how to change drive

[avenstin]

i have one drive only which is my 2.5 ssd and i'm thinking about using an m.2 ssd as my main drive to put os and apps etc. but if i do that, how do i switch my 2.5 ssd into a storage drive and remove os from it?? I wouldn't know because i've never had multiple drives before and so used to operating on just one drive.

 

[captaincharisma]

you would connect it to another SATA port after installing the M.2 drive, once booted into the OS you can get access to the drive and format it

 

[rchris]

If you don't mind re-installing your apps, you could do this: disconnect your 2.5 SSD (just unplug either the power or SATA cord); do a fresh install of Windows on the M.2 drive, making it the system drive. Reconnect the 2.5 drive and delete the system files, keeping whatever other files you want.

If you don't want to reinstall everything, you'll need to clone or image the 2.5 SSD to the m.2.

Also, be sure to check your motherboard manual. When you plug in an M.2, that may make your current SATA port (for your 2.5 drive) inoperable.

 

[10tacle]

You need to download and run a disk imaging/cloning utility to move your OS and files from the SSD to the new M.2 drive. My Samsung EVO 950 came with a copy of Acronis and it made swapping the OS from an HDD to that SSD a snap. Then I wiped out the HDD with a full format and had a second drive. It's pretty obvious, but keep in mind if your M.2 drive is smaller than your SSD, it won't work unless you remove files to make the SSD file amount smaller than the M.2.

 

[USAFRet]

i have one drive only which is my 2.5 ssd and i'm thinking about using an m.2 ssd as my main drive to put os and apps etc. but if i do that, how do i switch my 2.5 ssd into a storage drive and remove os from it?? I wouldn't know because i've never had multiple drives before and so used to operating on just one drive.

First off, you won't really notice that much changing from a SATA SSD to an NVMe drive.
Benchmarks look great, but real world perception may not meet that.

Second...you must determine what type of m.2 port your motherboard has.
Not all are NVME. The m.2 is merely the connection type. A SATA m.2 is exactly the same performance as your current 2.5" drive.

Thirdly...is this a desktop or laptop?

We can go into detail about switching later.

 

[avenstin]

i have one drive only which is my 2.5 ssd and i'm thinking about using an m.2 ssd as my main drive to put os and apps etc. but if i do that, how do i switch my 2.5 ssd into a storage drive and remove os from it?? I wouldn't know because i've never had multiple drives before and so used to operating on just one drive.

First off, you won't really notice that much changing from a SATA SSD to an NVMe drive.
Benchmarks look great, but real world perception may not meet that.

Second...you must determine what type of m.2 port your motherboard has.
Not all are NVME. The m.2 is merely the connection type. A SATA m.2 is exactly the same performance as your current 2.5" drive.

Thirdly...is this a desktop or laptop?

We can go into detail about switching later.

Well it turns out the motherboard i want doesn't support nvme with the m.2 ssd i was planning to get so im gonna do some research and pick something else. thanks for the heads up though now things make more sense now