HDD to SSD Migration

[pacci524]

Hi, I have a 500gb HDD on my PC and I would like to upgrade and buy a 250gb SSD so that I can speed up boot times and for some games too. I've watched some guides on how to migrate OS from HDD to SSD but I'm not sure what to do after doing so.

Here are lists of questions I have when doing this:
- Does migrating the OS also duplicate all other files and applications on the HDD? Or would it only clone the OS?
- After cloning, how do I make sure that my PC is running the OS from the SSD and not the HDD?
- How do properly remove the OS from the HDD?
- Would I need to do anything else after migrating the OS? (Stuff to do that will make sure there are no performance issues after the migration).

My goal here is to put the OS and all my games in the SSD and then turn my old HDD to storage for other files and applications

Thank You!

 

[SkyNetRising]

Is your OS in separate partition from other data/programs/user files ?
If it is not, then you can't just move OS to SSD.

Post screenshot from Disk Management.
You'll get your answers, what's possible and what's not, in your situation.

Generally - used space in your HDD has to be smaller than size of SSD for cloning operation to be possible.

 

[USAFRet]

Hi, I have a 500gb HDD on my PC and I would like to upgrade and buy a 250gb SSD so that I can speed up boot times and for some games too. I've watched some guides on how to migrate OS from HDD to SSD but I'm not sure what to do after doing so.

Here are lists of questions I have when doing this:
- Does migrating the OS also duplicate all other files and applications on the HDD? Or would it only clone the OS?
- After cloning, how do I make sure that my PC is running the OS from the SSD and not the HDD?
- How do properly remove the OS from the HDD?
- Would I need to do anything else after migrating the OS? (Stuff to do that will make sure there are no performance issues after the migration).

My goal here is to put the OS and all my games in the SSD and then turn my old HDD to storage for other files and applications

Thank You!

250GB SSD.
How much total space is consumed on your current HDD?

 

[USAFRet]

Oh, and disregard whatever videos you find on utube. They are often wrong or incomplete.

Specific, tested, steps to follow once we determine if this is possible with your hardware and data.

 

[pacci524]

Is your OS in separate partition from other data/programs/user files ?
If it is not, then you can't just move OS to SSD.

Post screenshot from Disk Management.
You'll get your answers, what's possible and what's not, in your situation.

Generally - used space in your HDD has to be smaller than size of SSD for cloning operation to be possible.

https://ibb.co/h9P8Aw
Sorry I meant 1TB HDD rather than 500gb, there are alot of files together where the Windows is.

 

[USAFRet]

Is your OS in separate partition from other data/programs/user files ?
If it is not, then you can't just move OS to SSD.

Post screenshot from Disk Management.
You'll get your answers, what's possible and what's not, in your situation.

Generally - used space in your HDD has to be smaller than size of SSD for cloning operation to be possible.

https://ibb.co/jTyUHb
Sorry I meant 1TB HDD rather than 500gb, there are alot of files together where the Windows is.

Disk Management, not Windows Explorer.

 

[pacci524]

Is your OS in separate partition from other data/programs/user files ?
If it is not, then you can't just move OS to SSD.

Post screenshot from Disk Management.
You'll get your answers, what's possible and what's not, in your situation.

Generally - used space in your HDD has to be smaller than size of SSD for cloning operation to be possible.

https://ibb.co/jTyUHb
Sorry I meant 1TB HDD rather than 500gb, there are alot of files together where the Windows is.

Disk Management, not Windows Explorer.

Sorry, ive updated the last post.

 

[USAFRet]

OK...this is a bit tricky, due to the 2 partitions on the single physical drive.

Your C partition is about 188GB used. This is good.
Your D partition is about 193GB used. Not so good.

Migrating the whole C partition and needed boot info to the SSD is no problem.
But then getting that whole space on the 1TB to be usable is a bit tricky.

Do you have another drive you can use? Internal, USB external, whatever. Preferably 500GB or larger.

 

[pacci524]

OK...this is a bit tricky, due to the 2 partitions on the single physical drive.

Your C partition is about 188GB used. This is good.
Your D partition is about 193GB used. Not so good.

Migrating the whole C partition and needed boot info to the SSD is no problem.
But then getting that whole space on the 1TB to be usable is a bit tricky.

Do you have another drive you can use? Internal, USB external, whatever. Preferably 500GB or larger.

Not really, I can't really understand what the issue is yet, is it not possible to use files in the HDD when you are using an SSD as your boot drive?

OS and games are the only things I want to put in the SSD, I assume I cant just drag and drop my games from HDD to SSD so I'll just reinstall if i have to. And I just have at least 80gb worth of games here.
Or could I just freshly install my Windows 10 to the SSD? would I still be able to use everything on my HDD like that? Sorry this is the first time i'm going to use an SSD so i'm a bit new

 

[USAFRet]

Yes you can use stuff on the HDD while the OS is on the SSD. Very common config.

The only small difficulty in your present system is the partitioning on that one drive.
It is possible to clone everything except your D partition to the SSD. But then later, getting all that space merged into one on the HDD will require a 3rd party tool.
And anytime you mess with partitions like that, you really need a backup of the data. It is far too easy to click the wrong thing, and it all goes away.

What, exactly, is in that D partition?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Ok - here's how you move things to SSD (you can use Minitool Partition Wizard Free):

• 1. Install SSD into PC;
  2. SSD has to be partitioned in GPT partitioning scheme. Do that first;
  3. Clone 99MB to SSD (assign drive letter F: ) ;
  4. Clone C: to SSD (shrinked to all available space) (assign drive letter G: ) ;
  5. Use bcdboot command to fix bootloader:
  • bcdboot G:\windows /s F:
  6. Now shutdown the system, remove HDD and verify that system can boot into OS (may need to change boot priorities in BIOS) ;
  7. If everything is ok, then you can reconnect HDD;
  8. Delete old recovery partition, old EFI system partition, old OS partition;
  9. Copy D: partition to beginning of the drive;
  10. Delete old D: partition;
  11. Extend copied D: partition to all drive.

Done

 

[USAFRet]

For an expanded version of steps 1-4 above, here:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive (EXCEPT the D partition)
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe as necessary.
Delete the original boot partitions, here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/4f1b84ac-b193-40e3-943a-f45d52e23685/cant-delete-extra-healthy-recovery-partitions-and-healthy-efi-system-partition?forum=w8itproinstall
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