[SOLVED] Transferring OS from a 1 TB HDD to a 250 GB SSD

[microtank]

For give me since a little old fashioned. But I just bought my first solid state drive, and after toying around and make sure the motherboard detects it, which it does. Problem is, I didn’t think much of how to transfer the OS to the SSD without losing data on the HDD. Any way to do this? I prefer manually in windows. However. I’m open to ideas

 

[Koekieezz]

For give me since a little old fashioned. But I just bought my first solid state drive, and after toying around and make sure the motherboard detects it, which it does. Problem is, I didn’t think much of how to transfer the OS to the SSD without losing data on the HDD. Any way to do this? I prefer manually in windows. However. I’m open to ideas

Try to use EaseUS partition master/wizard, it could migrate the os, tho i prefer clean install XD

 

[Sleepy_Hollowed]

This is always a challenge, and will be much more so in the windows 11 world.

Microsoft officially recommends a reinstall, like the previous person suggested, and there are many valid reasons for this (to not transfer OEM recovery partitions for example).

But the problem with that is that it could be challenging if you don't have all your software installers and licenses available not to mention time consuming.

If you're an advanced user, and can reduce the size of your files or pass most media stuff elsewhere, I'd recommend something like this software: https://www.paragon-software.com/free/br-free/#

It's free and all you need to do is install it, create a bootable restore disk, and then boot from there and restore to the SSD.

The huge caveat is that you HAVE to make sure you know what you're doing, due to a lot of Microsoft licensing issues, creating that boot disk might be complicated.