Old HD > New SSD = Windows 10 Upgrade?

[IrishLaad]

Apologies for the bad heading.

I have windows7 on my HD. Im going to download windows10 onto a new SSD. I want to keep all my files on the HD for obvious reasons but I want rid of the W7 OS to create space. Can you tell me how does one go about this?

Do I connect my SSD up to the mobo and launch W7, go to my desktop and click on the W10 free upgrade pop-up and then select the install destination to the SSD

Do I remove my HD and just have the SSD connected to the mobo and launch my pc, and download W10 via USB or something? Im not sure about this method, this is why I ask.

(Please note) I dont have Windows 10 on disk, but I do have an OEM key.

Cheers. Thank You.

 

[Lutfij]

The best thing is to get a hold of a USB and make it into a bootable USB installer by following this guide and voila you have an installer.

As per your hardware, you can take two approaches:
1| You can install your SSD into your system as is and try and run a clean install of Windows 7 on it. After things are settled and you've updated your way through to Service Pack 1 and the eventual eligibility to upgrade to Windows 10 you can go ahead without an issue.
2| You've mentioned you own an OEM key for Windows 10, correct? You can use that key with all your hardware hooked up to your system and not go the whole upgrade to Windows 10 mumbo jumbo. It also helps you with future hardware upgrades.

If taking step 2 then make sure your SSD is plugged into the first SATA port on your motherboard before attempting install. It's best if you had all your important data on an external drive should something go awry with your install or to your HDD during that time.

Please pass on your full systems specs in case you or I have missed out something important.

Read up on these tutorials before going further:
How to perform a clean install of Windows 10
Upgrading to Windows 10 from 7
Avoiding most issues with Windows 10

Hope this helps.