Upgrading to an SSD for SSD and HDD Combo

Electroballistic · May 16, 2016

Hello guys
I currently have a custom built PC with Windows 10 upgrade from Windows 8.1 OEM and a 1TB WD Blue drive.
I want to upgrade to an SSD for my boot drive and some games, important data and keep that 1TB for mass storage, basically to have an SSD and HDD combo like a lot of people have.
I've heard that just wiping the drive and downloading fresh Windows on the SSD is the safe way to do it without getting into those difficult applications that try to throw everything on the HDD to the SSD.
I have a gaming pc, so I don't really have anything important on my HDD. I have an extra 500GB hard drive to put stuff from the 1TB hard drive that are important, wiping the 1TB and putting those important things back on it.

How do I go about wiping my 1TB Hard Drive and reinstalling Windows 10 from my Windows 8.1 OEM copy onto my new SSD?

How do I go about "backing up" important stuff onto an extra hard drive such as Steam/Origin games, iTunes library etc? Do I just copy and paste into the extra hard drive?

Dugimodo · May 16, 2016

Steam can just be copied to a new location, then when you reinstall it on windows use the same location that you copied to and when you click to install a game it will find all the local files rather than downloading again. It can also be split across drives if you want some steam games on the SSD and the rest elsewhere.

For windows go to the MS media creation tool page, download and create installation media and confirm you can boot off it. Then you should be able to do a fresh install and just use the key from your 8.1 when it asks. To be safe install windows with just the SSD connected or windows will likely put some files on the other drive and require both to boot which can be a nuisance.

If you do it this way you can leave your existing setup intact until windows is up and running so you can always revert back if you have issues.

Hlsgsz · May 16, 2016

Electroballistic :

While a fresh Win 10 install is always best, if you have a Samsung SSD you can very easily migrate using their "data migration tool". It's literally a couple of clicks. Only thing is your C: drive should have less data on it than the capacity of the SSD.

USAFRet · May 16, 2016

Hlsgsz :

"Only thing is your C: drive [strike]should [/strike] must have less data on it than the capacity of the SSD."

FTFY.

Electroballistic · May 16, 2016

Dugimodo :

Steam can just be copied to a new location, then when you reinstall it on windows use the same location that you copied to and when you click to install a game it will find all the local files rather than downloading again. It can also be split across drives if you want some steam games on the SSD and the rest elsewhere.

For windows go to the MS media creation tool page, download and create installation media and confirm you can boot off it. Then you should be able to do a fresh install and just use the key from your 8.1 when it asks. To be safe install windows with just the SSD connected or windows will likely put some files on the other drive and require both to boot which can be a nuisance.

If you do it this way you can leave your existing setup intact until windows is up and running so you can always revert back if you have issues.

If I do the bootable thing, if I use the key and then go to Win 8.1, can I still go to Windows 10?

Hlsgsz · May 16, 2016

Electroballistic :

Dugimodo :

If I do the bootable thing, if I use the key and then go to Win 8.1, can I still go to Windows 10?

You can't have both and don't try, unless you want to spend time on the phone with MS support.

Electroballistic · May 16, 2016

Hlsgsz :

Electroballistic :

You can't have both and don't try, unless you want to spend time on the phone with MS support.

So to avoid that, first put 8.1 on the SSD and then once everything is good I wipe the 1TB drive with Windows 10, then update to Windows 10 on the SSD?

Dugimodo · May 16, 2016

Sorry just read your question again, since you've already upgraded to 10 you can just do a fresh install and choose skip when it asks for a key - it'll activate anyway when the motherboard hardware is recognised from the previous upgrade - it's all stored online somewhere.

Edit: just to be really clear - no need to install 8.1 and upgrade again. Just install 10 without entering a key

USAFRet · May 16, 2016

Electroballistic :

You had 8.1
You Upgraded to Win 10
You now want Win 10 on a new SSD...

Correct?

If so, you do not have to install 8.1 again.

You can install Win 10 directly on the SSD. Your hardware specs have already been registered at the mothership, with a valid Win 10 install.
It will activate.

Hlsgsz · May 17, 2016

USAFRet :

Electroballistic :

You had 8.1
You Upgraded to Win 10
You now want Win 10 on a new SSD...

Correct?

If so, you do not have to install 8.1 again.

You can install Win 10 directly on the SSD. Your hardware specs have already been registered at the mothership, with a valid Win 10 install.
It will activate.

This.

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Upgrading to an SSD for SSD and HDD Combo

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Electroballistic

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Electroballistic

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