Procedural questions for migrating Win 10 to a smaller SSD and adding a second HDD

[dlutter]

Hi,
I have a home office desktop which recently was updated from Windows 7 to Windows 10 on a 500 GB HDD. I would like to do a clean install of Win 10 on a new 250 GB SSD and transfer my Libraries and other files to the HDD after reformatting/re-partitioning it. I did a similar SSD upgrade with my laptop on Win 7 several years ago but without adding the secondary HDD.

I would just like to confirm that my plan is sound and that it should work before I proceed. Thanks in advance.

1. My plan for the SSD upgrade is to move all personal files (Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos) to a spare HDD, create a Windows 10 system repair disk, do a fresh install of Win 10 on the HDD, Shrink the partition of the HDD to less than 250GB (leaving the rest unallocated), create a system image immediately after the partition shrink, and (finally) restore the system image to the new SSD using the system repair disk.

I recently read that Windows 10 is validated/activated by Microsoft's servers to my system's hardware. Will this cause a problem with my above plan? What are my options for SSD upgrade if it is a problem?

2. As for my personal files, I have a spare 500 GB HDD that I plan to put them on. Should I install it, migrate my Libraries to it before the SSD upgrade, unplug during the upgrade, and then simply re-plug it after the upgrade? Would it be better to copy my files to the spare HDD, reformat and migrate Libraries on the old HDD (the one that currently has Windows 10 installed) after the SSD upgrade, and then copy the files from the spare to the reformatted HDD?

Hopefully that all makes sense.

 

[nukemaster]

The only problem with cloning drives is you also have to make sure you get the reserved and recovery partition.

Now the reserved contains the information that tells the system what drive to boot from. Not all software is smart enough to correct for the swap in drives.

If you have activated, you should be able to use the download tool from MS to get an ISO or setup a USB stick to install. The activation servers should see your system.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Now you should disconnect any hard drive with files when you install windows. This also prevents Windows from placing the boot loader on the hard drive(this does happen when you already have an OS on the other drive sometimes).

Once Windows is installed and activated you should be able to install the drive again(ensure it is not booting from that drive.).

Now because you have the other copy of Windows on that drive you will want to remove it. Normally formatting is the way to go, but to do this you have to copy of your files on another drive(or second partition on the same drive). Sometimes shrinking the partition creating a new one and then placing files on that is a good way to do it with one drive.

3rd party partitioning tools can also be used if you have trouble shrinking the partition enough.

With the extra drive you can just use that as well if you wish.

Once you get the drive setup the way you want it. You can use the location tab on your user folders(c : \ users \ your name here \) to point them to the hard drive.

This is not to say shrinking and cloning would not work(just need to ensure you get the right partitions. test boot with just the ssd to ensure the boot loader is working), but if you are reinstalling anyway, you may as well go straight to the drive. If you do wish to go with the clone path, Reflect works pretty good. I have used it for Windows 7 and 8 HDD to SSD cloning.
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx