[SOLVED] Can I clone my windows OS from my C: hardrive to my NEW ssd?

[Ramiro.Giorgi]

Hey people, so today I finally bought an 256 gb patriot p210 ssd and I was planning on using it to store the win 11 OS and 1 or 2 games, so they load faster. The problem is that my current pc already has 2 hard drives. One of 500gb (my current C: drive, where I store the windows OS, programs such as power ISO, drivers, and 1 or 2 games from steam I think) and the other of 1tb that I have for only storing games, university things and documents. So I want to only clone the OS form the C: drive to the ssd and leave the other things intact. Can that be done? Or should I do a clean install of windows on the ssd and delete the win 11 OS from the C: hard drive? Thanks in advance

 

[Parroty69]

You can use the program Caroline suggested but after you've done that make sure you have done the steps here and check if your ssd is properly aligned:
How to Speed Up Your Solid-State Drive by Re-Aligning Its Partition
If the ssd isn't properly aligned your need to follow the steps in the link to properly align it

 

[sizzling]

You cannot clone just Windows, you have to clone the whole partition that Windows is installed on. For this to work you would need to get your C: drive down to about 210gb.

However I would take the opportunity to do a fresh install of Windows and reformat the old drive and use for storage. If you go down this route when you install Windows only have the new drive installed and only put the other drives back in when finished installing.

 

[Ramiro.Giorgi]

You cannot clone just Windows, you have to clone the whole partition that Windows is installed on. For this to work you would need to get your C: drive down to about 210gb.

However I would take the opportunity to do a fresh install of Windows and reformat the old drive and use for storage. If you go down this route when you install Windows only have the new drive installed and only put the other drives back in when finished installing.

Okay i think im gonna do what you are saying. I only have one question. Why would I have to get the c: drive down to 210gb? I mean, if I do not do this I cant clone it?
Also I never installed windows by myself. should I download it from microsoft oficial page?

 

[USAFRet]

Okay i think im gonna do what you are saying. I only have one question. Why would I have to get the c: drive down to 210gb? I mean, if I do not do this I cant clone it?
Also I never installed windows by myself. should I download it from microsoft oficial page?

To clone into a 256GB drive, your actual consumed space on the Source drive MUST be below 200GB. No exceptions.

For a fresh install on the new drive, this:

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

Of course, this means a reinstall of everything else as well.
Drivers, applications, etc.

 

[USAFRet]

Also, for your system...

You can't clone 'only windows'. All or nothing.
You have both Win 10 and 11 installed? On the same drive?

 

[DSzymborski]

Okay i think im gonna do what you are saying. I only have one question. Why would I have to get the c: drive down to 210gb? I mean, if I do not do this I cant clone it?
Also I never installed windows by myself. should I download it from microsoft oficial page?

It's important to not fill up SSDs. As they get close to full, their speed drops considerably as they're handled differently than traditional hard drives. And as the SSD ages, it gets even more important to have that room over time.

If you're installing Windows, simply download it from the official site and follow the instructions to make bootable Windows media on a flash drive. It's a very easy task, though if you go this route, make sure you have all your important files backed up first (though you really ought to be doing this already).

Personally, I'll almost always go the install route rather than the clone route. There's always some junk in Windows that accumulates over time, like the random crap in my garage. When there's a good opportunity to start a clean slate, I like to take it.

 

[Ramiro.Giorgi]

Also, for your system...

You can't clone 'only windows'. All or nothing.
You have both Win 10 and 11 installed? On the same drive?

no, i only have win 11 installed. i upgraded it from the 10 version though. But i was thinking of switching back to Win 10 becouse 11 isnt exactly perfect right now haha.

 

[Ramiro.Giorgi]

It's important to not fill up SSDs. As they get close to full, their speed drops considerably as they're handled differently than traditional hard drives. And as the SSD ages, it gets even more important to have that room over time.

If you're installing Windows, simply download it from the official site and follow the instructions to make bootable Windows media on a flash drive. It's a very easy task, though if you go this route, make sure you have all your important files backed up first (though you really ought to be doing this already).

Personally, I'll almost always go the install route rather than the clone route. There's always some junk in Windows that accumulates over time, like the random crap in my garage. When there's a good opportunity to start a clean slate, I like to take it.

to be honest, i only have university things backed up. i mean appart from personal things i would like to keep, is anything else i should back up?

 

[USAFRet]

no, i only have win 11 installed. i upgraded it from the 10 version though. But i was thinking of switching back to Win 10 becouse 11 isnt exactly perfect right now haha.

Then a fresh install of 10 is indicated.
See the tutorial linked above.

 

[USAFRet]

to be honest, i only have university things backed up. i mean appart from personal things i would like to keep, is anything else i should back up?

All your username/password combinations
Install files for whatever applications you use
Find all the specific drivers for your hardware, and save those on a flash drive
Double/triple check whatever personal files you have backed up elsewhere. It is VERY common to see..."I forgot that one important folder"

 

[Ramiro.Giorgi]

Then a fresh install of 10 is indicated.
See the tutorial linked above.

Thx man.

 

[Ramiro.Giorgi]

All your username/password combinations
Install files for whatever applications you use
Find all the specific drivers for your hardware, and save those on a flash drive
Double/triple check whatever personal files you have backed up elsewhere. It is VERY common to see..."I forgot that one important folder"

Mmhm, Iam very worried about the drivers. I mean I was going to download it again but how can I find them on the drive? Im los There haha

 

[USAFRet]

Mmhm, Iam very worried about the drivers. I mean I was going to download it again but how can I find them on the drive? Im los There haha

You don't find them on the drive....rather you download them from the manufacturers website.
You can't extract what is already installed on your current drive.