New SSD, want to make it main drive

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Joshua1hong

Commendable
Apr 5, 2016
3
0
1,510
So currently I have 3 drives for my computer. A 120GB SSD which is the primary, a 4TB HHD which I use for almost everything else non-essential, and a 1TB HDD which I just kind of have for no reason. So now I want to switch out the HDD for a new SSD I'm getting that's 500GB. But I also want to make this new SSD the new primary drive as it can hold more and is simply just m ore effective. How can I go about doing this? My OS is Windows 7 Professional SP 1, and I don't have a CD for it, so that kind of fresh overhaul won't seem to work.

My end goal is to get everything backed up onto the HHD, then essentially have a fresh Windows 7 on my new SSD so that I can move things from my old SSD onto it. If not, simply cloning the old SSD onto the new SSD would be acceptable as well.

Thanks in advance.
 
Solution
Boogieman_WD
Hey there, Joshua.

If you have a product key for your Windows, you can download the same version from Microsoft and create a bootable USB/DVD to install it and use your key to activate it: http://www.howtogeek.com/186775/how-to-download-windows-7-8-and-8.1-installation-media-legally/
So, if you are OK with a fresh install, I'd always recommend that you go with that. Just get your new SSD, disconnect all other drives from the mobo, install Windows on the new SSD, connect the old drives and transfer whatever you need from the old SSD (the one that currently has the OS). After that go ahead and reformat it so that you get rid of the old OS partitions and files.
Note that any programs you have on the old SSD should be installed from...
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Boogieman_WD

Boogieman_WD

Judicious
Jul 31, 2014
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Hey there, Joshua.

If you have a product key for your Windows, you can download the same version from Microsoft and create a bootable USB/DVD to install it and use your key to activate it: http://www.howtogeek.com/186775/how-to-download-windows-7-8-and-8.1-installation-media-legally/
So, if you are OK with a fresh install, I'd always recommend that you go with that. Just get your new SSD, disconnect all other drives from the mobo, install Windows on the new SSD, connect the old drives and transfer whatever you need from the old SSD (the one that currently has the OS). After that go ahead and reformat it so that you get rid of the old OS partitions and files.
Note that any programs you have on the old SSD should be installed from scratch on the new one as simply transferring them might not work.

If you don't have a product key, you'd have to go with a clone. Check out this tutorial: http://lifehacker.com/5837543/how-to-migrate-to-a-solid-state-drive-without-reinstalling-windows.

And a useful article for SSD users: https://www.maketecheasier.com/12-things-you-must-do-when-running-a-solid-state-drive-in-windows-7/.

Hope that helps. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Boogieman_WD
 
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Solution
J

Joshua1hong

Commendable
Apr 5, 2016
3
0
1,510
@Boogieman_WD thanks, one last thing I realized. So my SSD is the main drive (C) and my secondary is my HHD which holds pretty much everything non-essential. I also have an HDD that I had from earlier but have hardly touched, but somehow, all things related to booting has been created as a 100MB partition on this drive. Does anyone know why and how to change that?
 
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Boogieman_WD

Boogieman_WD

Judicious
Jul 31, 2014
6,050
2
35,960
Did you remember to physically disconnect the drives from the motherboard while installing Windows on the new SSD? Because this is pretty much the only what that this could've happened (if you haven't disconnected them). The other thing I can think of is that this might be from your previous Windows install.

Can you boot to Windows with just your new SSD connected to the mobo?
 
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