[SOLVED] New PC Comes with Windows - Can I Use my Current SSD?

[cotillion]

I've seen a few variations of this question, but I'm a bit unclear of my specific scenario, so apologies in advance for my ignorance. I have a new PC arriving today, and it already has Windows and a 256GB SSD. Id like to swap that out and use my current larger SSD. What steps will I need to go to in order to properly run the new Windows license and have larger capacity? Is there a way to just wipe my current one and then run two SSDs, or will that just make everything more difficult?

Also, a question unrelated to this sub: new PC (Ryzen 5 5600g) comes with 8gb DDR4 3200 RAM. Am I better off using that or popping in my current 16gb of DDR4 2133 (assuming they fit the board)? I've heard more at slower speed is better but wasn't sure.

 

[jay32267]

You can clone the SSD that's in the machine to your larger SSD.
....and then after you get it booting off the larger SSD....wipe the smaller SSD.
There are no licensing issues.
I'd go with "more RAM"....but that can depend on your situation and what you are running.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I have a new PC arriving today, and it already has Windows and a 256GB SSD. Id like to swap that out and use my current larger SSD.

Depends on specs of the system.
Please list full technical specification of your new system. Also list model name of your old SSD.

For example if new system has fast nvme ssd for system, then it would not make sense replacing it with slower large capacity SATA SSD.
Use your large SSD as secondary storage instead.

What steps will I need to go to in order to properly run the new Windows license and have larger capacity?

Cloning.

Is there a way to just wipe my current one and then run two SSDs, or will that just make everything more difficult?

Sure. That's what I'd suggest you do. Use diskpart clean method to clean your old drive.

Also, a question unrelated to this sub: new PC (Ryzen 5 5600g) comes with 8gb DDR4 3200 RAM. Am I better off using that or popping in my current 16gb of DDR4 2133 (assuming they fit the board)? I've heard more at slower speed is better but wasn't sure.

If you intend to do gaming on your new pc, then 8GB ram will not be enough. If system runs out of ram, then speed is reduced to crawl.
Note - slower speed ram will also impact system performance negatively. But it is less impact, than running out of ram.

 

[cotillion]

Thank you. You are correct about the new SSD being NVME. So if I want to run two SSDs, should I wipe the old SSD before switching to the new PC, or after? If after, will it try to boot the previous PC's Windows or anything funky?

 

[jay32267]

Thank you. You are correct about the new SSD being NVME. So if I want to run two SSDs, should I wipe the old SSD before switching to the new PC, or after? If after, will it try to boot the previous PC's Windows or anything funky?

Clone to new NVMe SSD.
Power down.
Remove old drive so you only have the NVMe in the machine.
Make sure it powers up and boots with the new drive only. (I have seen where if you skip this step...problems...although not every time)
Power down and reinstall the old drive and go to the BIOS and make sure the NVMe is top of the boot order.... boot to the new drive and wipe the old drive.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Clone to new NVMe SSD.

No. Do not clone anything.

Connect old SSD to new pc.
Boot up your pc and clean old ssd using diskpart clean method.

You control boot proces in BIOS boot priority settings.
The drive, that is first in boot priority list, gets booted from.