bhome83 :
So after some google search some people say you need to go into disk management, and delete the partitions because an OS HDD has 3 partitions so it isn't enough just to delete the files because it will see the drive as 3 partitions still.
How do I tell windows to format the disk? Do I just right click the disk and press 'quick format'? Some people make it sound like you need to do a step before this though in disk management..
That's the thing. You can't really format a disk. You format a partition. And if the HDD still has 3 partitions on it because it used to be a boot disk, you first have to delete all those partitions. Something you can't do while the HDD is still your boot drive.
So
■Clone the HDD to the SSD.
■Change your BIOS to make sure the computer boots off the SSD (this can get tricky - you might have to disconnect the HDD to make sure the computer is in fact booting off the SSD. Then create a new file on the desktop named "This is the SSD." Then reconnect the HDD, boot again, and hopefully you'll see the "This is the SSD" file on the desktop.)
■Boot off the SSD.
■Go into disk management, and delete all the partitions on the HDD.
■Create a new single partition which spans the entire HDD.
■Format that partition.
Note: The usual recommendation when getting a new SSD is to do a clean install of Windows onto it. This is to make sure Windows is configured correctly for a SSD. If you just clone it, it'll still be configured for a HDD. However, the "OS optimization" function in Samsung's Magician software will change those settings for you. So it's OK to clone the HDD to SSD in this case.