How should I make my new SSD a boot drive?

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swenson.tor

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Dec 20, 2017
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So I want to make my new SSD a boot drive because I already have a HDD with all of my games, files, etc. What I'm planning on doing is backing up my entire 1 terabyte hard drive to my external hard drive that is 1 terabyte, and then reset my PC and reinstall windows onto the SSD, and then restore the external hard drive onto my computer so i keep all of my files. I've already backed up the hard drive. Does this sound like it will work? I don't want to clone because I heard it can be risky.
 
Solution
USAFRet


If you wish to do the cloning thing, this:

Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
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...
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geofelt

geofelt

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Oct 9, 2006
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Not gonna work for your games.

You can leave your HDD disconnected and install windows on the ssd.
Later, you can reattach your HDD and all your data folders will be accessible.
But, any apps that were installed will use the registry, and after the clean install you will have an empty registry.
There is a work around for steam games.

OTOH, a clone is not risky and can be very easy.
If your new ssd is Samsung, they have a free ssd migration app that will move your C drive to their ssd.
I have used this many times, and it is trivially easy.
There is no risk since your original HDD remains untouched.
Your new ssd needs to be large enough to hold the used portion of your C drive.
You can exclude from the move the space for large data folders.
 
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K

King_V

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That is not going to work. You can't just copy over directories to a new fresh install of Windows - almost every program also does things to the Registry, Start Menu, etc.

I don't know what the risk of cloning is.

The best thing is to copy all your data files, etc to an external drive, do a clean install of Windows, then reinstall all your software, then bring back your data from the external drive.
 
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hang-the-9

hang-the-9

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If you use Steam client for games, read their support FAQ about moving the setup to another build. Since your SSD is very likely to be too small to hold a clone of your drive, you should just unplug your current drive, put in the SSD in the lowest SATA port (should be 0), install Windows clean on that, once everything is setup plug in your drive as a secondary one so you have your files. Doing a backup to an external drive is good anyway, and should have been done already just to have a backup in-case your drive fails.
 
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swenson.tor

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Dec 20, 2017
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My SSD actually is one terabyte so it can fit everything, but i think your solution will work. So just to clarify, should i unplug the original HDD and then reinstall windows onto the SSD, then plug in the hard drive after I set up windows?
 
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swenson.tor

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So when you mean reinstall software, should i reinstall drivers and all that stuff before bringing my data back in, or will the data from my backup install drivers onto my computer?
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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What exactly is your ssd?
Many ssd makers will have a utility to clone/copy to their ssd.

A clone is a bit for bit copy.
A ssd mover like the Samsung utility is a logical move of the windows installation from one drive to another.
Samsung uses a proprietary license from cloniix.

In either case, the risk is minimal since the source remains unchanged.
Whatever risk there is will be the perpetuation of whatever defects you now have in your current setup.
 
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swenson.tor

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my ssd is the crucial mx500 1 terabyte. i was planning on using AOMEI backup tool to do a clone because my original plan apparently wont work, but if Crucial has a tool that you recommend using I would like to know what it is.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Mar 16, 2013
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If you wish to do the cloning thing, this:

Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
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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Solution
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swenson.tor

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Alright, im about to do it. one more question. when you say significantly higher, is around a hundred and fifty gigabytes more storage enough for this to be successful?
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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What drives, and how much is consumed on your current drive?
 
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swenson.tor

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My current drive is a Seagate barracuda 1 terabyte drive with around 831 gigabytes of storage consumed and the SSD is a crucial MX500 one terabyte.

 
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swenson.tor

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I just deleted a bunch of temp files and random stuff to free up space, now it's down to around 600 gigabytes consumed. I'm guessing that's enough?
 
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swenson.tor

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alright dude. sorry if im a bit of a noob ive never done anything like this. thanks everyone for the help!
 
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pensive69

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i'm still noobish but will mention that you don't usually want to have
more than 1 Windows boot drive in your system.
(if you use/reuse the old HDD).
Windows will often just not boot at all until you
tell the BIOS what drive you want and force it to boot
from that location; if you keep an old OS install.
 
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olaf

olaf

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Oct 23, 2011
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Cloning is possible , tho I'm always fan of a fresh install. When installing freshly on the SSD I recommend doing it with the HDD disconnected. Feel free to reattach it after first windows boot. Also I'd recommend downloading the mainboards chipset drivers and in case it's needed the drive controller drivers, followed by the video card and sound card drivers. Install Windows 10 without an internet connection and install said drivers I said order. Windows update drivers are not necessarily the best choice, and sometimes on older systems they tend to mess up future installation of driver's especially on older systems. I've encountered this problem mainly on Intel chipsets as old as p35 and as new as a z97.
 
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Preymantas

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By "Keep all my files" do you mean the Documents folders and any data files elsewhere on the drive that needs to be on the boot drive or have the same exact system setup that's on your current 1TB HDD? If same setup you're only two choices are fresh install and re-install of all apps, or cloning. I would bite the bullet and do a completely fresh install with all the latest drivers and updates, then install the 1TB HDD as the 2nd drive and move all the Documents folders over to the new 1TB SSD Documents folder after the SSD is completely setup.

Sounds like you will end up with an 1TB SSD boot, a 1TB HDD and your 1TB External. Are you going to be doing your backups to the 1TB Ext. Drive or the 1TB internal HDD? I'm assuming you're going to be setting up the former 1TB HDD as a 2nd system internal, correct? That would be the fastest, most reliable scheduled backup solution even if you are using USB3.x or eSATA externals. Chances are slim to none that both drives would fail at the same time, so it's a safe, fast, reliable solution. Nowadays backing up to HDD is the only solution for doing scheduled backups that makes any sense.
 
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Dark knight56

Dark knight56

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