Transfering My OS From My 1TB HDD To My New M.2 SSD

slayasheep

Prominent
Nov 19, 2017
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I have seen many videos telling me how to do this but non of them have been very clear. Is there any way i can keep all of my old files on my Harddrive, but only tranfer my OS on to my SSD?
 
Solution


Well, yes. A clean install on the new drive is the best way forward. More work, though.
You then also have to reinstall all your applications. They are not usable in their current location on the HDD.

Steam games can be reassigned to where they are currently, but for your personal files, you may/will run into temporary permissions issues.

And fully wiping the old drive is much easier if there is nothing on it that you wish to keep.

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


No, you can't transfer 'only teh OS'.

So, let's investigate:
1. What size is the new SSD?
2. Being m.2, is this a SATA or NVMe drive?
3. What motherboard?
4. How much total space is consumed on your current drive?
5. What, exactly, consumes this space?
6. Do you have another drive handy? And external, maybe?
7. Desktop or laptop?
8. What OS is this?

(yes, all those questions are necessary)
 

slayasheep

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Nov 19, 2017
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510


The ssd is 512GB NVMe on a MSI X370 Gaming Pro motherboard. At the moment i have 700+ GB consumed on my 1TB seagate HDD by games and other software i often use, aswell as photos videos etc. I have a 16GB usb extenal drive. It is a desktop and the OS is windows 10

 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
If you can reduce that "700+GB" to below 450GB...then a cloning operation is possible.

Look long and deep as to what exactly is on that drive?
Old downloads you no longer need, multiple copies of things, games you no longer play, etc, etc.
Pare down that space.

Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
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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 (ignore this step)
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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slayasheep

Prominent
Nov 19, 2017
14
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510




I saw on another thread where a guy had the same problem as me and the best solution was to just install the same OS onto my new and use it as the boot drive. Will that work?
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


Well, yes. A clean install on the new drive is the best way forward. More work, though.
You then also have to reinstall all your applications. They are not usable in their current location on the HDD.

Steam games can be reassigned to where they are currently, but for your personal files, you may/will run into temporary permissions issues.

And fully wiping the old drive is much easier if there is nothing on it that you wish to keep.
 
Solution