Migrating to an ssd

Orphus2000

Honorable
Apr 14, 2013
16
0
10,510
Ok i Just bought a sdd 120 gig ...I have a 2 tb hard drive that's been partitioned into 4 drives..Is it possible just to Migrate my 80 gig C drive( which contains my os and other windows programs) to the ssd or do I need to do a fresh windows install
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator


It is "possible". 80GB is right at the edge of doable going into a 120GB drive.

These steps, and modify for your use case:
Where it says "Select ALL partitions"...leave off the other 3 data partitions. DO select the boot /system partitions.

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
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the 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 450MB Recovery Partition, 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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