Put OS on SSD - Keep HDD for Storage

[jodydoc1888]

Hi guys,

I recently purchased a Samsung Evo 850 500gb ssd for my rig. At present I have a basic Seagate 500gb HDD. I was hoping to simply clone the HDD to my SSD and then use my HDD for things like photos, documents and music. With the aim of using my SSD for booting, software like photoshop and steam games.

I hope to do this without the need for a SATA adapter or CD if possible.

CPU and MBD if required is:

Ryzen 1700x
Asus Prime PRO X370

Any help or tips is much appreciated.

 

[CountMike]

With both drives connected, you can just clone the HDD contents to SSD, I would suggest "Macrium Reflect free" https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree set BIOS to boot from SSD and reformat HDD to use for whatever you want. It's really simple procedure.

 

[USAFRet]

Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
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Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration, if a Samsung SSD)
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up
Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive
Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe as necessary.
Delete the original boot partitions, here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/4f1b84ac-b193-40e3-943a-f45d52e23685/cant-delete-extra-healthy-recovery-partitions-and-healthy-efi-system-partition?forum=w8itproinstall
-----------------------------

 

[Jodydoc]

OK thank you, will give this a go now. I furthered browsed the forums and I don't see any benefit from putting games on the ssd

 

[USAFRet]

OK thank you, will give this a go now. I furthered browsed the forums and I don't see any benefit from putting games on the ssd

You can have your Steam games on multiple drives.
The only real benefit for having them on the SSD is level load times.

Steam games location
In the steam client:
Steam
Settings
Downloads
Steam Library Folders
Add library folder