1

I recently built another desktop computer with 3 drives, one of which is from my old computer. I want to move my Windows install to the new solid state drive without losing all of my files on the old drive. I have looked into image copying software but it all looks risky. My latest plan was to mount the Windows 10 ISO to a flash drive, uninstall my old drive, install Windows on the SSD, and then plug in my old drive and uninstall Windows from it.

Can anyone validate this plan or provide a possibly easier alternative?

Improve this question
6
  • The SSD manufacturer might provide a tool to migrate the old drive data to their SSD. However, the first item in your list should be to make a complete backup of the drive.
    – Andrew Morton
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 22:38
  • I am currently backing up.
    – JTT
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 22:38
  • A good piece of imaging software shouldn't be risky at all, especially if you've backed up - what's causing your concern about the risk?
    – Unencoded
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 22:50
  • I don't know what imaging software is good and what imaging software is bad, would be my concern. All the imaging software websites I have been to have an atmosphere of malware.
    – JTT
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 22:58
  • I respect your caution JTT, unfortunately such software is a perfect medium for those who wish to cause havoc for PC users so your concern is very valid - however there are some very good examples of software out there, see below and let me know if I can do anything else.
    – Unencoded
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 23:04

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
0

Whilst I am not affiliated with the folks over at How to Geek.com, they do have an excellent tutorial on how to do exactly what you are trying to do.

The best part is that the software they suggest using is free and also includes recovery media functionality to fix any problems that might arise - usually very minor problems to do with the MBR (Master Boot Record) and BCD (Boot Configuration Data); these appear serious as they prevent booting of the OS, but are easy to rectify, especially using the software in this example: Macrium Reflect Free

The link to the How to Geek tutorial is here:

How to Upgrade Your Existing Hard Drive in Under an Hour

Under normal circumstances I would go through the steps of the process in shorthand for you, however I believe their explanation is particularly good in this case, and your concerns about the risk of drive cloning are more likely to be eased with a more in depth approach, as found above.

I wish you a smooth transition to your shiny new SSD!

EDIT:

As we are only wanting to move the OS to the new drive and not all files due to reduced storage capacity, things are a little different.

If we think of your HDD as containing two groups of files this will be easier to explain: System-Attached files and Data-Storage files. System-Attached files are programs, their dependencies and Windows itself - only a clone operation will preserve their function. Note that many programs make use of save/config files that you can restore from backup, which can be considered as Data-Storage files, these are files which aren't tied to the current OS - basically anything you could put on a memory stick and still use on as normal.

The only way to not have to reinstall programs is to remove as many of your data-storage files as you can (backed up) to make the contents of the HDD small enough to clone to the SSD. You can then format the HDD and copy all your Data-storage files over to it and use your HDD as (you guessed it) data-storage only. If you have a separate partition for Windows/System-Attached files there is an alternative, but many of us don't.

Improve this answer
14
  • Darn. I was hoping I didn't have to move all my files to another drive before migrating the OS. I have a nearly packed 1TB and I was planning on moving the OS to a 64GB SSD. Did my initial plan have any merit?
    – JTT
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 23:43
  • Just to make sure I'm on the same wavelength, you want to copy just the OS, to keep your current settings, but not any user files?
    – Unencoded
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 23:54
  • Yes, thats exactly what I want.
    – JTT
    Commented Mar 6, 2016 at 23:55
  • Ah, that is a harder one. The general advice in such a situation is to do a clean install on the SSD, or delete all the original user files on the 1TB drive to leave pretty much just the OS, then clone that, as you have backups of your files - just as you mentioned above. I have heard of situations where your plan did indeed have merit, but to my knowledge they rely upon you having a dedicated Windows partition on the original drive.
    – Unencoded
    Commented Mar 7, 2016 at 0:03
  • 1
    I'd like to add on a tip that if you have problem getting your OS to fit on the smaller disk (because it seems like you can't remove enough stuff), try doing a disk defragmentation. That will tidy up and pack the data together (getting rid of all empty spaces) so that it'll fit nicely into your smaller drive. 64GB isn't very big... (also you might be able to get away with not uninstalling some programs this way)
    – Wizongod
    Commented Mar 7, 2016 at 0:56

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .