Transfer Windows from my Failing HDD to my new SSD?

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MassimoT

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So I'm running Windows 10, which was upgraded from Windows 7, on a HDD. The hard drive is failing, and I am sending it back for RMA to get a new one for free. I decided to go ahead and also order an SSD, and the SSD Will be here on Christmas Eve. I looked around online for solutions, but found no clear answer. Is there a way for me to transfer my windows installation to my SSD from my hard drive without the original disk I used to install it? I have no idea where the disk is, and I don't know my product key. Some people were saying that it is now saved through my network and microsoft account login, so when I login with my account after wiping my hard drive and trying to install on the SSD, I will be able to no problem. I'm very skeptical at this, I don't see how this could be true at all. Could someone tell me if there's an easy way to do this? My friend told me that there's a software that does this for you. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance :)
 
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Which articles? I've not seen that happen, and I've done that on several SSD's.

Download the ISO? If you have a Retail license key, go here
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/home

If you're going to reinstall Win 10, you don't need a license key. The act of Upgrading from your original Win 7 registered that hardware at MS, and once you install the OS it will activate.
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MassimoT

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I appreciate the speedy response :O So I Have 661GB of free space on it because I moved a ton of files to my new HDD that I had bought a few months ago for extra space. The SSD I ordered is 500GB, and as far as how bad my hard drive is, it's getting worse by the day. I'm surprised google chrome was and has been able to run as I've been using it to type this post. To give you just a general idea, I was on skype with my friends on a group convo, and one of my other friends messaged me. I clicked on his name to reply, and then skype froze, stopped responding, and my entire PC was frozen, and I wasn't able to do anything for a solid 10 minutes. Ever since my hard drive started failing, this has become the norm. For some odd reason, CS:GO runs perfectly fine, but I think it may be installed on my second hard drive, don't quote me on that though. However Minecraft (Yeah I play minecraft here and there for the pvp) will often freeze for nearly 60 seconds, or it will run flawlessy. On top of all this, opening programs has generally become slower and slower with the passing of each day. The way my PC is running recently, I feel like my hard drive will die any moment now. I'm probably wrong there, but I've never used a PC with a failing hard drive before, so I guess I wouldn't know :p
 
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MassimoT

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So I did a bit of research, and some articles are saying that cloning the OS onto the SSD will degrade performance of the SSD. What's your take on that? Alot of people are saying that I can just download the ISO file and create installation software onto a USB and install it just fine, thoughts?
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Which articles? I've not seen that happen, and I've done that on several SSD's.

Download the ISO? If you have a Retail license key, go here
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/home

If you're going to reinstall Win 10, you don't need a license key. The act of Upgrading from your original Win 7 registered that hardware at MS, and once you install the OS it will activate.
 
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MassimoT

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I read an article online that discussed it, and I found this: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2886204/moving-windows-hdd-ssd.html

I think I'll just stick to what you told me. I'll put the installation software on a USB and just install windows 10. Hopefully what you said is true, and it won't ask me for my product key, because if it does, I'm kinda boned. :/

EDIT: "The act of Upgrading from your original Win 7 registered that hardware at MS, and once you install the OS it will activate."

Oh ok, see this is what my friend had told me, and I wasn't sure if it was true. Thank you so much for your help :D
 
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MassimoT

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Also, I hate to sound stupid, but to go about re-installing windows 10, I would just go on Microsoft's website and just download the windows 10 setup software correct?


 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Go here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
 
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