how to install an OS to an SSD and set it to boot

[averyadams970]

I know there are many other threads that answer this question but none seem to to quite get the solution for myself. I have an old hard drive that is starting to run slow on boot up, so I decided to buy a 750GB SSD to use for my OS. I have downloaded the IOS file from microsoft, extracted it into the partition i made for the OS and then started the installation from there on that SSD. This is where I become confused because I do not know if the OS was actually downloaded onto that partition because I have no idea what the files look like, but disregarding this assuming it worked i tried to set the SSD as my boot drive in the bios and launched my computer. This brought me to a screen that first says to choose my keyboard layout then after that a series of option such as continue on to windows 10, turn off computer, boot from usb, network connection, or dvd. But Alas, all these option end up with the same result, restarting my computer to the exact same screen. I reset my original hard drive to the boot drive again and here I am wondering how I am going to get this to work

 

[Gam3r01]

You should put the ISO file on a flashdrive or CD or similar, the drive should be blank if its new.
From there you just unplug every drive thats not the SSD, boot from the USB etc and follow the instructions.

 

[photonboy]

1) Since you have the OS file the procedure is to use RUFUS on an 8GB+ USB stick first to create the bootable install media.
https://rufus.akeo.ie/

2) UNHOOK all other drives except the SSD and boot USB stick (and DVD)

3) boot to that not the SSD (use BIOS to quick-boot the USB stick if need be... if that fails USB stick may not be created properly)

4) follow instructions, and may need:
a) user e-mail + password for W10 (i.e. MSN account), and
b) key code? (buy later if need be, though it may or may not auto-activate if you have an existing code from other PC that is being transferred)

UPDATE: when you first start the install, you should DELETE those partitions you made on the SSD. You should see one line then showing capacity and free space are the same or some similar statement.

*Personally, I would make TWO partitions after deleting what's there first.
a) delete existing partitions
b) make a new partition of roughly 150GB (150,000MB if in MegaBytes is close enough), then
c) make a 2nd partition with the remainder (450GB or so)

Windows then should be installed to the smaller partition. The reason for this is so you can more easily use BACKUP software like Acronis True Image to automate an OS partition backup in a smaller size. You can restore that part if say the SSD fails. You can use Steam to create a folder on the 2nd partition and call it say "E:\Steam" for games.

Not necessary but I recommend doing it this way then setting up a backup Image solution or at minimum create a backup Image that won't update using the free version of Acronis TI or Seagate DiscWizard (see hard drive software support site) AFTER YOU INSTALL drivers, programs and have everything tweaked. Don't want to go off track too much but my backup Image in Acronis TI is: weekly, Incremental, 2nd highest compression, auto-delete older backups

5) finish update, let MS updates finish, video drivers, fan control setup etc