Question Moving primary SSD to a new PC confusion

[Jaegeren]

Tomorrow i'm starting on my new build that is gonna replace my 6 year old PC.
The only only thing i plan to salvage is my old Sata SSD.

Although i'm a bit confused in what steps i have to take to not mess anything up.

My plan is to move the SSD to my new PC as a secondary drive, rather than as the primary drive i use it for now. As an M.2 is gonna replace it as primary. How is that best done?

My current idea is
1: Build new PC and install windows through a bootable usb.

2: Install windows and reactivate it.

3: Install the old SSD afterwards and format it.

Will this work?
And a bonus question, if you run an M.2 SSD as primary, is it best to connect the old Sata drive into Sata 1 on the motherboard, or should it be in Sata 2? Or is the port number irrelevant?

Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[jay32267]

That should work.
Just make sure that when you add the SSD...it is not at the top of the boot order. Make sure your M2 is. You don't want to boot to the SSD.

SATA port number is irrelevant. Just don't use the SATA ports that get disabled (if there are any) because you used the M2 slot.

Sometimes SATA ports get disabled when you use the M2 slot. Check the MB manual.

 

[Jaegeren]

Thanks for your quick reply. My motherboard is the MSI MAG Tomahawk x570, it's my first time using an MSI board, so i have no idea if it disables sata ports. I will check the manual

 

[jay32267]

Unless I'm just missing it...I don't see anything regarding SATA ports getting disabled in the manual.

 

[Jaegeren]

Yeah. Just checked myself, no mention of it. I guess i'll take the port that makes cable managment the easisest then.

Thanks for your replies, i got my answer.

 

[jay32267]

Yeah. Just checked myself, no mention of it. I guess i'll take the port that makes cable managment the easisest then.

Thanks for your replies, i got my answer.

You're welcome.

 

[sonofjesse]

I"m not saying this is the best way. But with windows 10, I have moved quite a few SSD's between machines, and it will just boot and work like nothing happened. (I"m not saying you its perfect or the best case), but I'm saying it seems to have worked quite a few times.

Just a data point, I'm not telling you to skip a clean install (which is best).

Thanks

 

[jay32267]

I"m not saying this is the best way. But with windows 10, I have moved quite a few SSD's between machines, and it will just boot and work like nothing happened. (I"m not saying you its perfect or the best case), but I'm saying it seems to have worked quite a few times.

Just a data point, I'm not telling you to skip a clean install (which is best).

Thanks

"But with windows 10, I have moved quite a few SSD's between machines, and it will just boot and work like nothing happened. "

This is possible.

BUT....it doesn't always work without problems.

A clean install avoids this risk.