Help on Cloning Windows 10 to SSD drive.

[davidnavratil]

Newbie Dave here! I have a Compaq Pres DT cq5210f model. I have Windows 10 on it and it runs fine. I made a mistake when partitioning and my "System Reserve" ended up on it's own partition (About 100 MB)!
I want to install a SSD and move my OS from the internal HD to the SSD and later remove the old HD. I've backed up all my data, I have removed all software except for the OS. What I want to know is when I move Windows 10 over to the SSD should I move the "System Reserve" into it's own partition or move everything into 1 partition!! Hope I'm making sense! Tks for all help - David N

 

[Geekwad]

So much easier just to start over with a fresh install.

Previously activated copies of Windows can be reinstalled in the same machine, but you have to use the manual (telephone) activation wizard to get a verification ID to actually 'activate' it.

 

[USAFRet]

The 'System Reserved' Is supposed to be its own partition, 100MB. This is required.

To migrate to the new SSD, any of the current mogrations tools will probably work
Macrium Reflect, Acronis Trueimage, Easus Todo, Casper, Samsung Data Migration (if you have a Samsung drive)

Now...I usually recommend a clean install on a new SSD, but the cloning thing usually works. usually.

Questions:
How large is the new SSD?
How large is the total used space on your current C partition?

 

[CelicaGT]

Mind your partition offset when cloning. I've run into a few OEM drives that have an XP offset, 63kb iirc. Should be divisable by 4 with 1024kb being the norm.

 

[davidnavratil]

The SSD is a Crucial 120 GB, the total use space on my internal HD is 19 GB (Just the operating system)!! Tks for our help!

The 'System Reserved' Is supposed to be its own partition, 100MB. This is required.

To migrate to the new SSD, any of the current mogrations tools will probably work
Macrium Reflect, Acronis Trueimage, Easus Todo, Casper, Samsung Data Migration (if you have a Samsung drive)

Now...I usually recommend a clean install on a new SSD, but the cloning thing usually works. usually.

Questions:
How large is the new SSD?
How large is the total used space on your current C partition?

 

[davidnavratil]

OK I agree I would like to do a fresh install!! I have Widows 10 on a USB drive, should I remove the internal harddrive first and then install Windows onto the SSD or do I leave the HD in and install it. Will my system be able to activate the OS if the HD has been removed first? Remember "Newbie" here - Tks, David

So much easier just to start over with a fresh install.

Previously activated copies of Windows can be reinstalled in the same machine, but you have to use the manual (telephone) activation wizard to get a verification ID to actually 'activate' it.

 

[USAFRet]

19GB? You're almost certainly not seeing everything, but what you're not seeing won't be too large.

Anyway, use one of the above tools to migrate from the old drive to the SSD.
Macrium Reflect, for instance.