Any way to move Windows Install to a smaller SSD drive without deleting data?

Fallonite · Jun 25, 2016

Hello,

I am currently in the market for an SSD. However, the one thing keeping me from buying one is that I have massive storage in my PC right now that can't really be offloaded easily. I have a 4 TB drive that is about 2 TB full (I have lots of Steam games, don't judge) and another 1 TB drive that has gameplay videos stored on it for YouTube. If I were to buy an SSD, is there a tool that would allow me to move only my Windows installation without having to buy extra drives to backup my data and then deleting all of my data from my current drives?

Thank you in advance!

USAFRet · Jun 25, 2016

Fallonite :

No.
You can't move only the OS.
With some applications, you can leave off doc/music/video. Other than that, everything goes to the new drive.

An application like WinDirStat can help visualize what is taking up that 2TB used space.

Rafael Mestdag · Jun 25, 2016

Try Clonezilla in order to clone your OS to the SSD, but it'll clone everything on the HDD as well, so you do need to move all your stuff other than the OS onto another HDD.

Fallonite · Jun 26, 2016

USAFRet :

Hello again,

I see. If I were to make another partition on my primary drive and move my C:/Users folder, Program Files, Docs, etc, to the other partition, and then leave enough on my C: partition to clone my OS partition (now C) to the SSD, could that work as well?

USAFRet · Jun 26, 2016

Fallonite :

Docs, yes.
/User/, /Program files/, no

You need to investigate exactly what is using your 2TB of space.

Fallonite · Jun 26, 2016

USAFRet :

Hello again,

I screenshotted my WinDirStat page, you can find it here:
http://i.imgur.com/vrZ6Xuj.png?1

It appears my program files and users folders are my biggest folders. Is there anything I can do?

USAFRet · Jun 26, 2016

From your WinDirStat screencap, you have:
220GB of ISO files
210.5GB of avi files
90.5GB of WinRAR archives, whatever those may be

That's 500GB of junk right there.

Fallonite · Jun 26, 2016

USAFRet :

True, I was looking at those.

If I delete most or even all of those (some of those are probably worth keeping in my case) I still have 1.5 TB of space to account for. What else can I do?

On a side note, is it possible to move Steam games to different partitions? My Steam library takes up 480 GB of space.

USAFRet · Jun 26, 2016

Absolutely. Move your Steamapps folder to elsewhere. You can aim your new Steam client at that location later.
So now we've freed up 1+TB.

What size SSD are you considering?

Fallonite · Jun 26, 2016

USAFRet :

I wasn't really sure, it depends on price really. I was originally thinking of getting 512 GB but it sounds like I might have to buy a 1 TB drive to fit my current installation on.

USAFRet · Jun 26, 2016

If you investigate, you can almost certainly reduce your current C drive usage to well below 500GB.
OS and actual applications don't take up that much space.

Games, mods, video, etc, etc...that is what takes up space.

Fallonite · Jun 26, 2016

USAFRet :

True. I could probably move my Nexus Mod Manager installation, and move my Steam library, and clean out some of my media, downloads, and smaller programs. Hopefully then that shrinks it to 500 GB or less. Thanks for all your help.

Fallonite · Jul 7, 2016

USAFRet :

Hello again,

I had an idea. Since I have a spare 1 TB drive, could I just install Windows to that and still have all my data on my 4 TB drive and just point Steam and Nexus Mod Manager to the existing folders on the 4 TB drive?

Search

Any way to move Windows Install to a smaller SSD drive without deleting data?

Fallonite

Reputable

USAFRet

Titan

Rafael Mestdag

Reputable

Fallonite

Reputable

USAFRet

Titan

Fallonite

Reputable

USAFRet

Titan

Fallonite

Reputable

USAFRet

Titan

Fallonite

Reputable

USAFRet

Titan

Fallonite

Reputable

Fallonite

Reputable

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page