

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Everything in %appdata% should be safe to delete as they are only temporary files. Unless you have like bitcoins or other valuable cryptocurrency stored in there then that's not a wise idea :D

As for the stuff in C:\ I would do a quick google search to see if it is really safe before deleting anything that looks like it might be important (i.e. don't delete system32).

Also if you haven't already, you can run the disk cleanup utility.
 
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