Help! I need to move windows 7 to my new SSD

[soldier5637]

Hey there, I got my SSD in the mail about an hour ago, it's a Samsung 850 Evo. Im sure this is an over asked question, but how do you do it? Ive tried searching the web and everyone says totally opposite things. I dont want to reinstall or wipe anything, I simply want to move windows to the SSD from my one terabyte HDD. The included software seemingly wont let me, thank you.

 

[MarkW]

Go up on the Samsung SSD site, and download the cloning software.

 

[TyRaNiDeX]

Hello soldier5637, very easy !

You have to clone your HDD on your SSD, no need to reactivation or reinstallation of your software 😉
I've done it my self, try the soft : EASYUS TODO BACKUP, it is pretty easy to use !

You can select the amount of data you want to clone.

 

[daniel_blacke]

Yea.. better answers than mine

 

[USAFRet]

If you current used space on the 1TB is larger than the SSD, it will indeed not do it.

What size SSD, and how much total space is used on your current drive?

 

[USAFRet]

You can select the amount of data you want to clone.

Actually, not really. You can exclude some things, like the Libraries. Other than that...everything goes.
You don't get to pick which applications, etc.

 

[soldier5637]

I have downloaded the Samsung software. It doesn't do much. Doesn't go very me any option to move windows, only music and pictures. If NEED be, I'll reinstall it but I don't want to. Can anyone help me figure out a solution? I have a terabyte hard drive, the ssd and a 900 gig external harddrive.

 

[USAFRet]

I have downloaded the Samsung software. It doesn't do much. Doesn't go very me any option to move windows, only music and pictures. If NEED be, I'll reinstall it but I don't want to. Can anyone help me figure out a solution? I have a terabyte hard drive, the ssd and a 900 gig external harddrive.

How much used space is on the 1TB drive?
How large is the SSD?

 

[daniel_blacke]

Read this please...

http://lifehacker.com/5837543/how-to-migrate-to-a-solid-state-drive-without-reinstalling-windows

 

[gerr]

There are multiple programs, including the one from Samsung, that allow you to clone your existing HDD to the new SSD as long as you can reduce the size of your HDD to no bigger than the SSD. There is no program that I know of that will just pull the OS from one drive to another, so you MUST reduce the side of your current HDD to no bigger than the SSD.

With that being said, it is still best to preform a fresh OS install onto the SSD.

 

[soldier5637]

Almost 500 gigs are used in the hdd, 120 on ssd. If I wipe it from scratch and reinstall windows on the ssd, I can just get it all back if I back it up on my external hard drive right?

 

[USAFRet]

Almost 500 gigs are used in the hdd, 120 on ssd. If I wipe it from scratch and reinstall windows on the ssd, I can just get it all back if I back it up on my external hard drive right?

OK, then...a clean install on the SSD is the only way forward.
Your personal files..put them on the external drive
Any applications WILL have to be reinstalled. You can't just copy/paste them and hope to use them properly.

No need to wipe the 1TB HDD first.
Just connect the SSD and install with only that drive installed.

 

[gerr]

You can backup up data, but not programs.

Your best bet is to back up your existing HDD to the external drive, then remove the HDD and install the SDD and load a fresh copy of Wndows onto it. Once Windows is fully loaded, but before you install any of your programs, install the HDD back into the system and use Windows to reformat it. Now as you install your programs back onto the PC, install them to the D: drive, which is your HDD instead of the C: drive, which is your SSD. Also, when you pull data from your external drive back onto your main system, put it back on the HDD, not the SSD. A 120GB SSD isn't much, so you really want to make sure you only have the OS and a few core programs on it only.

 

[MarkW]

Amazingly, I went and downloaded the Samsung migration tool, but it will not install for me on my Samsung 840 EVO 1TB drive...