How to migrate

[DOS Six]

Ok so i'm getting ready to move my whole pc to a new case and i'm going to do a couple upgrades when i do the first is a new graphics card (which i know how to do) and the second is an ssd boot drive but i'm not 100% sure how to do this. I've done quite a bit of research on it and it seems the only way to migrate only the OS (which is what i want to do) is to remove the old hdd and plug in the ssd and do a clean install but my question is if i do this will i have to re download or reinstall all my current games and prgrams or can i just plug in the old drive again and have all my prgrams and data just as it was before? Sorry if a post about this topic has already been made and answered i tried finding one but i couldn't. Thanks for viewing and any insite you can provide.

 

[Colif]

If you fresh install onto a ssd you will have to reinstall all your programs again as Windows on the ssd wouldn't see the old games.

secondly, as you only have 1 licence for win 10 you can't run the old hdd at same time as new. You can keep it as a back up but cannot use it. Also can cause bios to get confused as to which windows to run at start up.

you can reuse steam folders but most other programs would need to be reinstalled.

there is cloning software but sometimes it can miss the boot partition and leave ssd unable to boot.

 

[USAFRet]

New drive, you have 2 options - Clone or Clean install

Clone - This requires a couple of things.
1. How large is the new SSD?
2. How much current used space is on the C drive or partition?
3. How much of that is games, or doc/music/funny cat videos?
4. Do you have any other drives?

The Clone usually works. Usually.

Clean install - This also requires a few things
1. A valid license key and install media
2. All of your application install files, and the needed serial numbers/license keys
3. All of your current username/passwords
4. All of your hardware drivers
5. The will to do a full reinstall of everything.


So...what do you have, and which way do you want go?
Oh, and you can't migrate only the OS. Doesn't work like that.

 

[Colif]

number 3 in clean install is the hardest thing to get unless you have used same word document for years and remember to update it every time you buy something new. Apart from number 1 you can get it all again from web.

 

[DOS Six]

New drive, you have 2 options - Clone or Clean install

Clone - This requires a couple of things.
1. How large is the new SSD?
2. How much current used space is on the C drive or partition?
3. How much of that is games, or doc/music/funny cat videos?
4. Do you have any other drives?

The Clone usually works. Usually.

Clean install - This also requires a few things
1. A valid license key and install media
2. All of your application install files
3. All of your current username/passwords
4. All of your hardware drivers
5. The will to do a full reinstall of everything.


So...what do you have, and which way do you want go?
Oh, and you can't migrate only the OS. Doesn't work like that.

ok so the new ssd i'm buying is 250gb and i currently only have one drive which is a 2tb hdd and i have used 249 gb of it what i would like to do is have just my os on the ssd and all my games, programs, and files on the hdd if i delete a game or two could i migrate everything to the ssd then format the hdd and just move all my games, programs, and file to it and not have to reinstall them? also thanks for the reply.

 

[USAFRet]

New drive, you have 2 options - Clone or Clean install

Clone - This requires a couple of things.
1. How large is the new SSD?
2. How much current used space is on the C drive or partition?
3. How much of that is games, or doc/music/funny cat videos?
4. Do you have any other drives?

The Clone usually works. Usually.

Clean install - This also requires a few things
1. A valid license key and install media
2. All of your application install files
3. All of your current username/passwords
4. All of your hardware drivers
5. The will to do a full reinstall of everything.


So...what do you have, and which way do you want go?
Oh, and you can't migrate only the OS. Doesn't work like that.

ok so the new ssd i'm buying is 250gb and i currently only have one drive which is a 2tb hdd and i have used 249 gb of it what i would like to do is have just my os on the ssd and all my games, programs, and files on the hdd if i delete a game or two could i migrate everything to the ssd then format the hdd and just move all my games, programs, and file to it and not have to reinstall them? also thanks for the reply.

So....
A 250GB SSD.

As said, you can't migrate only the OS.
To migrate to the new SSD, you need to reduce that used space to below 200GB. Preferably well below.

Do you have any other drives?

 

[DOS Six]

New drive, you have 2 options - Clone or Clean install

Clone - This requires a couple of things.
1. How large is the new SSD?
2. How much current used space is on the C drive or partition?
3. How much of that is games, or doc/music/funny cat videos?
4. Do you have any other drives?

The Clone usually works. Usually.

Clean install - This also requires a few things
1. A valid license key and install media
2. All of your application install files
3. All of your current username/passwords
4. All of your hardware drivers
5. The will to do a full reinstall of everything.


So...what do you have, and which way do you want go?
Oh, and you can't migrate only the OS. Doesn't work like that.

ok so the new ssd i'm buying is 250gb and i currently only have one drive which is a 2tb hdd and i have used 249 gb of it what i would like to do is have just my os on the ssd and all my games, programs, and files on the hdd if i delete a game or two could i migrate everything to the ssd then format the hdd and just move all my games, programs, and file to it and not have to reinstall them? also thanks for the reply.

So....
A 250GB SSD.

As said, you can't migrate only the OS.
To migrate to the new SSD, you need to reduce that used space to below 200GB. Preferably well below.

Do you have any other drives?

no i don't have any other drives. would i be able to reduce it to 200gb and clone it to the new ssd then put all my games, programs, and files on the hdd or would they have to stay on the ssd since they were cloned there

 

[USAFRet]

New drive, you have 2 options - Clone or Clean install

Clone - This requires a couple of things.
1. How large is the new SSD?
2. How much current used space is on the C drive or partition?
3. How much of that is games, or doc/music/funny cat videos?
4. Do you have any other drives?

The Clone usually works. Usually.

Clean install - This also requires a few things
1. A valid license key and install media
2. All of your application install files
3. All of your current username/passwords
4. All of your hardware drivers
5. The will to do a full reinstall of everything.


So...what do you have, and which way do you want go?
Oh, and you can't migrate only the OS. Doesn't work like that.

ok so the new ssd i'm buying is 250gb and i currently only have one drive which is a 2tb hdd and i have used 249 gb of it what i would like to do is have just my os on the ssd and all my games, programs, and files on the hdd if i delete a game or two could i migrate everything to the ssd then format the hdd and just move all my games, programs, and file to it and not have to reinstall them? also thanks for the reply.

So....
A 250GB SSD.

As said, you can't migrate only the OS.
To migrate to the new SSD, you need to reduce that used space to below 200GB. Preferably well below.

Do you have any other drives?

no i don't have any other drives. would i be able to reduce it to 200gb and clone it to the new ssd then put all my games, programs, and files on the hdd or would they have to stay on the ssd since they were cloned there

Whatever is in the C partition gets cloned over.
Later, you can uninstall and then reinstall on the HDD if you choose.

Why I asked about another drive is...what you should do is completely wipe the old HDD after the clone thing is up and running.
That way, you have a blank slate to use for games and applications. Either way, you need to completely wipe the old OS and the boot partition.
And it's not just the Windows folder you need to get rid of.

There are other steps you need to do if you consider this clone operation.

 

[DOS Six]

New drive, you have 2 options - Clone or Clean install

Clone - This requires a couple of things.
1. How large is the new SSD?
2. How much current used space is on the C drive or partition?
3. How much of that is games, or doc/music/funny cat videos?
4. Do you have any other drives?

The Clone usually works. Usually.

Clean install - This also requires a few things
1. A valid license key and install media
2. All of your application install files
3. All of your current username/passwords
4. All of your hardware drivers
5. The will to do a full reinstall of everything.


So...what do you have, and which way do you want go?
Oh, and you can't migrate only the OS. Doesn't work like that.

ok so the new ssd i'm buying is 250gb and i currently only have one drive which is a 2tb hdd and i have used 249 gb of it what i would like to do is have just my os on the ssd and all my games, programs, and files on the hdd if i delete a game or two could i migrate everything to the ssd then format the hdd and just move all my games, programs, and file to it and not have to reinstall them? also thanks for the reply.

So....
A 250GB SSD.

As said, you can't migrate only the OS.
To migrate to the new SSD, you need to reduce that used space to below 200GB. Preferably well below.

Do you have any other drives?

no i don't have any other drives. would i be able to reduce it to 200gb and clone it to the new ssd then put all my games, programs, and files on the hdd or would they have to stay on the ssd since they were cloned there

Whatever is in the C partition gets cloned over.
Later, you can uninstall and then reinstall on the HDD if you choose.

Why I asked about another drive is...what you should do is completely wipe the old HDD after the clone thing is up and running.
That way, you have a blank slate to use for games and applications. Either way, you need to completely wipe the old OS and the boot partition.
And it's not just the Windows folder you need to get rid of.

There are other steps you need to do if you consider this clone operation.

Ok, thanks again for responding and sorry for asking so many questions i'm still somewhat new to building pc's but I have one last question. If I clone my hdd to my new ssd could i then just format the onld hdd after everything is on the ssd then once it's formatted re install all my games and programs then move all my files over or do I need a backup drive?

 

[USAFRet]

New drive, you have 2 options - Clone or Clean install

Clone - This requires a couple of things.
1. How large is the new SSD?
2. How much current used space is on the C drive or partition?
3. How much of that is games, or doc/music/funny cat videos?
4. Do you have any other drives?

The Clone usually works. Usually.

Clean install - This also requires a few things
1. A valid license key and install media
2. All of your application install files
3. All of your current username/passwords
4. All of your hardware drivers
5. The will to do a full reinstall of everything.


So...what do you have, and which way do you want go?
Oh, and you can't migrate only the OS. Doesn't work like that.

ok so the new ssd i'm buying is 250gb and i currently only have one drive which is a 2tb hdd and i have used 249 gb of it what i would like to do is have just my os on the ssd and all my games, programs, and files on the hdd if i delete a game or two could i migrate everything to the ssd then format the hdd and just move all my games, programs, and file to it and not have to reinstall them? also thanks for the reply.

So....
A 250GB SSD.

As said, you can't migrate only the OS.
To migrate to the new SSD, you need to reduce that used space to below 200GB. Preferably well below.

Do you have any other drives?

no i don't have any other drives. would i be able to reduce it to 200gb and clone it to the new ssd then put all my games, programs, and files on the hdd or would they have to stay on the ssd since they were cloned there

Whatever is in the C partition gets cloned over.
Later, you can uninstall and then reinstall on the HDD if you choose.

Why I asked about another drive is...what you should do is completely wipe the old HDD after the clone thing is up and running.
That way, you have a blank slate to use for games and applications. Either way, you need to completely wipe the old OS and the boot partition.
And it's not just the Windows folder you need to get rid of.

There are other steps you need to do if you consider this clone operation.

Ok, thanks again for responding and sorry for asking so many questions i'm still somewhat new to building pc's but I have one last question. If I clone my hdd to my new ssd could i then just format the onld hdd after everything is on the ssd then once it's formatted re install all my games and programs then move all my files over or do I need a backup drive?

If everything you want fits within 200GB or less, yes.

So...
Reduce to below 200GB
Clone from the old drive to the new drive
Once the clone operation is done, power off
Disconnect the old HDD. This is critical.
Power up, and adjust the BIOS boot order if necessary. SSD first.
See if it boot properly.
You may want to do this a couple of times, until you are satisfied that it actually boots from the SSD alone.

After, reconnect the HDD.
Wipe ALL partitions on it.
Use as needed.

 

[DOS Six]

New drive, you have 2 options - Clone or Clean install

Clone - This requires a couple of things.
1. How large is the new SSD?
2. How much current used space is on the C drive or partition?
3. How much of that is games, or doc/music/funny cat videos?
4. Do you have any other drives?

The Clone usually works. Usually.

Clean install - This also requires a few things
1. A valid license key and install media
2. All of your application install files
3. All of your current username/passwords
4. All of your hardware drivers
5. The will to do a full reinstall of everything.


So...what do you have, and which way do you want go?
Oh, and you can't migrate only the OS. Doesn't work like that.

ok so the new ssd i'm buying is 250gb and i currently only have one drive which is a 2tb hdd and i have used 249 gb of it what i would like to do is have just my os on the ssd and all my games, programs, and files on the hdd if i delete a game or two could i migrate everything to the ssd then format the hdd and just move all my games, programs, and file to it and not have to reinstall them? also thanks for the reply.

So....
A 250GB SSD.

As said, you can't migrate only the OS.
To migrate to the new SSD, you need to reduce that used space to below 200GB. Preferably well below.

Do you have any other drives?

no i don't have any other drives. would i be able to reduce it to 200gb and clone it to the new ssd then put all my games, programs, and files on the hdd or would they have to stay on the ssd since they were cloned there

Whatever is in the C partition gets cloned over.
Later, you can uninstall and then reinstall on the HDD if you choose.

Why I asked about another drive is...what you should do is completely wipe the old HDD after the clone thing is up and running.
That way, you have a blank slate to use for games and applications. Either way, you need to completely wipe the old OS and the boot partition.
And it's not just the Windows folder you need to get rid of.

There are other steps you need to do if you consider this clone operation.

Ok, thanks again for responding and sorry for asking so many questions i'm still somewhat new to building pc's but I have one last question. If I clone my hdd to my new ssd could i then just format the onld hdd after everything is on the ssd then once it's formatted re install all my games and programs then move all my files over or do I need a backup drive?

If everything you want fits within 200GB or less, yes.

So...
Reduce to below 200GB
Clone from the old drive to the new drive
Once the clone operation is done, power off
Disconnect the old HDD. This is critical.
Power up, and adjust the BIOS boot order if necessary. SSD first.
See if it boot properly.
You may want to do this a couple of times, until you are satisfied that it actually boots from the SSD alone.

After, reconnect the HDD.
Wipe ALL partitions on it.
Use as needed.

Ok, thanks a lot for all your help.

 

[USAFRet]

And always, be prepared for a full reinstall of the OS and everything else.
Just in case.

(this is one of the reasons I asked about another drive)

What application are you planning on using for this clone operation?
I recommend Macrium Reflect, or Samsung Data Migration if a Samsung drive.

 

[DOS Six]

And always, be prepared for a full reinstall of the OS and everything else.
Just in case.

(this is one of the reasons I asked about another drive)

What application are you planning on using for this clone operation?
I recommend Macrium Reflect, or Samsung Data Migration if a Samsung drive.

the drive i'll be using is a crucial mx200. would you recommend Macrium Reflect since it is a crucial drive?

 

[USAFRet]

And always, be prepared for a full reinstall of the OS and everything else.
Just in case.

(this is one of the reasons I asked about another drive)

What application are you planning on using for this clone operation?
I recommend Macrium Reflect, or Samsung Data Migration if a Samsung drive.

the drive i'll be using is a crucial mx200. would you recommend Macrium Reflect since it is a crucial drive?

Yes.
Here: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

 

[DOS Six]

And always, be prepared for a full reinstall of the OS and everything else.
Just in case.

(this is one of the reasons I asked about another drive)

What application are you planning on using for this clone operation?
I recommend Macrium Reflect, or Samsung Data Migration if a Samsung drive.

the drive i'll be using is a crucial mx200. would you recommend Macrium Reflect since it is a crucial drive?

Yes.
Here: http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx

Ok thanks again i'll post here telling my results once I finish it.