OS from HDD to SSD

[TeckoHD]

I recently got my SSD and I want to JUST move my OS from the HDD to my SSD. Can I do that? How?

 

[Sammyjo20]

Just turn off the PC, unplug the hard drive and reinstall windows on the fresh SSD. Once you're in windows you can plug the SATA cable back in and all your files, even windows will be there still, so you can sort through them like that.

Just make sure to unplug / plug in the sata cable when it's fully off to avoid corruption.

- Sam

 

[USAFRet]

I recently got my SSD and I want to JUST move my OS from the HDD to my SSD. Can I do that? How?

You cannot move "only" the OS.
Some applications, Samsung Data Migration, let you leave off things like doc/music/video. Other than that, everything goes.

There is no functionality for 'only the OS'.

With a new SSD, you have 2 options:
1. Clean install of the OS on the SSD. This requires a full reinstall of everything else as well.

2. Clone from old drive to new drive. This requires that the total current used space on your C drive or partition be smaller than the new SSD.


So which way would you like to go?

 

[TeckoHD]

I recently got my SSD and I want to JUST move my OS from the HDD to my SSD. Can I do that? How?

You cannot move "only" the OS.
Some applications, Samsung Data Migration, let you leave off things like doc/music/video. Other than that, everything goes.

There is no functionality for 'only the OS'.

With a new SSD, you have 2 options:
1. Clean install of the OS on the SSD. This requires a full reinstall of everything else as well.

2. Clone from old drive to new drive. This requires that the total current used space on your C drive or partition be smaller than the new SSD.


So which way would you like to go?

My HDD is 2TB and my SSD is 120GB how will it clone if its not the same size?

 

[USAFRet]

I recently got my SSD and I want to JUST move my OS from the HDD to my SSD. Can I do that? How?

You cannot move "only" the OS.
Some applications, Samsung Data Migration, let you leave off things like doc/music/video. Other than that, everything goes.

There is no functionality for 'only the OS'.

With a new SSD, you have 2 options:
1. Clean install of the OS on the SSD. This requires a full reinstall of everything else as well.

2. Clone from old drive to new drive. This requires that the total current used space on your C drive or partition be smaller than the new SSD.


So which way would you like to go?

My HDD is 2TB and my SSD is 120GB how will it clone if its not the same size?

How much total used space is on the 2TB HDD?
I'm guessing more than 100GB, right?

What, exactly, is all that space? Games, music, video, etc.?

 

[TeckoHD]

I recently got my SSD and I want to JUST move my OS from the HDD to my SSD. Can I do that? How?

You cannot move "only" the OS.
Some applications, Samsung Data Migration, let you leave off things like doc/music/video. Other than that, everything goes.

There is no functionality for 'only the OS'.

With a new SSD, you have 2 options:
1. Clean install of the OS on the SSD. This requires a full reinstall of everything else as well.

2. Clone from old drive to new drive. This requires that the total current used space on your C drive or partition be smaller than the new SSD.


So which way would you like to go?

My HDD is 2TB and my SSD is 120GB how will it clone if its not the same size?

How much total used space is on the 2TB HDD?
I'm guessing more than 100GB, right?

What, exactly, is all that space? Games, music, video, etc.?

Mostly games and videos

 

[USAFRet]

Mostly games and videos

Well...I did say 'exactly', not 'mostly'.

The newer cloning tools do not care about actual drive size, but rather the actual used space.
90GB used space on a 2TB drive will happily clone into a 120GB SSD.

However, in the cloning process, you mostly do not get to pick and choose what gets cloned.
The Samsung Data Migration gives you the option to leave off files like doc/video/music/pics. Other than that, everything else goes.
There is no checkbox for 'this, but not that'.

Do you have another drive? An external, maybe?

Bottom line, though...to clone into a 120GB SSD, you need to get the actual used space to below 1000GB.

 

[TeckoHD]

Mostly games and videos

Well...I did say 'exactly', not 'mostly'.

The newer cloning tools do not care about actual drive size, but rather the actual used space.
90GB used space on a 2TB drive will happily clone into a 120GB SSD.

However, in the cloning process, you mostly do not get to pick and choose what gets cloned.
The Samsung Data Migration gives you the option to leave off files like doc/video/music/pics. Other than that, everything else goes.
There is no checkbox for 'this, but not that'.

Do you have another drive? An external, maybe?

Bottom line, though...to clone into a 120GB SSD, you need to get the actual used space to below 1000GB.

So can I unplug my HDD and do a new install of windows with just the SSD plugged in. Then after plug the HDD back in? Will 2 OS on different drives harm the system?

 

[USAFRet]

So can I unplug my HDD and do a new install of windows with just the SSD plugged in. Then after plug the HDD back in? Will 2 OS on different drives harm the system?

That will work just fine.
You will, however, have to reinstall all your existing applications. The new OS will know nothing about them.

The old OS? As long as that drive is not in the boot order, the old OS is just sitting there sucking up space.

 

[TeckoHD]

So can I unplug my HDD and do a new install of windows with just the SSD plugged in. Then after plug the HDD back in? Will 2 OS on different drives harm the system?

That will work just fine.
You will, however, have to reinstall all your existing applications. The new OS will know nothing about them.

The old OS? As long as that drive is not in the boot order, the old OS is just sitting there sucking up space.

Ill need to reinstall all applications? Why wont they still be on the HDD?

 

[USAFRet]

Ill need to reinstall all applications? Why wont they still be on the HDD?

Yes they are. But the new OS knows nothing about them.
When an application is installed, it makes many entries in the Registry and elsewhere.
Dozens, sometimes thousands. Those do not exist in a new OS.

You will have no shortcuts to those, dlls will be missing/not found, etc, etc.
Some applications may work. A LOT won't.