Can I fresh install the OS onto 500GB ssd, but keep games and music on HDD?

Zeroark · Nov 23, 2016

Hi there! I plan to upgrade to an 500 GB SSD soon. Is there a way I can keep my games and music on my 1TB HDD so I can play them as normal and just install my OS on the SSD? ..I really don't want to reinstall all my programs/games again. I also don't have an external drive for backing up my files.

Thanks in advance guys

faalin · Nov 23, 2016

music and steam games will be fine, any other program or normal game install will have to re installed as it writes parts into the registry. Your new OS install will not have these parts so your programs will not work.

Gallarian · Nov 23, 2016

Yeah! Its fairly simple.

1) Remove your old HDD from the system
2) Install your new SSD
3) Install OS on to the new SSD
4) Go into BIOS and ensure that the SSD is set to the top priority in the Boot Order
5) Reinstall your old HDD

Most things will work just fine after this (games, music, documents etc), however some programs will not like the fact theyre no longer on the 'C' drive, and will have to be reinstalled - but the bulk of the work is as easy as that.

At this point, youve technically achieved your goal. However, you're obviously still left with your old OS files on your HDD. Either delete the folders manually or...

6) Transfer any files you want to keep over to your new SSD
7) Use Disk Manager to format your HDD
8) Transfer files back from your SSD to the HDD.

Doing this will require some extra work to get your games to work, as a lot of game files are kept in the 'App Data' and 'Documents' folders.

Do you have most of your games on Steam?

SkyNetRising · Nov 23, 2016

Zeroark :

Yes you can. But games most likely will require reinstallation.

Alternatively - you can clone OS from existing drive to SSD
(but it's only possible, if used space is less than size of SSD).

Zeroark · Nov 23, 2016

@Gallarian Thankyou for your answer, I really appreciate the clear steps you provided there.
I don't use Steam that often (maybe for CS:GO) - as most of my games I play are located in a folder I created (in "C:Games"). I also have Origin for which I play BF1 and BF4 often. Is there a way to transfer these games to my SSD after the fresh OS install?

Thanks.

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Can I fresh install the OS onto 500GB ssd, but keep games and music on HDD?

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