Moving Drivers to SSD from HDD

[highlife]

Not sure how to google, this as my attempts have failed.

I have a 120GB SSD coming. (Vertex 1 by OCZ) I am currently using about 160Gb of my 500GB HDD so a simple clone is not really an option. My plan is to install my SDD, install windows. Boot from it, and then install my.isos and steam stuff onto the SSD from my HDD before wiping it. I know win7 seven is good with drivers, but I wonder, can I go task manager->update drivers and point to a location on the HDD for it to copy the drivers from? That way all my drivers are updated as I have them right now? Just seems like it would be quicker...

Thanks.

OS is win7.

 

[RetiredChief]

If you downloaded the drivers and saved them, yes - But you cannot "point" to an installed driver and say "use this"

 

[alyoshka]

It shows you're using 160 GB of your 500GB.
I would suggest a complete systems cleanup inclusive of all the Program Data, My Documents etc etc. Clean Temp directories for all users.
Disable restore and cleanup the restore point.
Then check the size of the disc occupied space.
Don't forget to disable the pagefile on the drive too.

Or the other way would be to leave the 500GB as it is, do a clean install of win7 on the new SSD, install your steam thing and just point to the Isos on the other drive....

Or
you can use a software like Driver Magician and create a self extracting exe file to save a lot of space and time. Then after installation of Win7 all you need to do is run the exe once and it automatically deploys all the drivers to their required components and place no other clutter is collected so all the old drivers and stuff like that don't end up slowing the system and creating dead registry items.

 

[kikireeki]

If the drivers are your concern then have no fear and go for a fresh install. Windows7 is that good and even if something went wrong, downloading a driver would be way faster and easier than work around.

But if you want to keep your old programs then the safest way is to make a disk cleanup to reduce the used space to under 120GB, then use one of Hiren's boot many tools to clone your old system and restore it to the new SSD.