[SOLVED] How to install Windows 10 onto a new SSD if I already have it installed on old HDD?

[footballvideosofficial]

I just got a new drive, an M.2 SSD.

I have Windows10 installed on my 7200rpm HDD so I want to have it on my SSD from now on. Can someone please help me and tell me how to do that?

Do I just plug SSD and change boot options to SSD from BIOs ans that's it? I guess first I will have to use a usb (ISO Windows) to install it, correct?

I am sorry but I don't know much about such.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Disconnect HDD before you install windows onto SSD.
If you don't do that, SSD will not be bootable by itself. You'll need HDD to be present for system to be bootable.

 

[footballvideosofficial]

Disconnect it how? Just physically remove the cables and unplug it from mobo and PSU?

But if I do this and then install HDD again (I want to have SSD for OS and HDD for rest), won't HDD have windows on it?

 

[Colif]

1. download the Windows 10 media creation tool and use it to make a win 10 installer on USB - if you don't have latest installer already
2. remove hdd and any other drive apart from ssd from PC (or just unplug the power cable on hdd)
3. change bios so USB is 1st in boot order, ssd 2nd (unless motherboard lets you set boot so it boots off 1 device for one boot and then defaults to ssd, then use this to boot off USB and set ssd as default)
4. run installer and follow this: : http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-windows-10-clean-install.html
5. when you reach the screen asking for licence, click "I don't have a key" and win 10 will continue to install and reactivate once finished
6. Once win 10 installed, restart PC a few times to make sure it boots off SSD.

7. Do you want anything off hdd? if so, power down PC, unplug PC, put hdd back in, restart PC and go into BIOS and make sure hdd isn't added as a boot device. Don't change anything else.
8. copy data off hdd onto ssd
9. its not ideal to have 2 installs of windows 10 on same PC, so at some stage you will want to wipe it off hdd. To do that, easiest way is:
go to settings/update & security/recoverty
under advanced startup, click the restart now button
this restarts windows in a blue menu
choose troubleshoot
choose advanced
choose command prompt
type diskpart and press enter
type list disk and press enter
this shows all drives available, DVD/USB and hdd, make note of hdd number
type Select disk X - where X is the number of the hdd you want to wipe, change X to that number and press enter (careful not to choose SSD)
once the drive you want to wipe is chosen, type Clean

note clean will wipe entire hdd so make sure you copied everything you want before running it.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Yes - you unplug sata power and data cables from HDD.

Nothing will happen to your HDD. Everything that was there before, will still be there.

 

[Spinachy]

You must use "cloning" software to copy the contents of your hard drive onto the SSD. Follow these instructions : http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/faq/id-2839729/clone-drive.html
I like to then (temporarily) remove the hard drive, and set the BIOS to boot from the SSD, so I can check it is working as expected. Then I plug back the hard drive, and re-format it.

 

[footballvideosofficial]

Thanks guys I think I got it.

A last question, in one of your steps you told me to copy data from Hdd to SSD. How can I dp that?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Cloning is not always possible. SSD may be too small for that.

 

[footballvideosofficial]

Honestly I don't really want to clone anything.

So do I skip the cloning part?

Oh and, is it necessary to clean my HDD disk completely?

The thing is, I will have SSD only for OS and a few games, rest all on HDD. Can't I just manually remove OS from HDD? Because I will first unplug HDD, plug SSD, install Windows but then HDD will still have all files on it, correct?

 

[SkyNetRising]

I will have SSD only for OS and a few games, rest all on HDD. Can't I just manually remove OS from HDD?

Yes it is possible. But it may be tricky to delete all the remains of OS.

Because I will first unplug HDD, plug SSD, install Windows but then HDD will still have all files on it, correct?

Correct.

 

[Colif]

yes, you can rename the old windows folder on hdd as windows.old and run diskcleanup to remove it. That still leaves an old boot partition which is harder to remove.

As for copying info off hdd to ssd, well, once hdd is reattached windows will be able to see it. All you may need to do is open an old folder and windows should ask if you want to take ownership of those files. If some are steam games you can reuse them without downloading them again. Just download client on ssd, and point default library location at old folder and steam will find all the games.

 

[footballvideosofficial]

Tht might be a stupid question but why do I have to unplug HDD before plugging SSD? Can't I simply select SSD for boot?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Tht might be a stupid question but why do I have to unplug HDD before plugging SSD? Can't I simply select SSD for boot?

You have to unplug HDD before installing windows onto SSD.
Otherwise SSD will not be bootable by itself. You'll need HDD to be present for system to be bootable.

 

[Colif]

Tht might be a stupid question but why do I have to unplug HDD before plugging SSD? Can't I simply select SSD for boot?

If you left hdd in when installing win 10, the windows installation will notice that there is a boot partition on the hdd and instead of making one on the ssd, it will change the one on the hdd to point at the ssd. This is fine until you either removed hdd or it stopped working, then suddenly the ssd would not boot by itself. Removing hdd leaves installer no choice but to make one on the ssd.

just a longer version of what SkyNetRising said

now leaving the boot partition on the old hdd has its own risks, in that if PC bios gets mixed up at any stage, it might try to boot off the old hdd. If you have removed windows folder on the hdd by this stage, it won't get very far but would still create an error at boot up. Hence why I suggested to wipe hdd at some later stage.