[SOLVED] How to transfer everything from HDD to new SSD

[pati_yeet]

I am going to upgrade my old hard drive to a samsung 960 evo ssd (2.5” version) but I don’t know how I’m going to transfer everything over including the OS to the new SSD. The HDD has 1tb of storage and the SSD has 500gb of storage. I heard you can clone but is there any other way?

 

[Barty1884]

You can clone, but you'd have to reduce the used partition size to <500GB so you can clone in it's entirety.

The best route though, honestly, is a clean OS install onto the SSD, backup your data from the HDD and format it so you have bulk mechanical storage.

While a clone can work, you take the good/bad/ugly (ie registry errors, driver conflicts & the like)

 

[pati_yeet]

If I’d went with the other option with installing an OS on the SSD, would I have to get a new OS or could I use the one on my HDD? If that won’t work then I’ll have to clone the HDD.

 

[Barty1884]

Assuming Windows 10, and it's currently activated- provided you install the same version (home/pro etc), then it'll automatically re-active when you're back online.

Create installation media here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10

 

[USAFRet]

The HDD has 1tb of storage and the SSD has 500gb of storage. I heard you can clone but is there any other way?

Critical question - How much space is actually consumed on your current C drive?
If it is under 400GB, then you can clone the whole thing over.
Specific cloning steps to follow if desired.

If you instead want to do a clean install on the new SSD, read this:
How to do a CLEAN installation of Windows 10

 

[pati_yeet]

I’m writing a bit late but everything has worked out. I cloned my hdd with samsung migration and all is good now. Thanks for the help though.