Transferring windows and data to new drive

[Zanorax]

I just bought 2 new m.2 ssd drives and I want to move my windows install and my current hdd contents to the new ssds so I can later remove the hdd. Microsoft support told me I can not do it without losing data which is not an option for me but I can't believe that is is impossible. is there any way I can either transfer my windows and data to the new drives or even install windows on to the new drives without a usb and manually transfer my data?

The old hdd is 1tb and the ssd are 2tb each. Also the new drives are unallocated but have been formatted to MBR.

 

[USAFRet]

1. losing data" is always a possibility, no matter what you are doing.
This is why backups are strongly recommended.

2. Cloning is a possibility.
What motherboard is this?
What are the specific drives involved?

 

[poisonite101]

As stated above data loss is ALWAYS a possibility so, if possible, please make a full backup of the HDD beforehand.

Perhaps not the most elegant solution (and it will certainly be rather time-consuming) but you could do a fresh install of Windows 10 on one of the new SSDs (with the other SSD and the HDD unplugged) and then mount the other drives afterword to manually transfer any personal data from the old drive to the new storage drive while booting from one of the new SSDs.

If you don't want to do a clean install, you could use a backup software like Macrium Reflect to clone the HDD to your desired SSD. I'm not sure if it will let you do this while booting from either drive so you may have to make a Macrium Reflect version of Windows PE and boot off of that for the clone. This may not be desired if you wanted to keep all of your files separate from the boot drive but since they are both 2tb m.2 drives I doubt this is a huge issue.

I hope this was of some help,
Zac

 

[USAFRet]

If you don't want to do a clean install, you could use a backup software like Macrium Reflect to clone the HDD to your desired SSD. I'm not sure if it will let you do this while booting from either drive so you may have to make a Macrium Reflect version of Windows PE and boot off of that for the clone.

Macrium will do a clone from a running OS drive. Weird, but it works.
Specific steps to follow, once we see answers to the above questions.

 

[poisonite101]

If you don't want to do a clean install, you could use a backup software like Macrium Reflect to clone the HDD to your desired SSD. I'm not sure if it will let you do this while booting from either drive so you may have to make a Macrium Reflect version of Windows PE and boot off of that for the clone.

Macrium will do a clone from a running OS drive. Weird, but it works.
Specific steps to follow, once we see answers to the above questions.

Good to know, it's been a while since I've used Macrium so I didn't want to say for certain.

 

[geofelt]

If your new drives are Samsung, they offer a free ssd migration aid.
It works with even a pcie drive.

 

[Zanorax]

1. losing data" is always a possibility, no matter what you are doing.
This is why backups are strongly recommended.

2. Cloning is a possibility.
What motherboard is this?
What are the specific drives involved?

my motherboard is an msi x299 gaming my ack
I don't know what the hdd is but the ssds are 2tb samsung 970 evo NVMe M.2

 

[Zanorax]

If your new drives are Samsung, they offer a free ssd migration aid.
It works with even a pcie drive.

the new drives are Samsung 970 evo NVMe m.2 drives. I don't know anything about a migration aid though.

 

[Zanorax]

As stated above data loss is ALWAYS a possibility so, if possible, please make a full backup of the HDD beforehand.

Perhaps not the most elegant solution (and it will certainly be rather time-consuming) but you could do a fresh install of Windows 10 on one of the new SSDs (with the other SSD and the HDD unplugged) and then mount the other drives afterword to manually transfer any personal data from the old drive to the new storage drive while booting from one of the new SSDs.

If you don't want to do a clean install, you could use a backup software like Macrium Reflect to clone the HDD to your desired SSD. I'm not sure if it will let you do this while booting from either drive so you may have to make a Macrium Reflect version of Windows PE and boot off of that for the clone. This may not be desired if you wanted to keep all of your files separate from the boot drive but since they are both 2tb m.2 drives I doubt this is a huge issue.

I hope this was of some help,
Zac

I don't mind doing a clean install of windows and manually transferring the rest of my hdd if it means I can keep everything on the hard drive.

 

[geofelt]

You are good.
I have done the same process.

1. Install the new m.2 drive.

2. Download and install the Samsung pcie drivers from their web site.

3. run the Samsung ssd migration app downloaded from their support web site.
https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/

The utility is a C drive mover, not a clone.
In the event that you have too much to move, you can exclude large data folders.
The user manual is good.

The utility does not change the source drive. Just be certain which is the source and target.
When done, change your boot order.

I removed and kept the old drive as a known good starting point for a forward recovery.
Later you can do what you will with the old HDD.
The clean install option will require you to reinstall any apps that are in the registry, and that essentially means a reinstall of everything.

 

[Zanorax]

You are good.
I have done the same process.

1. Install the new m.2 drive.

2. Download and install the Samsung pcie drivers from their web site.

3. run the Samsung ssd migration app downloaded from their support web site.
https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/

The utility is a C drive mover, not a clone.
In the event that you have too much to move, you can exclude large data folders.
The user manual is good.

The utility does not change the source drive. Just be certain which is the source and target.
When done, change your boot order.

I removed and kept the old drive as a known good starting point for a forward recovery.
Later you can do what you will with the old HDD.
The clean install option will require you to reinstall any apps that are in the registry, and that essentially means a reinstall of everything.

Thanks I was able to migrate with the samsung program. But Now I am having trouble with booting from the ssd because it doesn't show up in my boot order in the bios menu.

I ended up just removing the hdd from the computer all together and it booted from the ssd on it's own. still not sure why I couldn't see it in the bios boot order though.