Changing my boot drive?

[Hyperman3218]

My PC's one and only storage solution is a 7200 RPM WD blue drive that I would like to swap out for an SSHD. I'll still be using the WD blue drive but I'd prefer Windows to boot off of the SSHD and I'm not sure what that process might be. What I want is to change the SSHD to my main drive that Windows boots off of and all of my other programs boot off of and the WD blue drive that I have at the moment to store anything extra that I have. Both are 1 TB.


http://www.ncix.com/detail/western-digital-wd10j31x-blue-sshd-90-110114-1322.htm
SSHD

 

[glamdringfh]

Hi Hyperman,

You can change what drive your computer boots to in your BIOS. When your computer first boots up press your BIOS load key (usually f12, delete, or f8) to enter your BIOS. Look for a tab named something similar to 'Boot Order' and from there you can choose which drive has priority during startup.

**Make sure your new drive has Windows already installed on it or your computer will continue to skip over it during startup, even if it is first in the boot order.

 

[Hyperman3218]

Hi Hyperman,

You can change what drive your computer boots to in your BIOS. When your computer first boots up press your BIOS load key (usually f12, delete, or f8) to enter your BIOS. Look for a tab named something similar to 'Boot Order' and from there you can choose which drive has priority during startup.

**Make sure your new drive has Windows already installed on it or your computer will continue to skip over it during startup, even if it is first in the boot order.

I'd prefer to keep all of my settings the same on windows and not do a clean install. Is there a way to migrate all of my files to the new drive and reformat the old drive?

 

[glamdringfh]

Absolutely. The process is called cloning and will look like this:

-Turn off your PC
-Physically install the new drive into your computer
-Boot up normally to your old HDD drive and install your cloning software
-In the cloning software choose to clone your current drive to your new drive
-Once the clone is finished turn off your PC and unplug your old drive
-Try booting to your new drive to ensure the clone was successful
-If the clone worked, turn off the PC and plug your old HDD back in
-Make sure your new hard drive is first in your BIOS boot order
-Re-format the old drive to use it as extra storage!

If you are looking for a good cloning software Macrium Reflect is a very popular choice:

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

**Be careful when you are replacing hard drives. They are succeptible to static shock and should be handled only after making sure you are as grounded as possible. If you have one make sure to wear an ESD wrist strap, if you don't have an ESD wrist strap try to maintain contact to the metal part of your PC case as much as possible.

 

[Hyperman3218]

Absolutely. The process is called cloning and will look like this:

-Turn off your PC
-Physically install the new drive into your computer
-Boot up normally to your old HDD drive and install your cloning software
-In the cloning software choose to clone your current drive to your new drive
-Once the clone is finished turn off your PC and unplug your old drive
-Try booting to your new drive to ensure the clone was successful
-If the clone worked, turn off the PC and plug your old HDD back in
-Make sure your new hard drive is first in your BIOS boot order
-Re-format the old drive to use it as extra storage!

If you are looking for a good cloning software Macrium Reflect is a very popular choice:

http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

**Be careful when you are replacing hard drives. They are succeptible to static shock and should be handled only after making sure you are as grounded as possible. If you have one make sure to wear an ESD wrist strap, if you don't have an ESD wrist strap try to maintain contact to the metal part of your PC case as much as possible.

thank you!

 

[glamdringfh]

No problem, good luck with your cloning!