Possible to add SSD as new boot drive without losing data on original boot drive WITH OUT cloning?

[MattBeastblood]

I'm getting an SSD finally and I'm hoping to do as little work as possible but I will not be cloning the drive. I'm adamant on doing a clean windows install.

My current boot drive is too big to be cloned onto the SSD anyways plus it's not leaving my PC, I'm going to use it for extra storage space. I'll leave all my specs at the bottom of this post

I want the SSD to be my boot drive obviously and do a clean windows install. What will happen to my original boot drive if I do that?

Will it be erased? Is there any way to avoid that?

Is there anything I can do to make my life easier that doesn't involve cloning drives or backing up my entire C drive?

Are there any other problems I have to worry about I might not be thinking of?

Luckily it is only 1 TB and I do have an extra external HDD with 1.5 TB space on it so I can back up the C drive if needed but honestly, it would take a long time to back up and restore all that crap.

Specs-
Windows 10
Intel i3-2130 3.4 Ghz w/hyperthreading
12 GB of RAM (4+2+4+2)
GTX 1060 6 GB
C: 1 TB HDD
D: 2 TB HDD

SSD - https://www.amazon.com/Silicon-Power-Performance-Internal-SP128GBSS3A55S25/dp/B075H5ST84/ref=sr_1_9?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1526004825&sr=1-9&keywords=solid+state+drive

 

[captaincharisma]

all you do is have only the SSD connected and go through the windows install. after the install is complete you can connect your old HDD over as a secondary drive. this way you can backup all the data you want to keep to your external and then you can format your 1TB drive within windows and move the data back over. also if you are able to keep all your data on your external drive as a backup if the drive ever fails.

 

[Gam3r01]

Easiest thing to do:
Power down, unplug your current HDD
Plug in your shiny new SSD
Install windows
Power down and plug in HDD, change boot order in BIOS to put the SSD first
Your HDD will show up in disk management as a storage drive, all data intact.

 

[USAFRet]

Disconnect all other drives during this clean install.
The data on the HDD won't be affected.
But the problem lies in using it.

If you're thinking of using the applications on it...no. The new OS knows nothing about them.

Your personal data (Doc/Music/Video/etc) will probably be stuck inside the original /Users/ folders. Unless you took pains to have them elsewhere. Usable, but a pain.


So what are you planning on using that lives on the original drive?

 

[Dugimodo]

I agree with the above, especially about only having the SSD connected when installing windows.

If it's just files you want to keep, pictures, videos, documents, whatever, I suggest creating a folder or folders straight on the C:\ drive and moving everything you want to keep into it. That'll make life much easier. Also moving files on the same drive is very quick because they don't actually move - windows just changes the directory to say the files are somewhere else now.

 

[MattBeastblood]

Disconnect all other drives during this clean install.
The data on the HDD won't be affected.
But the problem lies in using it.

If you're thinking of using the applications on it...no. The new OS knows nothing about them.

Your personal data (Doc/Music/Video/etc) will probably be stuck inside the original /Users/ folders. Unless you took pains to have them elsewhere. Usable, but a pain.


So what are you planning on using that lives on the original drive?

I was actually thinking that removing my 2 current HDD's would be a good idea. Glad I asked you guys. Thanks.


I have some games and basically all of my smaller programs are installed on my HDD boot drive. Everything else is on my secondary HDD. I guess for the smaller programs, I can reinstall and any profile data I might need will still be in the original program data folders on the HDD so I can just transfer over if needed.

I'm most worried about the Windows 10 games since their folders are hidden and I'm not sure how to back up user data for that stuff. I'll have to figure it out but I guess if I use the method you guys suggested, that might be all I have to redownload/install which is good and bad. Bad because Gears of War 4 alone is 122 GB!! good because it's better to download 122 than 1 TB

Thanks guys.

 

[captaincharisma]

Disconnect all other drives during this clean install.
The data on the HDD won't be affected.
But the problem lies in using it.

If you're thinking of using the applications on it...no. The new OS knows nothing about them.

Your personal data (Doc/Music/Video/etc) will probably be stuck inside the original /Users/ folders. Unless you took pains to have them elsewhere. Usable, but a pain.


So what are you planning on using that lives on the original drive?

I was actually thinking that removing my 2 current HDD's would be a good idea. Glad I asked you guys. Thanks.


I have some games and basically all of my smaller programs are installed on my HDD boot drive. Everything else is on my secondary HDD.

I'm most worried about the Windows 10 games since their folders are hidden and I'm not sure how to back up user data for that stuff. I'll have to figure it out but I guess if I use the method you guys suggested, that might be all I have to redownload/install which is good and bad. Bad because Gears of War 4 alone is 122 GB!! good because it's better to download 122 than 1 TB

Thanks guys.

if you purchased your games or some of your games are on a gaming client like steam or ubisoft's uplay then you won't have to reinstall , you just have to point it to wherever the games folder is.

 

[Dugimodo]

Some games/ software can be copied and some can't. Steam can easily be copied for example.
You might just need to google instructions to move each program individually to see what can be done.

In many cases you need to install the software again so windows can launch it but can copy your old config & save files across

 

[MattBeastblood]

Disconnect all other drives during this clean install.
The data on the HDD won't be affected.
But the problem lies in using it.

If you're thinking of using the applications on it...no. The new OS knows nothing about them.

Your personal data (Doc/Music/Video/etc) will probably be stuck inside the original /Users/ folders. Unless you took pains to have them elsewhere. Usable, but a pain.


So what are you planning on using that lives on the original drive?

I was actually thinking that removing my 2 current HDD's would be a good idea. Glad I asked you guys. Thanks.


I have some games and basically all of my smaller programs are installed on my HDD boot drive. Everything else is on my secondary HDD.

I'm most worried about the Windows 10 games since their folders are hidden and I'm not sure how to back up user data for that stuff. I'll have to figure it out but I guess if I use the method you guys suggested, that might be all I have to redownload/install which is good and bad. Bad because Gears of War 4 alone is 122 GB!! good because it's better to download 122 than 1 TB

Thanks guys.

if you purchased your games or some of your games are on a gaming client like steam or ubisoft's uplay then you won't have to reinstall , you just have to point it to wherever the games folder is.

True.

I don't think I can do that with the Windows Store games but I will try. Now that I think of it, I do have some of those games installed on my C, others on my D so maybe I can point my HDD when reinstalling those games, and it'll work the same way as Steam.

Even though like I said, Windows Store game folders are fully hidden so they can't be backed up like everything else. That's kind of why I was curious if my HDD will be wiped

 

[MattBeastblood]

Some games/ software can be copied and some can't. Steam can easily be copied for example.
You might just need to google instructions to move each program individually to see what can be done.

In many cases you need to install the software again so windows can launch it but can copy your old config & save files across

Yea if my HDD stays fully intact I might not have to redownload those windows store games completely. Not sure if that's how it's designed but I will try to install those games to my HDD and hopefully it recognizes the bulk of the game data that is already on there. It might not though because that stuff seems really well hidden.

 

[captaincharisma]

Disconnect all other drives during this clean install.
The data on the HDD won't be affected.
But the problem lies in using it.

If you're thinking of using the applications on it...no. The new OS knows nothing about them.

Your personal data (Doc/Music/Video/etc) will probably be stuck inside the original /Users/ folders. Unless you took pains to have them elsewhere. Usable, but a pain.


So what are you planning on using that lives on the original drive?

I was actually thinking that removing my 2 current HDD's would be a good idea. Glad I asked you guys. Thanks.


I have some games and basically all of my smaller programs are installed on my HDD boot drive. Everything else is on my secondary HDD.

I'm most worried about the Windows 10 games since their folders are hidden and I'm not sure how to back up user data for that stuff. I'll have to figure it out but I guess if I use the method you guys suggested, that might be all I have to redownload/install which is good and bad. Bad because Gears of War 4 alone is 122 GB!! good because it's better to download 122 than 1 TB

Thanks guys.

if you purchased your games or some of your games are on a gaming client like steam or ubisoft's uplay then you won't have to reinstall , you just have to point it to wherever the games folder is.

True.

I don't think I can do that with the Windows Store games but I will try. Now that I think of it, I do have some of those games installed on my C, others on my D so maybe I can point my HDD when reinstalling those games, and it'll work the same way as Steam.

Even though like I said, Windows Store game folders are fully hidden so they can't be backed up like everything else. That's kind of why I was curious if my HDD will be wiped

assuming your games act the same way as windows apps, i know you can go into windows 10 settings and point to whatever drive you want to install your apps on. if you change the location you may be able to copy the games folder over and it will find them

https://www.tekrevue.com/tip/change-install-location-windows-10-apps/

 

[MattBeastblood]

Disconnect all other drives during this clean install.
The data on the HDD won't be affected.
But the problem lies in using it.

If you're thinking of using the applications on it...no. The new OS knows nothing about them.

Your personal data (Doc/Music/Video/etc) will probably be stuck inside the original /Users/ folders. Unless you took pains to have them elsewhere. Usable, but a pain.


So what are you planning on using that lives on the original drive?

I was actually thinking that removing my 2 current HDD's would be a good idea. Glad I asked you guys. Thanks.


I have some games and basically all of my smaller programs are installed on my HDD boot drive. Everything else is on my secondary HDD.

I'm most worried about the Windows 10 games since their folders are hidden and I'm not sure how to back up user data for that stuff. I'll have to figure it out but I guess if I use the method you guys suggested, that might be all I have to redownload/install which is good and bad. Bad because Gears of War 4 alone is 122 GB!! good because it's better to download 122 than 1 TB

Thanks guys.

if you purchased your games or some of your games are on a gaming client like steam or ubisoft's uplay then you won't have to reinstall , you just have to point it to wherever the games folder is.

True.

I don't think I can do that with the Windows Store games but I will try. Now that I think of it, I do have some of those games installed on my C, others on my D so maybe I can point my HDD when reinstalling those games, and it'll work the same way as Steam.

Even though like I said, Windows Store game folders are fully hidden so they can't be backed up like everything else. That's kind of why I was curious if my HDD will be wiped

assuming your games act the same way as windows apps, i know you can go into windows 10 settings and point to whatever drive you want to install your apps on. if you change the location you may be able to copy the games folder over and it will find them

https://www.tekrevue.com/tip/change-install-location-windows-10-apps/

Yes. I have changed the default install location before, but I've never tried to see if it would recognize previously installed data.

I'll hopefully be installing the SSD tomorrow so I guess I'll find out then if it'll recognize the data that's already there.