Moving OS and Apps from SSD To SATA On Brand New HP Envy 17t

[wjgrange]

I just bought this brand new HP laptop as a Christmas present. (Model No. 17t-ae100CTO, Serial No. 5CG74918K7, Product No. 1WC56AV). One of the features of this particular laptop is that it has a hybrid hard drive. It contains a 1TB SATA drive PLUS a 128GB SSD drive,

Unfortunately, it came from HP configured backwards from what I consider my preferred configuration for a hybrid or dual-drive pc. It came with the OS and other apps installed on the small 128GB SSD, with the 1TB SATA drive basically empty.

The way I have my older personal hybrid drive computer set up is that the OS and apps are installed on the larger SATA drive and the smaller SSD drive is reserved for my files (documents, videos, pictures and music).

My rationale is that SSD drives are more reliable than SATA drives. If I lose my OS and apps, no problem, I can just reload everything from a combination of recovery disks and the internet. However, my personal files are irreplaceable. That is why I prefer to have my OS and apps on the SATA drive and only keep my personal files on the SSD.

To do this, I know I need to clone the existing info currently on the SSD drive to the virtually empty SATA drive in a way that makes the SATA drive a bootable partition, then change whatever boot options are necessary to boot from the SATA instead of the SSD. Once I am sure everything is working correctly, I can then re-format the SSD drive to give me a completely empty SSD.

Currently, the bulk of the SSD is my c: drive and the bulk of my SATA is my d: drive. I would like to switch it so my SATA is the bootable c: drive that contains the OS and any installed apps and the SSD is an empty drive until I add personal files to it.

I contacted HP Support on this and they were 100% useless. First they said it couldn't be done and then they told me it couldn't be done without me purchasing a separate, retail copy of Windows. I know these are both incorrect.

My question to knowledgeable forum users is: How can I best accomplish this? (Move OS and other preloaded software from SSD to SATA and have laptop boot from SATA in the future.) The more detailed methodology you can provide, the higher my chances of success. For example, what specific program should I use to clone the drive and what options in said program do I need to select so that partition being created on SATA drive will be a bootable partition.

Any and all help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Bill Granger

 

[Corwin65]

Interesting take on your setup. Never heard of doing it that way.

I think the solution would be to ensure you are using a MS login, download Win10, unplug the SSD, and install on the HD. Once it's up and running, you can reconnect the SSD and use it for your files.

I still think the standard way of using the SSD best but if it works for you that's awesome. Just make sure you still have a backup solution for the SSD as well.