Moving OS to an SSD

[Superpeanut]

Hey guys I'm planning to buy a 120 GB SSD (Kingston) which is currently on sale for only 38 euro and I've found a couple of videos that explained moving the OS but I still didn't quit got the message.

Any ideas on moving the OS ?

 

[USAFRet]

Hey guys I'm planning to buy a 120 GB SSD (Kingston) which is currently on sale for only 38 euro and I've found a couple of videos that explained moving the OS but I still didn't quit got the message.

Any ideas on moving the OS ?

You can't migrate 'only' the OS.

How much total space is consumed on your current drive? Going into a 120GB drive, that needs to be below 80GB or so.

 

[Doctor Rob]

You could just reinstall the OS. but 120GB is pretty small I would only use a 240GB drive for a main OS drive. IF you dont have a large drive to begin with you can use Acronis to copy the old drive to the new SSD as I have done that more then a few times now. but normally its from an smaller drive to a larger drive.

 

[captaincharisma]

areed its cheap but a 120GB is too small. you would be doing memory management constantly. you could creating an image with a free program like macrium reflect but the image may be too big to restore to a small drive like that

 

[USAFRet]

Agreed. Today, a 120GB drive is right on the edge of TooSmall.
It will work, but you need to spend a lot more time with space management, to make sure it doesn't fill up.

 

[Superpeanut]

I've got a 500gb old HDD (bootdrive) and a 2tb HDD, I do have enough time to do some space management, any suggestions on files that I should move from the 500gb one to the 2tb one?

 

[USAFRet]

I've got a 500gb old HDD (bootdrive) and a 2tb HDD, I do have enough time to do some space management, any suggestions on files that I should move from the 500gb one to the 2tb one?

How much space is actually consumed on the 500GB drive?
What, exactly, constitutes that space?

As said, for an actual migration into that 120GB drive, you need to get the actual used space to below 80GB or so.
At that point, a clean install is probably easier.

But I do have a set of tested steps to do a migration, if/when you get that actual used space down to the needed number.

 

[Superpeanut]

The reason I wanted to go for a 120 GB SSD that it will speed up the system at a reasonable price (I spent around 650ish on my pc)

 

[captaincharisma]

I've got a 500gb old HDD (bootdrive) and a 2tb HDD, I do have enough time to do some space management, any suggestions on files that I should move from the 500gb one to the 2tb one?

even if you do restrict the SSD to the OS only and no programs being installed on it then you can still run into space problems with system files you can't simply move those over to another drive. there are also windows update files where major ones like the creators update will take up a lot of space and may not be able to install;l them due to low space on the drive

 

[Superpeanut]

A 240gb ssd wil cost me 75ish which is, well quit a higher price, sooo its worth the extra 30ish euros?

 

[USAFRet]

A 240gb ssd wil cost me 75ish which is, well quit a higher price, sooo its worth the extra 30ish euros?

Yes it is ABSOLUTELY worth it.

And for a 250GB drive, the Crucial MX500, instead of whatever Kingston you chose.
https://www.amazon.de/Crucial-MX500-CT250MX500SSD1-250GB-Internes/dp/B0764WCXCV
77 EUR

 

[Superpeanut]

I also though of the option to do a fresh install of windows (using the free version with the watermark in the right bottom) and try to salvage important programs from the old 500gb HDD (from 2008) would this be a viable option as well?

 

[USAFRet]

I also though of the option to do a fresh install of windows (using the free version with the watermark in the right bottom) and try to salvage important programs from the old 500gb HDD (from 2008) would this be a viable option as well?

You can't salvage applications like that.
They'd need to be reinstalled with the new OS.
You can install them on whichever drive you choose, when you install it. But you can't move them as you are thinking of.

Steam games can be moved. Which is why I asked what constitutes this space.


And that is not a "free" version. It is rather the regular version of Win 10, just not activated yet.

 

[Corwin65]

A 240gb ssd wil cost me 75ish which is, well quit a higher price, sooo its worth the extra 30ish euros?

Yes, well worth it.

 

[Superpeanut]

So I can't jsut move the program files folder to the 2TB HDD ?

 

[USAFRet]

Consider this...
You're going to be living with this OS drive for a few years.
An extra 30ish EUR for twice the space is maybe 1 EUR/month, averaged out.

For a LOT less brainache.
Almost every day, we see people in here whose 120GB drive is simply running out of space.
Everyone says "only the OS". It never ends up like that.