How to migrate (not clone) Windows 8.1 to SSD and use HDD as only storage

[MH60AV8R]

I just bought a Crucial M550 mSATA SSD and want to migrate (not clone) my OS to it (essentially cut/paste not copy/paste). Are there any programs that don't clone my OS so that I don't have to format my HDD. Also, I want to make my SSD my bootable disk. How is the best way to go about doing all of this. Is there a step-by-step walkthrough somewhere because most things I have seen are people cloning their OS and then removing their HDD (not sure why you wouldn't just keep the free storage space). Also, would you recommend waiting to upgrade to Windows 10 and then doing all of this or migrate and then upgrade? Do you have any suggestions for software that will do this with a Crucial M550 mSATA SSD? Last question, my HDD is partitioned into 2 halves with 1 half storing my pics/videos. If I can't migrate and cloning is the only option: can I just format the partition that had my OS on it without formatting the whole disk so I don't delete my pics/videos? This is my first post here, thanks for any help!

 

[popatim]

There is only 1 migration path. Its not free. Its Paragons Migrate OS to SSD.
Do a full backup or image first as the process is not 100% guaranteed to work
Paragon has a step by step on their site if you decide you want to pay for the app.

 

[MH60AV8R]

Does anyone have experience with Paragon and Crucial SSDs?

 

[USAFRet]

and want to migrate (not clone)

There is only one application that purports to move "only the OS"..the above mentioned Paragon Migrate. All results I've seen are very mixed as to total success.

There are several other applications that will move the entire contents of the C partition to a different drive.

What exactly do you have, and what exactly do you want the end state to be?

 

[USAFRet]

You seem to be looking for a "cut/paste" OS migration, rather than a "copy/paste" migration.
I don't recommend 'cut/paste' even for normal files.

Copy/paste, then if it actually works OK, delete the original.
There are far too many instances where a 'cut/paste' deal can go wrong, where you can't recover.

 

[bpitas]

Does anyone have experience with Paragon and Crucial SSDs?

I just used Paragon on a Kingston last night to migrate a Windows 10 64bit hard drive to a Kingston 120GB SSD and it worked perfectly. The key in my case was to make sure the SSD was using the same file system as the hard drive. For some reason my SSD was formatted with NTFS GPT, but my old hard drive was NTFS MBR. Once I used the Storage component of Windows Computer Management to change the SSD over to MBR, the Paragon worked flawlessly with no activation issues or anything. The instructions for changing the file system from GPT to MBR is in the Paragon knowledge base.

 

[ArtPog]

1. We're assuming that the disk-space capacity of your Crucial SSD is sufficient to contain the contents of your OS installed on the C: partition of your HDD.

2. That being the case, you would use a disk-cloning program to clone the contents of that C: partition to the SSD.

3. Following the d-c operation connect the SSD to the motherboard's first SATA data connector (SATA 0 or SATA 1); (temporarily) uninstall your HDD and boot to your newly-cloned SSD to determine that it properly boots & functions.

4. Reinstall the HDD and boot the system to determine all is well. We'll assume the now-secondary HDD bears the same drive assignment letter it had previously. If it doesn't, change it in Disk Management.

5. After you've determined the system is A-OK you can delete the HDD partition containing the operating system. BUT BEFORE YOU DO, MAKE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN YOUR SYSTEM IS PROPERLY OPERATING. Only then can you comfortably utilize that former C: partition disk-space for storage or other purposes.

6. I assume you would be interested only in a freely available disk-cloning program. If so, two of the more popular programs (there are others as a Google search will inform you) are:
EaseUS Todo Backup Free program
http://www.todo-backup.com/products/home/free-backup-software.htm, and,
Macrium Reflect Free
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

 

[hcmcf_]

...The key in my case was to make sure the SSD was using the same file system as the hard drive. For some reason my SSD was formatted with NTFS GPT, but my old hard drive was NTFS MBR. Once I used the Storage component of Windows Computer Management to change the SSD over to MBR, the Paragon worked flawlessly with no activation issues or anything.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. This was my problem as it turned out, I was almost at my wits end searching forums for the solution. With this new-found knowledge I wiped the SSD, reformatted as MBR, cloned from HDD using EaseUS Todo ('optimise for SSD', 'shut down when complete'). Before turning PC back on, unplugged HDD and SSD booted perfectly.