Adding an SSD to my system

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xxHAPPYxx

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Hi everyone,

Back in February I built my very first PC which I love. It's got a gtx 970 paired with an i5 4460. At the moment however, I am thinking of upgrading it with an ssd. At the moment I have a 2TB hybrid drive and a 1TB hard drive. I would like to add an ssd to this in order to have windows load faster and downloads written faster. Windows however, is store down on the hybrid drive at the moment, is there any way I can move it?

Thanks
 
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cTigon

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Sadly you have to reinstall windows on the SSD. You would need to backup all your important data from the hybrid drive. There is no possible way you can just 'move windows' like that.
 
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cTigon

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There are no specific guides, however you can find a guide saying how to add in an SSD then reinstall windows on it.

1. Screw the SSD into a drive cage and plug the SATA and PSU port into it.

2. Get all your important data.

3. Put in the Windows disk and delete all previous drive partitions. Afterwards, install Windows on the SSD partition.

4. You're done.
 
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xxHAPPYxx

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Ok so when taking all my data with me I have lots of iTunes films and steam games. Would it be easier to delete all those off my hybrid drive and install them onto the ssd rarther than using data transfer as I have 600 mb/s download speeds
 
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cTigon

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You could only transfer them to the SSD via a cloud storage or another external storage.

I suggest you get an external storage or borrow one and put your favourite games and films on it (if you have limited space). If you have an external hard drive just put them all on.

Afterwards, you can reload them onto your hybrid drive when you're finished the Windows installation.

P.S make sure you make a new partition for all of your drives when you reinstall Windows.

 
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USAFRet

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OK, hang on.

Questions, first:
1. What size is the new SSD?
2. How much total used space is on the current C drive or partition?
3. How much of that is music/doc/video?

Depending ont he answers, a clone operation may be possible.

You may or may not need to do a full reinstall.
And if you do, you almost certainly not have to upload all your music/etc to the cloud when you do this.

So...What do you have?
 
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cTigon

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Oh. I was always told if you want to reinstall Windows on a new drive you'd have to do a clean installation.
 
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USAFRet

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There are multiple tools available to clone a whole C drive (HDD) to a new SSD.
This requires a few conditions to exist, but it works, usually.

The C drive I'm using right now (500GB SSD) was cloned from the previous drive(250GB SSD). Which was cloned from the previous C drive (120GB SSD).

Cloning has been 'a thing' for several years, now.

The recent cloning tools only require that the actual used space on the C drive be smaller than the space on the new SSD.

For instance...a 1TB HDD, with 165GB actual used space...will clone quite nicely into a 250GB SSD.
 
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cTigon

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Thanks for informing me. Excuse my ignorance, :/
 
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xxHAPPYxx

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1) I wanted to get this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-inch-Solid-State-Drive/dp/B01G844L88/ref=sr_1_7?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1476948013&sr=1-7&keywords=Ssd It's 500GB

2)on my main hybrid drive I have 550GB stored

3)of that 250GB is iTunes stuff (mostly films), 150GB of steam games, the rest are documents. I don't mind re-downloading stuff it won't take long.

Hope this helps, thank also

 
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USAFRet

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Ok. This is looking good.
1. Move the iTunes stuff off to your other drive.
This should leave you with ~300GB used space.

2. Do this:
------------------
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe as necessary.
Delete the original boot partitions, here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/4f1b84ac-b193-40e3-943a-f45d52e23685/cant-delete-extra-healthy-recovery-partitions-and-healthy-efi-system-partition?forum=w8itproinstall

 
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USAFRet

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You followed those instructions exactly?

-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe as necessary.
Delete the original boot partitions, here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/4f1b84ac-b193-40e3-943a-f45d52e23685/cant-delete-extra-healthy-recovery-partitions-and-healthy-efi-system-partition?forum=w8itproinstall
-----------------------------
 
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xxHAPPYxx

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yes I did all that I just doesn't recognise the drive having windows

 
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USAFRet

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2 partitions as different drive letters? That is usual.

Just so that we're all on the same page, please show us a screencap of the Disk Management window, with the system in original running condition.
 
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xxHAPPYxx

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Of cause :)
 
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