Transferring Windows and games to new SSD?

[Olle118]

Hi guys in a few days I'll be getting an Samsung SSD, right now I have an HDD and I only want to move Windows as well as some games over to the Samsung SSD and have the rest left on the HDD. What is the simplest way to accomplish this?

 

[USAFRet]

Hi guys in a few days I'll be getting an Samsung SSD, right now I have an HDD and I only want to move Windows as well as some games over to the Samsung SSD and have the rest left on the HDD. What is the simplest way to accomplish this?

#1. You can't move "some games". All or nothing (mostly)

What size is the new SSD?
How much total space is consumed on your current drive?
What OS is this?
Do you have another drive...an external maybe? Just for some temp storage.

 

[Olle118]

Hi guys in a few days I'll be getting an Samsung SSD, right now I have an HDD and I only want to move Windows as well as some games over to the Samsung SSD and have the rest left on the HDD. What is the simplest way to accomplish this?

#1. You can't move "some games". All or nothing (mostly)

What size is the new SSD?
How much total space is consumed on your current drive?
What OS is this?
Do you have another drive...an external maybe? Just for some temp storage.

The new SSD is 250Gb, right now 496Gb out of 930Gb is consumed, Windows 10, no

 

[USAFRet]

The new SSD is 250Gb, right now 496Gb out of 930Gb is consumed, Windows 10, no

Well...
For a successful migration into a 250GB SSD, the actual used space needs to be below 200GB.
Time to investigate exactly what is consuming your space.

See if you can prune it down to 200GB.

The Samsung Data Migration tools lets you leave off things like Music/Video/Docs/Downloads. Other than that...everything goes.
But that only works with a Samsung drive.
And the after action cleanup is a PITA if you did it that way.

 

[Olle118]

The new SSD is 250Gb, right now 496Gb out of 930Gb is consumed, Windows 10, no

Well...
For a successful migration into a 250GB SSD, the actual used space needs to be below 200GB.
Time to investigate exactly what is consuming your space.

See if you can prune it down to 200GB.

The Samsung Data Migration tools lets you leave off things like Music/Video/Docs/Downloads. Other than that...everything goes.
But that only works with a Samsung drive.
And the after action cleanup is a PITA if you did it that way.

Isn't it possible to make a new partition and move the things I don't want on the SSD there and then move Windows and the games to the SSD from another partition?

 

[USAFRet]

The new SSD is 250Gb, right now 496Gb out of 930Gb is consumed, Windows 10, no

Well...
For a successful migration into a 250GB SSD, the actual used space needs to be below 200GB.
Time to investigate exactly what is consuming your space.

See if you can prune it down to 200GB.

The Samsung Data Migration tools lets you leave off things like Music/Video/Docs/Downloads. Other than that...everything goes.
But that only works with a Samsung drive.
And the after action cleanup is a PITA if you did it that way.

Isn't it possible to make a new partition and move the things I don't want on the SSD there and then move Windows and the games to the SSD from another partition?

Yes.
Although, messing with partitions is often tricky. I wouldn't do it without a full backup of the entire drive.
Which you can't do, because you don't have another drive.

Full defrag
Shrink the existing C
Make a new partition with the now empty space
Move some stuff (not programs) into this new partition
During the cloning operation, unselect that D partition.


Full steps below:

Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
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 (here is where YOU deviate. Select ALL except that new partition you made)
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
-----------------------------

 

[Olle118]

The new SSD is 250Gb, right now 496Gb out of 930Gb is consumed, Windows 10, no

Well...
For a successful migration into a 250GB SSD, the actual used space needs to be below 200GB.
Time to investigate exactly what is consuming your space.

See if you can prune it down to 200GB.

The Samsung Data Migration tools lets you leave off things like Music/Video/Docs/Downloads. Other than that...everything goes.
But that only works with a Samsung drive.
And the after action cleanup is a PITA if you did it that way.

Isn't it possible to make a new partition and move the things I don't want on the SSD there and then move Windows and the games to the SSD from another partition?

Yes.
Although, messing with partitions is often tricky. I wouldn't do it without a full backup of the entire drive.
Which you can't do, because you don't have another drive.

Full defrag
Shrink the existing C
Make a new partition with the now empty space
Move some stuff (not programs) into this new partition
During the cloning operation, unselect that D partition.


Full steps below:

Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
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 (here is where YOU deviate. Select ALL except that new partition you made)
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
-----------------------------

I've looked into it a little and I can get the space down to ~190Gb so I should be able to just move everything to the SSD then right?

 

[USAFRet]

I've looked into it a little and I can get the space down to ~190Gb so I should be able to just move everything to the SSD then right?

Yes.

 

[Olle118]

I've looked into it a little and I can get the space down to ~190Gb so I should be able to just move everything to the SSD then right?

Yes.

What do I do with the old disk after that? Format it?

 

[USAFRet]

I've looked into it a little and I can get the space down to ~190Gb so I should be able to just move everything to the SSD then right?

Yes.

What do I do with the old disk after that? Format it?

Yes. And you may need to delve into diskpart at the commandline to actually get rid of ALL the previous existing partitions.
Like this:
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

 

[Olle118]

I've looked into it a little and I can get the space down to ~190Gb so I should be able to just move everything to the SSD then right?

Yes.

What do I do with the old disk after that? Format it?

Yes. And you may need to delve into diskpart at the commandline to actually get rid of ALL the previous existing partitions.
Like this:
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

Well now I have five partitions I think, "C", "E", "Disk 0 Partition 3" , "Disk 1 Partition 1" and "Reserved for system". The ones called Disk X Partition X are only about 500Mb big though. C is the SSD and E is the HDD. So what now? just format E?

 

[USAFRet]

Well now I have five partitions I think, "C", "E", "Disk 0 Partition 3" , "Disk 1 Partition 1" and "Reserved for system". The ones called Disk X Partition X are only about 500Mb big though. C is the SSD and E is the HDD. So what now? just format E?

"So what now?"
Show us a screencap of your current Disk Management window. Just so that we're all on the same page.
I'll not recommend deleting ANYTHING, until I can verify what is going on and where everything is.

 

[Olle118]

Well now I have five partitions I think, "C", "E", "Disk 0 Partition 3" , "Disk 1 Partition 1" and "Reserved for system". The ones called Disk X Partition X are only about 500Mb big though. C is the SSD and E is the HDD. So what now? just format E?

"So what now?"
Show us a screencap of your current Disk Management window. Just so that we're all on the same page.
I'll not recommend deleting ANYTHING, until I can verify what is going on and where everything is.

The text is in Swedish but you should probably understand anyways, if there's something you don't understand just ask http://prntscr.com/hti01x

 

[USAFRet]

Well now I have five partitions I think, "C", "E", "Disk 0 Partition 3" , "Disk 1 Partition 1" and "Reserved for system". The ones called Disk X Partition X are only about 500Mb big though. C is the SSD and E is the HDD. So what now? just format E?

"So what now?"
Show us a screencap of your current Disk Management window. Just so that we're all on the same page.
I'll not recommend deleting ANYTHING, until I can verify what is going on and where everything is.

The text is in Swedish but you should probably understand anyways, if there's something you don't understand just ask http://prntscr.com/hti01x

As a final test:
Power off
Disconnect the old drive, the 1TB.
Power up

Does it boot correctly?

If so, you can wipe that entire 1TB drive, Disk 0. All partitions.

 

[Olle118]

Well now I have five partitions I think, "C", "E", "Disk 0 Partition 3" , "Disk 1 Partition 1" and "Reserved for system". The ones called Disk X Partition X are only about 500Mb big though. C is the SSD and E is the HDD. So what now? just format E?

"So what now?"
Show us a screencap of your current Disk Management window. Just so that we're all on the same page.
I'll not recommend deleting ANYTHING, until I can verify what is going on and where everything is.

The text is in Swedish but you should probably understand anyways, if there's something you don't understand just ask http://prntscr.com/hti01x

As a final test:
Power off
Disconnect the old drive, the 1TB.
Power up

Does it boot correctly?

If so, you can wipe that entire 1TB drive, Disk 0. All partitions.

Okey thank you very much for all of your help!