I bought an SSD. Now what?

[kataztrah]

Id like to know how to install windows to boot up from my SSD drive. Will i need to use the disk before or after? Also my computee is already built. I built it about five months ago. I dont want to clean everything off my computer and redownload stuff. So what should I do?

 

[DaronMal]

Image the current drive you use to boot Windows, place the image on your SSD, then extract the image (usually using the same software) onto the SSD. Turn your PC off fully, unplug the old drive, and see if it boots up okay without the old drive, if not, try looking in your BIOS to see what it's trying to use to boot.

 

[digitaldoc]

In order to use the SSD, you will need to reload the OS onto the SSD as it will be the new boot drive. It is important to do a fresh install of Windows to avoid any issues.

 

[Blueberries]

If the SSD is big enough you can clone your old Windows partition onto it using software.

Otherwise you can install Windows on a new partition of the SSD and access your files from the HDD like normal (you'll have to reconfigure several applications if their dependencies are on the drive, and some rely on HKEYs that will no-longer exist.)

 

[LordConrad]

If your SSD has enough room, you can just clone your old hard drive to the SSD and run everything off the new SSD (I use Acronis True Image for cloning because it always works).

If your SSD doesn't have enough room to clone your hard drive, then the best thing to do is install everything fresh. This way you don't mess up any software configurations and everything just works.
1. Backup your hard drive and then unplug the cables from it.
2. Install your SSD in the computer and install Windows on your SSD.
3. Re-attach the cables to your hard drive.
4. Wipe the hard drive and install all your software.
5. Restore any important data files from your backup (make sure you restore them to the correct location, you have two drives now).

 

[LordConrad]

In order to use the SSD, you will need to reload the OS onto the SSD as it will be the new boot drive. It is important to do a fresh install of Windows to avoid any issues.

Incorrect, I've cloned hard drives to many different SSDs and never had any issues. Any well known, brand name cloning software should work perfectly.

 

[digitaldoc]

In order to use the SSD, you will need to reload the OS onto the SSD as it will be the new boot drive. It is important to do a fresh install of Windows to avoid any issues.

Incorrect, I've cloned hard drives to many different SSDs and never had any issues. Any well known, brand name cloning software should work perfectly.

You can have your opinion about cloning, but I still would go with a fresh install as the sure fire way to get all the latest drivers installed, with no conflicts.

 

[USAFRet]

Incorrect, I've cloned hard drives to many different SSDs and never had any issues. Any well known, brand name cloning software should work perfectly.

You can have your opinion about cloning, but I still would go with a fresh install as the sure fire way to get all the latest drivers installed, with no conflicts.

A clean install always works, a migration/clone usually works.

 

[LordConrad]

Incorrect, I've cloned hard drives to many different SSDs and never had any issues. Any well known, brand name cloning software should work perfectly.

You can have your opinion about cloning, but I still would go with a fresh install as the sure fire way to get all the latest drivers installed, with no conflicts.

A clean install always works, a migration/clone usually works.

Although I've never had any issues, I'm willing to take your word for it as i've not tried every single SSD and cloning software on the market. I can only go by my own experience, which has been zero cloning problems.