[SOLVED] Issues with new boot drive

[sirrodicus]

I’ll start by saying I’m bad with computers. I know how to build them and that’s about it. My knowledge for troubleshooting software ends with the few programs I’m familiar with--Clip Studio, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. I’ll be honest, I kinda need to be babied through fixing anything with Windows. It’s not my forte.

About a month and a half ago I rebuilt most of my PC excluding the GPU, I don’t think I need to explain why. I went from an i5 4690k to an i9 10850k. I also doubled from 16GB of ram to 32GB. That’s all well and good, but the upgrade I was really excited about was moving to all NVME storage. I currently boot off a 500GB Kingston SSD. I got two NVME’s, a 500GB 970 Evo for boot, and a 2TB WD blue for mass storage. The WD blue works great and is stupid fast, all my steam games kinda pop into existence without loading it’s amazing. To get everything on it from my WD black hard drive I copy-pasted and it seemed to work fine.

Now for the issues. I tried to use Macrium reflect and clone my Kingston boot drive to get Windows and my other software onto the 970 Evo. While things like Clip Studio and Illustrator worked perfectly fine on the Evo after the clone, Windows was slow and buggy booting off it. Something went wrong. I was able to gather that for such a massive hardware change you can’t clone the drive you need to do a clean install of Windows.

This is where my lack of skill with software was an issue. I had a few people explain how to do it in my head but I couldn’t figure it out. Plus I never got a straight answer on what to do with the data already moved to the Evo. Should I erase it and start over? If I clean install Windows on it as is, will the new Windows install handle the old Windows files automatically? How do I erase a drive without damaging it? People were talking about using a USB drive or something but it was never clear to me. They were nice and super helpful I just don’t think I was clear enough about how little I know about software.

Plus, a new issue has come up. My computer stopped recognizing the Evo, it’s gone. It was there in Windows for a while, I booted some programs off of it and it worked well. Now it’s gone. I didn’t open the computer and haven’t touched any hardware. I have no idea what caused it but I’m worried.

My ultimate plan is to use the 970 for boot and stuff and save the Kingston for games but I can’t seem to get past this hurdle.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Darkbreeze]

A clean install is just that, clean. There won't BE any "old Windows files" because a clean install means starting COMPLETELY from scratch.

Now, that being said, if you have specific documents, music, movies, program backups, etc., that you have saved from your old Windows installation to be migrated back into those applications after you reinstall them, then yes, Windows will play nice with those files, same as it did before, so long as you have reinstalled the program they were created by. In the case of music or movies, obviously you need some kind of player installed for those as Windows lost most of it's media support long ago without having a 3rd party application.

I would write off the clone and clean install to the 970 EVO. Also, when you do so, it is IMPORTANT that you do NOT have ANY other drives attached to the system EXCEPT the drive you are installing Windows FROM, and the drive you are installing Windows TO.

Here is how to do it. I need to update my guide to account for the most recent changes to the installer, but 95% of it should be the same and the rest you can easily figure out yourself with just a little common sense, since it's just a couple of screens that will appear different.

There is also a few other items that might be important to you, since you've built a new system and activation is likely going to be a concern since Microsoft will see this as a whole new system. Information on mitigating that is available at the links below as well.

How to associate your windows 10 license with a Microsoft account

Reactivating Windows 10 after a hardware change

Windows build 1607 (Or newer) and activation after a hardware change



and in case you should ever need to do a CLEAN install of Windows, this guide will help to ensure it gets done properly.

How to do a CLEAN installation of Windows 10, the RIGHT way

.​

 

[USAFRet]

I went from an i5 4690k to an i9 10850k.

That needs a fresh OS install.
Especially if you are having issues after this swap, and still using the old OS.

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

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